The little details.

I spent today, guess what? Painting! Not so bad, as it's almost done. I gave a couple of coats of primer, then paint, to the patched areas in the kitchen. One particular electrical outlet looks oh, so much better!



Carlos (whom I have decided is the real "magician" on this jobsite) came back today and replaced the chipped v-cap molding, so all's well again, and the sink is now perfect.

I taped a warning note to the sink, since I thought the plumber might arrive and install the dishwasher today. Silly, silly me.




The little piece of wood trim along the edge of the counter below is something that J constructed, a little feat of genius! The refrigerator's home is right alongside this counter, and I had originally opted to skip the v-cap (at $12 per 8-inch section) along this edge, to save money, since the fridge would hide it, anyway. J thought that something a little nicer might look good here, and this is what he came up with. I completely agree! He did an excellent job, and it finishes off the counter's edge nicely.



In between coats of paint, I made a few phone calls today, trying to find a replacement bathroom door. The old bathroom door was a plain-Jane modern hollow-core door with a wood veneer skin, all function and no form. Hence, once the door was removed from its hinges, out into the trash pile it went. I don't regret tossing it, but we are still sans bathroom door. I'm still looking, and hoping to find something that resembles the old original doors that are still in the house:



They are not pretty, but they are original (I think), and appear to be made of pine. This door illustrates what I don't like about natural wood doors: they darken significantly with age. This is one of 3 doors that all open into a tiny hallway and, man, is the hallway DARK! I really don't want to have to go with a white plastic-coated hollow door, but I'm not having much luck finding something like the one pictured below. Our local architectural salvage place has one old wooden door that's a 2-panel, and the right size, but it's a right-hand swing, and we need a left-hand swing door. And, no, I don't want to just switch the hinges around. They are mortised into the door, and the notches would be visible, and it would be completely obvious.

I also went to the sawmill and picked up some 8" baseboard molding, and started sanding it smooth today. I'll finish that another day.

A Wrinkle in Time: Flashback to 2002

While waiting for any new progress on the stalled kitchen and bath remodel, I thought I would post some of the before and after photos of some of the earlier improvements to the Cottage. The photo above is from December 2002, soon after I bought the house, when I had the old shingle roof replaced with a galvanized metal roof. (Don't believe what you've heard about metal roofs being noisy when it rains! There's nothing better than a metal roof). Looking back, I realize that I really should have taken more before photos, including detailed close-ups, in order to fully appreciate the transformation later. This photo doesn't really capture the full effect of the faded blue shingle siding and plastic faux shutters!

Here is a photo of the master bedroom with the old wallboard removed so new electrical wiring and insulation could be installed. After the new wiring was completed, I refinished the heart pine floors in the master bedroom and throughout the rest of the house,

then insulated the walls of the master bedroom.
Next, new drywall was installed,

and I finished, primed, and painted the room.


Here's a photo of Dixie, my Florida Brown Dog, checking in on the progress.


And, finally, baseboards were added, and the rest of the furniture moved back in.