iseecerulean

I mixed a bit too much resin to finish the window in the stove, so used the leftover to do some mini canning.  I canned in glass jars this time instead of in eraser molds...I like the results much better, though it's not as economical.

The three little solid color jars with labels are not jars, they're painted wooden pegs coated in clear fingernail polish.  I got a spa basket gift from one of our suppliers at work.  Does anyone ever use the silly wooden brush things?  I pulled the pegs out, they looked like good furniture legs.  I cut down three of the fat ones to have flat bottoms, then made them into peanut butter and jelly jars.

.....

I picked up a few new goodies at an antique store.  The pottery looks to be hand made, but there isn't a maker's mark on the bottom....I've got no idea what I'm going to do with the flocked pig, but he was to adorable to leave behind....and the pots and pans aren't antique, but they were reasonably priced.

Awwww....look at that cute little face....

Mr. Oinker has a manufacturer's tag on the bottom....he was under ten dollars, so I doubt it means much.

.....

Lastly, a picture of the cabinets started.  I had this niggling feeling of apprehension about starting them, which is usually my subconscious trying to tell me I missed a step when I planned them.  I put off starting them, letting them swim around in my brain for a few days, but never had an 'ah ha!' moment.  I can't progress further in the build until they're done, because my wiring depends on the final layout, so I told my apprehension to shush.  I got the faces almost done on two units, I'll start the face of the third tonight. 

The tan paint is a base coat, I haven't decided on a final color yet.  I was debating between painting  them the same wedgewood green I used on the Fairfield cabinets,  or, since I'm making this kitchen to sell, a beigy neutral....then I saw an episode of Kitchen Cousins yesterday where they did this...

I finished the stove for the cedar kitchen today, and painted a hutch and stools for the English cottage kitchen.

Cabinetry is harder than I thought.  First of all, when I planned the build and made a cut list I somehow added 1/8" together five times to get 1/2"...which is pretty sad, considering I work with numbers for a living.  That problem was the easiest to solve; I whacked 1/8" off the bottom of the cabinet doors.

I built the base cabinets with pin hinges in the doors, which worked great the first time I opened them....but by the fourth or fifth time they ripped out of the back of the doors.  If the pins aren't in straight they move a little bit more each time the door is opened until they rip out.   I'm going to have to build some kind of jig to make sure I get the holes drilled perfectly straight instead of eyeballing it.

Also, the shelf at the bottom of the two drawers aren't at exactly the same height, and one door sticks out further than the other...all in all I'm not pleased with it, but it's not that horrible of a job that I'm going to throw it in the trash can.  For now I'm setting it aside for possible use in a project for myself later...I'm not as picky when I'm building something for myself as when I'm building something to sell.

Since the holes in the cabinet doors couldn't be repaired I glued the doors to the base.  As I was do so I realized that where the bottom cabinets are going to sit in the kitchen they won't be reachable to be opened anyway, which takes a lot of pressure off building the replacement set.  I'm going to have to figure out a drilling jig before I get to the upper cabinets, though.

(You can see the cabinets in the background in this picture)

After being irked by cabinets I changed course to build a couple of refrigerators.  The stainless looking one is for the cedar kitchen and the white one will go in the English cottage kitchen.  I wasn't happy with the first fridge I built for the cottage kitchen (which is probably why I never got around to putting handles on it), so I'll set it aside to tinker with later.   The new ones were made with a better material, a better method, and a different shade of silver paint...they turned out much nicer.  They won't be reachable to be opened, so I didn't bother to make them openable...they don't even have backs.

Now I'm working on a stove for the cedar kitchen.  It's going to be a bit different than the first one..stay tuned.  After that it's back to cabinets.

I will close with a gratuitous cat picture...for Susan.

I haven't worked on either house in over a week, I've been a bit under the weather.  I didn't get sicky icky, thank goodness; I managed to avoid the cough my husband and many others had.  I slept a lot, whined a little, and now I'm feeling almost back to normal.  I think a day soaking up some sunshine will set me right, so I'm going to the beach tomorrow to lie in the warm sand.  I'll resume work on the houses on Sunday.

In between naps I unpacked some new pretties from CountryMini, and I planned the cabinetry I'm going to build.

There's only one more row of shingles to put on the front and two on the sides.  Hurray, I should be done shingling by the end of the day.  Whew!

I took a small break from shingling to reupholster a couch and make a cushion for a bench.  (Really, I made two cushions, the first was too thick.  I kept it in case I decided to build a seat for the front porch.)  I also got the screen door installed.  You know what helps to put teeny weeny hinges on with teeny weeny nails?  Beer.  Lots of beer.  I'm not looking forward to installing the storm door.

I didn't want to shingle in between the beams of the support truss, so I filled that area with strips of veneer, cut and glued to a paper template.  I had just enough, it's a good thing I didn't botch a cut.

I'm making a few touch ups on the corners, where I overlapped the shingles...sometimes they'd slip in the glue and come out of alignment when I taped them down to dry.

And...I made grooves on the inside walls for the wiring.