I've been finding these dark winter months to be a bit of a cooling influence on my incentive to build things. The last couple of months have therefore seen progress comparable to the proverbial molasses in January. It is January though, so maybe there is some measure of justification.
In any case, here is what has happened since the last installment:
This is the frame for the refrigerator compartment. The refrigerator that I ordered over six months ago hasn't arrived and I'm afraid may be destined never to do so. It's frustratingly difficult to find a fridge of the size I need, so I'm a bit unsure of what will actually go in this compartment now. It might end up being a bar fridge and some extra storage.
There's space for a drawer underneath. There is actually a drawer there now, but I don't have a picture of it handy. Anyway, it's a drawer. Use your imagination. :-)
And the fridge compartment is now acting as a handy tool storage shelf. Good thing I don't need to keep veggies cold yet.
I bought a pine desk at Jysk and modified it to fit the space. Not quite in keeping with my "build everything myself" moto up to this point, but it seems to work reasonably well.
Looking out from the bathroom. I've had some problems with the stove actually, though it looks pretty rambunctious in this picture. I had the naive impression, when I bought it, that "hey, it's a stove. Hook up the gas and turn it on". Turns out things are a bit more complex than that. I asked the gasfitter who did the gas lines to install it, since he was here anyway. Then it started to go out and not start again, which is rather a problem when the temperature outside is 20 below zero. The company I bought it from didn't want to help very badly because they didn't install it, and the other guys don't know the stove and would probably say it wasn't their fault anyway. A tech was finally sent out with new parts and hopefully it will work now - but it cost almost $500.00 for him to drive out here, spend an hour or so, and leave again. Ouch! The moral of this story, I think, is that if you buy a gas stove, have it installed by the people you buy it from.
On a happier note, I put an old glider rocker in. It has caused a further reduction in work incentive, however, because it is so relaxing to just sit in it and watch the fire.
Thanks to help from my friend Deirdre, cork flooring has been jigsaw puzzled onto the wheel-well under the desk and bookshelf. There are metal edge plates still to put on the edges though. This is the flooring that will eventually be covering the rest of the floor as well.
Also thanks to Deirdre, rather a large number of things that formerly did not have sealant on them have now been covered with Diamond coat finish (like all of these drawers, inside and out).
Or with Osmo polyx, like this bookshelf.
The last piece of the upper kitchen cabinets is done and installed, and both LED bar lights are in place under the cabinets. One small cabinet door is done. Several others of various sizes aren't.
Also, the crack that appeared in the counter top has been fixed. I was able to fill it with glue and force it closed by setting an anvil on it. When the glue dried Deirdre sanded it down and then put another coat of Osmo on the whole counter top. Deirdre doesn't come often, but she sure gets stuff done when she does!
Also, I've been working on door and window mouldings. As with everything, it's rather slow since I'm making all of the molding boards from scratch. Of course, neither the door nor any of the windows are actually flush with the walls, so I have to cut kerfs in the back of the boards to adjust for the different levels. The door turned out pretty well though. Now I need to paint it something other than white...
Incipient moulding boards for the windows.
Finished mouldings
More mouldings...
Snowing outside, but moulding boards inside!
Yep, it's January!
