What’s Next – Take 2

In February we painted the room off the kitchen in preparation for the installation of the pantry.

https://follyandivy.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/whats-next/

 And now it is here.

Needs some minor adjustments and fixing – largely because my mind is not fixed on details the way it was a year ago. Which is both good and bad. Good because too much focus on house detail can lead to madness and almost did. Bad because I still decend into house madness (temporarily) over my failure to deal with this and that. Bottom cupboards need feet. Entirely my fault. Bookselves ended up with those ghastly hole for readjusting shelves. Having never readjusted a shelf in my life the mere sight of those holes drives me crazy. I am a firm believer in need for decisiveness when it comes to shelves.

In any event. Enough whining.

Way way way back I found the most amazing old kitchen cabinet at the Restore in Toronto. We loaded them in the truck and brought them home. Two years later it is finally part of the pantry.

I wrote about the purchase of these cupboards in March of 2009.

https://follyandivy.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/ode-to-ellen/

The upper cabinets are from the Restore. The bookshelves for cookbooks and the bottom cupboards were built to match. Countertop is hickory and matches the desk in the kitchen. (If you look closely you can see those dang holes. Once upon a day I’ll fill them with something.)

The copper belonged to our Oma. I do believe she would think this was a lovely place for it to live.

I stood in Lee Valley Tools holding these drawer pulls for at least half an hour. Maybe longer. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes.

Hardware is house jewelry. Too much and one needs to cover one’s eyes. Too little and everyone feels the sadness. Just right is mighty hard to find. These worked out quite well. (Less happy note. The drawers are really too small to be functional for much. My fault again. The intention was to use then for linens. Caught napping again. And likely it never dawned on the talented man who made these that I have many linen tablesclothes. I suspect not really a stable in many kitchens these days. They will not fit in these drawers. There is a solution. Shelves. I will put shelves in the bottom cupboards. Not as I envisioned. But just fine.)

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I should be posting everyday….

One might think that at this stage I would have pictures ready to go up everyday. And lots of news.

However.  It is not working out that way.

Last week the sander started sanding. But he did not start until Wednesday. So as of Friday he was still sanding. The plan is that he will finish on Monday. Then on Tuesday he will apply the stain. There will follow days of sanding and urethane.

My best guess is that the floors will be completely finished by a week Monday or Tuesday.

I spent a huge number of hours last week working on the stain colour. Trying desperately to replicate a colour I have been in love with for over a year. Old Mission. We are now on stain sample # 4. There have been three different people involved. Kinda of like the amazing race of floor colour. No word yet on a winner. All I know is that to stay on schedule one of the three has to produce Old Mission, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, by close of business on Monday.

Honest. You have no idea.

This is what I am aiming for. Old mission. Like the bungalow and the furniture and the woord. Like that.

Which takes us to trim. Another bit of trouble. Again. I have been everywhere. Final answer is that we will have the more important and visible trim replicated by a local custom trim shop. More on this later. We will (gag) use some MDF to make up for the cost of the above custom trim. And all will be well.

I took my mother’s chandelier to amazing light guy in Aurora. (Ken-Steph Lighting in Aurora)  My mother purchased the chandelier at a Paris flea market sometime in the 1950s. But the light is quite a bit older than that. I discovered today that the receptacles on the chandelier are in fact made of wood. A fact that has escaped me all these years. Oops. The chandelier has been hanging that way for almost 60 years here in Canada and god knows how many years before that.

It will be fixed and polished and be hung in the upstairs hallway. I can’t wait.

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