A Little Organizing

My latest project for the kitchen was concentrated on one spot, a drawer, specifically the KFS drawer. It needed a little organizing, and to use the space a little smarter I did it in layers, just two. We had most of the items in a couple of drawers and this wasn't very efficient so this is our solution. The front two utensil holders slide form side to side to gain access to the space below and the back section is deeper to accommodate those items. So far so good we'll see once we start using it more.

Not very efficient. 

Hard to get at things.

Much better.

Slide the KFS to one side and get at the pizza cutter.

Move the two holders to the right and more KFS.

Mud And Tape, Once Again

Apparently it was time to mud around the patio door that was installed almost two years ago, oh ya lets change the colour of the room as well, after all it's been up for almost four years. I agree it was time. It didn't take long and there's more to do but for now the lions share is done and the new colour is nice. You can't see it in from the pictures but it is a little more green than is shows, not too much that is.

A little tape and mud.

Tiding up the wall.

Starting to look better.

Primer cleans it up.

Primer helps cover the old blue.

A new look.

A Closet Door

The closet door is in and looks good, but it was installed in a different location. It is still in the master closet, AKA the dressing room, but it is now the door to the closet in the closet. ReBecca had a crystal door knob and it fits the door perfectly. Now I have 4 more to do. These I may be doing from scratch and not modifying older ones, more of a custom fit. Good luck to me.

It looks great.

The Closet Door

This may be a typical closet door and is going in the usual place where the closet is (was) but with some modifications. The door way this door is going in doesn't just stop in a small closet it goes into ReBecca's closet, AKA "The Dressing Room". The door requires some modification, a bit narrower and longer. They were sized to width and then glued together with 16 large biscuit's, and form the side cut off I made an extension for the bottom. Once the extension was ready I secured it the same way and then carved out the profile to match the rest of the door. To paint it will be a challenge, I built a little jig to hold it off the table so I can turn it over several time to catch any drips, which will happen when using a brush with all the louvers. This is the primer coat and I think I'll try ReBecca's suggestion and spray paint the finished coats, this should give a better look.

Before the work.

After the primer coat is on.

You can see the jig in place. Actually screwed to the bench.

This worked very well, moving from font to back a lot.

Let In The Light

Well the door is in and with 15 panes of glass this should let in lots of light. Prior to the door going in we used a large piece of Styrofoam to block off the doorway, keeping the animals from getting all over the projects ReBecca is working on. Now with the door it's easier to just pull it behind her rather than fitting the Styrofoam in place. The door stops are in and I'll be doing the trim work later in the winter, this way when I get the pine we'll bring it into the house for a little while, helping it dry out and shrink a bit for a better fit and looks better in the winter when things dry out normally.

Door frame in place.

Clean looking door into the studio.

A more rustic look from the inside.

New Door

Well it's new to us anyway. This was a great find at the Re-Use It store in Saint John. The inside cleaned up well but the outside was well worn, the paint baked on, as well as several gouges on the bottom under the door knob, most likely from a dog. I cleaned up the outside to a point, ReBecca wants to leave it rough looking for the inside of the studio, so just a bit of fine sanding to smooth it out and several coats of poly for protection. The inside, now the outside was primed and got a few coats of white paint. What took so long was the stripper was a bit harsh, on me and once that was cleaned up and before any poly or paint went on, all the 15 window muntins had to be sanded and the windows panes masked off to reduce the amount of scraping that was done cleaning the glass, both sides. It's ready to go, with an old mortised lock-set to go in and older knobs that you'll see once it' up.

It was grey.

The inside after the poly, windows taped.

The outside, ready for tape.

Primer is on.

Three coats of paint.

Windows cleaned up, looks good.

Late Update

I forgot to post this update for the small wall for the door into the studio, it's painted and looks like it has been there all along. Now to strip and do a little repair work to our 'new to us' re-purposed door and it can get installed.

Add a little color and voilà.

Just need a door now.

Minor Repairs

Last week ReBecca noticed the cold water tap in the tub would just keep turning, on, off, on, off all in the same direction. This makes it hard to shut everything off, so a new tap was required, and to install it I had to open the wall on the other side. I made a 13" x 48" opening to work in, put in the new tap, shower extension and faucet. I was going to just screw the piece back on, but we talked and just in case we have to do it again, I make a little frame around it and the opening, After a little mud to try and straiten the wall so it looks good, a bit of paint and some magnets to just keep it in place, all is done and it doesn't look too bad.

Enough room to work.

A little woodwork and mud.

Add a small frame.

Set everything back in place.

Rock And Mud

Today the sheet rock and mud went on, it shouldn't take too long for the mud to dry, then a little wet sanding, more mud and so on and so forth. You know how it goes. It may look dark but the blinds in the studio are closed, the door has 15 pains of glass so lots of light shining in.

Just a little sheet rock.

Looking out.

Easy job with the mud, this time.

I used paper tape instead of the mesh
type.

A Little Wall

One more item to tackle, this time it's a wall for a door to the studio. This way ReBecca can just round up the cats out of the studio and close the door without having to pack everything up. The door we got is from the Re-Use it store in Saint John, it has I believe 15 pains of class, so lots of light coming through, we don't want it to be dark.

All framed up ready for drywall.

Lots of light will still come in.

60 Liner Feet Of Shelving

With 60 liner feet of shelving you would think one might have plenty of room, well guess again. This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to books, at least it's the lions share of art related ones anyway. They not organized yet as we just want to get everything up and out of the way for now. She also has several mobile bins that will go along the bottom for easy access. As I said before it is coming together.

Still room at the top.

A Very Busy Day

Yesterday was a very busy day, right away I put some mud on spots that needed touching up. While it was drying I picked up the pine ( 1 x 2 x 14 ft) and ReBecca was in town to see what shelving parts were available. After that we went into Saint John to do a little shopping, and get additional shelving parts that weren't available in town. It was a very quick trip, two stops and lunch all in under two hours. Once we got home I got busy sanding the touch ups, I vacuumed and mopped the floor, pulled down the plastic patrician and primed everything. Then two coats of ceiling paint, two coats of wall paint and a good coat on the floor to dry over night. All in all a very good day. Today the shelf wall mounts and brackets are up and the shelves will be up soon, once they are cut to desired length, those pictures later.

Primers on.

Ceiling is done, two coats.

Two coats on the walls.

Add a touch of color to the floor and it's done. 

The Last 8 Feet

After getting all the books and supplies moved from the last 8 feet ReBecca was done for the day, that was yesterday at 9:30 PM, and she started in the afternoon, she had it well organized and packed it. This morning we moved the book cases downstairs and I was able to start putting up the last 12 sheets of drywall. And because I could start a little earlier than planed, I got the seams taped and the mud is on. Tomorrow I'll get it sanded (wet sanding) apply the second coat of mud, get the fans going and maybe just maybe I could get it sanded and the third coat on. It's an open area and the corners are very easy to do.

The last 8 feet.

It only took 12 sheets to do this part.

The first coat of mud is on.

Looks good.

Inspiration Galore

As promised here is the floor, it is "Giverny Violet", the second coat is still wet in spots so it looks a little patchy right now. It will be a bit darker when dried. It's not the greatest paint, it will work until she finds something she likes, we don't want to rush it.

Lots of inspiration.