We almost killed each other but the lights are up

This was another project that I had assumed would be easier than it actually ended up being. I should probably sense a theme here but I'm not that bright. The three lights in the kitchen are now finally up. I suppose that the difficulty came with the awkwardness of putting up the middle light, trying to have one person hold it up (it's long and unwieldy, you can see) while the other made the connections. We also have a mess of wires in that middle box, as it is a three-way light, plus it has the main power and a line coming from the pendant on the other side of the room. Taken all together, it was a bitch to put up and figure out. Anyway, Thom learned all about electricity and those tricky 3-ways and got it all wired correctly. A toast all around for Thom, who is the Super Electrician, albeit begrudgingly so.

I'm off to start sanding and priming the cabinets. I'd like to have them all done by the end of the weekend but am trying to curb my overzealousness as it has not served me well up to this point. My husband asks, "What's the rush?" I respond, school starts in three weeks and who knows the madness that awaits me there. Moreover, this was my one summer goal (instead of a vacation or real actual fun) and I'd like to have it accomplished.  So, dammit, I want to get it done.

Old kitchen cabinets and new drawer slides?

Now that we're almost done with the ceiling portion of the program, it's time to move on to the cabinets. I removed all of the cabinet doors (which were disgustingly dirty, by the way) and am going to follow This Old House Magazine's trusty insert on refinishing kitchen cabinets, starting with using a TSP substitute to get all the nasty grime off of them.

As I was doing that (and after visiting my friend Ginger's house this past weekend), I dreamed of getting those awesome self-closing drawer slides on the drawers. Unclosed doors and drawers are a leading cause of distress in my marriage and I think not only would these be cool but they would save me from that feeling of disillusionment every time I have to close a kitchen drawer. I'm just trying to figure out from where I could get these and how to retrofit them. I found a bunch on the Internet but am admittedly overwhelmed by the many kinds, many different prices, and the whole thing altogether. Anyone done this? Tips? Good buys? 

Lights, camera, pass out

I have returned from my brief hiatus. Thom and I attempted to put up the three lights in the kitchen (while blinding our eyes to the less than perfect ceiling). We got up one okay and then started on the big one in the center - we realized we had several problems with which to contend, namely that the screws that hold the fixture to the brace were too short (i.e., I placed the junction box up too high) and that there are just too many wires, wire nuts, etc. to fit back under the fixture plate. We got some new screws but have not yet figured out the spacing issue. We're both a little wiped out so we're going to attempt the big one tomorrow but we got the other small one up above the sink. So, two done, one big one to go.

My hope is to start sanding the cabinets tomorrow. Our countertop from Ikea also arrives tomorrow afternoon but that will be a while. I was happy to see it live and in person at the showroom in Stoughton this past weekend and it looks beautiful. I can't wait to see it all put together.

On location: Stoughton, MA

I have escaped my DIY nightmare for a few days, coming down to visit one of my best friends from high school, Ginger, and her husband Pete. They just recently purchased an old Victorian and are working their way through renovating and renewing. Admittedly much more work than ours is (and about 25 years older), their house is just amazing. With the beautiful molding, gorgeous stained glass, and amazing trimwork, the house is a jewel.

Pete and Ginger have worked on about four houses now and this one is by far the biggest but since they moved in early spring, they've already had the entire house rewired, replumbed, and have just about completed the entire kitchen, added a laundry room, built a back porch, and have now skim coated and painted three other rooms. I can't wait to see how it all transforms after their hard work. It's like being in a candy store for me - I can hardly keep my paws to myself, wanting to start stripping wallpaper (ooh, they have amazing specimens here) and helping to strip the paint off the beautiful corbels in the front of the house. I'm trying to get them to start a blog to chronicle their hard work and join the community of housebloggers. I can imagine many of you equally swooning over the details of this amazing house. I'll try to score a few photos so you can see what I'm talking about.

Grrr. Argh.

I was wrong. I admit it. I thought that putting drywall up was difficult. No, that's a cake walk compared to taping and mudding it correctly. The most frustrating thing about this whole process has been that just when you think you're done and it looks good, a bubble appears (or twelve). I worked last night on cutting them out and filling the gaps. I finally primed today only to find a million more that popped up that were never there before. Even more frustrating about this process is the fact that you think you have everything smooth and nice and then you prime it and see that it's not all that smooth after all. I'm sure there's some easy and sane way to figure this out before you prime but I obviously do not know what it is.

A while ago I was reading several other housebloggers' sites who talked about hiring out. One even mentioned that they were sure other DIYers would scoff at them for doing so. In fact, I admittedly did scoff a bit. Now that it's all said and done, though, I would hire someone else to do this - well, maybe just the taping. It's certainly an art with which I have not been gifted and knowing my Type A personality, it will probably continue to bother me every single day I live in this house. I can just see it: walking through the kitchen and having my eyes immediately drawn to the bubbled areas on the ceiling. How annoying. The funny thing is that I have come to appreciate the bumpy nature of our old plaster and have left it "natural" instead of skimcoating the walls after I removed the wallpaper. I find nothing appealing about poorly done drywall, however. To me it just reaks of inaccuracy and ineptitude. Oh, blah. I need a vacation.

Going slowly insane

I think I'm going crazy. I just finished typing the last post, feeling free and easy, thinking I was finally done (for the second night, you'll notice) and I go into the kitchen for a snack and suddenly see lots of little bubbles under the drywall tape where there had never been any before. WTF?!?! It looked like everything was fine and suddenly these things are everywhere. I had a couple yesterday and I slit them open with a razor and put some more mud under them this morning. Those seem to be fine but now there are a bunch more. I am so frustrated!

Ready to prime

Okay, I'm really done now. I spent a few hours this morning trying to tidy up the ceiling seams and get it ready for priming tomorrow. It's not perfect, by any means, but I think it's "as good as I can get it." That's my mantra, anyway. This was our first drywalling experience and it wasn't easy, that's for sure, but we certainly learned a lot. Here's how I would sum up our lessons learned:

1) Rent a drywall lift. You may think, "Oh, we can do it. How heavy can 14-foot sheets of drywall really be?" Believe me, they're heavy. And, your friends will thank you for not taking advantage of them.
2) Have a comfortable ladder. You're standing up there a lot of the time and it's a good thing.
3) If it's your first time, practice mudding on a spare piece of drywall or on a wall first. I noticed it took me quite a while to get used to the intricacies of holding and feathering with the knives, especially as they got progressively bigger.
4) Definitely use three different sizes of knives. I thought this seemed excessive in all the instruction booklets but I totally get it now.
5) Take frequent breaks. Your neck and back will thank you.
6) Use a drywall sponge after the last coat instead of sanding. It works really well.
7) If you have money, hire someone else to do it (just kidding...but maybe not).