Leon, you are right that I am making an envelope out of it just one layer thick. I think it is important to have a wide contact area on the ground, to get as much heat out of the ground. Remember that a couple feet down there is a 55-degree heat radiator which is downright toasty when its 0F in the air! So I would not make it too narrow. I don't tie down my branches at all, I just prune them. Fignut, I must have used around 120' for my two rows: 30' of row length, two sides, and double height. To figure out how much to use on a tree just go run a string around it at the widest spot and measure the length. I built the covers in-place: I just wrapped the stuff around the trees. If anyone is going to try this, here are a couple more tips. I found the best attachment technique to build the envelope is to staple every couple of inches. The staple seam I use is an "outsie", with the two sheets put back to back and stapled an inch or so from the edges. I originally used somewhat more widely spaced staples but it ripped apart there so I went to 2" spacing. You need to have the cover low enough that it touches the ground on all sides. If it is not touching everywhere the wind will come in and ruin your effort. It is also very important to have some way to firmly attach the bottoms and to "cinch" a rope around it. Before I figured out how to attach it well I had the covers blowing all over my yard. Running ropes over the top does some good but the cover can still slide all over if it is not attached to the ground. To attach to the ground I mainly use ground staples (6"-long tine staples). If you hammer them all the way in and use enough of them, say one per foot, that cover is not coming up. If you don't use enough ground staples the cover may come up and rip a hole where the staple was. One other thing I do is when I get them on there may be a few branches keeping the cover from getting on all the way. I then get under the cover and prune back the offending limbs. I do prune before putting the covers on but there always seems to be a couple limbs that are keeping the cover from coming down all the way. Scott

Installing sanding and finishing antique heart pine is about 60% of our business. Most of the pine we have been buying lately is reclaimed from textile mills in the CarolinaÂs and northern Georgia. As sb345 said the oil is probably light machine oil that was used on the machines in the textile mills. This oil would cover the wood floors in the mill and soak down into the large beams below the flooring. These beams are now sawn into flooring so some of this flooring will have only a few areas of this oil but others can be completely saturated with this oil. A photo of this flooring would help. I have never seen oil on flooring from milling but I guess it could happen. Tell your finisher to do some test with different finishing systems on the oily areas before trying to finish the entire floor. It would be best to get a finisher experienced with this oily pine but if your finisher does his homework he can be successful. If your are going with a natural finish, Zinsser SealCoat or Parks Universal Sealer (both dewaxed shellac) will almost always seal in the oil and blend the color of the oiled areas to the areas with no oil. We have never had a failure using this sealer under an oil or water-based finish on this oily wood. My favorite finish system for this oily pine is tung oil. After sanding we use two coats of Waterlox Original Sealer and two coats of Waterlox Satin Finish. What ever finish system you use try to get the first coat on as quick as you can after final sanding because the oil will work its way to the surface of the flooring and mix with the finish. Good Luck

You have a lot of space, it's just not working very well, esp those little lips that pass for work spaces. If you could really re-do the entire space cost effectively, that would be best, not only for now but for longterm. Can you give us a good idea of what you have in budget and how much DIY you can expend? And where you are in the nation--climate, costs, labor, etc? One problem with planning on finding antiques and useful castoffs is that you will find them a week after you quit your search and commit to a plan B. Doesn't sound as if you have the luxury of time to collect useful stuff. I like to think that our G-shaped kitchen is somewhat like a farm kitchen. We can have 4 working cooks inside without saying "excuse me." We got new oak "shaker" cabinetry by a local guy at $8,000-10,000 and $3500 for finish and installation--you can avoid much of this if you re-use your oldies and work in some additional ones or perhaps just doors, trims, etc. We had to put in new floor and walls and plumbing and electrical fittings and had to marry three wood floors and accompanying walls, which was a big expenditure in time and money. You're in a better position--not making new spaces. As you note, you don't need to follow all the fanciest choices--we sure didn't for much of our project. I like the idea of Ikea butcherblock (we have two hunks of this in beech) but don't discount the new laminate countertops either. Don't feel the need to buy new appliances right now--you can leave standard spaces and swap out your stuff later. That's what we did--hard to trash or sell a 4 yr old Energy Star refrig so we didn't put it into a custom housing. When it dies or someone decides to trade it out, it can go. We have very modest appliances; affordable white enamel in sinks and appliances. If the old cabs are salvageable, it's possible to get doors to match new units. Or give your plain slab fronts a custom paint treatment, perhaps paint with one color and add a distinctive recurrent stencil motif along the bottoms of doors or such in a complimentary color. Then if the other new unit doors are similar, the motif can be used to make them match more. It's very important to plan for the young people when they become adults, or at least adult in physical presence. What will grown up women feel like in the space--you and a subordinate or co-cook? That collision potential was the worst aspect of our old kitchen and the best part of our better planned new space. I actually like other people better in an efficient kitchen than in an inefficient kitchen, or put it another way, my old kitchen made me dislike my own family sometimes. On one of my constant tirade topics, I recommend pullout breadboards/cutting boards to expand work surfaces and plunk space. Are your countertops less than 24 inches at present or do they just seem narrow? Eliminating the 1-inch backsplash at back give you another inch of room on counter. What amp electrical service do you have and how extensive will the work be to bring everything to code if it's not there already? Will you be opening up any exterior walls? If so, insulate, insulate, insulate. Even if it costs. Since you have marked that you are moving the sink, give yourself permission to really redo the room arrangement--you're committed to plumbing costs already. Strongly urge you to visit the paint counter each time you are in a store--ask about "mistake paint." One of our vendors gives it away; others ask $5 per gallon. This stuff might give you the freedom to paint insides of cabs & closets, clean up stained areas, etc. You can try some experiments with it too. Consider a movable work/island cart as a way to expand efficiency. If the floor cleans up but still looks sad, consider stencil painting a design on it, perhaps in a classic folk motif if that's your taste. Or just checks, stripes, rectangles for rugs, whatever. There are a lot of examples to look at and a wise pattern can reinforce or define a room's visual layout--walkpaths, work zones, etc.

In case Jenn gets notifications on this thread, I have a similar problem. I wanted to use sconces but think there is not enough room so I think we might need to use a bathroom bar. How is the lighting you are receiving from the lighting? Are the shadows impossible? Troubling? Minimal? Thanks...should you see this.