I have the non-handled version of the claw, somewhere. I don't think I've ever used it. I don't remember if I bought it or if it was a shower gift (my wedding shower this time was a garden shower).

Like the light and agree with schicksal...I miss meatloaf. I always say I'll make one just for me, but I've only done it once or twice in 14 years. I should see if his parents like it. At least then I could take them some. Or even if one of them likes it, that could kill two birds.

Done with job#2 for the day, now have to do job#1 work and figure out the next couple topics for Stats and write a few quizzes and HW assignments.

Love the post topic. For me, it has been 19 consecutive weekends at the beach. A record that may last a long time. Phooey on chores, planting and cleaning. if the other 3 boring seasons hold true, there just may be 36 weekends of indoor time. What a horrible thought.

Been working on my kitchen details.

I think we've picked a counter top, okay I love this wood. (See link below.) We will DIY it all. I want my corners mitered. ;) butcher block counters either way. Apron front sink, keeping white appliances until they need replacing.

We will go with Gray cabs all drawers. Taking away the peninsula over hang, I think I'll shorten it from 7' to 6' too and make it regular counter width. He will build me a custom hood cover. Still undecided on any uppers. Some open shelving. Tiled walls.

I am leaning to a cork floor in the kitchen. He wants to put bamboo down EVERYWHERE!
We will be centering the sink on the window, moving the dishwasher to the left of the sink and recessing the fridge and new facing pantry into the short wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Madrone Butcher Block Counters

That sounds pretty cool. How would you finish or and from what species?

All the yard work sounds exhausting but it's still a bit hot and humid here IMO.

This afternoon I cut the grass, put a practice coat of water based poly on the damaged door (love it!) and put in the formal living room light. I also met someone else who just moved to the neighborhood and is working on their place. It came with a couple of damaged original doors set to the side that they were going to throw out. One of them happened to have a set of hinges identical to what I need. I now have enough of them to complete my project :)

Here's the new light.

Knew you'd find the hinges!

Someone asked about the bread knife (and I didn't make bread). I put a link at the bottom. We've had one of the knives you get at the fair as our bread knife forever. But he's on a knife kick so...whatever. The other knife did squish the bread, so it'll be interesting to see if this makes a difference.

terri - Oooh, I would have liked cork floors. I was afraid they wouldn't be dog friendly enough. And I love that butcher block!

I just made home made mac and cheese for the first time. Crazy, I know.

We go up to Point Reyes and have been to a few cooking classes at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company farm. I don't know what I like best...the cheese, the farm, or the family/company. Lots of good memories.

One of their cheeses, Toma, they have a recipe for a mac and cheese that revolves around it. I looked up a few different recipes and combined them (a milestone for me...not following one recipe exactly). DH got some Toma, some kind of special cheddar and some gruyere. I made mac and cheese. It was awesome! A little dry (need more sauce/cheese or less pasta). DH says it's a little rich, but I said you're not supposed to eat a mountain of it. You're supposed to have a salad, maybe a protein, and some mac and cheese (but I'm still going to go get seconds.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Tojiro Bread Knife

I have almost HALF of the front porch stained! It has only been 2.75 years!
Whose idea was it to do these spindles!?! Ok, mine.....but I thought somebody else would paint it.... I am using white opaque stain, but even after 2 coats, it looks like I bought paint at the dollar store for $3 a gallon, so I am using the stain as a sealer, and I will paint over it.

As to species, really love the Madrone, but the maple is lovely as well. We'll take a road trip to their showroom soon and oogle. I just found them on line, they do recycled glass and paper and lots of other "green" things.
The walnut is beautiful too but a but dark for my space.

Probably just finish with waterlox and go from there.

Cal, I have a sample of cork from HD Slate Plank Cork from Heritage Mill. LOVE IT!

And we also picked up a Hand scraped Bamboo in Cafe. Love it too, but I spend way to much time in the kitchen to have a hard surface in there..and I don't do rugs in there.

Shicksal, that light is soooo cool!

Mac and cheese should be rich..and cheesy and oooh so yummy. Lol

I have cream cheese swirl brownies in the oven, making sausage patties for breakfast sands, and made a big pot of Tuscano knock off soup. I love that stuff!

Hey you two meatloaf lovers...it freezes really well. Make small loaves. Freeze for a night when your mate isn't home for dinner!

Oh weird, I apparently have a bread knife. It's either a wedding present, something extra my parents had or both.

Waiting on Fedex to call so I can go run home. I'm glad it's a morning delivery because the afternoon / evening has a 90% chance of rain.

Reading about all this food is making me hungry. My other half made breakfast burritos with some leftover chorizo we had. She did a great job but I may need to help her learn how to cook the potatoes a bit more thoroughly.

Schicksal- I could tell ours were needing to be replaced because the door was getting harder to open, the rollers were sticking and dragging instead of easily turning.

This is what the old rollers looked like

and this is what the new ones look like

Hope that helps.

Guess who grouted their breezeway floor this morning? That's right, this chick right here!!

A nice start to a (hopefully) productive week.

Good Job!

Awesome! Also it sounds like rollers for one of our garage doors need to be addressed soon.

Today FedEx dropped of the replacement for the damaged door and I put two costs of finish on the doors that are installed. Water based polyurethane is so easy to apply! I always used to make a mess out of the oil based stuff but this comes out looking perfect.

The replacement globe for the pendant light also came in and it's installed, and I put in the last of the "real" light switches in a 4 gang box so that can get closed up now.

Not a bad day. Tomorrow after work I want to put three more coats of finish on the doors and get back to work on casing and baseboard.

Shicksal, you are ticking those things off your list quick!

Thanks!

The spreadsheet still has a lot of things left on it. The big stuff remaining in the kitchen are the second magnetic low voltage dimmer switch for the undercabinet lighting, stainless for the toe kick, and finishing putting in the toe kick and pantry lights. The doors for the pantry are also a big one.

Still need to build the new front door and sidelight

Still need the light above the leaf in the formal living room

Family room needs a light above the table, fan, veneer for the exposed beam and remaining baseboards/casing.

I'm feeling confident that everything will be finished by the end of October.

Cars and deer ... not a good combination!

That's all I'm sayin!

O.O

ummmm...?

Lazygardens, I hope you are all right. Those creatures can do a lot of damage (even when not part of an MVA!)

I haven't been posting although enjoy reading all the progress. I am saving the wallpaper stripping and painting in the basement stairs and organizing the basement until the weather is too cold for outdoors tasks

Yesterday I went into work on my day off for my yearly evaluation. Yay, I get to work another year! While there I took the opportunity to forage a bit -- along the walking path that surrounds the employee parking, there are 3 mature, neglected apple trees that are LOADED with fruit. All spotty of course, but amazingly no worm damage. Who knows what varieties they are -- one may be a golden delicious, of the other 2, one is insipid, the other acceptable. So, I picked a tote bag full from the tastier 2 trees.

Then at home I picked about a half gallon of tiny cherry or grape tomatoes (the great-great-great or so grandchildren of the first tomato I ever planted) and the lone quince that was produced after my drastic pruning last summer.

After that dug out about 8 monstrous asters (boy can those things reseed), and a couple of volunteer loosestrife, deadheaded the perennial ageratum and blue lobelia, discovered and pulled a patch of Asiatic dayflower, made another attack on the Canadian thistle (neverending until the neighbor starts doing the same)and started to reign in the rampant morning glories. I noticed that for some reason my strawberries are growing like wildfire -- odd because it seems almost everything else has struggled this summer.

Then, while watching The Voice, I prepped half the apples and made a pie. Not the tart apples that I would normally use, but hey -- it was free and not at all bad!

This morning I cleaned and halved the tomatoes and set them in the dehydrator. I had dried some plum tomatoes in the oven earlier in the summer and loved the result, so I though I would try it with the little ones. I bought a dehydrator last week off craigslist. This one plant is so productive, I will still harvest enough to make a couple of jars of tomato jam and maybe green tomato mincemeat.

This afternoon I am determined to get my dwarf apple trees and cherry tree planted. They've been in buckets since last fall so I fear the roots are irredeemably stunted.

Oh you meat loaf lovers (and I am one, my mother's recipe is the absolute best!) definitely make it in mini loaf pans -- or a usual pan, then divide -- and freeze. It keeps really well and then -- you don't have to share!

Here is the morning glory/aster/etc jungle before I started work on it; that big plant on the right is a pineapple sage that I divided and overwintered, and replanted in the spring. It is almost 4 feet across now and smells lovely!

raee, I like your jungle! Do you have an After pic?

I'm stalling out on my latest table refinishing project. Citristrip took 99.5% of the paint off the table with ease, but it's oak, and I'm not having any success getting out the paint (or more likely primer) that is deep in the pores. I may be reduced to sanding the heck out of the whole thing, which is not my first choice.

I suppose I could buy a half dozen chemical strippers to see if I can find one that works, but I'd rather not. I've been using a brass-bristled brush to scrub, and that helps, but it isn't completely effective - and would take months.

The table is for my brother and his wife, and I have my heart set on stain and varnish. I think I have some gel stain - perhaps I'll try that, to see if it covers the paint flecks.

Hi everyone. I read every day but not much to share right now. Workload shows no signs of slacking off, so I've only got a hour or two free time each day. We finally got through the wife's eye surgeries and followups today, and I'm starting to make some progress on the house again. After she rejected my tile choice for the chimney in the bedroom, we went to a design store today and she picked this out (the tile is porcelain):

pic 1: The tile up close with the trim and floor:

pic 2: The tile against the chimney and the whole wall The fir trim will eventually darken very close to the cherry in the door, so essentially it will lose the yellow undertone and transition to reddish-brown:

So, any feedback? I don't know. I guess it looks okay. She always seems to be right when it comes to matching colors. It has sparklies in it, like marble, which is something she wanted. I think the tile availability is 12 x 24" and 6 x 6" Will find out tomorrow for sure. I will need some advice laying it out, whatever we end up with.

A pattern like this but with pieces obviously that aren't as wide would be cool. Otherwise I'd hit up google image search for fireplace stone/tile and find something that fits the material.
(photo shamelessly stolen from someone's thread on the Decor forum)

Today I wrapped up finishing the family room facing side of the new doors + one coat on the other side. I really, REALLY like the stuff I'm finishing them with. Normally when I try something like this it ends up a big mess. This is the first time it's ever worked out.

Also the baseboards that I cut are finally painted so they can go in, and the drywall around one of the 4 gang wall boxes has been reworked. Three counter stools and the last light switch I need are on order. I still need to order the dining area light, ceiling fan and doorknobs but try not to do too much damage in one day. Those are the last of the major expenses at least.

Tomorrow after work looks pretty booked too. Hopefully this sort of thing can continue.

raee, love the jungle.

lazygardens, hope everyone is ok.

doug, I'm just still drooling over the floor. It's SO pretty. I like the look of the stone/tile, but those sizes...I don't know what I'd do.

I went into HD yesterday after work. I don't know if I mentioned that DHL called the end of last week and said they have a package to deliver. I called and confirmed it's the end panel. It was supposed to be delivered to HD so I wouldn't have to take a day off to wait around for it. It's now been re-directed there. I got a chance to tell my whole saga to the "store manager". However, according to the HD website, he's not the store manager and his email is "specialtyasm". ::shrug:: It sounds like the same GC is still going to be on the job. Can you BELIEVE that I forgot to ask if it's the case that the GC was paid (and lied about us signing off)? I thought of it, it left my mind. So I emailed him the question later. I said that that's one of the many things that has left us distrustful of this GC and I'd like to know if that part is true. We'll see.

So soon we should be working on coordinating the floor guy, SZ installer and cabinet guy(GC's guy) and try to get that end panel changed out. Plus get the GC to finish all the rest. Going to try to do it minimizing time lost from work.

Two comments and both mention tile size. Is this a uh-oh, better slow down moment?

Schicksal - I have so little experience with stone. Would it be possible to cut these tiles down? The chimney surfaces are 42" wide on the face and 16" on the side, so I was hoping for 12" or 16-18" tiles. I honestly don't know what to do about that outside corner either. The design lady suggested bullnose tile for that. I had planned on not grouting the tiles and I think if I started cutting all the tiles, the law of compounding errors would overwhelm me and I would have to start over.

Cal-q - Thanks. The flooring is one of the few things that did not go over budget and went very high on the quality price ratio.

People are fine ... deer is dead ... car is in body shop :(

And I'm calling in the PROFESSIONALS to do the @#%!#@$ !@#~ painting!

Lazygardens- glad you are safe at least, I've seen people injured in wrecks with a deer, not pretty.

Doug- do you have a tile saw? If you were extremely careful, and if the color goes all the way through the tile, I think it could be done. Those white tiles above that are in my breezeway? The underside and cut sides are red. I can't imagine trying to use those cut without grout.

As for me, today was again productive. I am building something for my kitchen, got it built tonight and will hopefully have it finished in the next few days.
I don't want to say what it is though, I'll leave it as a surprise for a mini-reveal. Unless of course it looks horrible, then I might just pretend I never made it! ;)

Texas - Your floor looks nice. I have no tile saw yet and have never cut a piece of tile in my life. I set ceramic tile in part of a tub surround once on a job and then grouted it. That's it! Cutting wood is my specialty. Been doing that all my life, so saws per se do not intimidate me. I'm hoping cutting tile will be similar as long as I go slow.

Luckily, the color goes all the way through, so I'm good there.

I looked up the tile sizes. The selection is 12 x 24, 6 x 6, and 3 x 24 in that pattern.

lol, TG....that's the ticket....brag or forget it...we'll wait to see which it is.

I like the stone Doug, but no clue as to size or how to apply it.

Music Festival Debriefing meeting tonight. I think I've signed on for another year. But not totally yet.

I applied for a new position. Job bidding closes next Tuesday afternoon. I received 2 phone calls regarding it before it was even posted.(Today at 3:45) First one was from the person leaving (Friday morning after she accepted her new position) second was from a person that works in that office, first thing Monday after she told the office staff she was "moving on".
If I were to get this it would be a BIG raise. Which means kitchen budget grows!

Schicksal- A word to the wise regarding water based poly.

I used it to finish my cabinets. I had a custom builder build my cabs then I stained and site finished them in water based poly (so my house wouldn't stink) and I didn't use enough coats.

I put on 3 coats, which I thought would be enough and they do look very nice but any time I deep clean the cabs with a wash rag, pledge, whatever, some of the cab color ends up on my rag so I know, though I'm dreading doing it, that I need to remove the doors and drawers and apply another couple of coats of poly.

The can said 3 coats, I'm thinking more like maybe 6 though I'm not certain yet as I haven't recoated.

The doors have 5 coats so hopefully they'll be ok. It's a learning experience on my end.

@ terri_pacnw - good luck with the promotion

@doug - you can cut the tiles but if they have a slight bevel to the edges you'll notice that the tile has been cut because three sides will still have it and the fourth side will not. Normally when I see wide tiles used to cover a fireplace they've looked like big river rocks or field stones.

I'm up early writing and grading tests/quizzes. A lot of things are conspiring against me making this more difficult (mysterious disappearing email, out of ink at school, out of paper here, wrong software on wrong computer). I think I've got things made, just have to find someone to print some stuff at school.

I'm took Sat/Sun off from job #2 this coming weekend. I needed two full days off. I was invited to a party, and I'm going to go. But is it bad that I'm begrudging it being in my time off? Oh well.

My tick list for the weekend will be mostly outdoor stuff. Maybe the kitchen painting. MIL pointed out it'll be easier to get the ceiling edge before the floating shelves are up. And of course, she's right.

TG I missed your floor before. That's awesome! I want to tile something.

Doug I hear it's often the best deal to buy a tile saw rather than rent. And that once you do it, you end up doing more.

Terri good luck! When would you know about the new position?

wow, busy morning posters. I woke up way to early.

I suppose we should buy a tile saw too, since I am thinking about tiling one to two walls in the kitchen redo.

The job closes at 3:30 next Tuesday. If there is a Sr. bidder I am toast. I would be moving to a new classification, so no seniority. However, if there isn't one, and I don't think there is, they may do interviews. So it could be late next week before a decision is made. I have already worked with the principal, so he knows my skills and my personality. So he could just choose to forgo all that and just offer the job.

I woke up not feeling good about this tile thing, but that will pass :) At least I now have direction on color and texture.

Schicksal - Thanks for the input. The big tiles have enough bevel to remove the texture at the edges, so a cut would show. The 6 x 6 tiles, however, are straight cut and the edges show the ripples in the texture. I'll talk to the dealer again today.

Glad you had success with the poly. 5 coats should be plenty. I've never gone beyond 3 and have always gotten a smooth surface.

Texas - Something went wrong on your cabinets. Even one coat of poly should have sealed any stain used. Was the poly that you applied tinted? Maybe that is what is happening, but I just can't imagine out how stain is leaching out through the poly, especially through 3 coats.

cal_q - Checking Craigslist every day! Apparently, everyone thinks their beat up tile saw is worth a trip to Europe. And, yes, I plan quite a bit of tile work in the bathrooms and downstairs, so I definitely need to get started on my career as a tile setter :)

Terri - Rain, sweet rain. I'm sure we got at least an inch last night.

quite a bit of rain up North too. it's balmy out right now. windy last night as well, fir needles everywhere!

Doug- I stained my cabs with General Finishes water based stain and used Minwax Polycrylic to finish them. When the first coat of poly went on, it lifted some stain into the poly. I knew it would happen since they are both water based, but with small children and cabs already installed, I needed to use products that wouldn't give off bad fumes.

Since the poly got tinted by the stain, are you saying my cabs should still be protected by the poly I applied?

I knew going into it that it wouldn't be as good as a factory finish with pre-cat lacquer but, like I said, fumes.

The other thing I have noticed is if a water droplet rests on the cab surface too long, when you wipe it away, it looks like this.

I REALLY don't want to have refinish my cabs but I'm not sure what else I can do. :(

Texas - I did some digging. Apparently, polycrylic is not a true polyurethane, but I did find that once cured water will not reactivate polycrylic, so something else is going on regarding your water spots.

The stain itself should not have lifted when you applied the polycrylic. Did you cure the stain long enough? I also saw on the Minwax polycrylic page that their brand of red mahogany stain is not compatible with polycrylic and your picture sure looks like you used a red mahogany stain. Even though you used a different brand, that may be what is happening here.

If it is a stain incompatibility, you may only have to coat with a clear water-based polyurethane to fix it. Try some in an inconspicuous area and see if that locks in the stain and then see if you can still bring out the stain once fully cured. If that works, then all you should have to do is clean and sand the old finish and re-coat over the polycrylic with polyurethane.

Wow Doug, thank you so much for the research!

I used GF rosewood water based stain, it was the only thing I found that was the color I wanted. It said on the back dry time was 2-4 hours and I let them sit overnight before applying poly (if memory serves, it was several months ago that I did it)

Do you have a recommendation for a clear water based polyurethane?

You are very welcome. Without knowing exactly why your stain is bleeding, we are all in the dark here. Unfortunately, you will never be able to remove the stain, so it's either lock it in or live with it.

I now use Minwax oil-modified water-based polyurethane on everything. I'm on my second gallon with no ventilation and the odor has never bothered me or my wife, and she has a very sensitive nose.

You might also call Minwax's 800 number and explain your problem. I called them once on a problem with their poly sagging on a vertical surface they were very knowledgeable and helpful in how to work around this problem.

Today was not that exciting. I completed the three doors that I have been working on and put in more casing. Guess it's time to measure how much more is needed and buy it.

Car stuff came in this evening so I'll play with that tomorrow.

Here's how one of the doors look. They all are somewhat different, but I think they are supposed to be like that.

No night owls yesteday?

Looks like everyone "quit" early. Lol
My youngest had a home football game. Dinner was Take out Korean. Bed came pretty early. Lol

I'm making progress on my project but its going slower than I wish because for the past 2 days my 3 year old has refused to take her nap and that's the only time I get to work on it during the day.

Still shooting for completion by Saturday though.

That door is beautiful!

I don't remember if it was last night or the night before, we went to bed at 7:40pm or so and I think I was asleep at 7:41. That may be the earliest I've ever ever ever gone to sleep.

School work, other school work (Academic Decathlon), job # 2 work, sleep repeat.

Thanks!

Yesterday I did not work on the house. Instead I put in some new injector seals on the project car. Some 25 year old rubber hoses did not survive the experience so hopefully it's a common enough part for the dealer to have a couple sitting around instead of me having to order them online.

Arg!! Ran out of supplies so I had to wake the kids up from their naps to go into town and get more. I'm determined to get it finished today!!

Schick- I am not surprised the hoses didn't make it. Hope you can find replacements easily enough. What kind of car is it again?

D*mn it.
I just had a novel written, but my touchpad is so touchy, it moves, highlights, deletes, changes screens, blah blah as if it had a life of its own.

I'm too annoyed to do it over, so will just say hi, hope everyone's recovering from whatever they need to (deer, etc.) dining well (love meatloaf) and can't wait to see the Mercedes.

Christine

OK, my secret project isn't completely finished but I am ready to reveal it at least.

I built.....a temporary kitchen island. Our budget ran way over (big surprise there) and so weve had to put off getting the island and buffet cabinet built. Turns out to be a good thing because I've been putting painters tape on the floor in different configurations, lengths, widths, etc to try to figure out the dimensions of the island in order to have sufficient walkways.

Since we always used our peninsula in the old kitchen for breakfast and lunch, I've been really annoyed at having to use the formal dining room for every single meal.

I finally said "FORGET IT" (that's not exactly the term I used) and decided, why not build a temporary island. Then I'll have my casual dining and place for the kids to do homework and I'll be able to see if the dimensions will work.

It is 8 feet long, 25 inches wide and built using a sheet of 7 ply birch and 2 4x4x6 pine. I ripped the plywood into the right width, then ripped 1 inch pieces to attach to the edges so the counter would appear thicker. Cut the 4x4s, screwed them in place. Used the router to soften all the edges so there wasn't any sharp corners for babies to get hurt on.

I've spent the past few days sanding and painting it. I put on a chocolate color first, then painted a creamy white over all of it and I am now in the process of going back and distressing it.

As I told my husband, its made of plywood and pine, its not going to look like a fine piece of furniture and if I attempt to make it that way it will look like lipstick on a pig. So I decided to go for the old, worn out look instead.

Here's a shot of the whole thing

And here is a closeup of the distressing I'm putting on it

So...what do you guys think?

That's really cool, Texas. I'm a big believer in prototyping stuff that will be around for a long time. You can work out all the design issues that get missed in 2D. Even a 3D image on a screen can't give you enough information as something can in real 3D. Now you can "test drive" this island and see how it works.

We did the same thing on the swinging door into our current kitchen. I cut out a cardboard template and we cut and drew and discussed (argued, too) for about a week before we were satisfied on the design and only then did I go into the shop and build the door.

The car is a 560SL. I bought the last two replacements the dealer had for cheap. The parts had been there a pong time.

Car is still behaving poorly. On the couch falling asleep, will write more later.

Love it Texas_Gem! Great idea. Do you have a repurposing thought for it afterwards? Seems like it could be handy on the patio eventually too.

Just finished job#2 work and I'm 'off' the next two days. I must get my car cleared out, my breezeway less full of junk, and do some deep watering weeding and the like in the backyard.

Kitchen-wise, my endpanel is at HD. I need to now coordinate all the players. Not looking forward to those phone calls and trying to schedule all this.

When I was much younger, a Mercedes 500SEC is one of the cars I wanted to own. I thought it would be the greatest road trip car ever. Just take off and spend a year or two visiting all 50 states.