Everything, is pretty much complete. However, I need to take some pictures once we have things a bit more presentable. I worked on a trash pull out yesterday. We've been having an issue finding a trash pull out that would fit the space. One with the apron sink we don't have much height to work with. 2 With a center disposal there was no way two of the same trash cans would fit. There was nothing out of the box that I could install that would fit the space well. This is what I came up with. Tight fit doors closed

Hi, I once had to strip a 12ft tall oak mantel/overmantel. It had the works in terms of carving and trim, including dentils. I carefully removed the strip of moulding that had the dentils cut into it, and immersed it in a trough (a section of half-round gutter works well for this) of stripper 'til the sides of the dentils were clean. I was able to use a sharpened putty knife to clean up those end-grain edges pretty well. Then the mldg can be sanded before being reinstalled. If the wood is stained with a dark un-removable deep red color, it probably isn't cherry, but birch stained to resemble mahogany. This was terribly popular in the first couple of decades of the last century for architectural woodwork. The stain is an aniline dye, and will bleed through some kinds (many kinds) of paint. An antidote if you want to tone down the red is to overlay a coat of a greenish stain; minwax black walnut stain is good for this. The end result is a warm deep brown. Casey

I need to uninstall a recessed vintage Perma Built medicine cabinet. It has a mirrored cabinet on each side of a fixed center mirror. After removing the screws from the side cabinets they freely move but can not clear the wall. The center mirror panel will not move at all. I can't remove the side cabinets and can't see how the center panel is attached. How do I get this thing out of my wall? Thanks for any help

M, So great to hear your take on form following function. I think we share a practical streak. On the one hand, I'm not a preservationist, on the other I do want to be true to the spirit of the house. I'm not aiming to make it something its not, and I don't want to "over improve" either. I agree that its entirely possible to "design a modern functional home and have the original vintage design-spirit prevail". In fact, thats precisely the balance I'm striving to achieve. In my situation, honoring the vintage design spirit means keeping certain elements intact: --the cottage windows --the china cabinet --the built-ins in the living room flanking the fireplace I'm not as attached to keeping the kitchen and breakfast room spaces separate as my partner is. In the spirit of cooperation and domestic harmony ;-) I've solicited feedback on how we could fit everything in the footprint of the kitchen proper, and posters to this thread stepped up admirably (THANK YOU!!) Reading the comments here has allowed me to feel more comfortable with merging the kitchen and the breakfast room--that this might be the right place to "modernize". Considering the two spaces as one is beginning to feel…well…more practical to me. Your point about it being possible to botch both the form and the function strikes a cautionary note---Sheesh, that would be awful. Aiming to avoid this, on both counts! Thanks so much M, for your always incisive comments.