Monday, February 20, 2006

My House, The Construction Zone

Well, I survived the weekend with my sanity and both dogs intact. The new kitchen cabinets are finally installed, and I’ve begun to research how to bring someone back from the dead—specifically, the person who built our house back in the 1920’s. I’d like to throttle him. He was either drunk or working with a faulty level when he built the walls and soffits. There’s not a square corner in the room. The soffit over the sink is a full inch lower on one side than the other—that’s a one inch drop in about seven feet. Two of the walls that should be parallel were two inches (!!) wider at one end of the room than the other, and one of the other walls bows out so that the room is 1-1/2” wider near the ceiling than it is at the floor. Arrgh.

However, after much practical geometry, creative use of a table saw and shimming, the cabinets are as plumb as they’re ever going to be. With a coat of primer, they look pretty darn good. And of course, there’s always crown molding to disguise the flaws we couldn’t fix without completely gutting the room.

The best news is that I have a brand new, shiny, black, functioning stove. Yay!! We were getting very tired of microwave and convenience store food. Now I’m coveting my new sink, which unforunately must sit in its box for a few more days.

The dogs handled the chaos surprisingly well. One of my dogs thinks people are only there to feed her, scratch her butt, and let her out to bark at the neighbor dog. She pretty much left us alone, bless her anti-social little heart. My other dog, however, is afraid of many, many things, including the Shop-Vac and the “smack” of his tail hitting things. He insists on being right in the middle of his “pack”—even when two of them are holding up a three foot long cabinet and the third is on a step ladder and wielding a drill. *sigh* At least he didn’t end up with primer all over him.

Tonight we do the dishwasher. Then it’s on to countertops and painting…lots and lots and lots of painting.

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