Vacation TODO: Day 3

I woke up at my usual time this morning, as if I were going to work. I was going to work, but not downtown - down in the basement. Once I got Trissa and Atticus out the door and on their way to daycare and school I sat down for a brief planning session over my morning coffee.

I knew the main thing I needed to get done today were the cabinet doors. In my list there are 11 of them, but in reality there are 9. The extra two are for a cabinet that doesn’t yet have a face frame so I can’t built them yet - I’d be guessing at the size. So today my plan was to build all 9 doors from the parts I milled yesterday. I decided I needed another list with all the steps for completing the doors:

1. cut and sand door panels
2. varnish door panels
3. paper shims?
4. glue doors together

#3 requires some explanation: Some of the mortise and tenon joints I cut yesterday were feeling a little loose. For some of them I decided to glue a layer of paper to the tenons so they’d fit a bit tighter.

I also had a couple of extra items I thought I might get to (I didn’t):

1. dump run
2. Woodcraft / Rockler: door hinges
3. nook window sill

I thought I might get to these three things while waiting for the varnish to dry. Turns out the varnish dried as fast as I could work.

And so that was my day. By 11am I had cut all the door panels to size, cut a rabbit on the edges to fit in the rail and stile groove, and sanded progressively with 80/100/150. By 1pm I had put on the wood-conditioner and the first coat of varnish. After lunch I put on a second coat of varnish and started to set up for gluing. Trissa got home around 4:15 and I had 7 doors glued up and in clamps. I quit around 5 after the last one was done.

Now, Trissa says I can’t cross the doors off my list because they’re not installed. Tongue Tied So that will be tomorrow’s task. In the morning I guess I’ll head to the dump, then Woodcraft to get hinges. I bet it will take me most of the day to get them hung…

The last thing I did today was order the in-ceiling speakers for the living/dining room. I wasn’t excited about spending the money, but I needed another thing to cross off the list!

Here’s the progress. I’m crossing off a bit more of the doors:

1. Kitchen cabinet doors. 11 total. 4 important ones for the base cabinets.
2. Kitchen cabinet drawers. 7 total.
3. Upper cabinet crown.
4. Kitchen nook seating and table.
5. Kitchen island trim and panels.
6. Kitchen under-cabinet lighting.
7. 3 interior doors: sand, varnish, install with hardware. (Important baby-proofing item…)
8. Paint kitchen ceiling and walls (already primed).
9. Paint foyer ceiling and walls.
10. Electrical panel - re-order the breakers and document them all.
11. Strip and sand baseboard for the living / dining room. Determine if it can be re-varnished.
12. Cable TV to the kitchen. Forgot this when we had the walls open (DOH!)
13. Window sill for kitchen nook. Started this but is incomplete.
14. Exterior lights by the back doors.
15. Dining room chandelier (choose, purchase, install).
16. Dining room speakers (purchase, install - I prewired for them before we drywalled…)
17. Cat door platform (ask Trissa…)
18. Clean the upstairs hall closet - it’s a MESS!