Kitchen Refresh Project , Friday - Day 1

Woke up at 6:30 without the alarm. Just made coffee and no breakfast. Shaved showered and got dressed. I backed the car out and hooked up the trailer, then tested the lights. Left for Home Depot.

Got the big items: 20 feet of bead board and the top and bottom molding for them, some stain, rubber gloves and, finally, the 1 5/8 inch x � inch lathe strips for the cabinet door refresh. Those were the big problem. I thought they were 12 feet long. Not true! They were 16 feet long! I kept running into people and things on the way to the checkout.

When I got to the checkout, the lady informed me of their true length. I said, "Well, then I don't need twelve of them!" Fortunately, she had an engaging personality AND a calculator, so we eventually figured out I only needed 9 16-footers. Another nice surprise was that Home Depot is giving a 10% discount for the Memorial Day weekend, so I save $22!

Next problem was the trailer. It's only 8 feet long and I couldn't have 8 additional feet of lathe hanging over the back. So, I used bungee cords to make them into a bundle, put down my rear seats, opened the trunk and stuffed them inside. It was only a two mile ride home, but it got very, very interesting every time I turned.

Unhitched the trailer and pulled it inside the garage. I am thinking I will be parking outside for the next few days. I was doing some basic cleanup to the kitchen when Carla called. She said she was bored and wanted to come over to help. I said I'd be back home after 1:30 PM and she said, "Great!"

I left then to pick up my friend B___ for lunch. I told him of my morning adventures and he particularly laughed at the lathe strips in the trailer and the car (it almost sounded like a cruel laugh, BTW!)

Lunch was quite different, as the restaurant we went to had sent him an email saying he was eligible for a free Jamaican Jerked Chicken Wings appetizer, which we both devoured (spicy, but not too "hot")

Next, we went to Lowes (my other home improvement home-away-from-home) where I picked up a 3-step ladder (easier to use in the kitchen than the real step ladder) and a 50 foot non-kink garden hose (I needed that) both on sale, BTW. I also got some 5/8 inch brads for the nailer/stapler gun and air compressor I bought a while ago (for this project).

I dropped him back at work, and headed home. I stopped at Farmer Jacks to get some shrimp that were supposed to be on sale, but weren't there Thursday night. They still were not there! Bastards!

I got home and found Carla had beaten me there. She asked what she could do to help and I said, "Please empty the hutch and put its contents in the office." So, she did. Then, I picked up each end and she put the sliders under it. Then, we slid it into the office. Next, I took off each cabinet door with the electric drill and a straight screwdriver bit, and then she removed the hinges and the pull handles with the portable drill and a Phillips bit. She tagged and bagged the hardware so I can reuse them, if I need to. We finally got everything done, so we switched to the wallpaper border.

She was a tiger with the Paper Tiger (it scores the wallpaper so the glue can absorb the water/Dif mixture) while I made the water/Dif mixture. She followed the directions exactly and, after the four applications of DIF, I scraped off the wallpaper with ease. Then it was 4:30 PM and time for her to go get Jake from work. Hey, Carla! You forgot the Doritos Habanero for Jake (I bought them but they are too hot for me to eat)!

I called B___ with some project questions, then I went out to the garage to get my work areas established (the only way this might work is to do it like a production line). Once that was done, it was time to finally open the Bostich nailer/stapler tool and compressor combo pack.

I had heard horror stories of people buying these and having to put a lot of things together. But this particular brand is basically plug and play. I screwed on the correct ends to the air line and four rubber feet to the compressor and that was it. It took longer to read the instruction manuals for the gun and compressor than to put it together. Too bad Bostich doesn't make 4' x 8' folding trailers!

So, I checked the clock and it was 8:45 PM. Decided that was enough fun for one day, so I reheated the last two brats and ate them watching the start of the Friday night fights. Need I mention I wasn't awake for the end of the Friday night fights?