Kitchen Refresh Project, Saturday - Day 2

I woke up at 6:13 AM. I reheated a cup of coffee and this time, opted for breakfast. I'd bought some onion bagels and cream cheese, but apparently forgot that yesterday when I buried the toaster oven in the office. So, dug it back out and had a toasted bagel. I shaved, showered and got dressed for the public heading out to Home Depot.

I had determined yesterday, after much soul and wallet searching, that NONE of the cabinet hardware Carla so carefully saved for me could be reused (I had hoped to save the hinges, at least). I could have gotten a hooker for what I paid for the knobs, pulls and hinges (and right now, oh, never mind...) I've always said I wished I had more cabinets. Today, I'm glad I don't!

Got back home, changed clothes and got to work. First item of business: filling in all the holes in the doors with spackling compound. Based on B___'s advice, with the humidity (its still raining like hell here) I turned the back room into a drying room (see photos). Finished up at 11:00 PM.

Before moving on, I want to get dinner in the oven. It will be some baked potatoes (recipe from "Gourmet" magazine) and Alton Brown's "40 cloves and a Chicken" only instead of using a whole, cut up chicken, I'm using 6 bone-in chicken thighs. But then, the doorbell rang...

It was Jake and Carla again! (Won't these people leave me alone?) Seriously, they came back to help and I appreciate it. Gonna make it tough to brag how I finished the project all by myself in four days, though... And, I'm gonna owe them BIG TIME when they get their house!

I'm keeping it brief: Jake took off the wall and door molding (a messy, ugly job); Carla removed all the switch and plug plates and the heat register; I spackled the cabinet faces. Somewhere in here we decided to order a pizza for lunch and save the chicken & potatoes for dinner. Then Carla washed the walls and ceiling while I started sanding cabinet doors (used a belt sander on the flat surfaces and the orbital sander on the rounded edges). Meanwhile Jake was cutting and attaching the wood lathe (see photo). Carla switched to priming the walls (Jake would give her a hand when he had the time). Then Carla got dinner in the oven.

Then the compressor broke, and door production ground to a halt. Yes, the brand new compressor stopped working (It was running, just not making enough air to work the gun)! Carla read the troubleshooting section (she's a college graduate now, so we leave those sorts of things for her) and I took it apart and retightened the head bolts, but no, no go. Four doors left, so I finished sanding them and Jake finished cutting the lathe, but I don't have any 5/8 inch brads so it's another morning trip to Home Depot on Sunday (but they don't open until 8:30)!

Also, I bought that unit a long time ago and it's just been sitting in the house ever since, unopened, waiting for this project. I hope to God the warranty is still good!

I started spackling the nail holes and corners of the assembled doors, but Carla wanted to do that. Dinner was done, so we ate and then they left. I didn't notice the time (8:00? 8:30?) I cleaned up a bit and went straight to bed. I fell asleep before I could decide if I hurt enough to take a pain pill.