Friday, August 22, 2008

August Projects

On Sunday, Q got up and decided we should do the laundry room project - a project that I had assumed we wouldn't do for at least several more months. I had not counted on my husband's kindness or on how much he wanted to make the shed less crowded. (Cabinets take up a lot of storage space!) By Sunday night the laundry room had been repainted "Baby Smiles" (not such a good paint name, but it is a lovely, very pale yellow) and the upper cabinets were in. On Wednesday night we labored (mostly Q) to install the base cabinets and get the counter top on just right. The join is slightly raised but I think the cabinets are almost 50 years old, so it's not bad at all. With a little bit of elbow grease, Goo Gone, and Simple Green they cleaned up really well. The picture doesn't do justice to how light, clean and airy the laundry room feels now. Wire shelves are going to go in the gap between the cabinets and the laundry detergent (currently on the counter) is going to sit up on those.

I was joking with friends that most of the stuff I keep in the cupboards is almost true to their period as well. The pantry is now available for actual food, the counter in the kitchen is less cluttered and the utility nook in the media room can actually hold everything it should. It's a beautiful thing. I can't wipe the stupid smile off of my face every time I go down there.


The other big part of this project that is still going to need to get done is putting in the laundry sink. It's going to sit between the washer and dryer in some sort of base cabinet that currently only exists in Q's inventive head. He's envisioning a pull out shelf that holds the cats' litter box behind some cabinet door with a cat hole, a deep counter top with a shelf above it that runs all along the wall at sill level, extending out to run above the tops of the washer and dryer. The broom and folding chairs will have to find new homes.




On other fronts, I went to the mountains for about a day and a half with my handwork group and got my braided rug started. It's about 1x2 right now.





It's not as wonky in real life as the picture makes it look. I think my poor photographic skills have conspired with the way I put it on the floor to make it look funny. It lies very flat, which I'm happy about. I've now run out of the light pink and am going to start with a dusty rose next. The gray (as you can already see) is getting progressively darker as well. The blue is going to remain throughout. I'm thinking it's going to be 2x3 as a final size, but am open to 4x5 if materials hold out and I still like its looks.

The other project I finally finished - it needed a button band and to have the buttons sewn on. I'm delighted with it. In the picture I'm wearing it over the dress that I made it to go with.