Remodel Update - Paint And Pantry

Sorry I've been away so long. We went on an overnight trip up north (just a head clearer) and I've been in a bit of a funk lately. No reason just the blahs. The good news is we are very nearly done with the kids room remodel. The paint is done, the fixtures are in and we're ready for flooring and trim. The hallway is essentially done and the carpet gets installed on Monday morning. We should be move in ready by Tuesday. More on that later. Today it's paint and pantries.

If you're going to do a large painting project preparation is key. Well, in my case prepping for Lu is the key because I don't paint. Cars and other metal yes. Rooms no. That's Lu's bailiwick and she can have it. To that end I did the gentlemanly thing and bought her a brand new tool. And yes, she loves her tools almost as much as I do mine. Et Viola, a spray gun.

That's a Wagner Procoat. It's a self contained gun in that it doesn't need an exterior air supply. No hooking anything up to an air compressor. Just put everything together, supply the paint, turn it on and you're good to go. It has an exterior feed system. Basically you put the hose into the paint can and it feeds itself. It works with all sizes of cans up to 5 gallon. Good thing too because Lu used 3 gallons of primer and about 3 more gallons of paint. Lu loves the thing and swears her days of rolling are at an end. It's Warrior Class Lu Recommended!

When Lu goes the brush and roller routs she usually just cuts everything in and doesn't tape. With the new spray gun she decided tape and newspaper was indicated. Paint will get everywhere.

I left for the day since even being in the neighborhood of actual work makes me break out into hives. By the time I got back she was basically done. Of course spray painting ain't exactly the same as brush and roller. It's....a little messier. It is a lot quicker though. One coat of primer and two coats of paint in a day. That's the face of a woman who did a days work. As my contribution I helped her clean up. Hey, I'm nothing if not a giver. In spite of containment precautions Lu still spent two days cleaning paint dust off everything in the house. Oh the joys of a remodel in a house you're still living in.

As soon as the paint dried it was time to install the new pantry. The only place we had to expand our kitchen storage and put in a pantry was in the hallway. That's the primary reason I left it so wide, to leave room for cabinets. Hey, you'd almost think I planned this stuff out. I already took out one kitchen base cabinet when I installed the dishwasher and we'll probably lose another base and upper cabinet in the kitchen remodel so we need the space. I considered building something custom in the space but the honest truth is I suck at cabinet making. Badly. So we settled for these.

Those are Oak faced pantry cabinets. Each is 84 inches tall, 24 inches wide and 18 inches deep. With two side by side that's an extra 42 cubic feet of storage space. It's right outside the kitchen in the hallway proper so it's very handy. We already can't remember what we did without them. Installation was a snap. We wrestled them into the hallway then I bolted the two cabinets together. I pushed them back to the wall and then used wedges under the bases to angle them back until they fit flush into the wall. Flush was more important than true level though I did level them as best I could given my parameters. They actually ended up almost perfectly plumb through sheer luck more than anything. Then I Ramset them to the wall. I could have used masonry screws but what fun would that be? The main weight will be on the bases which is why proper and careful wedging is essential on an uneven floor. Otherwise you run the risk of pulling the back out of the cabinets when you get them loaded down.

The view from the back porch looking toward the rooms. That electrical box used to be outside in the old back porch.

And from the rooms looking toward the porch. You can see the light fixture in the ceiling. It really lights up the space and is needed if one wants to use the pantry at night. The switch is by the back door.

From there it was time to install the fans in each room. The Girl gets the all white fan while the Boy gets the brown side down. It's apparently boyier that way or something. Meh. Chicks and decorating. The paint turned out nice didn't it? Lu does good work. I might even hire her again.

After all that was done we decided we had a dead space next to the pantry that was aching for more storage space. We shopped and found a matching upper cabinet that would fit perfectly. It's 30 wide, 36 tall and 12 deep. Not huge but every little bit counts here. We stopped at the local stone place and found a cast off piece of Granite from another job he only wanted 25 bucks for. A little judicious trimming with a circular saw, water and a masonry blade and it fit perfectly. It's a little rough but will work well for what we need.

Storage on the cheap.

Just the right spot for the dog food container. You can just see the floor there but I'm holding off talking about that until the next post.

Time for some trim. Since we already put in the flooring in the hallway we could safely put up the trim. We went simple. Lu likes the look of 1x4 and we decided to go with pine instead of MDF. Two reasons. I like the look of painted wood and some of the joints are uneven due to the old construction. It's much easier to fudge wood without it breaking than MDF. I'll end up using just about 150 board feet of trim.

Lu getting all artsy on me. The trim was put up with a combination of finish nails and screws. Remember those King and Jack studs I installed when I put in the doors? Yep, you can screw recalcitrant trim boards right to them if you need to. One of the benefits of doing the work yourself is you know right where every stud and board is. I can't put up the interior room trim until the carpet gets installed. Lu will tackle the paint on the trim as soon as that is done.

We are soooo close. Next update should finish out the remodel. I'll be covering flooring both in the hallway and individual rooms. Then it'll be time for decorating. We're already painting some furniture. Wait until you see the shelving unit for the Girl. Eye searing Hot Pink. It's been a long haul and costs went a bit above my initial estimate but them they usually do. Still, we should be in around $3500 which ain't half bad considering how much we've improved the house. I'll also have an Angus Rehab update as well as a post on our trip.

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