A Little Bit Country...

Not Gourmet!!  Im so tired of those sissy  people on HGTV whining about gourmet kitchens...yuk, its only as gourmet as the cook!! Kitchen politics aside...

Got a few updates for you....

The mosaic tile is up, grouted, and sealed! YIPPIE.  It was not hard to do, it is however messy.  I didnt take one single photo of the process of the tiling, you lay it out, make your cuts, put the mastic on with a notched trowel, and then stick it up press with the grouting pad to make sure its nice and flat.  And keep the level handy...I worked in a 4 tile area at the time.

this backsplash is 16 inches tall, I used 17 tiles, (12" x 12") it has to sit overnight before grouting. 

I mixed up the grout they say to be about like Peanut butter...this is unsanded which is what my tile called for. 

I mixed it with my drill and one inch spade bit and then I whipped it with my whisk! HA!

Taped off the edges prior to grouting its messy...

then grout...it takes some time but you have to use the grout before 4 hrs..it took me about 1 hr 20 mins to spread the grout, then push it into the spaces aroudn the tiles at a 45 degree angle,  and then after 1/2 hr you must sponge off the excess...you have to do that over and over till the excess is all gone...then buff the dusty film off..after it sits for a while.

Next step is wait 24 hrs then do the sealing...I had to seal the stone pieces in this mosaic prior to grouting...I did that the day before...I actually let it cure 3 days between mastic and grout..

I like it...then my son & his gf came to help with painting...the kitchen is a soft buttery yellow...there will be another upper cabinet on that spot by that door on the right...And a table for the microwave underneath it.

and here's the stove fan/light back up..

was almond now white,

Looking back towards the other way...I closed up the "light box" opening by 6 inches...SO it would line up better with the dishwasher and the fridge that will sit there once its time to bring that in. I actually painted this spot today but didnt get a photo of it..Im considering putting up some open shelves over the dishwasher what do you think? Stainless steel and wood? OR I have another upper cabinet I can put up there It would be painted grey like the bases...

I grouted the dishwasher backsplash that I made up of the 4 inch tiles I had, that match the counter top...I still have to seal it, I can't seem to keep it cleared off long enough its a handy spot to put "tools"

here is the kitchen up to now..still much to do but, its well under way now!

I lost all my in progress photos some of these are the finished project. 

Son said they don't want the stained glass film put on the window that looks out into the sun-porch, I wanted to do the film...but if they don't want it...:o/  Maybe Ill put it on a glass and put in the light box opening?  Trust me its beautiful and she will love it when she sees it! 

Since plans changed I did the window to suit me...I love it 

This Tuesday we are painting the Living Room...I tested the fridge it works, so soon Ill be painting it. 



SO many of my old photos were lost so I am putting a before and after shot here 

Before 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Remember this...

.... old commercial "time to make the donuts?" I swear that happened to me! IF you're not old enough to remember it, here it is:  you gotta watch this--

  

                           

For a couple years everyone was always saying "time to make the donuts"...lol

AND.....What about this old commercial it was another from that same year that caught on pretty fast everyone was saying  "Where's the Beef?" People say this every time they sit down to my vegan table..lol


                      

needed something lite to get me motivated today...Tomorrow Im grouting Ill take some photos when its done!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Latest Projects Update

KITCHEN:

The last few projects I've had my nose buried in, a rotten corner in the kitchen floor.  You can see water damage that came through the wall from the bathtub in this corner of the kitchen floor...

I cut the hardwood back to reveal the rotted subfloor. (the hardwood was rotten also)

I  cut that out and found a piece of plywood in my scrap pile to fit in there..

I didn't have any more of the 3" hardwood scraps, SO I just went with 4" I had on hand...its in a corner and wont be that visible when everything is in place.

 that took about 3 days of work because on the other side of this wall is the bathroom, and the joist, entire subfloor and the wall Plate was also rotten so A lot of work had to go on the other side of the wall!! The subfloor passes under that wall. That mess of tools is what I needed to do this project, and some not shown!

Moving on....I also put the dishwasher back in place it was never mounted under the sink it sits right beside it...works out fine..

the next photo....it is primed and the kitchen walls are primed...a soft yellow paint is planned for the kitchen....I think the flash makes these spots in the photo (could be sheetrock dust particles)   Also got the new light fixture up went with a small track light bar...you can see that floor repair in the lower left of this photo.  The dishwasher had an interchangeable front it can be white or almond, we used it on the almond side for years and I dont know why because our stove and fridge were both white!! So now its reversed, the stove is already white, so All white appliances except the microwave is stainless and the sink is stainless..

decided to NOT go Yellow and repainted

I don't know if my 'pass thru light box' is gonna stay I may end up closing it back up but I have an idea I wanna try first more on that later,............... the fridge will sit on the right of the dishwasher.  The fridge is a hand me down since the X had tossed the fridge out! He used a college dorm size fridge..he got it in his mind it was too expensive to operate so he tossed it!  So anyways the hand me down one is almond, I need white ---:0/  SO I got some appliance spray paint in white..havent started painting  it yet it's in pretty rough  shape, some rust has appeared on it while its been sitting on the screen porch for  2 yrs! Inside it is in great condition! I will plug it in to be sure it still works before I paint it!  I think it has an ice maker, I can't remember ;O)

Fridge Painted and in place. 

The light pass thru was closed up some to the correct height for this fridge to sit under it,  

BUT I do believe it will paint up nice...I did the stove fan already.

Before it was almond:

AFTER now its white:

Many of the in progress  photos were lost, I made some changes to my plan and this is the finished Kitchen as it is today.

This is not a good photo cause I haven't removed the blue painters tape covering  the black strip and the control panel...Ill take another photo for you when its in place in the house!  AND that wont be too long!! 

Monday my 'almost' DIL is coming to help out with some painting while she paints I will be tiling the back-splash!  I can almost see a speck of light at the end of this tunnel!! Now I gotta go watch You Tubes on Tiling!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Just What I Needed!

I have made progress on my house makeover, but have been very lax about taking photos to share...so here is a project I've been hoping to get done for a long while..and just in time so I clean up the pine limbs that fell in the ice and snow storms..(Hooray, ain't I lucky) .ALL my neighbors have had their chain saws running this weekend so Im behind--Before I sold my wooded acreage I used to just drag my limbs into the woods and let nature takes its course... and enrich the soil...but now I have to take them to the dump...  my son still has the Blazer...I normally use it to haul my utility trailer...

                     SO I ordered from Curt, a hitch to fit the Dixxleand Express...aka my van

it's a class III hitch...photo from online..

It arrived the day of the ice storm actually so it sat on the porch for like 2 weeks waiting for the weather to dry up before I could even see if it was the correct size ---had my fingers crossed...

I opened up the hardware pack and the screws were NOT the right size...Dang--

I found an old bolt in my many coffee cans of accumulated "this n that's" that did fit so went to Lowe's and got 6 of those...(7/16"-14  2 inches long) Turns out my van had threaded holes already in place...

I measured to see if the holes would line up and YEA got the right hitch. SO first things first...rip the box up so I can lay on it!

                  

Next get out my tool kit and find the right socket to fit 

GOT BRICKS? Well I have some old ones laying around so I got a wheel barrow of bricks! The hitch was not any heavier than a big bag of dog food but there is no way I can bench press 42 lbs...So I kept stacking bricks on each end and raising it 4 inches at a time till I had it high enough..

I sprayed the mounting holes with a copious amount of WD 40 prior to trying the new bolts since there was a lot of rust in there.  I needed the ratchet extension in order to get clearance to tighten the bolt...see that shadow?  That means finally a sunny DAY!  Here it is all lined up...3 holes each side.

Then the bolts go in one at a time and I have learned best when doing something like this don't tighten all the way up till every bolt has been started and is turned a few threads...in case you have to jiggle it to make all line up..then tighten...this is where I had to rest many times whew...but I had all day--and the sun was shining!

Here it is attached!

and here is the drop down ball thingy, I already had this part you buy it separately

And I sold the hardware & instructions that came with the hitch that didn't fit on Ebay!

its on the way to make someone else's life better!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.