The Kirkpatrick's D.I.Y. Project 2006 (Year Two)
More Progress Indoors
July 21 - 23, 2006
The most exciting news is not only did we sell the camper on eBay, we got paid
for it, too. So we went and bought an air conditioner. I am a happy woman!
The other big news is, we have reading lights next to the bed!
Mike actually installed them last weekend (I was still in MD).
I could say we're really starting to get fancy, but we still have cardboard
boxes for nightstands and no real walls, so I will hold that thought.
Speaking of walls, Mike laid the floor plate for the kitchen wall.
And he re-keyed all of the locks so that the key we use to get into
our house in Maryland can be used for the West Virginia place, too.
He also installed the kitchen lights.
Oh yeah, we got a refrigerator, too! See what I mean about fancy?
He also ran wire from the electric panel over to the kitchen so we can
hook the oven up. It is really heavy-duty wire, which our electrician friend
supplied for us. Believe it or not, that saved us several hundred dollars.
See what I mean about heavy duty? It was about an inch in diameter.
This is a better shot of the reading lights.
The attic lights are now wired permanently and are
connected to a pilot light switch. I had no idea what that was.
It is one of those switches with an orange light on it that
glows when the lights are on. So we don't leave the lights
on inadvertently like we do all the time with our oven at home.
We also have plastic sheets for bedroom walls. We might lose fancy
points for that one, but it keeps the air conditioned air from escaping.
It is sort of like having your bed in a walk-in refrigerator.
Mike wired the wall, too, so we have the necessary outlets.
This will kind of give you an idea how small our kitchen will be.
In ads listing homes for sale, they would refer to it as "cozy."
Another outlet.
The actual lights are being put into place.
It is getting really close to cabinet time!
Are you wondering by now if I did anything at all?
I managed to sleep until about noon on Saturday, which
is unheard of for me (I've been under lots of stress lately).
Then I got up and went to work on the kitchen chairs.
This is CeCe's impression of a model from The Price is Right.
She is showing off one of the chairs that I sanded and painted the
last time I was in WV in preparation for some decorative stuff.
I saw this on HGtv months ago. You basically use decoupage
glue to affix torn-up brown paper to the surface in an
overlapping fashion, then stain the paper with wood stain to give
sort of a leather effect. I didn't have any instructions, I just
remembered seeing the show and thinking it looked cool.
So I applied the paper (ripped up lunch bags) to the seat.
Notice that the dogs are rarely far away? They love me.
Here's a close-up. It was a painstaking process. I had glue all over me.
When I was done applying the paper, I covered it all with decoupage glue to seal it.
That's how decoupage is typically done. Unfortunately, it really did seal well and the
stain wouldn't penetrate the paper. So I had to sand the stuff off and apply another
layer of paper. The glue is amazingly strong. That's why only 2 chairs got done.
But I think they turned out pretty cool.
They still need some polyurethane applied.
It might not look like I did much, but it really was painstaking.
Besides, being decorative is like creating art. You can't rush it.
I'm off with Eric for a little vacation July 29 to August 2 or 3. We are
going to visit my brother and his family in Chesapeake, Virginia. My parents
and a surprise family member are coming along, too. Relaxation. Ahhhh.
