Remodeling diary 4

 

June 12, 2006

 

Voila, one tin ceiling! The 2' x 2' panels went up quite quickly and easily, and I'm very pleased with the outcome. The factory paint job is baked on and VERY durable...I bent some scraps like crazy, and nothing happened to the paint. Given the ease of installation and great appearance, it makes me wonder why anybody would want "popcorn" ceilings in their house. I can definitely see me using metal ceiling panels again in other projects I'm planning.

 

June 16, 2006

Put the stain and finish on the original gumwood trim. The picture above shows the dining room door (with its original finish) and the newly refinished trim surrounding it. Pretty darn close color match, if I say so myself. The process of dying the wood (three coats of different colors were needed to approximate the original color) obscured the grain a little more than I would have liked, but I'm pretty pleased over all.

June 21, 2006

The textured wallpaper has been hung on the upper part of the walls and painted. Crown molding next!

 

June 28, 2006

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted new pics lately. I'll get to that soon enough. I have the crown molding up and will be priming/painting it the next few evenings. The gumwood cap rail has been installed (as much of it as can be installed at this point), and I've trimmed out the casement windows above the sink area with gumwood. Both will be stained/finished at some point. I'll be using the long 4th of July weekend to finish the floor.

 

July 4, 2006

  

 Happy Floorth of July! (my wife's pun, not mine)

The floor is done.  Took 3 days to sand/level the boards and put the finish on.  Sanded it 3 times...60 grit to level the floor, then 100 and 150 grit to make it smooth.  Then the ~2500 nail holes were filled by hand using Famowood filler (ash color).  One coat of Waterlox original sealer/finish to seal the wood and give it color, then 3 coats of Fuhr 260 waterborne polyurethane to provide a tough, durable finish.  Here's the end result:  a pretty decent solid wood kitchen floor (IMHO).  I sanded it with a high powered 6" random orbit sander instead of those huge floor sanding machines, so there are a few peaks and valleys here and there in the floor (which I expected), but I'm pleased with the end result.

 

With the floor finally done, I can now think about installing the kitchen cabinets.  The end of the project is in sight.