The Excitement Scale

If you judged all things by their level of excitement watching paint dry would be very near the bottom. One notch below that would looking at a picture of paint drying. That is, unless of course you’re a HouseBlogger, am I right? So go hog wild you crazy kids.



I painted the island the same Honied White that I painted the other cabinets but for some reason this looks a little more white than the others. Maybe a little too white. Maybe it will be better when I get the counter, cast iron brackets, and fancy brass electrical plate on. Oh, and lets not forget about the copper sink and faucet. That should liven it up a bit. If it doesn’t look less white when I get done with it I may paint the entire shelf area the same Majolica Green that the walls above the bead board are painted.

I think I might be afraid of color. I was looking at this thing as I was painting it trying to decide if I should liven it up a bit and I couldn’t shake this feeling that if I attempt anything too bold it will end looking like something that should be bringing up the rear of a circus parade. I can picture a half dozen clowns crawling out of the sink cabinet. I’ll just wait for now. I’m sure my friends will have more than enough free advice for me.

Speaking of the sink cabinet, it seems to be shrinking before my eyes. I wanted to give as much space to the shelf area as possible so I really went with bare minimums for the cabinet under the sink. I think I may have made it too small. As a novice cabinet builder I didn’t take everything in to consideration. As it stands now I’m not sure if there is enough room for the faucet. It is going to be very tight and I won’t know until the sink and faucet arrive in the mail. Whether there is enough room or not it certainly looks better now that it is painted (needs another coat) and all of the plumbing is finished.



I had some news on the marble countertop front, not all of it good. One of the two places I found on-line that has salvaged marble slabs contacted me and they said they don’t have anything in my size. I think it’s just as well because they are in Vermont (3000+ miles away) and shipping would have no doubt made it too expensive. When I emailed them I had no idea they were in Vermont. I guess I should have checked first but that’s the funny thing about the web, distances seem irrelevant at times. The other place is in Minnesota, I think. That is much closer but they haven’t gotten back to me yet. However, today I found a place in The Bay Area (9 hours round trip if you haul ass) and their web site says they just got in a shipment of marble slabs and they had a picture of a nice pile. The page said it was last updated 2/28/06 so there is a good chance they will have something for me. I sent an email yesterday but I think I’ll call on Monday and talk to a real live human being.

Now that the cabinet making portion of the island project is all but over I’ve been thinking more about the next cabinet project. That would be the replacement of the cabinets between the butler’s pantry and dining room that were viciously ripped out back in the 1920s. I think I may be ready to try some stain grade cabinets. I’m feeling pretty good about. I won’t be able to hide my mistakes behind putty and paint so there will be a lot of pressure to get it right. I would be nice to have some professional help. I know Norm’s not going to show up, but a boy can dream, can’t he.