ListWise

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Baring It All

I don’t normally take close-up shots of some of my less than stellar work, but I thought it only fair to show this in case someone else wanted to try something like this. I’m not proud of this and this is the worst of the worst on the marble. Keep in mind that I had major problems with router bits (excuse). The edge around the perimeter looks much better (mostly true), and in fact, the other two sides of the sink look better (mostly true as well). Also, keep in mind that these are close-up shots with a flash at an angle that most people won’t be viewing it (excuse). All of that to explain that it looks much worse in pictures than it does in real life (i'll give that one to me). At least that’s how I see it while I’m wearing my full-body denial suit fitted with the rose colored face shield. I highly recommend all DIYers get one of these suits. They are wonderful.

So this is the left and right side of the sink. Both of these are sides that I had router bearing melt down. Even with adjusting the template and sanding it still came out wonky.

Not too bad. There is a dab of putty near the top.


This one hurts. I'm thinking about trying to fix it but I can't take anymore marble off.


Yes, it’s far from perfect, but the way I see it (The denial suit is important here. Don’t forget the face shield.) is that I couldn’t afford to have someone make a custom kitchen island with copper sink, disposal, and marble top for well under $1,000, which is what I spent. This is probably a four to five thousand dollar kitchen island, if you include everything like electrical and plumbing, and with the discounted price I get a few wonky lines on the marble. BFD, right?

Now on to happier business. First, let me get out of my denial suit. There we go.

I got the drain and disposal hooked with only one trip to the hardware store. It was very close to being zero trips. I had assembled the drain months ago and look how close it was.



Then one trip to the hardware store and $8 later…



The best part is - No Leaks!!! It’s a beautiful thing. The last step is to put a small bead of caulk around the edge where the copper meets the marble, and then I’m done baby! I can go back to painting the house.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg, you are the only one who will see the faults, everyone else is going to be too busy ooohing and aaawwing to notice.

What an amazing price for a really expensive looking unit.

Mucho congratulations!

PS - I miss Buffy too.

Anonymous said...

Greg,

Your kitchen looks fabulous; I've been following along and enjoying it tremendously.

But, a suggestion if the way the marble edge turned out really bothers you. You can try smoothing it out with really fine grit sandpaper. It takes a long time (I recommend getting some good sanding music) but can work wonders. I had a similar problem with the some of the cutouts when I did my bathroom counter, and was able to even everything out, starting I think with 300 grit and working my way up to either 600 or 1000 (I forget which). Fine grits can be found at auto supply places; I got mine from my brother whose hobby is car restoration.

Anonymous said...

Love the classy outlet cover. Since this is inside the cabinet, i'm guessing you had scads of them hanging around, lucky duck (or over the top duck, but i'll give you the benefit of the doubt.) Me, i have an abundance of those tres chic almond colored plastic ones with the vertical line running down the center. Oh la la!

Greg said...

Alcie,

Thanks for suggesting this. I've been wondering about this. I think maybe a little sanding here and there while I've cooking dinner or something.

Annie,

Yea, I did have a couple laying around. I bought a whole house set a few years back when I rewired the house and had some extras.

K said...

It still looks wonderful! And where can I get one of those suits?

StuccoHouse said...

It does look great! I have found the optional total soundproof ear plugs to be a great accessory addition to the suit & rose colored glasses.

Aunt Jo said...

You do beautiful work.