Ship Building

For me it’s cabinet building time again but every time I’ve thought about it for the past few days the Elvis Costello song "Shipbuilding" pops in to my head. It’s a great song, although not really lively and upbeat. The song is about how some people are happy about the economic benefits of war because it revitalizes certain segments of the economy, and they seem to forget that many people will die so that can buy “a new winter coat and shoes for the wife. And a bicycle on the boys birthday”. It has a very slow and haunting melody to it, and if I remember correctly it has a wonderful horn solo. I could have worse songs stuck in my head.

As for the cabinets, they should be pretty simple because they are two small built-ins, which means a lot of the construction really won’t be seen. I still have gobs of the salvaged beadboard that is covered in layers and layers of healthy, delicious lead paint. Hmm, hmm, good. You know what that means! Yep, it’s time to strip some paint. Yeah! This really is good paint stripping weather.

The corner cabinet behind the door will pretty much just be a face frame against the wall. There will be two inside walls, but they don’t need to be perfect. I won’t need to be as selective with the wood, and I can use the back, unfinished sides. Hopefully I can get these out of the way this week.


It's just a rumor that was spread around town
By the women and children
Soon we'll be shipbuilding