Stencil Madness

The second time I did the stencil on the frieze in the mudroom today it came out very nice. First time, not so good. I had read an excellent tutorial on stenciling over at The Old House Web. It went on and on about the layout…blah, blah, blah. I don’t have time for that sort of thing, I thought to myself. I’ve got stenciling to do.

Well, the spacing sucked, so I wiped off the first run and did it over. I had only one wall done, so it wasn’t the end of the world.

The Test Run


Round Two


You can see in the top picture that there is not enough room for another of the long designs. However, if I had started out on the left with a short design, as you can see in the do-over, I can start and stop with a short design, and the spacing is very nice. So, I wiped off the first test run and did it over.





The spacing on the short walls worked out just as well. Above are shots of two opposing corners. It is like the design was made just for this room. This was my second choice of a design. The first turned out to be too big. Someone had a clever idea of cutting it down, but it didn’t really work out. I think this design fits the space nicely.

I ordered the casing last week but I still haven’t heard from the mill as to when they can even start it. Very frustrating. I’m working with The Blue Ox Mill again, because they already cut the knives for my casing profile, but working with them can be trying at times. The owners, Eric and Vivianna, are very nice people and have a great operation going on, but sometimes it seems like they really don’t know how to run a business. Maybe I’ll bore you with the details tomorrow. Their place is really amazing. It is much more than just a mill.

I also made templates for the two marble counter tops for the corner cabinets. I’m dreading ordering it because the last time I ordered marble it was like pulling teeth to get these guys to make a few cuts. I’m going to contact a monument maker here it town and see if they’ll do it. I’m trying not to get my hopes up. Sometimes I just hate dealing with other people when I’m trying to keep a schedule. This is why I do so many things myself.