The Little Things

It is always those little things at the end of a project that seem to drag on. I think I’ve already touched up the paint 4 times since I originally painted. Today when I was touching up puttied nail holes on the crown molding I noticed there were a few forearm smudges on the walls from when I was installing the crown molding. If history repeats itself I will drizzle wall paint on the trim while I’m painting over the forearm smudges. I’ll then need to touch up the trim and while I’m down there I’ll notice that the floor needs a little more finish.

It’s a wonder I ever finish a room, but this one is damn close.

The Money Shot


I woke up early and went and bought shoe molding and quarter round so I could get one coat of paint on. While it dried I trimmed the cabinet so I could get it back in the corner. It was more work than anticipated, but it looks like its always been there now.



If you recall yesterday I showed that the cabinet would not fit behind the door casing. When trimming some off the back of the cabinet I discovered that this was originally part of a larger cabinet. In its infancy there was another set of matching drawers on the left side of the single door.

As I said yesterday it is a salvage piece from the 1920s. It looks to be professionally built but everything is odd dimensions. The carpenter seemed to be under the opinion that larger than normal lumber was better. Of course, a lot of lumber back in the day was full dimensional, but this is beyond that. Instead of one inch thick wood it is inch and 3/8ths. Instead of 1X4 it is 1.5X4.25. 3X3 instead of 2X2. I wonder if maybe this cabinet shop had their on little mill or something and they could do what ever they wanted. What ever the reason, it explains why it is so damn heavy.

Anyway, after the cabinet was trimmed and in the corner I was able to cut and install the last of the trim that I had painted earlier in the day. Now its just a waiting game waiting for the rugs to arrive in a few weeks.

Oh, and I still need to deal with this….


I’m not talking about the mess. After 6 years at least one room in the house always looks like this. No, this is the big opening that I need to fill with custom, High Victorian, redwood cabinets (insert ominous sounding music here). That shot is taken from inside the butler’s pantry looking in to the dining room.

Even if I started working on these cabinets next week, it would probably be more than a month before I drive the first nail.