New Month, More Projects

Well, it’s a new month and with it, another new commitment to get some posts here. 

We’ve just finished mowing the lawn for the first time in about three weeks. The grass is just not growing. However, the weeds and undesirable plants that make up two thirds of our lawn are doing great.

I said “we” because Susan no longer allows me to mow the whole yard. I can’t say that I’m upset about it because mowing has definitely become more difficult for me. It wears me out.

So I did the back and parking strips and she mowed the front. We managed to cut all the little tree sprouts that popped up in the backyard and we collected a lot of the dead leaves and branches that fell in the front. Didn’t get too much grass.

So I’m sitting on the porch swing on the front porch, typing all this and contemplating my next project. 

I am thinking about tackling the job of cutting the corner cabinets. They are too tall and the height must be cut down in order to fit under the window. They have a very high toe kick area which will allow for the cutting down. 

I am only reluctant because I have a tendency to make small mistakes that we later have to fix. I know Susan is not confident in our (my) ability to do this correctly. However, I like to be self reliant and not have to depend on, or wait for Shaun to get over here and do it right.

In order to keep Susan in her comfort zone, I think I will work on the ironing board door, another project with a minor mistake.

12:51PM: I made quick work of the Ironing Board Cabinet Project.

But let me back up.

Last week I decided to get to work on the new cabinet cover for our built in ironing board.

The new door is not custom but they made it as close as they could to the size we needed. The new door ended up being a half inch too wide and about four inches too tall. However, we can make that work.

The first problem I had is that they made the door in two sections. The problem with this is that there is a stile in the middle so the ironing board can't be pulled down.

I called Jess at Cabinet Pro and she told me that they don't make doors that long because of warping issues. I wondered why our old door that has been there for quite some time never warped.

In any event, she told me what their installers usually do when they encounter this issue and it was exactly what I had thought I would do.

So, I took my jigsaw and cut the stile off. I sanded there area I cut smooth and applied a little paint.

Next, I used a couple of thin pieces of wood to shim the two doors away from the stile. I glued the stile with the shims to the two doors and then screwed them together, in essence, making one door.

It all worked out beautifully until the last two screws I placed where just slightly to high.

It has since been fixed and you would never notice it without having read this.

Removing the trim from the old door turned out to be quite easy and went quickly.

I am now waiting for Shaun to figure out the best way the hanging new door over the old ironing board space.