Cabinets, Circuits, and Cuts

We continue to make progress on the renovation of our den into a laundry room.  We want to get the cabinets on the west wall of the room complete so that we can hang them before the granite people come in to measure for the countertops.  To that end, we have focused our attention on those cabinets.

I joke that the main "pantry" cabinet -- which will house my sewing machine, laundry baskets, and some of the larger pots and pans that always are too large to fit comfortably in kitchen cabinets -- looks like an elephant's coffin.  It is tall and wide, but in the end that is the size that I want for the room.

Rick attaches the back to the pantry cabinet.
One side is longer than the rest in order to fit
the entire structure into the room.  An additional
box will be slipped onto the top.

Once we had that built, we hauled the rest of the west cabinets out to the garage so we could stain, seal, and varnish them.  We finished the staining two days ago, and yesterday we put a coat of sealer on the wood.  This morning we worked together to get the first coat of varnish on those cabinets.  We have to leave 24 hours between each coat for each to thoroughly dry.

The garage is filled with cabinets that we are working to finish.

One of the base units will have drawers for
office supplies and files.

Tomorrow we hope to lightly sand the varnish coat, wipe them all down, and then put on the second coat of varnish.  Hopefully, that will be enough for them.  Of course, the fun of hanging the cabinets still awaits us.  I hope that I am strong enough to help Rick get them all up on the wall.

While the sealer dried yesterday, Rick tackled the electrical components of this remodel.  He connected the washer circuit to the main electrical box in the basement.  He also brought over the wire for the dryer.  That connection was just waiting for the breaker that he purchased at Home Depot about an hour ago.  I am sure that the dryer will be hooked into the box before this day ends.

"Now where is that electrical tape?" Rick fished
the wire up the wall so he could move the
electrical outlet above where a base cabinet will rest.

Then he went into the new laundry room and worked with the existing electrical outlets.  He removed an old telephone/ cable outlet.  He changed all of the old-fashioned outlets into more modern square ones that match the rest of the house. He moved one outlet that would have been behind the new lower cabinets up the wall so that I will have access to an outlet between the upper and lower cabinets.  Two of the outlets on that wall will remain in their current positions since they will be under the desk.

Rick also fished an internet connection wire through the wall so I will be able to hard-wire my computer once it is on that desk.  We are going to see if I like having my "office" there instead of in the guest room.

The cut down heating grate fits well against the wall.

Another chore yesterday was making a heating duct grate fit into the opening.  We used to have two grates that were placed over the duct openings, standing against the wall.  Sadly, once my dryer is in the room, that grate would interfere with the dryer's placement and my ability to open the drawer below the dryer.  To remedy that problem, we purchased a floor grate that Rick had to cut down on one side so it would fit against the wall.  That took a bit of time, more than one cut for refits, and duct maneuvering, but in the end we have a grate that matches the floor and that will keep things from falling into the duct.

Our final work on the room yesterday was to look at samples of shades for the two windows in the room.  I love having the big windows, but covering them has left us with a quandary. Do we use white to match the appliances?  Do we go with a brown to match the cabinets and woodwork?  Do we try to find a shade that matches the paint on the wall?  In the end, we just ordered out eight samples to see what will look the best in the room.

Each day we move forward a little more, but we are far from finished.  However, in the end I think we both will enjoy our new room.