Phase Two

I considered Phase One of this laundry room project getting the old den cleaned out, getting the plumbing and pocket door installed, completing all of the finishing work on the walls, and making and installing the cabinets.  So far, so good.

Now we move to Phase Two which is making and installing the shelves and drawers while the professionals complete the cabinet doors.  Additionally, the primary purpose of this room is to get the laundry units upstairs and operable, and that will happen this coming week.

Phase Three will include bringing the looms and sewing machine upstairs and actually moving into the room for full-time use.  I also plan to transfer my "office" from the spare bedroom into that room to make use of the laptop desk.  Since the granite countertops will not be installed until October, though, that final phase has some expected delays.

For now, we are happy to move into Phase Two.  This morning we started this phase by measuring, cutting, sanding and staining 10 shelves for the upper cabinets and one small base cabinet.  We will have two shelves in each of the three upper cabinets on the west wall, one shelf each in the three cabinets above the laundry units, and a small shelf in the lower cabinet next to the washer.  Since that cabinet also will house the Vroom vacuum, a single shelf is all it will need.

Six stained shelves, suspended on painters' points,
 dry in the garage.

We are making these shelves out of oak plywood which we will edge with a plastic shelf molding.  We have the same kind of molding in our kitchen cupboards, and those shelves have lasted well for almost 30 years.  Since these shelves all will be hidden behind cabinet doors, we saw no reason to purchase solid oak for these utilitarian shelves.

We WILL purchase solid oak for the two shelves that will go above the desk in the bookcase since those shelves will be in view all of the time.  That wood we have yet to purchase.

The other four shelves dry on a second table while the base shoe
molding dries on 2 x 4 racks below.

While Rick started to stain the cut shelves today, I added a coat of sealer on the four strips of base shoe that I stained yesterday.  In a couple more days, we will be able to install that around the base cabinets.  We should have that finished by Tuesday.

My Grandfather Will died when I was only 18 months old, so I did not really know the man; however, my mother told me that he had a strict rule about never working on Sunday.  Sunday was the Sabbath, a day set aside for reading the Bible, contemplation, and rest.  I also learned that he was a hard working, industrious man who did not sit around much.  Would he have approved of us working today?  Probably not.  Yet, somehow,  I think that he would have understood our need to keep working on this project.

The temperature this morning was 59 degrees when I awoke.  We know that this is Wisconsin and that we quickly are losing our window of opportune temperatures in which to stain and to varnish wood in our garage.  The temperatures soon will be too cold to do such activities, so we have to make sure that we get everything built and stained before we run out of time. To that end, the work continues each day.