One of the projects was getting more usable space in the kitchen. Denise found an island with a set of stools at a thrift store in DeRidder that fit our space nicely. We got some walnut lumber and had Scott tap into his inner woodworker to redo the counter top, stool seats and drawer faces.
The wood had a nice natural color, and after it was sanded he sprayed on a hard shell varnish that really brought out the character in the wood.
He also got to play with his router to put a nice edge on the table.
The stools were a little tricky, but he upgraded them from the faded country yellow paint to something that had a nicer antique look.
You can see one of the original stools in the back.
Denise had painted the base to match the kitchen colors before we decided to upgrade the cheap wood on the original with walnut. So she borrowed a page from Joe's book and used chalk paint with antiquing wax to re-do the bottom.
Another of the kitchen projects was to do something about the opening into the laundry room. We had removed the original door because it was awkward to work around and get to the freezer.
We decided to hang a sliding barn door. Joe did the assembly and mounting after Denise painted it to match the base of the island. It works great when we don't want to hear the washer and dryer, or when we leave town and don't want somebody looking into the house through the back porch window.
I mentioned that Joe helped assemble and mount the door...this was an add-on to the real project he came to tackle for us - a remake of our brick front walk. Those of you who have been here may remember the uneven, undulating brick walk that held water at the base of our front porch steps. Well Joe had a fix for that.
It started with removal of the old brick, some excavation, and building forms out of ground contact 2X6 lumber. We also had retrieved the old brick we pulled up from his Aunt Cheryl's porch project last year.
He packed in a couple of yards of cal base, added about 1/2 inch of levelling sand and began laying a new walk that was level from the top of the bottom porch step all the way to the driveway.
He finished it off by brushing mortar into all of the cracks and wetting it down, followed by several brick scrubbings. We think the final product is a big improvement over what we had...now I'm hearing whispers of another project involving a little landscaping down each side of the walk, the front porch, and the front yard in general. Oh, well, I can't say I disagree, but that will be for another day.
I'll finish with a couple of other projects in the works. We obtained some family heirloom antiques that we are going to refurbish. There are some chairs that are on hold for now and Maw-Maw's baby buggy (from 1915!). The buggy was a little rough, but Denise is doing her magic on the basket and replacing the rotten, stained lining along with the straw stuffing that probably was full of latent hanta virus from the mouse parties that had been going on during it's time stored in attics.
There's more to do, and a lot of small projects not captured here, but there has to be some mystery and surprise to your next visit! As soon as I get another topic pulled from my many pictures, I'll get another post up. See ya!
