never had any other desire so strong...as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden.

-A. Cowley, The Garden, 1666

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

best laid floor o' nooks an' pantries

I had planned to post about a beautifully triumphant weekend in which we finally have a refinished breakfast nook floor...
After all, we did set aside an entire weekend for the endeavor. How long could it possibly take...we've already done the hard part (taking up 2 layers of vinyl and scraping up the majority of the black gooey mildewy mastic which was applied right over a nice pine foor), right?

*maybe*, whispered my ambitous optimistic and ultimately unrealistic project angel jumping up and down excitedly on my shoulder, *maybe we can even get to putting in the antique hutch and other furniture, after all we did get the fast dry polyurethane!*

Did I mention that our budget for this restoration job is about what a normal couple would spend going out to dinner? Not a special occasion type restaurant, more of a "its tuesday and I'm feeling oppressed by the task of cooking" type joint.
So we (I) made the amazing decision to save money by NOT renting the proper floor sander...we'll just use borrowed belt sanders (free)! After all, its a really small room!

UPDATE: As my aunt (and Robert Burns) observes about home DIY projects:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley.

We are still sanding.
And we have busted both of the borrowed belt sanders (Hi Mom...tell Dad we owe him a trip to harbor freight...) So back to sanding this evening (decided to ignore the nook on my Monday birthday and yesterday flounced out to a concert).



In the mean time: I'll show off some really sweet porcelain bird napkin rings. Goodwill find which was half off...a whopping 75c for the whole flock.
and they also qualify me for joining in over at Faded Charm for White Wednesday!

11 comments:

  1. I could have warned you about DIY projects. We have never finished anything as quickly as we thought we could. Oh well,It will be worth the wait.
    The napkin rings are a great find, they remind me of some my Mom had. Happy belated birthday.
    Kat

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  2. I learned the very first week that everything will take twice as long and cost twice as much as you plan for. Even if you double your plan!

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  3. Great flock of birds-hope your floors turn out beautiful!

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  4. Ah, that Robbie Burns knew his onions, he did.

    Black gooey mastic? Yum.
    I feel your pain. I once used a rented floor sander to sand vinyl tile mastic off a floor. I probably should have worn a mask ... cough, cough. I returned that sander and RAN.

    Nothing gets done in the time we think it will. I truly thought that I might be able to paint ALL the kitchen cupboards in a weekend. How stupid am I? Pretty stupid.

    And tell your Dad his sister says there are probably several belt sanders out in Southold he can have to replace any that didn't survive The Great Nook Floor Project.

    Love ya! Aunt Cassy

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  5. Hey -- Love the big sculptural Kohlrabi.
    Your Uncle Lindy had a Kohlrabi song he used to sing when Muttie made that veggie -- you are probably not surprised to hear this.

    I didn't notice the chicken auctions in my picture today! Those are Wall Street Journal papers; must be some fancy fowl up for grabs.

    I would love to have chickens. Sigh.

    A. C.

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  6. Love the Burns' allusion, love the flock.

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  7. Awesome bird napkin rings. I has envy!
    Good luck with your project. Just hang in there, you will get it done. :-)

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  8. Things are never as easy or go as smoothly as they should, but, it's worth it in the end, right? Just found your blog, it's fab! Am your newest follower and would love for you to visit me at walnutandvine.blogspot.com. Have you seen the blog locationcentral.blogspot.com?It's a neat idea, check it out.
    Rebecca

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  9. Love your blog. Everything is so Green! I live in the Mohave Desert in northern Arizona on one plus acres with desert landscaping except for my vegetable gardens. We are remodeling our home as well. It`s always a bigger job than anticipated isn`t it.

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  10. Emily Ann!

    We need a post about The Great Crapper Caper!
    (With all due apologies to the late and under-appreciated Mr. Thomas Crapper.)

    Love, Aunt Cassy

    P.S. June 25th. Be there. Or here, actually, for the nuptials.

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  11. Your GW napkin rings are a true find! They are Fitz & Floyd, if you didn't already know that. Lucky!

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