We're closer to being able to have guests stay over.

Well maybe a little bit closer still a ways to go however the slide down the back side of the work curve is speeding up. So to get you caught up with what we did here it is.
On Sunday we spent the day painting the first coat on the walls of the spare bedroom. Once that was down we spend time working on the upper cabinets of the kitchen. This essentially entailed cutting two strips of cherry for the top and bottom back rail and then installing the walls of the cabinets on the rails. We also installed the floor of the cabinet that will be above the built in microwave oven. Finally we also slide in the 1/4" cherry plywood that will be the back wall of the cabinets. This slides into two grooves that were cut into the top and bottom rails. Here are some pictures showing the paint in the bedroom and the work on the cabinets.

 On Monday we worked so the next day to work on the project was Tuesday. On Tuesday we spent time painting the second coat of paint in the bedroom and then continued work on the upper cabinets. This entailed putting on the top and bottom front rails as well as installing all the bottoms of the cabinets. The end cabinet is a corner cabinet so it took a little more care and finesse to ensure all the calculations were correct to build this up. At the end of the day we realized that we had made a slight error in construction such that the 1/4" top of the cabinets instead of being inset behind the top rail would now have to fit on top of all the walls and the top rail. It was a bit of an "oh shit" moment when I realized however we did come up with the fix of installing a small corner trim piece once the entire cabinet is mounted. This cover the top as well as cover up any gaps due to uneven bulkhead drywall. It's one of these problems that you as the builder know occurred however at the end of the day any visitor will most likely never know you made the mistake. So here's a picture showing the work on the cabinets by end of day.

This brings up to expensive Wednesday. First thing we did was finish off the remaining work on the uppers which mainly entailed final trimming around the corner cabinet. Once that was done we left everything alone to allow the glue time to cure. While this was happening out we went and ordered the Ditra Heat underfloor heating system for the spare bedroom and then went over to the local flooring store and ordered the Teragren Synergy wide plank bamboo flooring, in natural colour, for the house. This should arrive on Tuesday and I'll bring it into the house on Wednesday. Then after a week or two of acclimatizing we'll be able to start laying down the floor in the living, dining area. Later in the evening we removed all the clamps and sanded down the cabinets before putting on the first coat of Varathane. The Varathane being used is the same stuff I used on the Teak wainscoting. This is a Minwax Oil modified water based polyurethane. 

On Thursday after work we gave the cabinets a second coat of Varathane and this is what they look like at this time.

On Friday after work we rotated them 90 degrees on the sawhorses and prepped the cabinets for installation. This included drilling holes for where the mounting screws will be. As well we drilled and cut out any holes required for mounting the microwave as well as the venting required for this. Lastly we added a small extension for the venting system to the elbow which was just sticking out from the bulkhead. Now when we install the cabinet we'll just slide it up so the extension slides into the hole you can see in the cabinet just above the microwave location. Hopefully i'll get a chance to mount it either tomorrow, Sunday or early next week. Once it's installed we'll give it a few more coats of varathane on the critical areas and then start work on the lower cabinets. 

So that's where we sit at this time. Next week I'll start work on the lower cabinets as well as start cleaning up some of the items in the house so that I  can sand down the floor prior to installing the flooring. The sanding it only being down to clean up some of the spilled drywall mud as well as to ensure all the joints are smooth and not jagged. Then once the flooring is installed we can start work on bringing the last of the furniture from the garage. As intimated at the beginning of the article the end is in sight, or at least a lot closer than a few weeks ago. 

Until next week all the best and have a great fall. And for all of us remember our Veterans on Nov 11th.

Harold