Aged Over 2 Years (85 To Be Exact).

My dad & I have been working on a project in my basement. More on the project when we get further along. But, I thought it would be fun to post one of our discoveries.

This cut up poster was being used in a cabinet in my basement. I'm hoping we can find the missing pieces somewhere down there.

A Snag

I've run into a tiny snag in the kitchen ceiling installation. I'm replacing the light in the center of the room. I know the the electrical in the kitchen is new-ish, so I thought for sure all I'd have to do was pull down the old light & put up the new.

Small snag.

The electrical box was evidently installed before the furring & old ceiling tile was. With the old light, this didn't matter as it was loosely screwed in with really long screws. However, unless I want the base of my new light to buried below the level of the new ceiling tile...changes need to be made.

I'm sure this is a pretty easy job. But, I once had an electrician tell me the story of how his boss was electrocuted to death in front of him. This made a big impression on me. Good grief, if an electrician can kill himself...imagine what I am capable of.

I need to have an outlet added and one moved anyway. So, an electrician will be called. In the meantime, I'm finishing off the ceiling in the corner where the new cabinet will be installed (shortly).

Transformation

After working on it for two full days, I don't have the will to write anything more than....the kitchen ceiling is going up, and the hideous white ceiling light is forever gone.

Coming Together

Things in the kitchen are starting to come together.

Today I picked up the paint for the ceiling. It is a lighter version of the same vintage green color I have on my dining room walls. I'm embarassed to admit that I spent a lot of time looking at paint chips to match my wallpaper before I realized that I already had a green that would work. I wanted a very light green for the ceiling as the wood, wallpaper and red paint are pretty dark. I also am trying to avoid a whole "Christmas" color theme.

For some reason it's always a big fat challenge for me to get paint custom colored. The current dining room paint is a Sherwin Williams color. I prefer Benjamin Moore paint. On top of this, I wanted a 25% tint for the ceiling.

Went to paint store "A" (who I know mixes custom colors) and I told the guy what I wanted. He looked at me like I was an idiot talking gibberish when I asked for a lighter ceiling tint. Then like I asked him to make paint out of lemonade when I told him I wanted to match the color. Then he got all condecending and explained in slow words that SW & BM were different paint companies.

Seriously?

I took my paint chip from his hand...told him I was going to think about it. I then got back in my car and drove clear across town to Hirshfields, where they took my chip, listened to what I wanted, gave me helpful suggestions & mixed my BM paint. Next time I have to remember to go directly to Hirshfields...or at least wait for one of the full-time guys at store "A."

In the photo, the ceiling tile is painted with the final color on the left..and the dining room green on the right.

The shine on the shellacked trim on the photo needs to be knocked down to a semi-gloss finish, but you get the idea.

The vintage red paint chip is for the wall below the chair rail (currently being stripped of paint so you can more clearly see the scored plaster). I waffle on this color...but always come back to it....we'll see how it goes.

And there's the wallpaper for above the chair rail.

Warm Glow

The vintage cabinets in my kitchen are finished in amber shellac. Over the years I've been slowly stripping off the old, deteriorating shellac and replacing it with new. The birch wood underneath has developed a nice 80 yr old patina and when the new shellac goes on it has that familiar nice warm honey glow.

This brings us to the new cabinet that will also have an amber shellac finish. As will the new maple crown moulding that will be installed.

The new wood does not have the nice patina of the old wood....so, I have been working hard to devise a method to get the new cabinet to match the old.

I've been experimenting with scraps of birch (cabinet) and maple (crown moulding). I also use waxy, amber, liquid shellac (if you are a purist, waxy shellac is what you use to replicate the look of a vintage finish - even though it's oh-so-trendy to use dewaxed shellac flakes right now). I've been experimenting with different cuts of shellac (thickness) and number of layers. However, I had not been able to get a good match.

All of a sudden yesterday, I got to thining about a house tour I took a few years back. I hunted down the handout I received that day (I amazingly had it in a folder). The folks at one house replicated the look of vintage shellac pretty sucessfully using a stain & rubbed poly finish.

I thought to myself, I could use the stain to replicate the patina of old birch and then go ahead and finish with the amber shellac.

Ha, it worked. At the top of the first photo below you see a short piece of vintage baseboard & cap. The short board below it has been stained and has one coat of shellac. When I add the next coat of shellac, we should have a match. The photo below that shows how thwe wood scraps started out pre-stain & shellac.

Blue

Happy (early) birthday to me.



It matches my pink phone. I figured every girl should have one of each.

Of course there also is a pale yellow, but I've run out of outlets......

Pink & Puffy

I'm still working in my kitchen, but here's this from my garden in the meantime.

Don't Go Looking for Trouble

I have been working on my kitchen. Having fixed the stove vent hole, I needed to work on stripping the wood baseboard trim. The new cabinet will be installed in this corner.

Before I started working on the trim, I told myself that in no uncertain terms I was not to go looking for trouble. I was to strip the wood & call it a day.

Yea, well.

I was stripping the wood trim & got to thinking that it may be easier to install the new cabinet - not to mention get the old finish off - if the trim was removed from the wall. It took me the better part of an afternoon to slowly pry that never-before-removed baseboard away from the wall.

The trim was off & I stripped off the shellac using dentatured alcohol.

While I was working on the trim....I got to thinking. The lower part of the plaster wall was originally scored to make it look like tile. Some of the crispness of the scoring was lost over the years under layers of paint.
Wouldn't it really be the time to take off those layers of paint?

You see where this is going....

Disappearing Act.

The stove vent hole as it stands today. And how it looked originally. I'm rather proud of my handiwork.

In Spite of the Drought

I love flowers that make me look like a gardener.