Today was going to be reserved for the coronation, I woke up at around seven and plugged in my headphones just in time to hear the crowning. Later I caught up with the ceremony and watched the possession back to Buck house.
The only thing that Kelli noticed was the length of Charles’s eyebrows, mine are being trimmed all the time.
However the garage was calling, or rather it was Kelli, she has a list of things to do, and I was going to be needed.
I had my own projects I needed to paint, but hers took preference.
The weather was a bit rainy and not what I expected it to be, but we got two dressers finished and photographed, plus Kelli repainted the small dresser, and posted the whole lot.
I placed the hob in position just to check that everything fitted, and it did, big sigh of relief.
Warm weather is here!, off with the flannel shirt and on with the teeshirt.
I finished the review of the worktop drawing, and making a few amendments, I dropped it off at Stacy, the designer, for her to pass it on to the worktop manufacturer.
I had a few more errands to do including picking up the paint for the garage door. We painted it a few years ago a bold red colour, but over time it has changed to a pink. A bit like old Ford cortinas, they alway started out one colour and faded into another. This time we have the correct formulation paint that, hopefully will last a lot longer. Painting a double garage door is no walk in the park.
I got home in time for the lady from the tile shop who came to measure up for the walls above the worktop upstand. This should finish off the walls and complete the new look for the kitchen.
Kelli called an electrician this morning to arrange for someone to come out and run a new circuit for the hob, that should be next Tuesday.
Then it was back to the furniture jobs, sanding paint and everything.
We have two dressers in progress and one we still haven’t sold, that might get repainted.
I finished the thin cabinet for the spices and bottles, now I have to wait for the inner frame that has been ordered.
We had to go to our designer to sign off the drawing for the worktop. I needed time to go over it in more detail, so I took it away with me to study it.
Don came round again at our request to look at the installation of the hob. I thought that it was a plug and play system with the oven, but that wasn’t the case.
There was a lot of confusion, and contradictory information in the installation manual. The main confusion was the illustration in the manual was not the same as the actual oven. I contacted Bosch customer service who were very little help. In the end I was told that the hob could be mounted above the oven, but it would need a separate circuit.
So Don and I both discussed the issue and took off the removable covers to see what was going on. The largest one exposed a large circuit board, but the power terminals were tucked away. We finally agreed that I would need an electrician to fit a new outlet for the hob. That did put my mind at ease because the thought of drilling holes in the oven top filled my head with dread.
I assembled the additional six inch wide unit that will be used for spices and oils. I still have a number of doors and drawer fronts to assemble, I need to finish those by the week end.
It still remains difficult to prepare proper meals, and breakfast in particular. Kelli has a egg boiler that is a bit temperamental, so they don’t always come out as planned, but the toaster works well.
We had a dresser to collect from Zeeland, but on the way we stopped off at Infusion, a kitchen/bathroom showroom to order a plug set for the new sink, these are things easily forgotten, of course nothing is in stock, but we should get them next week.
When we eventually got to Zeeland we found the house with the furniture on the porch. The dresser was a standard design that we’ve had many times, hopefully a quick turnaround.
The big thing on the list was wiring up the oven.
I fitted the large plug on the end of the cable, but as it was much larger than the one on the old cooker I had to remove part of the floor panel, luckily I had an oscillating saw that did the job really well. With a bit of lifting we slid the oven into place and once the power was turned on we had another clock to look at.
Next I need to find out how to set up the hob temporarily, then we could be back in action.
Kelli found a buyer for the old cooker, and they were coming to collect it mid afternoon.
Now we had to move it into the garage and give it a good clean.
We still had Larry’s dolly and we had learned a lot about moving heavy objects, namely, get someone else to do it, but it was a work day and our trusty strong person was not around. We tackled this like any other project, total confusion.
The cooker could only go out the door in one orientation which made it difficult to keep on the dolly. I took the full load, and Kelli kept a look out.
Getting it down the small steps rattled my teeth a bit, but we did it, now we had to clean it throughly.
I opened the oven and sprayed this toxic liquid over all the surfaces. We left it for half an hour then I went back and wiped it out.
It was satisfying to see what the true colour of the oven was, the last time would have been when we moved into the house.
By the time we had finished it was sparkling, and quite presentable.
The man arrived, and was happy with it, he commented on how clean it was, we smiled at each other, it was a bloody hard job.
Once this had gone it left a large space in the garage, Kelli cut up all the cardboard from all the appliance packing giving us more space than we’ve had in a long time.
Early evening, Don, a next door neighbour to Kelli’s mother came round to give me advice on how to wire up the oven plug.
He kindly brought a bottle of wine which I opened, and soon my head was happy that he did.
He explained that I would wire both the green (ground) and the white (neutral) together on the same terminal with the red and black on the other two. I’ve never heard of that before, and now reading the installation instructions it made sense.
I guess I will be wiring that up tomorrow.
Kelli made a fabulous lasagna in the small toast oven, you definitely have to think a few hours ahead to be able to cook something and eat it this side of midnight.
Another hectic day ahead, first the weekly shopping, then the worktop templating in the afternoon and the weather was shite.
The expedition to Aldi was uneventful apart from two instances of people blocking my way to the refrigerator cupboards. First I wanted organic butter, my way was blocked, so I went to the next cabinet to get cheese, that was blocked as well, so I danced around until one freed up, that the total excitement on our shopping experience.
Then it was back home to wait for our designer Stacy and the templating man.
We had fun clearing all the worktop of Kelli’s cooking paraphernalia, the kitchen never looked so spacious. Having a shallower fridge and oven has made a big difference, it’s almost normal size.
Since we had decided to add another slim cabinet for oils and spices, I wanted to get started, so I set up the saw and cut up the plywood sheet in no time. Stacy had brought over the catalog of internal components to find one of a suitable size.
Then the templating man turned up with his bag of twenty-first century gizmos. I was expecting him to arrive with sheets of thin hardboard under his arm, like the one who did the templating for my kitchen in the cottage.
We went through some of the details, like how the wood top meets the corian. At time I feel like I’m speaking a foreign language trying to explain my ideas. “Ooh, we can’t do it that way” or “ we’ve never had to do that”.
Eventually we had an agreement, covering edge and corner radius, overhangs and upstand height. He then set about setting up his laser and started measuring. This took about an hour, and in the end he showed me the drawing on his iPad.
This he will send to the engineer back at the factory who will produce the proper drawing for me to approve. What slow process, the guy in England had the layout approved on site and the top was installed ten days later, I expect this to take four weeks.
Kelli was going crazy, she cooked breakfast on the table top oven she borrowed from her mother, the eggs came out with a texture of leather, I could have re-soled my shoes with them. She did get the slow cooker out and made a soup for dinner, just right for the cold and rainy day it had been.
I will try to wire up the oven and hob temporarily once I understand the wiring. I need to get a bit of advice before tackling it as there is four wires on the oven, and three on the plug.
The last thing I want to do is light up the oven like a Christmas tree.
The heavy lifting continued, we had to instal the new oven cabinet. This meant moving the old cooker, this was not heavy, we just slid it out of the way.
Once moved, the side of corner unit was revealed, or should I say the lack of side.
This required a rapid change of plan.
There had to be extensive machining of the oven cabinet side panel in order for everything to fit correctly.
Whilst I was getting covered in sawdust Kelli was busy selling the old fridge to Big Dave’s wife.
Just before breakfast Big Dave arrived to collect the monster. Single handedly he wheeled the fridge over the road.
Our next challenge to the get the oven into the kitchen. We unpacked it so that we could get it through the door and into the kitchen area.
Like everything over here it weighs a ton, but somehow we managed to get it in the cabinet.
Then it was the turn of the other items that the worktop people have to take with them tomorrow.
The first crate that had to be opened was the sink. This was manufactured in Mexico, and as the top was lifted I expected to find an illegal immigrant inside, or a kilo of white powder, but all there was a beautiful copper sink.
Kelli got quite emotional because it was something she really wanted and I was glad it worked out.
Next out the box was the hob, nothing really special there, but the faucet was a beautiful sculptural piece of stainless steel.
Of course having caused upheaval in the kitchen we had nothing to cook on. We had to borrow a small countertop oven from Kelli’s mother. We managed to cook a pizza in about thirty five minutes under two hundred watt lightbulbs. Any later and I would have started to eat some of the abundance of packaging we have stacked in the garage.
What a day it’s been, one that we’ve dreaded, not because we didn’t want to do it, rather the effort required in completing the task.
It was fridge moving day, out with the big mother of an appliance and in with sleek Italian model.
But first it was moving out the old monster that had to be disconnected from the water supply. This was because it had an automatic ice maker which the new fridge doesn’t have.
After getting soaked, thinking I had turned the water off, only to find I hadn’t, but once that was done stage one was complete.
Next step was to move it clear so we could bring the new one in.
First the floor had to be cleaned. It was very dirty under there, but I did find a pencil I had lost, a result.
We had borrowed a dolly from Larry and used it to move the monster closer to the door, allowing us passage for the new beast.
Our first attempt to move the new one failed because the garage door got in the way because the box was very tall, so we had to close it. Then because of its height it was hard to tip it and support the weight.
Kelli suggested that I go and ask big Dave, who lived across the road, to help us (where was he when we had to move the piano?)
He was sittings outside eating a pizza, as you do here.
Putting his lunch aside, he sprung into action, I’m sure he could have picked it up and carried it under his arm.
We finally got it in the house and could unpack it, getting the old one out was next on the agenda.
Kelli was revealing the orange splendour of the new fridge. The heavenly choir sang, as the sun shone even more brightly than usual, the appliance glowed, “I will name it Max Jaffa” I thought, I kept that to myself as Kelli wouldn’t know who I was talking about.
Big Dave returned with a strap to tie the monster to the dolly.
I had to remove the door and screen door to be able to get it into the garage, but once that was done it went remarkably easy.
We moved the new fridge into position whilst Kelli had to cull the bottles and stuff that came out of the old one. Downsizing is not a common thing over here, but the recycling bin soon filled up.
The “Max Jaffa” certainly takes a bit of getting used to, it certainly makes a statement, now the rest of the kitchen remodel can take place.
It was a pleasant drive down to Byron Center to collect the beech countertop. John had done a great job, it was the first top he had made in beech. We loaded it into the back of the truck with about eighteen inches sticking out the back, then we secured the back door with a bungee. The next stop back was to pickup a dresser in Zeeland. This was a black painted piece that easily fitted on top of the countertop. Then it was back home to get the small jobs done on the long dresser.
The work I anticipated to do to the long dresser went a bit quicker than I thought, meaning we could bring the collection day forward, always a good result.
The garden is becoming a concern because things are beginning to grow but we have no idea what they are. For all we know we could be cultivating weeds. The problem is, Kelli has no recollection of what is where. We moved a lots plants in the autumn to group things together, but we have now forgotten everything, so we’ll have to wait and see.
It was all happening today, we needed to get the long dresser finished for Friday to post for the weekend shoppers. I had to sand the top ready for staining, and get a coat of sealer on it by the end of the day. Kelli was keen to get it on Marketplace early, so as soon as the top was dry, we carried it into the house to take pictures. I alway urge caution because there were some repairs to some of the drawers, plus more coats of finish had to be applied before I was happy with it.
So it was posted, and straight away it was snapped up, now I had to set a time when it would be available.
It is due to be collected at four pm on Saturday so I will have to make sure it’s done by then.
We had a call from the guy making the wooden part of the counter top to tell me that it was finish and ready for collection, great news.
After that we had a call from our designer to say that the worktop fabricator will call on Monday afternoon to do the templating, so I will have to fit the oven unit ready for them, so the pressure is building up.
On top of that I have been continuing the painting and assembly of more doors and drawer fronts, I was worn out mentally and physically by the end of the day.
I don’t know how Kelli will take having the kitchen disrupted for up to three weeks, it’s going to be challenging.
Another Lifetime to go 