(There are quite a few shelves still to come.)
This one goes around the TV. First step, bolt the TV bracket to the wall.
Looking good.
I will have to make a plan with the white wall behind the TV.
The reason I’m doing this in stages is that I wasn’t sure exactly where this unit would end up. It could have been 5cm to the left or the right. Now I can measure the remaining space and design a bookshelf to fit.
I started building kitchen cupboards somewhere around August 2008 — well before we moved in. Well, I finally fitted the last cabinet doors — the two on the pot drawers under the prep bowl.
And… our first tomatoes of the season have shown up.
While the cocktail tomatoes are first, I have no idea what other kinds of tomatoes we’re going to get. They all came up from the worm compost that I spread in that part of the garden, so it’s a conglomeration of all the tomatoes I’ve used the past year or so.
Today, a year ago, we took possession of the house. It’s been… a journey. A long one, and we’re still on it.
Maybe it’s time for the long awaited kitchen sink backsplash post. Frank finished the tiling and grouting last Friday, but I’ve been somewhat busy, so blogging had to wait.
Drip tray hardware from A&D Distributors in Maitland.
We invited some people over on Saturday evening, so the rush was on to finish the bathroom shelves (only way I get things done, invite people over :-)
These rods are also from A&D…
..and this is what they look like installed. Since this particular wall consists of tile over shutterboard, I just drilled a hole and used a 6mm bolt from the other side to hold the rod to the wall.
For the shelf on the other side, I used two lengths of 12mm aliminium angle, cut and filed and drilled. This is where I noticed that the whole thing is completely out of square, the tiler could have done a lot better.
I still have to change the bath… *sigh* but it’ll be nice when it’s done. And Tanya wants “her” light on the same circuit as the downlighters, there’s a DB in the ceiling, I just have to get up there…
I would have liked to go and see the Kontiki rafts, but driving to the Fruit & Veg in Bellville to buy snack-ey party stuff, and putting up the shelves, took my whole day. OK, I also spent an hour at the range early on Saturday but that doesn’t count :-) Found a pretty good 7mm TC/U cast bullet load. Subject of another posting, maybe.
Monday evening sunset, straight off the camera, no Photoshoppery.
These are the top and bottom sides for the wall units from Lansdowne Boards. No mistakes or inconsistencies here (for once), this is how they do it.
Of course, if they put the slot for the backing board on the other side, the holes for the cam system would end up on the outside of the unit. Which won’t be visible. In this design, the cams end up inside the unit, which is visible.
Doesn’t look too bad though.
I still havn’t figured out how to avoid holes in the backing board. Using their hanging system, one ends up with two holes in each upper corner, and two holes across the bottom. Using what I did here, I ended up with four holes. I guess bodyputty and paint is a solution…
The drip tray hardware comes from A&D Distributors in Maitland. It comes with instructions, but I decided to ignore their recommended dimensions in favour of centering the (222mm deep) drip tray in the (300mm) deep cupboard unit.
I want the backsplash to extend up behind the drip tray, so I sat with Julian and designed a unit with a cupboard at the top and a backless bottomless area at the bottom.
I also realised that this would happen, and told Julian how I wanted it done. (Because of the curve of the saw blade, getting the slot for the backing board deep enough on the top (left in the picture) of the shelf means that the cut extends. I was quite prepared to have the cut stop above the shelf, I would then route the last bit by hand).
But as we say in Afrikaans, “‘n Halwe begrip het ‘n goeie woord nodig.” In the case of these guys, I think the good explanation has to be punctuated with a baseball bat for things to sink in, though.
Looking good…
So I ordered the last of the kitchen cabinets from Lansdowne Boards. These took a while because we were still deciding what we wanted to do, and I had to wrap my head around the drip tray that I got from A&D distributors.
Collected the stuff last Wednesday. Found that they had only supplied two of the three units (but all four doors). No wonder they gave me a large, unexpected off-cut — that was of course supposed to be the third unit.
Returned the offcut to them for making into unit #3.
That was last week.
Over the weekend I found that the double doors for the Colossal Cupboard were too small. The formula is : door width = cupboard width divided by two, less 4mm. Taking the 1mm edging into account, that means the wood for a door for a 750mm wide cupboard should be 369mm. The drawing shows 369mm, the cut list shows 369mm, but the measuring tape shows… 365mm. This creates a rather unsightly gap between the two doors, of course.
Took that back on Monday, nicely asked the fellow to have my kitchen unit ready by Wednesday.
Wednesday came around, I phoned. Nosir, maybe by Friday.
Are they nuts? I ordered this stuff weeks ago. They stuffed up. All they need to do is to quickly cut and edge a unit, one unit, and that will keep the customer happy. So what do they do? Sweet Fanny Adams.
And they’re still sitting on the replacement shelves for the one bookshelf where they got the holes skew. Something to do with them having to buy the chipboard for the replacement unit, which of course they are loathe to do. I suspect they can just massage the replacement white units out of someone else’s order, but few people order mahogany…
*spit*
/me goes back to listening to Lily Allen with a vengeance.
Those following this blog will know that I’ve had many hassles with Lansdowne Boards. This is the second time I’ve run across this specific problem, which is that the board goes through the machine at a slight angle, which means that things don’t line up.
It’s not a lot, but it makes the front of the shelf stand proud by half a millimeter or so, and that looks bad.
The whole point of Lansdowne Boards‘ system is that they have the precision machines so that you can just assemble the stuff without using any complicated tools. In theory this is good. But if your machines are out of calibration or your operators just don’t care, this is the result — one pissed off customer.
So, sadly, I can’t recommend using them. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re going to suffer, and if you do know what you’re doing, you don’t need them anyway. Go to Davidson’s or someone else instead.
Friday was a stuffup. I had to go through to Kommetjie, drop off the double mattress (we decided that Jessica would get the two single beds, not a double, so the mattress got sold back to the new owner of Tanya’s old place), pick up three bags of books and a wooden box, pick up the last of the kithen counters from Lumber City, and drop off the books at Tears animal shelter (they sell them for funds).
Got to Kommetjie, cleaning lady told me that the vacuum cleaner has a two pin plug and we took all the adapters with us. So I went to the cafe, spent an exorbitant amount (R26) on an adapter, went back to Tanya’s place, modified the adapter with my trusty Swiss Army knife (the vacuum cleaner uses the Euro two pin connector, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself fortunate).
Got to Lumber City “You’re going to cut these yourself then? asks sales fellow”. “Erm, no, I ordered it cut”. “Oh yes I see, it’s written down here” “Indeed, make it happen, varlet!” (Well, something like that anyway). So I pay, ask a few questions, figuring they’re cutting the thing so I might as well learn stuph. Hah. Turns out they’re picking their noses waiting for me to come breathe down their necks before they’re going to do anything. Which I proceed to do, which they proceed to do, we eventually leave Lumber City after 9. Note that I do have a boss, and while he’s very understanding, the work doesn’t do itself.
Friday evening we went through again, picked up even more stuff, including Tanya’s clothes rack exercise bicycle. Also picked up Tamsyn’s bed from Tanya’s folks’ place.
I had to [1] go silhouette shooting on Saturday morning, and I took the opportunity to take the trailer back to Bellville. Came back as soon as possible, and fitted the short counter. I used an aliminium strip to join the two counters at a right angle, this is much easier than cutting the two counters (It seems easy with a jig, but I don’t have the jig, and with only one joint, there’s no sense). Liberally applied Woodoc 50 marine varnish to the cut particle board, and used lots of sealant.
On Sunday we bade Tanya’s brother Clive farewell at the airport, he’s off to the land of Oz to look for gold. Or at least a steady employment and a place to stay :-) After that we went to Makro where we spent *mumble* lots on all kinds of house-ey stuff. If you’re looking for curtain rails and the like, start here, not at Builders Warehouse or Hyperama — which is where we got the toothbrush holders, shower racks, toilet brushes & holders, towel rails, a bath mat and so forth and so on from.
Sunday evening I fitted the side panel by the kitchen entrance. It was 4mm too large at the top (the wall is skew) so I screwed a guide to it and used the router with the trim bit (the one with the bearing at the bottom) to trim the panel to size very neatly.
After this I attacked the shelves that are supposed to go in the top cupboard in the corner. They were a few millimeters too wide, the belt sander worked well. I also connected the washing machine to the outside tap and with an extension lead plugged in Tanya could do her first load of washing at the new house.
While I made the first cooked meal at the new house. Lentil and Rice pilaf with stuff.
Recipe from Diana’s Kitchen, modified to fit what I had.
Two small onions, sliced.
One green pepper, sliced.
Two medium carrots, sliced.
1/2 cup lentils, examined for sticks, stones and small furry creatures, and rinsed.
1/2 cup brown rice.
1 tomato.
Stock powder.
1 teaspoon dried thyme.
Salt & pepper.
Hoisin sauce (ran out of Worcester).
Fry onion, pepper and carrot in a bit of oil. Remove from pot. Bring two cups of water to boil, add stock powder, add lentils, cover and cook 5 minutes.
Add rice and onion, pepper and carrot mix. I added just a bit of Hoisin, since the kids are not as tolerant to chili as I am. Add pepper, thyme.
Simmer for as long as it takes to get the rice done (20-30 minutes). Check and add water as required.
That’s what Jessica had. To Tanya and Tamsyn’s portions, we added some diced pork chops we had left over from Friday’s braai. To mine, I added some shredded pork ribs also left over from Friday. Very nice smokey flavour, worked well.
Found during the move. A friend gave me this, years ago, saying that it reminded him of me.
Tanya and the kids think it’s hideous. Which obviously proves the friend’s point.
Suggestions please
This is the view of the kitchen from the living room. Ignoring the fact that it looks like a hurricane hit the place, what should we put over the sink? Or rather, we’re putting a cupboard with a built-in drying rack over the sink, what should the cupboard look like (all suggestions will most likely be ignored, but I’m looking for ideas).
And on the downside, the bloody bath drain is still leaking. I’ve asked Frank to chip the pipe out of the wall, this calls for Drastic Measures.
[1] Had to, because to keep my licences I need to be a dedicated sport shooter, and to be dedicated I have to shoot a lot. ‘stroo.
Delivered this morning, one wardrobe (R4500), two pedestals (R650 each) and Tamsyn’s desk (R795).
The desk barely fitted through the back door, which is a good thing, saved me from cutting the legs off and propping it up on bricks. Or removing the door. Whatever.
Last night we cleaned the living room in preparation for the carpets going in on Thursday / Friday. Moved all the remaining kitchen cabinetry to the lounge and all the offcuts to the garage.
I also wormed my way into the main bedroom roof to fit some insulation (what used to be the pink stuff is now the green stuff, and it doesn’t itch, which is a bonus). To get up there I had to lie on planks. To use the planks I had to remove some nails. In this process I bashed my knee when the hammer got away from me. Which in turn means I didn’t get much sleep, ouch. It’s hard being clumsy.
When designing bookcases, one should take the thickness of the actual shelf into account. 185mm = good, 177 = bad.
CDs fit better, but I’d need a few thousand CDs to fill the shelves… so… the girls get a fairy shelf each, and I get to redesign these bookcases with fewer shelves.