DIY Home Remodeling Diary

Week 24

Last week was productive – at last. No more builders around so it’s really up to us what gets done and what doesn’t. Anyway, we really got on with it. We installed the hood and boxed in the halogen lights  above the work surface. The main work surface hasn’t arrived yet – it will come with the units’ doors in a couple of weeks. But we got the thinner worktop, made of solid beech, which we cut up and covered the recesses or zones.  We’ve also put lighting into these areas..

We also made the cabinet to cover the boiler – so the wall of units is basically finished ( except the doors) I decided not to have handles on these cabinets to make a more streamlined effect. So the doors will pop open when we push them. I hope this mechanism will work with the Ikea doors – their hinges are spring-closed, and as far as I know the push-open mechanism only works with unsprung hinges. We shall see…

So the kitchen and the living room are ready to decorate. This week I’m painting like mad. I bought acrylic based white paint – something that is supposed to need only one coat. – but I’ve already painted most walls with two coats and I think yet another one is needed. These paints are a con! Anyway I decided to use just simple white paint, semi-gloss to reflect the light and be easier to wipe clean. I’ll need to source some lighting – although I think I’ll use my existing Ligne Rose row of lights above the Yo-Yo coffee – dining table.

We still need to build the radiator frames and the low shelf along the wall where the doors to the balcony are. This shouldn’t take very long, but I’ll have to veneer the shelf ( that will be made of ply) –  but I’ve never done any veneering before.

Actually, we’ve just returned from London’s biggest veneer supplier – it was a fantastic place!  I’d never seen so many lovely wood veneers. The people were very friendly and reassured me that veneering is not a big deal.  I got some samples – it seems that the teak veneer is the nearest to our mahuhu parquet floor. Talking of which, the floor layer was right – the colour did calm down, it’s no longer red, it’s getting more and more brown…good!

I have started thinking about window treatment and other furnishing details. Of course what I envisaged would cost a fortune – so I might have to do it myself. I want 4 panels – kind of Japanese screens that are slid in pairs to both sides of the room and can be pulled in to cover the windows. I’d like them to be made of leather… hmm dream on…