The Kitchen Project

Our third gallon of paint was not sufficient to undo the damage caused by the second gallon of paint, so Greg set out to find a Benjamin Moore dealer with the top of this third, “good” gallon to match the tint.

Our Somerville dealer was closed. Our first option on a Sunday afternoon was a hardware store on Charles Street in Beacon Hill. It’s probably the priciest hardware store in the state, but it was the closest, and how much could they charge for one gallon of paint? We never found out; their machine spit out lime green in place of Marblehead Gold, and after two tries the clerk gave up.

The next stop was Warren Hardware on Tremont Street near the Boston Herald building, and Greg had better luck there. He came home and we completed the paint to our final satisfaction. As you see, we conserved by only painting areas that will be visible.

Later, we applied a second coat to the ceiling, and painted Alyssa’s name in white on a spot destined to be hidden in gratitude for the use of her camera. Greg scrubbed the paint splashes from the floor.

Oh, and we bought a faucet.

We’re ready for the cabinets.

Today started well. We oohed and ahhed over our kitchen color. Alyssa came over to help paint, and we had brunch at Sound Bites. She brought her telescoping brush, and we made quick work of the room. It was a slightly different color, but we all assured ourselves it was just “drying” and would look better when it dried.

Well, to be frank, the color still didn’t look right. I painted the ceiling and waited longer. We went to Wolfers to look at lighting, and Mark and I decided on a fan, a pendant, and a new light for the dining room. We went off to Home Depot and got a sink, couldn’t decide on a faucet, got a doorstop, and realized that replacement parts for the fan switches we have aren’t available. By this point, I was sugar crashing. We had great Korean food over the hill from us.

Tummies full, we went home to see that ill green on the wall where the pretty gold had been. I opened the next gallon of paint and it was beautiful. I compared it to the one we’d just put up, and it was different. Same formula on the paint lid, but different. Fortunately, we don’t have to cover the entire room again. Only about 30% of it won’t be covered by cabinets, so that’ll be our next big task. After Mark finishes cutting in the ceiling, and I spackle the trim, I’ll try the good color again.

So, we learned today that we have to find a color and get it on the walls by Monday, instead of after the 4th of July. This calls for an adjustment of our plans and taking personal days off of work. Greg is getting testers in the city for our last two alternatives to Desert Tan. We’ll judge tomorrow, make our decisions, and start priming and painting the first coat.

Also on the docket for tomorrow is the tile store and possibly Home Depot. Saturday may be the second coat and the recording of our camera donor’s name. We’ll get this done.

I’m going to head over to the camera store at lunchtime to investigate the cost of repairs. I suspect the first dividend from putting the cabinets, countertop, and appliances on our Amazon card will be a new camera. Our camera worked fine for us prior to my dropping it, but it’s four years old and Canon has moved on. I’m not going to spend $100 to fix it when a new one is less than $200.

Update: The camera store confirms. Nearly as expensive to repair as to replace.

So, when we got our last round of designs, the ones we signed off on, we talked about making one of the windows narrower by a few inches to make a cabinet bigger. It all made a lot of sense. We unfortunately didn’t tell our builders. I didn’t even really think about it. So, when Jenn went out Monday to do her final measurements, she realized we were going to be off by a few inches.

Now we ponder possibilities. Make the upper cabinet 9″ wide or 12″ wide and use a smaller trim on the windows. Gone is the 15″ cabinet I thought we’d have. Like Mark’s wedding analogy earlier, something’s bound to go wrong in a job like this. There are always surprises. We’re rolling pretty well with this one. We’ll see what the best looking alternative is that gives us the most storage.

When everything was ripped open, I heard the plumber say something I already knew was going to be true: our sinks weren’t vented. The previous owner, a bit of a DIY disaster, was pretty cheap with his construction projects. So it was no surprise to hear that the required-by-law vents just weren’t there. What to do? Well, you have to vent up through the roof, and we’re on the first floor. So that means going up through the second floor and the attic, venting our sink and our tenant’s sink along the way.

We’re lucky there’s a staircase behind where our sink is going, and above that, a pantry, so the pipes can be routed through interior spaces without being terribly obtrusive. Then up through the roof they’ll go and we’ll be legal again.