Wood stain

There are a number of finishing pieces of wood that will be ready to install in the kitchen next week. This one will cap the island wall. It was a shame to stain this piece of wood, it was so beautiful. The wavy cross lines are still visible but they don't glow anymore. If it was up to me all of the wood would be just sanded and varnished. Sundays goal is to grout the tile and by Tuesday I'm hoping to have 4 more drawers in. Wish me luck.

Drawers

There is even silverware in them! 8 more drawers and 12 cabinet doors to go. But it feels good to have something look done. The counter backsplace can be seen in the picture too. There is just a couple feet of tile left behind the stove and the grouting can be done. Then it'll be like a kitchen, a kitchen with no cabinet doors.

Door and drawer faces

Only 23 more to make!

Sans picture window

After two days of work the old 8'x5' picture window is gone and a 6'x4' window is in it's place. I think the new window looks more inline with the style of the house. Not that you can see that in the rather utilitarian pictures. The trim needs some touch up paint (and the house needs painting) but the outside is basically done. The inside only has the first coat of drywall mud though. The only major living room construction left is the fireplace. The a wall of drywall and tile grouting. Then the wood floors and presto, a living room slash kitchen. It has only taken 11 months to get to this point...

Cabinet and tile progress.

In my typical style a little of everything has been worked on with nothing finished. Some of the face frames have been stained, varnished and installed. It is hard to tell be the cabinet on the right has a face frame. The tile back splash design was finally decided on and almost half of the tile has been laid. The kitchen might actually be done by the end of August, yay! The big project for Saturday is to replace the 8'x5' living room window.

huerta

Peas, zucchini, green beans, carrots, dill and spinach have been harvested so far. There is something very satisfying about walking out to the garden to gather some veggies as the start of making dinner. In case you are wondering about the title it is Spanish for 'kitchen garden'. The other morning I had a zucchini and carrot omelet with a tsatsiki like sauce. This place is about more than just remodeling houses, it is about making things and breakfast is a thing. So here is the tsatsiki-ish sauce recipe.

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, finely chopped
1 branch of fresh dill, tsp or so dry.

Garlic, lemon, olive oil and salt can also be added. It's good with hummus too.

In other news the yard is just barely looking better if you glance at it sideways. Some of the cabinet staining actually worked, some has to be redone. More kitchen tile has been laid. The front window is being replaced after all. The swamp cooler keeps coming up with creative ways to get attention. I might have solved the garage ceiling problem, more on that later. The garden sprinklers were completed with the addition of a pressure regulator.

Completely lazy

Well, not really but it feels that way without the kitchen looking much different. Started staining the face frames for the cabinets but I'm not at all happy with the results. Here is a picture of the pea harvest instead. It is the third such harvest and zucchini have been harvested as well. Beans will be ready soon too. Nothing else exciting from the garden for a couple of weeks. The lack of visible kitchen progress prompted me to do some tiling on the island, that's what is under the peas. Now I'm off to lament the poor staining job.