15 Things To Do on My Day Off

Well, it's my day off, and I'm in such a good mood.

I resolved a number of issues at work yesterday, and while I have a few job-related things to take care of over the weekend, I decided that the remainder of today will be computer-free after this posting. I might twitter a few times, but that's it. My co-workers know my cell phone number if need be.

So the plans for today have already begun:

1. Long morning walk with Rosie - check

2. Drop off Rosie at the groomer's - check (two birds, one stone when the long walk ends AT the groomer's storefront!)

3. See the Southie Turkey yet again (yawn).

4. Laundry - check...it's in the dryer

The rest of the day looks like this:

5. Go downstairs and retrieve all tile installation equipment and tools

6. Run to grocery store to pick up olive oil (I have an INSANE amount of basil from last week's and this week's vegetable box pickups, and I plan to make pesto and freeze it).

7. Fold laundry

8. Pick up Rosie at 11am

9. Drop off Rosie, head into the Back Bay for some shopping. I haven't purchased any clothes in a while, and I'm thinking some end-of-summer or back-to-school deals might be floating around there

10. 2pm pedicure. Yes, pedicure. Why not?

11. Head to Home Depot to return a light switch, purchase thin set adhesive, and look at power tools to counteract my pedicurial emasculation.

12. Pick up Nate, my friend / tiling project manager. He helped with the first tile job, because his family owned a tile shop and, well, he really wanted to. A good friend to have when needing to tile.

13. Begin backsplash around 6pm.

14. Finish applying tile and cleaning up by 9pm (hopefully)

15. Grab dinner and welcome the weekend!

Cabinet Counter Top

The cabinet project continues. Yesterday, my granite counter top was installed.

I think it looks great!

The stone isn't a perfect match to the existing counter (it appears a touch darker), it's about 1/2 inch higher than the existing counter (because I had to install the cabinets atop the flooring, rather than install the flooring around the cabinets as the builders did), and the finished edge isn't 100% identical to the other counter top....but all very minor issues.

The vertical backsplash really illustrates the unevenness of the drywall. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the middle part of the wall is a good 1/2 inch from the granite!

So onward we go - next step is the slate tile, which should compensate for the bumpy wall (the tiles are, by design, of varying thicknesses). I would have ordered and received it by now, but ran into a couple snags at Tile Showcase.

1. They no longer carry the decorative trim that I need (so I have to hunt it down).
2. The staff there who helped me were unexpectedly unpleasant! Very strange. I literally walked into the Watertown showroom with a receipt from my last purchase there a few years ago, measurements of the cabinetry, and examples of what I needed to purchase.

Somehow during my brief visit there, I was referred to as "this guy" by the receptionist (minutes after giving her my name), given a calculator to calculate the square footage of the tile myself, and received an entirely unwelcoming vibe altogether. Very contrary to my last visit there in 2005. Perhaps I forgot to brush my teeth or something?

In all fairness, they did tell me who manufactured the line of trim that they no longer carried, and gave me their information to try to hunt down a local distributor.

So, I decided to try to seek out the trim line first and then figure out what to do with the tile. Ideally, I'd take my measly $200 tile order elsewhere, but that would require hunting down another local distributor of that same tile. A phone call to Tile Showcase would be much easier.

My Weekend

Before

During

After

Latest Project - Installing New Cabinets

Every few months, I come up with some random home improvement idea. Technically, I'm not a handyman. But, somehow, I usually stumble my way through projects, and the results are usually quite nice.

In the past (almost) five years, I have tackled tiling, tons of interior painting, and a deck renovation. I hired out for the closet organizers, but those count as well.

Just when I think there's nothing else I can do to this place, I find something else.


My latest idea is adding cabinets to my kitchen.

This is a picture of my place as it was still in construction.

Doesn't seem like too much of a task, does it?

At first, I was going to purchase a customized cabinet from Room and Board, a great home products store that hasn't made its was to New England just yet. I bought my leather chairs from them after seeing them in their Soho store in Manhattan. They have great stuff and would make a killing in Boston if they launched here.

Then, when I explained my intention to my father, he mentioned that installing additional cabinets might be a better idea. After some thought, I totally agree. I don't need to take this piece with me when I decide to sell, and I'm assuming that (unless I sell within the year), I should be able to recoup the cost of this project in resale).

So now, the plan has evolved from simply figuring out who manufactured my cabinets (I think that's covered), and ordering a few more to complement what is already in place, to full out design plan that now involved cabinets, a granite countertop, and a slate tile backsplash that somehow, I have convinced myself to do with sweat equity - mine and any friends I invite into the process.

Honestly, I'm very excited by this project. And just like the deck, I don't think it's going to be super difficult - but it probably won't be simple.

I was going to wait for my tax return and three-pay month (May) to move forward with this, but that's simply not going to happen. I wouldn't be shocked if I have cabinets ordered within the next few weeks.

Here's the magnitude of the project and the problems I need to solve:

Design cabinet layout (accounting for flooring that will be under rather than around the cabinets)
Order cabinets
Order cabinet molding for entire kitchen
Order granite countertop
Order slate tile and grout
Have electrical outlet moved from near-floor to waist-high
Learn how to hang cabinets
Install cabinets
Install granite countertop
Install slate tile

Now that I see this written down, I am realizing how involved this project could become.

But the good news, as the little voice in the back of my mind always tells me when I'm in project mode, this will be the final project I can think of.

That has never been true.