Cabinets Going Going Gone!

Steve only worked till noon today (so he can work on Saturday without acquiring overtime hours)  so he was raring to go when he got home.  He had a project in his mind, and was impatiently waiting for me to finish up what I was doing so I could go help him.  It was a Two Person Project!

But I was busy removing dead leaves from last fall from the tulip beds along the south side of the house.  Although we have a foot of snow in the yard, the edges and around the house are melted down to the ground.  My tulips and crocus are up about 3-4 inches!   So I unburied them from "Nature's Mulch" of the neglected leaves from last fall.  LOL     I had to take the dead leaves off carefully by hand to not disturb the newly emerging stalks and leaves of the tulips and dainty crocus blossoms.  By the time I was done, I had filled two large lawn bags of leaves from just along that side of the house.   It will be exciting to see what all comes up in flowers and bushes this spring.  When we looked at the house, it was mid-November so most blooming or green things were dead and done for the winter.  I have seen photos of the house from the realtor's pics in the spring and knew there is a long row of tulips by the south side of the house.  A big clematis vine was growing on the trellis by the front porch and some beds of tiger lillies and hostas out in the back.  The rest will be a big surprise as it all comes to bloom this Spring!


So Steve cooled his jets a bit until I was done with my project.... and then we hit the demolition of the pantry!  This is what we were starting with in the pantry area:

We removed the base cabinets and counter top and sink....  in preparation to make it into a first floor laundry!   We kept the upper cabinets and light fixture in place as they will go nicely over the washer and dryer and laundry sink.

Steve had to cut apart a few of the shimming strips but mostly we were able to remove the cabinets without any damage to them.  He removed the countertop and sink so they could be reused again too.

We carried all of the cabinets out into the garage and stacked them to one side in the work area.  Good thing we have a large garage, because we have things staged in order of what projects we are working on next.  The garage is filling up.  Steve has also recently acquired a good used riding lawnmower (with leaf bagger) and has room by the snowblower to park that in the garage too.

Then he also bought me FOUR gifts last night and put them in the garage... telling me to go out and look after I got home from my fiber guild meeting.  Ahem... it was a hoe, a rake, and two shovels!  --- one square end and one pointed end.  What a guy, eh?


Anyhow... after we got the water turned off, and the plumbing cut back to the basement level.  Then we pulled the cabinets out this afternoon .... this is our "blank slate" to work with to make into our first floor laundry room.

We have some more of the original white vinyl flooring to piece in where the washer and dryer are going to be located and a piece for along the far wall under the window too.  I think it will seam up close and then I can use a rag rug to cover it up.  The walls will get a layer of white "milk house board"  - a type of white formica clad paneling to cover the walls before we put the washer, dryer and laundry sink into place. The window sill will get a piece of wood from some matching scraps we found in the garage.


Once the cabinets were carried out to the garage, I placed an ad on Craigslist to sell them... they were solid oak, no fiber board, and perfect for someone's cottage or remodel job.   We included the sink and faucets too. A package deal!  I had two calls on them within an hour, and a guy came from Appleton with truck and trailer to get them!   Easy Peasy---  sold and out of our way!

I also put another ad on Craigslist...  this old cabinet that had been in our kitchen, before we installed the nice ones I refinished.  I decided we didn't need this original cabinet so we placed it on Craigslist too.  We got three calls on it, and the first gal is still arranging her work schedule and her hubby's work schedule to get here by Sunday...  They could come Saturday but Steve has to work and I will be at Clayton's first birthday party.  So I put a "HOLD" on our Craigslist ad.

 (just in case she don't show, I can then put them back as "AVAILABLE")   If she don't take them, I have phone numbers of two others who will.  But she sounded so excited and asked me to firmly hold them for her, I complied.    They are 99 years old and exactly what she is looking for.  I know the feeling.....  So Kate, here is your cabinet, waiting for you!

Okay.. that is enough of This Old House... now for some Fiber things for my Fiber and Weaving blog readers.

Spring is really working hard to come around to Wisconsin... and we are enjoying the sunshine, even if the temps are wayyy below normal for this time of year.  I don't think it even got above 40 today!

This morning I was threading up the supplemental warp color stripes on my towels and started weaving ... it was so pleasant to sit in the sunshine in my loom room and work away the morning.

This is my Tools of the Trade 32" 8 harness table loom.

I am weaving up some cotton towels in a southwestern theme of variegated cotton twill borders and stripes going longwise every inch and a half... then some crosswise stripes every five inches.  

Right now on the loom they are loosley woven.  Once cut off, they are washed to shrink them up tightly to make a nice lofty thirsty cotton towel.  They look like this when finished....

I like doing this particular pattern and have done a lot of them over the years.  Kinda like my signature trademark.  I think I have enough warp on the loom to do about 30 of them.  Paula wants two, so that is 28 more to go?  LOL

And to finish off now with a bit of something for my RV readers ....  Steve decided the leaking piston on the pac brake on our motorhome was not holding after his little repair job.  So he searched the internet and found one and ordered it.   It came today....  I was surprised we didn't run out and do this repair on the motorhome after supper!

https://www.dieselpowerproducts.com/p-6736-pacbrake-prxb-exhaust-brake-gmc-c650075008500-cat-3116e3126.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0dHdBRDEARIsAHjZYYBNB0JzGOOeol1YbPupizOsF1c-nKlY7QqSioTaOosnm8Vmo3vIalYaAmf0EALw_wcB

Here are some pics for you RV Cat Engine guys to oogle at .....

I am sure the replacement will go quickly, because we have had the other one out twice.  He thinks the actual flange is hanging up because the round chamber is warped from the heat... and also the piston device is not working properly as it was leaking and he did an epoxy glue job on that might not be holding.  We know on the last portion of our trip, it was working erratically.  Instead of fighting with it, he decided we should just invest in a new one.

For those who don't know what this part is.... it goes on the exhaust pipe by the engine and helps as an extra "brake" by shutting down that inside flapper dealie and retards the pressure to make the engine work as a brake.... to slow down the whole motorhome instead of just relying on the brakes pads on each wheel.

There.   I think that I covered something for all my blog readers tonight?  Stay tuned to more projects on the laundry, the flower beds, the motorhome, the weaving, and whatever else happens to happen in our little corner of the world!