Bit more work on the cupboards

Well, I got all the counter tops off the rest of the lower cabinets and the dishwasher.

This is really proof you have to watch VERY carefully when using the microwave to take pieces apart.

With the dishwasher, I was a bit concerned about using the microwave as there's a magnet holding the door closed. With that in mind, I first tried to take the top off by cutting through the paint holding the counter top on and prying it off. That didn't work:

So I did use the microwave for one minute. Waah! The magnet didn't prove to be a problem but the paint did. As you can see it bubbled. But the top did come off.

I didn't check the bottom of the corner cabinet. There was a metallic sticker on the bottom and it caused a pretty bad burn. At least it won't be visible. While the tops are off, I'll be able to take the doors off and paint in otherwise inaccessible areas.

So now I need to do the touch-ups, second coats where needed, a light coat of varnish then I can worry about their placement and make the marble counter tops.

YIPPEE! Matt's Manitoba rink won the Junior Men's curling championship and are off to the World's in Denmark. The first end was a bit rocky but they hit their stride in the second and there was no looking back.

BIG catch up but not a great deal of mini-ing

Monday
Went to the StarFest meeting at the library and picked up the latest J.D. Robb book. Read about half of it, then went to Reel Monday to see "Testimony of Youth". Interesting WWI movie about how one woman was affected by the war. I know my great-grandfather and grandfather served but as far as I know, we didn't lose any family so it was very interesting.

Miniatures We are so thrilled to have Ruth Stewart from Oregon coming to teach us her miniature cake techniques in mid-March. Lots of back and forwards emails arranging that.

Curling: Depends on who you ask (even on Google) but I'll just refer to him as my great-nephew, Matt Dunstone is the skip of the Manitoba team that is in the Junior Men's Canadian Curling Championship. They made it through the first two steps with a 9 - 1 record so our family will be watching closely for the next two days. (TSN if you're interested.)

BIL Grahame celebrates his 80th birthday in April so I'm thinking about doing something in miniature for him. They don't have much space in their house so I'm thinking about doing something in this clock. Nautical and musical...I'll see.

Thursday: Saw "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" at the Citadel last night. Absolutely incredible! Three hours that passed in minutes! Interesting that tonight I saw the story of Mike Nichols on PBS: The American Experience...as he was the director of the movie AND he was George on Broadway!

One of my upstair's neighbour's, Barb, lent me Louise Penny's latest book. So that will probably delay my work yet another day.

FACEBOOK: On Thursday night, I got worried messages from friends and family that something had happened to my Facebook account. When I got home after WAFOVW, there were two missed phone calls from my DS Sean. I emailed him that all was well and spoke to him in the next morning, He told me that my FB account had been cloned (as opposed to being hacked) but I told him I was just going to deactivate my account because I was so completely tired of this happening. He offered to help me fix things but I'm just too frustrated to deal with that now. It's such a disappointment in some ways as FB allowed me to connect with the Mould side of the family (Thanks, Linda).

Back to Miniatures....
Kitchen Cupboards: I've been thinking a lot about these...well, not so much the cupboards but the counters.

I have some wonderful marble matboard that Sandra from the club gave me.

Then I looked again at the cupboard pieces that I have....

and discovered that the top pieces are separate from the rest of the cabinets...so if I remove them, I can replace them with the marble matboard.

First, I tried to separate the tops with the heat from a hair dryer...not enough heat.

then I put the piece in the microwave oven for 1 minute. That separated BOTH top pieces...took another 30 seconds to separate those two pieces.

This piece separated well.

Took the top of the kitchen island.

So it seems to be coming together.

Hope this will all come together!

Back home...

Had a VERY lazy 3 a/2 days at Leanne and Robert's. Didn't even binge on Netflix. Just read and watched some satellite TV.

Leanne had won this box at a staff meeting and passed it on to me.

Closed

Open

With boxes removed.

Each section is 2" x 2" x 2". I'm thinking that it might be a good "memory lane" sort of thing with each section holding something from the life of the person it's for. Something like the memory box I did for my Mom.

This sink is for the kitchen. I don't like the actual sink though.

But I was so lucky that it just 'popped' out.

Now I have to decide what to replace it with.

Came from Leanne and Robert's and met Joanne at the Citadel Theatre to watch "Chelsea Hotel", a play of Leonard Cohen music. Really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we have a StarFest meeting in the morning and tickets to Reel Monday at the Arden Theatre to see the movie "Testimony of Youth". Then Thursday night, it's back to the Citadel for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf".

Away for a few days

Tonight I'm headed over to Rob and Leanne's to rabbit-sit while they go to Disneyland. Not taking anything mini with me...just going to read and binge-watch Netflix.

Back late Sunday afternoon.

Kitchen floor finished

I printed three sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" photo paper with the hexagonal design. The floor took two full (trimmed) sheets and 1" of the third sheet. That leaves a good piece of the third sheet to go, perhaps, as a backsplash between the counters and upper cupboards.

Here I've put down the first strip of double-faced carpet tape. I continued it all the way around the floor then added a vertical strip where the first two larger sheets will meet. The third flooring strip if narrow enough that the right wall strip of tape will catch both it and the neighbouring flooring.

And here the flooring is in place.

Wow! This is great!

Managed to empty THREE of my shoeboxes into the hanger!

Only one box left...and came across some great pieces of ribbon that I had forgotten about.

Something new!!

Leslie dropped by the other night with a gift for me. It's a jewellery hanger with 40 compartments on each side. Originally hoped that my paints would fit in it but the pockets aren't deep enough.

So I decided I would use it to store all my ribbons, laces and trims.

So maybe I'll tackle that tomorrow...

I was helping a neighbour with some things this morning then picked up Adriana Trigiani's book, "All the Stars in the Heavens" and I'm afraid nothing else will get done around here until it's finished.

kitchen floor

Colours are not all what I see!

But I'll discuss them...

The kitchen island is a charcoal grey!!!

These tiles are from a bag that DS Marie gave me. I would love it if they would work here but: they are in shades of brown (which don't work; and I just don't have enough of them to fill the floor.)There are tones of red that I would love..but they just won't work.

So I have decided to try a white hexagonal tile for the floor. I've done a tile in two sizes. The right is 1/2" and the left is 1/4".

  I really like the 1/4" tile. Will print it out on photo paper and see how it looks.

Kitchen coming along...

I took the painters tape off and touched up the paint.

I painted over the grey on the front of the light so it wouldn't be so obvious on the roof of room.

Screwed the plate on the ceiling to hold the lamp in place. Wow! This was a pain. Even with pre-drilled holes, those two little half inch screws just did NOT want to go it. But finally got it in place,

added the light,

 and have the light in place.

Here's most of the furniture for the kitchen.

Went down to craft night last night for the first time in months. Got the first coat of paint on a good portion of the furniture.

Still haven't decided what to do with the floor.

I want marble counter-tops but haven't begun even thinking seriously about doing that.

I do have these tiles that I'm thinking about using for a backsplash but don't know if I have enough of any for that.

I may just end up using photo paper for a bright white subway tile backsplash.

Board meeting tonight so probably won't get anything more done today.

Mini Day Out

Every once in awhile, Joanne and I hold a Mini Day Out in the social room at the condo. It's on a Saturday from 9 to 4 with lunch provided. Generally, it's just a chance to work on whatever you feel like doing, exchange ideas and get feedback - with a lot of socialization. It's not limited to club members so if you're ever going to be in Edmonton, let me know and we'll see if we can arrange one while you're here.

Joanne was working on bricks for her fireplace for the NAME Day project; Tina was working on a chair for her lamp roombox; Cheryl H. was checking out the HOM kit she got from our Christmas party; and Lucille was building another of her wonderful 1:48 rooms.

Bev and Trineke checking out my "Trash to Treasure" book.

Barb R. couldn't be there for the day but dropped by to visit.

Inger worked on some plant kits she had purchased from Barb S.

Bev worked on a kitchen roombox she's making.

Trineke made the fern and some great sunflowers.

Carol K. is working on her Robin Betterley Christmas Stall. It is coming along beautifully!

Erika put together her lamp roombox.

Lorry worked on her NAME Day project.

Unfortunately, I had put my camera down before Cheryl S. arrived. She brought a phenomenal nativity scene she has been working on. It's filled with teeny characters she bought in Israel. She also brought some paints with her and demonstrated "smooshing"...very interesting!

I knew Carol K. has had success using chalk paint so I asked her about my problems covering my kitchen pieces. She told me that I would definitely need a second coat - and that did the trick! Now I just have to finish the rest of the pieces and set the paint with the flat varnish for that purpose.

I got the ceiling and walls painted in the room box itself. When I peeled off the painters tape, I ended up with a few spots that need to be touched up. Still haven't decided what to do with the floor.

(The hole in the back wall is for wiring but I think I'm just going to use one of the light bars DS Shirley gave me for Christmas in 2014. The hole will be covered by the cupboards.)

Finally, here's the list of things to complete this year!

In no particular order:

For years I've had an old Ikea wood-framed greenhouse that I planned to add to the Bombay House as a sunroom. But it just didn't ring true somehow so when I discovered that Ikea had a new greenhouse available I thought I would try this new one instead. (For only $19.99)

The end wall and roof pieces.

The sides.

The base.

Sides in place

With top propped open

And closed

'Sort of' in place. I need to move the house forward to the front of the sunroom is even with the front of the house.

The wooden frame is what I made years ago as the beginning of a hot tub . The pictures are so foggy because the plastic film is still on the plexiglass.

What needs to be done:
Move dollhouse forward
Frame a hole in the plexi for the french doors from the kitchen
Finish the hot tub
Either put stairs down from the kitchen or raise the floor in the sunroom

Lots of maybes on this one....

My second project is the three room roombox:

Bare bones

 Pamela dropped by the other day so I put some of the furniture and accessories in it so she could see where I plan on going with it.

With some of the possible furniture in place

What needs to be done:
Ceiling crown molding
Lighting
Trying to figure out putting in a clothes closet
Fireplace in the sitting room
Handrail and fixtures on the tub
Biggest thing is to find a place to put it!

The third project is Vern's Attic for the grandchildren.

Box of stuff to fill it!

To be done:
Lighting
Insulation
Vapour barrier
Fill it - have most of the stuff for that
Write a book to go with it to explain to Jonah and Holly the stories behind everything.


The kitchen:

Things roughly in place...

All the cabinets need to be painted the dark grey of the island. I've used Cottage Paint on the island and it didn't work well so I'm hoping that if I wash the other cabinet pieces with Pinesol, they will take the paint better. If not, I don't know what I'll do.
Thinking of maybe going with a red back wall.
Not too sure about the flooring - there's already wood flooring.
Backsplash
Maybe a small cupboard at the back right hand to hold cleaning supplies (vacuum, broom, etc.)
Fill the cupboards and fridge
Maybe a hanging rack for pots and pans
Display some of my copper pots and pans
Lighting

I also have two lamp roombox kits to do. My nephew James is marrying in April so might want to make a small roombox for him and Erin.

So I guess this will keep me busy for a month or two...or three....

Spent a good portion of today shopping with Joanne so have to spend tomorrow (Friday) finishing the cleanup from Christmas and preparing for Mini Day Out on Saturday. Will try to post about MDO on Saturday.