Flooring Begins

It's a good thing I made no promises about updating the blog since it's now been almost a week. I ran into a few problems with the upstairs cabinet finishing. The bathroom vanity went fairly smooth but the bunk room cabinets and I didn't get along so well. Before I go into that, the flooring contractor arrived about noon yesterday. Unfortunately, he had to leave at 2 for a dental appointment so he only got a couple of hours in. 

He started in the master bath.

checking the pattern

...and this was the result of two hours work. I was a bit concerned about so much pattern but I like it!

Now for the upstairs cabinets:

First step was to distress the cabinet. I used an old athletic sock with a handfull of nails. Then I started banging away on the cabinet. That was followed by a coat of Tomato Red Milkpaint. 

after the application of Tomato Red Milkpain

and with the antiquing glaze applied

When I was distressing the bunk room cabinets, I must have been really working out my aggression because I broke one of the cabinet doors. Upon closer inspection, it turns out I had broken two doors and split two more. I had to take them back to the cabinet maker so he can make some new ones. I won't tell you what he said when he saw me walking in with the broken doors. We discussed that I should perhaps distress the wood before he puts them together or at least take the hinges off so that the weakest point of the doors is protected. He said he would get some more pine and get new doors made this week. Meanwhile, I painted, antiqued and lacquered the rest of the cabinets in the bunk and game rooms.

Kim had to re-drill one of the holes for the plumbing

inside of the cabinet doors

after milkpaint and glaze

after the final step - lacquer (both inside and out) I may have lost a few brain cells applying the lacquer (so many VOCs) even with all windows open and a fan on full speed. In case you're wondering, the countertop will go all the way across to the wall and a mini-fridge will sit under that part. The opening on the bottom right of the top cabinet is for the microwave.

close-up of some of the distressing

I'm off to Lubbock today because Daddy is having surgery early in the morning. Pray for him that all goes well and he will have a speedy recovery.