The Cabinets Within

When our new HVAC system was installed, the crew pulled out our old wall heater but we asked them not to patch the hole. We had schemes.

The project begins! (Steve uses a utility knife to score the picture rail):

Demolition of the stud bays shows fun old-house features including fully-dimensional lumber (the 2x4's are actually 2 inches by 4 inches, unlike today's lumber) and the backside of lath-and-plaster walls (and the far less interesting remainder of exhaust vent for the now-gone heater):

Accessing the previously inexplicably sealed-off bulkhead from the refrigerator cubby in the kitchen, Steve pulls off lath while my dad looks on:

Another view of Steve in the wall:

Framing has started and Steve chips off the plaster which has seeped through the gaps in the lath allowing lauan (very thin wood sheets to create a smooth surface) to be applied:

2 lauan back panels in place:

My folks, Steve and I went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore here in Santa Cruz (one of our favorite outings, the volunteer staff quite literally know us there) in hopes of finding some old cabinet doors we could refurbish for this project. We hit the jackpot, yay ReStore!

Steve attaches the cabinet doors for a fit test (they will be sanded and repainted later):

Steve will be doing the slow work of patching, sanding, painting, repairing the baseboard, and adding shelves over the next several weeks, but here's the current status:

The high bulkhead storage will contain infrequently used items we don't wish to store in the attic. The skinny cabinet below will house display items in the upper open portion and likely stuff for the kids in the lower portion.

In a related project...

The previously sealed-off bulkhead Steve was perched in above runs behind the wall between the living room and kitchen. In addition to the living room access, we decided to cut an opening from the kitchen side as well, creating a recessed cabinet.

Steve prepares to cut the kitchen opening:

Pulling off the lath:

Maybe staring at it will help?

Cozy working quarters (Steve frames out the cabinet from within the refrigerator cubby):

Fantastic ReStore find (not just doors like in the living room, but a fully-trimmed cabinet front) goes into place:

Current status:

While all this was going on, I worked on some little projects of my own. Years ago, when the church I grew up in got rid of their preschool, some old wooden toys were headed for the dumpster. I swiped a train, truck and a couple boats. At the time, I thought it was a bit silly of me to take both nearly identical boats (in hindsight... well...), but I just couldn't see them thrown away.

I sand the boats:

My mom paints the boats while I stencil kelp onto an Ikea bin rack which will hold the kids' toys:

Current status on the boats (I will continue to paint them so I can feel productive while Steve does finish work on the cabinets):

We've collected all the necessary nursery furniture for the boys, so as soon as the various sanding projects are complete, we'll start putting that together. Things are really going to look different around here soon...