# New skin for an old funeral - our home's renovation(s)



## Snav

So we bought this house in 2005 - over the years we've tackled one room after another - and some not at all - and have yet to 100% complete a single one. :laughing: (except the master bath) So instead of making post after post every time I finish something in the next few months I'm just starting a long one like others have done - and I'll add to this as I go.

Right now I'm working on the kitchen - so some kitchen photos of before (obviously none of these were of *the* kitchen just before demo. All those are lost - these are just photos that happened to have kitchen-items in them to give an idea of what it use to look like. It was a real serious POS)

First let me explain that our kitchen itself is a 13.5 x 13.5 room - the laundry room was adjacent to it and that was 13.5 x 9. We cut this large laundry room down to make a dining room - and a laundry closet.

This is the new floor layout with the soon to be cabinet layout of the renovated kitchen. Right now money and timing of this renovation is NOT what I wanted to do after all these years but the military pushed us into getting it done so I'm doing my best with my limited time and funds (I'll build a large island in the middle with lower cabinets next year). What is in this sketch is what will be built over this next month:









These before photos - as you can see - aren't just of the room itself. Most of those photos that I took before we started actual demo went poof with the old computer when it died so this is all I have - holiday and random shots of random things.

*Wall A before and present:*

















*Wall B before and present:*
No good before photo. We cut out the wall, turned it into an archway which goes into the dining room - and where a door was (far left) we've built a wall which cabinets will occupy when we're done.









*Wall C before and present*
Where the fridge is - in this photo - is where the door is, now, in the following photos. We put the door in a few years ago when we built a deck in the back yard. Before building the arch two weeks ago we actually lived with a the exposed kings and nothing much else there. And forgive my fatness - just had a baby - I've lost quite a bit of weight since then.


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## Snav

*Wall D before and present*
I can't find a decent before photo of this wall. I think I avoided having the cabinets in pictures at all costs - I hated it that much. And I'm a messy kitchen clutter person. The kitchen cabinets were all located here in this corner - it was a boring traditional L-shaped cabinet setup. Sink was in front of the window (on wall C) - stove was in the center of the adjacent wall and there was a fridge wall next to it which I enjoyed cutting out and getting rid of.

At present:









* The floor before and after:*
When we started the more serious part of this demo/reno in August our floor sunk from years of water damage and from undersized joists. When I started tearing it out I actually found layers of wallboard sandwiched between layers of sub-flooring when the previous owners tried to 'level it out' instead of just fixing it right. This area is located in front of wall D - this photo is where the stove use to sit - where the fridge will sit in the future:









We took out that area - jacked it up - fed in new full length and proper sized beams - and laid new subfloor - it's level as level can be, now.









Yes - that's me a few weeks ago - my husband took the photo when he came home from work.


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## Snav

What next to show? We've done a lot over the years - but I don't want to repeat what I've already put on this forum. . .

The porch:









We put in brick lattice and let ivy grow - makes for awesome patriotic photos now 









The front garden area - when my roses were at their best but now the ivy's taken them over - I'll have to relocate the rose garden:









A bit of the livingroom - just for an idea of what it looked like before:

*Before and after of the same wall*


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## Snav

Yesterday I started construction on the kitchen cabinets. I've done furniture and shelving and everything else but never cabinets - because of our serious budget constraints I'm reusing the old cabinet wood and whatever scraps that will work - I did buy new wood, as well - so I'm doing my best to blend and hide the old wood (etc) if it's not visually appealing. . . hence the different wood species, here.

This cabinet in this picture is very narrow - 11" wide. Too narrow for usable drawers (etc) so I'm actually going to build a pull-out shelf that will be accessible from the side when it's fully extended.


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## oh'mike

Nice---You sure aren't afraid to dig in and do whatever is needed to get a job done!

If you are looking for cheap hardwoods for your cabinets---consider buying from small local mills---I could post a link or two if you need oak,hickory or cherry ----Mike------


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## Snav

There is a mill nearby - I went there hoping to find a good deal but their wood supply wasn't what I needed for the cabinets, unfortunately - they would have been a good source of true-cut joists like I've needed in the past among other things - a bit of regret that I didn't drop in sooner . . . however - when I get ready to do the doors I'll go there for slats. 

Our doors will be something like the ones here:
http://www.besthomedesigns.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Traditional-Rustic-Kitchen-Designs.jpg

In fact - our kitchen has that same scheme to it - whitewash cabinets, slat doors, yellow walls and arches but our floor and counter will be darker for contrast.


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## oh'mike

There are many companies that make doors and drawers---often cheaper than I can buy the wood for---

I do not have any suppliers---I still make my own doors---However if you want to go that route post a question at Woodworking talk and you will get an answer---(link at the bottom of the page)---Mike---


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## Blondesense

I was thinking along the same lines. I was at a Habitat for Humanity Re-store this morning. They had used cabinets in good condition dirt cheap. I'm no expert, but it seems like it would be cheaper, easier and faster to re-front existing cabinets rather than build from scratch.


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## Snav

Yeah - for a while I looked around for used options from different places - I found some nice stuff but nothing in the quantity I needed - or the right size which would have left me altering things. 

It's actually a little easier building from scratch - blank slate. No problems to solve.

So far so good - today I'll finish this one cabinet (final fill, paint, etc) and work on the next. . .repeat. The upper cabinets will come along more quickly.


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## Snav

Here's this first cabinet so far without any touchup - it has a pull out shelving unit to make use of the small area - I'm going to use different glides. These bottom mount ones were recommended but seem not quite up to the challenge but I think they'll work fine for smaller drawers.










So far so good - I'll construct door and drawer fronts later - all at the same time to ensure all the wood and finish matches.


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## DangerMouse

Gotta admit I'm impressed, but I still can't figure out the "funeral" part of the title....

DM


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## Snav

Haha - It seemed fitting considering the condition of the home when we bought it. :jester:


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## DangerMouse

OIC.... I thought maybe the place used to BE a funeral home or something. :laughing:

DM


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## Snav

Haha - too funny.

Our joke about the house is that if we dig deep enough we'll find the wheels  (it's a brick home but they used mobile-home supplies for everything)

Day 4 of cabinetry: 3 rough cabinets done - they've been filled and are ready for finish and skin - I was going to do them individually as I completed them but decided to do all of that after they're all built.

The one on the left will go in the upper left corner (with a spacer on the left to bridge it away from the wall for a clean door-opening experience.) and the shorter one will be next to it as it's pictured here - over the sink area. 










This leaves me with 5 more upper cabinets and 4 lower cabinets (which includes two drawer units) to rough into shape.


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## Snav

Day 5










I might do more work today but I'm feeling pretty sore - maybe I'll take tomorrow off.


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## oh'mike

Snav---Do you have a table saw or are you making all your cuts with a straight edge and a circular saw?

Looks really nice from here--just curious.


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## Blondesense

Nice! Very nice!


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## Snav

Thanks for the compliments.

Mike: Tools in use - tape measure, 6' steel measuring staff, skill saw, chisel, hand sander, hammer, 90-clamps and a stash of ABC blocks for a 'workbench' (I stand four on end and butt the pieces up against it for a firm hammering or cutting 'wall' or spread them out to support a 4x8 sheet and so on)
I have a jigsaw but I don't need that yet. It's been such a long time since I've used it there's going to be a learning curve which I'll take out on some scrap pieces of wood.

So far I'm pleased with my work - everything is going together flush and I haven't had any serious mis-measuring or mis-cutting. Considering my limitations in the tools department my cuts are quite tight and everything fits quite snug - I hope the Egyptians would be proud.

I've never done face-framing before but so far there's nothing I haven't been able to do right so I'm not put off by the whole idea of it - it'll look nice when I'm finished come hell or high-water. Years of furniture crafting and other work with these basic tools have set me up for a good cabinet experience so far and I'm enjoying it. Mostly because I'm still getting the kitchen design and style that I wanted without ponying out a lot of extra dough for pre-fab cabinets.

Afterthought: upper cabinet interior height is 41" (full height thus is 41.75") - interior depth is 11.25 - after hanging they will be 43.25" from the ceiling - lower cabinets are traditional height and depth. For my cuts I carefully measure - mark my lines with my staff and cut with my saw. I don't clamp on a straight-edge. Of course it's slow and careful with my saw. I drive my husband nuts, he calls me 'Dr Wood' (from a Monster House episode) and gets annoyed easily and tends to leave me alone when I work.


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## Snav

Another done, this will hang above the fridge. This one completes the upper cabinets on Wall-D. Now it's onto the upper cabinets for Wall-A (just 3 upper - 2 lower). I'll hang the uppers - get them all prettied up while I have full access to them and then craft the remaining lower cabinets.


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## Ironlight

Snav said:


> For my cuts I carefully measure - mark my lines with my staff and cut with my saw. I don't clamp on a straight-edge.




That is nothing short of astounding, particularly when building boxes like that with doors. You must have an incredibly steady hand. My hat is off to you! Can't wait to see the finished product. I am so rooting for you :thumbsup:


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## Snav

Ironlight said:


> That is nothing short of astounding, particularly when building boxes like that with doors. You must have an incredibly steady hand. My hat is off to you! Can't wait to see the finished product. I am so rooting for you :thumbsup:


Thank you much.

I'm using a framing blade as well - which produces a decent cut but it's not as quick to work it's way through the wood leaving me able to walk or crawl along as I go. I have to sand the edges when I'm done a bit.
A plywood blade - while it produces a flawless cut and a smooth edge - tends to cut so quickly it just doesn't work with how I have to do things.

I'd like a table saw one of these days - by the time I set myself on buying one I won't need it anymore. :laughing:


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## Snav

It's Wednesday - I started the upper cabinets last Wednesday so it took a week to finish them all - tomorrow I will hang them and start working on the face frame. This will give me twice as much upper cabinet storage space than I had before including space sized for certain items like all of my cutting boards and cookie/muffin sheet (etc). Things that I've never had a special place for - and now I do.

Cost for all the upper cabinets (including the wood for the door and face-frame as well as the sandpaper, nails, stain and finish oil: $240.00.


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## twinAK

Nice work on the cabinets, with a skilsaw to boot! I've been thinking about making my own cabinets for the permenant kitchen when I get near that stage. I've got a good bit of woodworking experience, just not in cabinetmaking. You've motivated me to make my own cabinets, but I might buy the doors though, depending on price. We'll just use our Habitat ReStore cabinets this winter.


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## oh'mike

Keep us posted--this is a fun post.

And a good example of what can be done with the tools that you already own.---Mike---


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## Snav

Thanks all

Right now I'm really peeved with the kitchen progress - I've tried over 20 different methods of staining/painting/bleaching/inking/pickling/charring wood and still can't figure out the best thing to do for the kitchen cabinets. He insisted the walls have to be yellow and so that really robs me of options. I don't think browns go with yellow lest we relive the 60's - but I don't want to paint the wood, either, what's the point of that?

I'm going to try a few last things today (a variety of liming mixtures) - and of all these options we have to pick one even if we don't love it. GGAAAAHHH! We have yellow walls and I don't love it so why stop there?  I think I almost have it, though.

If all this effort to lighten things up without muting the grain fails I'll go with a slight brown stain and just oil it over (like a butcher block finish).

Oh and wouldn't you know - I've been so focused on the work in the kitchen that I've put *other stuff* off for so long I have no choice but to take time off of figuring this out to do things like get the kid's id cards at post - get a new tire put on the van - buy toilet paper. LOL - stuff like that.


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## Snav

Well poo all that! None of it pleases me!

What does, however - is red mahogany and early american mix for the door style . . . I've done samples - looks great, love it. Yes - even WITH the yellow walls. . .since we went with pine for the cabinets it'll have highlights of yellows.

The door design will be something like this - mahogany on the outside, early american on the inside.









Going with this scheme - we'll end up with a kitchen that looks more like this - and who wouldn't love it? I definitely dig the idea and it's only a matter of changing our stain choice for our wood.
http://www.kitchen-design-ideas.org/french-country-kitchens.html#axzz1aoFuRZQe


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## Snav

Ahha! 3 of 7 upper cabinets are in - this is Wall-D above the sink. 
And now you can see how uneven the ceiling is - believe it or not these cabinets are *perfectly* plumb and level. The house really is falling in on itself - it's not *my* lack of work-abilities. :laughing: After the face frame and doors are in place this gap won't be quite so obvious in the corner - I might even fill it in with some sheet rock and level it off that way - paint, blend, etc.


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## Red Squirrel

Wow very impressive! I tried just following a line without a straight edge before, and it was a disaster, I should have just used a jig saw while I was at it. LOL

I do plan to build my own cabinets/workbench in my garage some time, though I will be using a straight edge lol.


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## Snav

Well so far that's been the easy part - I'm working on plans to bend the framing for the doors into shape. This will get interesting.


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## shumakerscott

Snav said:


> Well so far that's been the easy part - I'm working on plans to bend the framing for the doors into shape. This will get interesting.


More pic's of bending ect... dorf dude...


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## Snav

Absolutely - I'll document that completely.

So all the upper cabs are up! 

Wall-D (same as before - but we added the cab above the fridge nook)










Wall-A: this is the stove-wall . . . stove will be placed as you see here when we're done.










This is the only photo I could take that had them all in it (from inside the diningroom) - you can see the unfinished side of the arch/wall in this view.


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## Snav

The cabinets on Wall-D have been skinned with a birch 1/4 ply as a veneer. I can cut straight but getting the 45's to meet up nicely was a bugger. . . I think I did pretty well for something that's the hardest thing for me to do right.


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## twinAK

*Custom bending*



Snav said:


> Well so far that's been the easy part - I'm on plans to bend the framing for the doors into shape. This will get interesting.


Snav,
I built a couple boat-style book shelves and had to custom bend the trim rails that follow the curve of the sides. Maybe you could use the same technique. I outlined the shape I needed on a big piece of plywood then glued/nailed small pieces of scrap to the inside of the bend in several places. Then I ripped 1/4 thick strips, longer than needed to go along the side. I glued several strips face to face and clamped them down to the blocks fastened to the plywood. Leave all the clamps just a little loose because as you clamp it down forcing the strips to bend they will need to slide against each other. Once you have it all clamped in place you can do a final tightening on all the clamps. I just used Elmer wood glue and they hold well. I don't have any pics since it's been a few years. Hope this helps.


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## Snav

Ah - good idea. So you just layered thin cuts of wood and made your own laminate (pretty much). No steaming - that's cool. I just might do that.

I've read up on all sorts of methods of wood bending and have had a hard time deciding what would be best for this part of the project - my project isn't extremely intricate but each door has a different size arch so it'll be time-intensive to do each one individually (etc) - and I want the arch and frame to be all one piece for each set of facing doors - and then split it in two. So that means, if I steamed it all, I would have had to build a huge steam box for the pieces to fit into. The scale of it - being a diyer with only a carport to work in - was daunting.


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## twinAK

Yep, I just laminated thin strips without steaming them. If your curves aren't too extreme you should be able to get away with it. If you need to steam them to get them into shape what about making a small tent with some plastic and putting a vaporizer inside. Every Mom has a vaporizer.


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## Snav

:laughing: - yep - every mom has a humidifier.

I'll take your approach - sounds doable.


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## Snav

Well right now I'm still working on the face-frame. . . I have the pain pieces cut and now I need to take some time to form the arches which will top the door-nooks off to enable us to have arched tops on the doors that are flush to the cabinet facing.

A new sketchup of the kitchen with these arched doors and color changes in place


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## Snav

Ok - well today's the last day for working on the upper cabinet door facing . . . oi! What a pain in the tukus! 

But I'll show the rig I made to get the job done more quickly - since I don't have a table saw I had to get crafty. Took me frustration over two days and failed attempts at cutting the face-frame to figure this out. But once this came to mind the process went a lot more accurately, smoothly and by far more quickly.

It's simple: Constructed of some 1x4 pine and ply scraps.an even-width space between two 8' boards acts as a channel for my saw-blade when rip-cutting. A stop at the far end permits me to rip cut cleanly through the end without stopping.










At the other end is an L-shaped bank-board to enable me to cut the ends of my framing pieces square - by placing the piece in the channel and using the L-Board as a guide for a straight line it saves me the annoyance of the saw tilting to the side or the board spitting out from behind.


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## shumakerscott

I'm sorry Snav but I don't follow your description with the pic's posted. dorf due...


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## Snav

I took some more photos for clarity on what it is. I built this for a few reasons: #1: to build my face-frame I had to rip-cut my strips from 1x4's and 1x6's. #2: I had to take those more narrow strips and cut them down to the correct length. #3: I'm using a circular-saw and for this to cut vertically without tilting it needs to be fully supported on both sides.

These three problems aren't an issue if you have a table saw or other such large item like a miter saw (etc) - which I don't have.


In this picture the jig is flipped over so you can see how it's constructed. Two 8' 1x4 strips are spaced apart which forms a 1-1/2" "cutting channel" in between. These 1x4's are held in place by a series of plywood strips - it's all screwed together.

In this photo the far-end of the jig is the 'rip-cutting end' and the end at the bottom of the photos is the 'L-shaped channel cutting' end:











At the far end in the previous photo is the rip-cutting end:

The space between the two 1x4's of the jig provide a channel for my saw blade to glide through - the piece that is to be rip-cut lays on top and butts up against the rip-stop end. Using this setup I can rip-cut very narrow pieces - something that was challenging without the jig.

Rip stop end:










Board to be rip-cut. I've highlighted the rip-cut line in blue - this sits over top of the 'cutting channel' to allow the blade to freely move through without destroying my jig in the process.

The rip-stop affixed to the end is shorter than the boards I'm cutting so it acts as a support but does not prevent the saw from moving forward.










The opposite end of the jig makes use of the open-end of the 'cutting channel' - the long piece that sticks out forms an "L-shaped cutting guide" for my visual use when using my saw.

I draw a cut-mark on the piece to be cut and set this piece in the "cutting channel" - with the penciled cut mark lining up with the end of the jig.










Then I can set the saw in place and use the measurements on my saw-house to follow through with my cut - two photos of this (before cut, during cut.)

The wood I'm cutting in this picture is the same thickness as the 1x4's - so the surface is flush and flat which prevents my saw from snagging and 'jumping' when I cut.










Here you can see that I'm using the protruding "L-shaped cutting guide" to continue through with my cut when the penciled in line is no longer visible.










Most of the time when using this L-shaped cutting end I didn't have my saw flush up against the jig like in these photos - I was able to space it away 1/8" (or however far I wanted) by using the measure-guide on the front of my saw house. . . which helped me spare my jig from getting nicked up.


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## Snav

Ok - finally. Felt like it too forever but the face frame WITH the arches is done and in place!

It's all pine - with some heartwoods (of pine) thrown in.



















Moving forward . . .


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## SeeDBee

*Cabinets*

I'm very impressed!


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## Snav

Thanks.

I was so excited to move forward I started conditioning the wood - and after one cabinet was done I realized "oh - I can't just condition it all first and then stain later . . . " So after I get the kids from school I've gotta run in there and put some stain on so I don't have to redo the conditioning.

And i also cut the handles off my brushes to make this a little easier (access wise) - I didn't think about it when I bought them but the longer handles do nothing but get in the way.


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## Blondesense

Awesome!


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## TimAllen37

it looks great. enjoyed looking at the pics through your progress


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## Snav

Thank you.

As usually I'm rethinking my clear-finish choice (which was lacquer) due to the potential flammability hazards . . . I started a thread to prod questions on this subject http://www.diychatroom.com/f4/adequate-ventilation-returning-non-flammable-status-121516/ If you have any input on that I'll be happy to hear it


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## SeeDBee

Suggest using a water based sanding sealer. Sand that with 160 grit, then use water based polyurethane -- . I've used this combo on cabinets several times and it's almost foolproof. Can get polyurethane in satin, semi-gloss or gloss. Use 220 grit as a final.


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## iminaquagmire

I would suggest Waterlox. They have a lot of info if you want to read up on it on their website at waterlox.com. Its mineral spirits based so its not nearly as flammable as lacquer and much easier to work with. It self levels nicely and is very forgiving. I personally prefer 5-6 wiped-on coats but it brushes out very nice as well.


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## Snav

Thanks for the input - I'm now leaning towards a wipe-on waterbased poly . . . there are several brands to choose from - Zar, Waterlox and Minwax (and so forth) . . .eenie meenie minie moe

I'm staining away:


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## Snav

Ok - well since i waited 'til the last minute to ponder over this - my local stores don't carry water based anything or Zar or Waterlox and polycrylics can't be applied over red mahogany. . . and I don't have time to order something - it must be done asap.

So I bought some cans of wipe on poly and a few nice quality applicator pads. It was either this or traditional fast-drying brush on poly which is cheaper but takes slightly longer to dry. They didn't have natural-bristle brushes and those foam things are a waste of time, as well - since mineral spirits quickly dissolve the adhesive on them. . . and I figured that the cost of buying a huge stash of the foam brushes would cost just as much as buying some cans of the wipe on.

LOL - don't I know how to piddle over something or don't I know?!

So anyway! Moving forward - if I just wipe it on in the morning it'll be dry in a few hours and that leaves me 4-5 hours to ventilate the vapor out of the house - During which I can build the lower cabinets in the carport. . . and repeat the next day. . . and so on so forth - everyone's happy.

In the future a bit of better planning will go a long way.


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## Snav

I've started applying the poly - the cloths I chose created problems with some lint - so I'm going to use lambswool for the rest of it. Not too bad though. Took less time than a brush-on poly would, though.


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## Snav

I had to take a day off of the kitchen work to remove and replace the sink faucet in the kid's bathroom - I ended up having to remove the whole pedestal sink and address a small bit of water damage to the floor as well . . . but back on task - working on finishing the upper cabinets and constructing more lower cabinets.

Two lower cabinet carcasses. The left one will be for pot/pan storage with large drawers (and will have a matching unit) - I need to put a few lateral drawer supports in before it's truly finished. The one on the right is the sink cabinet (32.5" wide).


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## SeeDBee

You're amazing


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## Snav

Thank you.

I've reconsidered the design on the narrow pull-out shelf . . . I don't like the crudeness of the 'all-wood' look and the heaviness of it will be a potential problem. So I'm disassembling the shelf and I'm going to craft a light-weight metal shelf and attach that to the pull-out base instead. This will be more visually appealing but just as sturdy and functional. I can probably buy one that's made for use in a bathroom and it'll work just fine with just a little bit of modification.


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## Ironlight

Snav, take a look at the Ikea pull-out hardware. And the soft-close door hinges as well. It is all good stuff, and one thing I like about the Ikea drawers is that they wear extremely well. Wooden drawer bottoms get scratched and worn pretty quickly, particularly if you have kids.

Here's an example:


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## Snav

Ironlight: Thanks for the feedback on that - I'm not thrilled with choice of drawer-glides right now but money became the issue. Going with these right now I figured in the future I can swap them out for better ones without it holding my progress back at all - so I'll definitely keep that in mind when that time comes.

I finished the carcass for the last cabinet! . . took it's twin outside to make sure they were identical. . . .I had to move my entire setup to the deck in the backyard because my neighbors across the street were having a yard sale. . . I didn't want to be rude by being loud with my saw and music.









So - now it's doing some drawers and installing these last cabinets - and so forth.

Crazy, hunh? In the end: the carcasses for the cabinets used a lot less wood than i thought - overall - I bought 9 sheets of ply expecting to need to run out and buy more - but I ended up using just those 9 and I have quite a bit of usable scrap. . .my hutch-like pantry might not be impossible to do right now!


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## Snav

So - I've now installed the lower cabinets. There's a bit more unevenness of the floor than I'd like to deal with in some areas but that's not too bad compared to how it was before and the limitations we had to work with when raising and reinforcing the floor area. I'll level the more noticeable areas out when I come to doing the flooring.

Wall-A: After installing these two they had more wiggle to them than I could tolerate - unlike the sink cabinet because it's larger and also attached to a neighboring cabinet. . . So I added in a boxed-support at the top which helped to stabilize it all quite a bit.


















Wall-D:
As you can see in this photo I attached these two together before installing them - making it a bit easier to deal with. I also did away entirely with the pull-out shelf idea. I tinkered and piddled and didn't like any of my solutions. So it will be a series of 4 shallow drawers. While narrow - they will still be usable for certain items like silverware (if I make my own silverware drawer insert), dishtowels and boxes of foil and saran wrap (etc etc).










Here - I tried to get a photo of the gloss finish. I'm not thrilled with the gloss as it highlights imperfections ,I think. But my husband's happy with it so that's ok.


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## Snav

Ok - now that I'm nearing the end I need to pick up the pace. I spent weeks doing just cabinetry - other things have to be done, too - and now I'm tighter on time.

I have 9 days before my self-made deadly - can I finish it in time?

List - in order (should be) of what to do:

Lower cabinet work left:
1: Install end for dishwasher cabinet
2: Skin them with 1/4" birch ply
3: Build face-frame
4: Stain
5: Finish - 2 coats of gloss, no semi-gloss this time since I changed things up
6: Cut and install counter tops - cut opening for sink as well.
7: Touch up wall-paint where necessary.
8: Install flooring under fridge, stove, dishwasher area - to put appliances in place and free up the floor space where they're sitting now
9: Level main area of floor
10: Apply remaining kitchen flooring
11: Build drawers - stain/finish - install
12: Build doors - stain/finish - install


This - all in 9 days? Maybe . . . if I stay focused and don't slack like I am right now when typing this post. :laughing:

The trim will wait until I get the dining-room done. That will be faster and easier - just mud, prime, paint, floor - one new window install that doesn't require I chip out brick, thank heavens!


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## Ironlight

I think if you get through #10 in nine days you're doing real well 

You are a total inspiration. I'm still marveling at the results you achieved using a circular saw and no table saw. It's nothing short of remarkable. Can't wait to see the finished installation!


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## Snav

Today I built the end-cabinet for the dishwasher and did almost all the birch skin - tomorrow I'll finish the birch skin which should only take an hour or so and then I'll do the face frame. . . I'd like to at least get that done by evening - then I'll wash, grain and sand the cabinets so I can stain the next day.

If time is too tight I'll do the flooring last - and make the drawers priority over that so I can actually fully USE the kitchen area. I'm so very tired of paper plates . . . then I'll take a few days to do the floor. The doors will be last since they will be a bit of a challenge and I don't want focusing on that to make more delays like building the cabinets presented.


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## twinAK

Ironlight said:


> You are a total inspiration. I'm still marveling at the results you achieved using a circular saw and no table saw. It's nothing short of remarkable. Can't wait to see the finished installation!


I second that! To do all that with no table saw is amazing.:thumbup:


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## Snav

Well this sucks - the last shred of money coming in that I was relying on to finish the kitchen (the last of my projected available budge) isn't coming in thanks to unrelenting military inability to get anything done right or on time. . .goodie goodie. Not only did their inabilities create this awkward time crunch/money crunch effort to work on the kitchen to begin with - but it is now the very reason why I won't be able to finish like I want. Irony at it's finest.

So - regardless of how much I push myself, it won't be getting anything finished until that money finds it's way into our bank account.

Watch me build a bright side: 

Regardless - being stubborn - I refuse to quit completely although the idea of being lazy for a few weeks and sitting around doing absolutely nothing sounds fabulous, dahling, because I've lost my drive a bit due to this issue. So many good movies to watch - so little time - so many cravings for cheesecake. But I won't. I will use materials I have and do whatever possible in the meantime to still make some sort of progress.

What I can do, now, without spending a penny - which is still good progress: make the kitchen usable (build drawers and some doors, install counters, make electrical functional with use of plates, stain and finish the cabinets, install the new window and mud and paint the dining room - etc) . . . so I can still be steeping in busy and moving forward - the flooring will have to wait and so will half of the drawer facings but at least I can finish the drawer bodies and make them usable.


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## Snav

so - moving on regardless . . . some progress pics 

Toe-kick (this photo is the area under the sink) before skinning with birch - with 3/4 x 1 stubs that match the face-frame.









after birch









after staining









Stove-wall after staining:









This piece of counter-top obviously won't go on this counter. . .Since I have this counter I'll use it but in the future I think I'll take it off and make my own with birch:


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## Snav

Well - I didn't die or slack off. Still working away. Two of the kids were sick and a few other things came up. It's been raining so my crawlspace is flooded - so that's slowed down the last tidbits of the plumbing for the sink. I went down there to make the final push and ran into so many stupid issues other than being soaking wet and frozen - the power kept going out, my drill is starting to crap out on me (I had to finish drilling the plumb-line holes from under the house) . . . just ARG! Very frustrating.

Anywhoo. I didn't get everything done (haha - right?) but I'm still making progress.

The counters are installed. Since I had them propped up against my wall for so long behind the couch they warped a bit so installing them was NOT very easy - and my saw blade did not like the idea of cutting them *at all* the other day - so it was a fight start to finish. I do have endcap and splash pieces for each counter - but I'll put those on last.

I need to anchor down the sink but the sink and faucet are in place, at least - perfect fit.

The hoses are attached, they just need some lines to be connected to. 

The dishwasher is installed as well - an extremely SNUG fit. In fact - I don't think it'll come back out very easily at all. I was able to fix it up by getting new rollers for the top-rack and with just a bit of cleaning and tlc the latch now closes properly (it was 'broken' for about two years) . . . so no more heaving myself against it to get it to shut! I tell you: of all the things I've had to fix that was probably the easiest damn thing - took 30 minutes, a bristle brush and some WD40.










I have had the stove in place - perfect fit! I did something that was never done before in this house! I attached the plug-house to the floor. Oh my! Imagine that. LOL It was way cool to USE the counter top the other day - I love it already. I most certainly don't miss the floor-tile counter that we use to have with all it's many disgusting grooves that would catch everything!

I will use extra counter top to make a pull-out counter that will be to the left of the stove so in that spot I installed heavy duty ball-bearing rollers that will keep it level when it's fully extended.










Tomorrow: my husband has a dental procedure so I'll only have 1/2 the day available to do any work: I'll try my best to get the plumbing done! . . The stove works (I've tested it) so I can slide that in place - and be able to use the kitchen for Thanksgiving at least.

Wednesday will be cleaning day - after all this time there's so much junk and yuck around the house. I can't imagine sitting and relaxing on Thanksgiving with all that mess everywhere!

Oh here - the counter cutting adventure that I don't ever want to do again. The long counter was a miter-angled 10' piece (the old kitchen was an L shape and when I bought the counter we were still planning on moving out and just replacing the counter top and painting the old cabinets white) . . well - that long counter weighed more than I could lift so I had to cut it in the living room and bring it down to a manageable size.

As usual: I relied on my handy dandy stash of ABC blocks - and some towels - to prevent marring the surface and to support it so I could cut it properly.




























To do the cutting I made a jig similar to this one: except I only made mine to support the saw up off the surface to clear the contours of the counter - I didn't add on a straight-edge guide. I tried that and it annoyed the crap out of me so I took it off. :laughing:

Ah - and I confess. I can't deny it since it's right there in these photos of my living room: that there are two holes in my wall that need some repair - take a guess as to how long they've been unpatched?


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## Ironlight

Looking good!


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## Snav

Well it was an exhausting push - it seemed like everything that could go wrong did to wrong. . . and then some. Kids sick - husband surgery - he wrecked his car (before the surgery) and on and on and on and on.

But hell or high water (and I had plenty of that too) - I did finish the plumbing sometime last night and we were able to wash up all our stored dishes and prepare a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner today. . . and I'm taking a well deserved and much needed break.

What's funny - I thought. Is that usually when I do plumbing I mis-measure and end up spending a lot of time recutting. But this time my measurements were spot on - it was actually pretty smooth going under the house in that means. It was everything that made things take so dang long.









Turned out fabulous as usual (I brag a lot) - I do a rosemary and pomegranate rub and baste with a bacon and onion topper - perfection.


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## Snav

Started working on the drawers - I've constructed them all and now they just need glides, stain and gloss.


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## shumakerscott

Snav, I found this article and thought of you. 
http://www.finewoodworking.com/Mate...er-base&utm_campaign=fine-woodworking-eletter
dorf dude...


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## Snav

Thanks for the link.

Yeah - the edges of the ply needs some tlc - I've done one coat of a homemade filler that's been impregnated with stain to smooth it over and blend it all in. So far so good - I'll have to sand and do a 2nd application.


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## Snav

All of these drawers are in. I had some issues with tightness on the right side that needed some extra time to shave down the wood behind the glides so it would loosen up. But it all worked out fine in the end - they all operate smoothly.



















Moving onto staining - finally! Oh well - first I have to curve the tops of the drawers out with the sander so they're smooth and even . . . then stain.

This might have been too much - it definitely led to more waste as far as wood stock went . . . but I crafted the drawers so they were all matching grain-wise on the sides: I know it's an excessive waste of time, really - because the moment I stain them you won't be able to tell. But I'm pleased with my attention to detail eventhough no one else would ever notice


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## Ironlight

Snav said:


> This might have been too much - it definitely led to more waste as far as wood stock went . . . but I crafted the drawers so they were all matching grain-wise on the sides: I know it's an excessive waste of time, really - because the moment I stain them you won't be able to tell. But I'm pleased with my attention to detail even though no one else would ever notice


_"_If there is one defining characteristic of Steve Jobs that has run like a thread through his entire career, it is a genuine obsession with the way that things are crafted. Not merely content to set specifications and see that they were met, Jobs frequently went above and beyond to ensure that the products he had a hand in were made in the best way possible. In the biography of Jobs released today, Walter Isaacson reveals the likely source of this focus on craftsmanship, Jobs adoptive father, Paul Jobs. Paul Jobs was a mechanic, good with his hands and intelligent with his work, which largely focused on cars and then constructing metal parts for laser assemblies in Silicon Valley.

“I thought my dad’s sense of design was pretty good,” Jobs told Isaacson, “because he knew how to build anything. If we needed a cabinet, he would build it. When he built our fence, he gave me a hammer so I could work with him.” 

Fifty years after the fence was constructed, Jobs showed it to Isaacson, still standing and recalled a lesson about making things of quality that he learned from his father. Touching the boards of inside of the fence, he said that “He loved doing things right. He even cared about the look of the parts you couldn’t see.” 

He said that his father refused to use poor wood for the back of cabinets, or to build a fence that wasn’t constructed as well on the back side as it was the front. Jobs likened it to using a piece of plywood on the back of a beautiful chest of drawers. “For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”"


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## Snav

Awe shucks - you made me blush  That's cool - I've never taken the slightest bit of time to learn anything about him. 

Well - happy news! I was able to buy all the remaining materials I needed to finish the kitchen . . . I will plunge ahead full force until it's done :thumbsup:


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## Snav

Anothe step forward - I completed the narrow drawers. Somehow - for some obnoxious reason - all of these were far more of a nuisance to finess than the others but they finally glide smoothly. 

The inside is 9" wide, 22 deep.
The top is 3" deep
Middle two are 5" deep
Bottom is 7" deep










I definitely like this much more than the original pull-out shelf thingie.


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## Ironlight

Looks great! You know, we started our renovations at around the same time and I have a feeling your going to be done before I am and I bought my cabinets from IKEA!

One suggestion, very minor but one that I feel very strongly about. Use draw and cabinet pulls that don't have anything that can catch on clothes. The kitchen I just tore out had very nice pewter knobs that ripped a few pockets and almost broke a few doors from catching. Before that, our first kitchen in our old house had a similar problem...they were pulls not knobs but they had ends that loved to find seams in your clothes and rend them. If you wear cargo shorts the risk goes up considerably.


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## Blondesense

Snav said:


> Anothe step forward - I completed the narrow drawers. Somehow - for some obnoxious reason - all of these were far more of a nuisance to finess than the others but they finally glide smoothly.


I tried to retrofit drawers in our base cabinets. They were a pain.
I am totally in awe of what your are doing.
Great job!


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## Snav

Thank you, Blondesense!



Ironlight said:


> Looks great! You know, we started our renovations at around the same time and I have a feeling your going to be done before I am and I bought my cabinets from IKEA!
> 
> One suggestion, very minor but one that I feel very strongly about. Use draw and cabinet pulls that don't have anything that can catch on clothes. The kitchen I just tore out had very nice pewter knobs that ripped a few pockets and almost broke a few doors from catching. Before that, our first kitchen in our old house had a similar problem...they were pulls not knobs but they had ends that loved to find seams in your clothes and rend them. If you wear cargo shorts the risk goes up considerably.


Per the cabinet pulls: The upper handles will some neat over the top thigns I found at a resale store. I think they're from an old church. The lower drawers will have a pocket-pull that won't snag! I didn't plan on that at first but someone else on this forum mentioned that as a problem (maybe it was you?) so I considered it and bought some. :thumbsup:


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## Ironlight

Might have been me. It's my pet peeve, fueled largely by the loss of several pairs of relatively expensive dress pants for work and a few cargo shorts. I was complaining so much my wife started calling them the "evil knobs from hell."

We hates them.


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## Snav

Haha - filthy little knobises . .. they catch you they _catch_ you!


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## Snav

Ok - well I started staining the drawers and realized that somehow - somewhere - for some insane reason . . . I had my color choices all wrong. I was thinking of Early American and Red Mahogany - but when I started using them they actually look quite close in hue - thankfully I didn't start on an area that would be visible.

So I spent a ridiculous amount figuring this issue out and couldn't come up with the right answer. Everything that I have seemed too dark or too light when actually applied - nothing at all like the sample I actually tested months ago and went "yes - that's right" *shrug* - I have no clue why this is.

So - I made my own stain hue by taking 6T of Natural and adding 1t of Early American. . . thus saving money and I like the mix.

Maybe I just like mixing my own stuff up and sabotage my efforts on purpose, eh?


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## Snav

It is a door! It's actually carriage bolted together in 8 places for real stability and strength. . . and to prevent splitting of the cleat that ties it all together on the back. Wasn't my first idea - but I split several cleats even with pre-drilling the screws and got ticked. The bolts will be labeled as a 'steam punk touch' 

That's what happens when you go from doing skeletal diy repair and transition to cabinetry.


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## Snav

I did a little better on this 2nd one: the first one gave some issues (which is normal when you're doing the first of anything)

I'm going to redo the first one at some point to take care of a slight warp that happened when I constructed it. . . to avoid this in the 2nd one I strapped the slats down to my workbench to obtain flatness - then I drilled and constructed . . . problem solved.










A closeup of the bolts - I'll grind them out a bit and paint them black most likely after I stain the door.


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## Snav

I've started staining the doors - my homemade blend of stain b/c I'm cheap . . . 6T of natural 2t of Early American. The blend really snags the knots and grain and gives good contrast.

Obviously I didn't frame off the doors with a trim of wood around the outside. I think that would be too much - visually. They look great just bare slats.


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## Snav

4 down - 4 to go.


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## SeeDBee

Missing your posts


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## Snav

That's because I spent over a month being sick - or having sick kids (we all had the flu over Christmas/into the new year). I just didn't work on it at all - things got crazy between everyone being sick and family visiting for a week.

So I've leveled the floor in the kitchen area - which was not as smooth oging as I would have liked but finally addressed some issues. I used 7 bags in total: one didn't set so I had to scrape it up and relay it . . . which caused an overlap issue - and took patching to get it smoothed out. But that's done and I was abot to move on and do a partial layer on top where needed (to the right of the fridge near the exit from the kitchen into the livingroom). I have a heater in there so I can warm the room up before I lay the flooring - it's COLD in there now and that just won't do.

And I've constructed all the doors and drawer fronts - the last few need to be installed but I'm waiting on my screw-order (I'm using elongated screws that secure into the carcass rather than just the faceframe for security - but they're not available at stores around here) 



















Obviously I'm not done yet - arg. My classes started this week so now progress is relegated to the weekend . . . I still have hte diningroom to do all the work in. But progress is still being made which is something.


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## SeeDBee

Is what you're using to level the floor a cement like product to even it out in preparation for the install of vinyl? Thanks for the updates.


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## Snav

SeeDBee said:


> Is what you're using to level the floor a cement like product to even it out in preparation for the install of vinyl? Thanks for the updates.


Yes - Level Quik RS with a 4hr set time . . . the vinyl will be going in soon - it'll look awesome. Since it's exposed for a while I'll have to clean the floor before I adhere the vinyl but that won't take long.

Still waiting on the screw order to arrive - I'll finish hanging this weekend if it comes in tomorrow or Saturday.


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## jasin

Snav said:


> I've started staining the doors - my homemade blend of stain b/c I'm cheap . . . 6T of natural 2t of Early American. The blend really snags the knots and grain and gives good contrast.
> 
> Obviously I didn't frame off the doors with a trim of wood around the outside. I think that would be too much - visually. They look great just bare slats.


I would of painted them :biggrin:


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## creeper

jasin said:


> I would of painted them :biggrin:


 
Blasphemy


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## Snav

I paint my stain on with a brush - close enough. :laughing:

No progress - ended up with 6 classes for the semester. Project time = 0

I did finally get a mix of stain that's darker but still in good contrast - but I haven't stained them again, yet.


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## jasin

creeper said:


> Blasphemy


:laughing:


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## SeeDBee

Good luck with the classes. From the looks of your project here you could easily be either the teacher or the teacher's pet.


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