I got a lot of work done on the kitchen cabinets last week. Pictures to come soon, I hope. I also bought a clawfoot bathtub to replace the triangular one I decided wouldn’t work. It has a neat little silver plug on a chain. It was marked down $10 because the plug was disconnected from the side of the tub — nothing a beading needle and a little glue wouldn’t fix. I’m so proud of myself!

I put the porch together this weekend. Decided there was no way I’d use the crappy trim that came with my kit, so I invested in some Houseworks components. Also had a few adventures with a saw and a sander to get the porch posts the right height (and managed to sand off the tip of my knuckle…)

The porch, with posts, railing, and spindles from Houseworks. Considerably nicer than it would have been if I’d followed the directions.

How it’ll look (roughly) once the gable is attached.

The idea is that the porch roof forms the “floor” of the gable. (It makes cute a window seat kind of thing on the second floor. I’m planning to build a bed into that space.) Geoff set up a jig for me so the gable could be glued into the right shape.

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I am ready to lay the hardwood floors on the first floor of the house. (The second floor has to wait until after the wiring is done and the built-in bed is constructed to cover those ugly brackets…) I painted the flooring with two coats of varnish stuff (not exactly sure what it is, Geoff picked it up at Home Depot), which gives it a nice finish.

Once the floor is glued down, I am going to assemble this closet kit to go in the smaller downstairs room (by the stairs). I hate it when guests have nowhere to hang their coats!

Update, February 14: Geoff finally brought me the digital camera so I could take some pictures of what I’ve been working on at home. I have assembled the conservatory that will be used as a kitchen, and started building the kitchen furniture. All that’s missing is the trim at the peak. I want to use something slightly different from what came in the kit, which I need to order. (Oh, in these pictures the French doors are missing, too. When I painted them, a bit of paint got on the windows. I removed the doors so I could get the paint off with rubbing alcohol.)

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