It’s been ages since I posted on the progress in the room we wish to have as the kitchen. You can see the last update here. However since then there has been work going on in the room; it’s just that preparations for christmas, work on the living room to entertain guests, COVID, sickness and everyday life has meant that it’s been somewhat slow.
A big change has been that the electrics are nearly completed. We have these lovely Tiffany lights installed (Tiffany lights in a kitchen – crazy talk) and the flooring has all been ripped up so that we could have electrics in the Centre Isle. That’s been stalled until everything else in situ.
What might be a bigger obstacle is that COVID has meant the industry my husband works in has been suspended, so money is tight. Add to that the fact that in between times our boiler has gone kaput. It’s going to be an expensive year.
After being sick I started working on the ceiling of the kitchen. We want to keep the beams as much as possible. However there is a spare room above it and so to keep the heat from escaping I wanted to have insulation between the kitchen and the upstairs. Also, no guest wants to feel that every sound is going to be easily carried to the room below.
As we’re struggling with money, and anyone who follows the blog knows that it’s something I practise as I decorate anyway, I wanted to use what we already had to hand to complete the task. Eventually I figured out the ugly tiles of the suspended ceiling were smooth on the other side, so if I could find a way to use them like that it would save. Furthermore there were already sheets of insulation within the previous construction, so of course I aimed to use them.
I orginally came up with the idea of a baton of wood nailed to the sides of the beams, with a second quarter round nailed just below it. The theory was that I could staple the insulation to the floorboards above, then cut the tiles to size and slip them between the two horizontal pieces of wood.
However the tiles are of a paper maché style substance and easily break. There were a lot of broken pieces as I tried to slide the tiles along. It was hard work.
As I was struggling with one piece I fell from the ladder platform and really hurt my ankle. I was shaken, I can tell you. I had to stop work for a week until I could walk easily again.
In the meantime I had another think and came up with an easier way of putting up the ceiling. As you can see in the pictures I nailed the baton to the beam, as before, but lower down. Then I slipped the cut tiles above the batons and, when I had two or three in place, cut and slipped the insulation between the tiles and the ceiling. I finished this off with the quarter rounds glued to the side of the batons.
Here you can see the two techniques; the one on the left was when I was stapling it to the ceiling. The one on the right is the latter technique pre painting and quarter round…
I’ve been filling the seams of the tiles and any gaps with acrylic. But it takes. So. Long……
So in order to give myself a reprieve I’ve been painting the walls an off white colour and the bookcase cupboards too. I’ll return to painting the ceiling when all the gaps are filled.
I’m starting to add some details to the cupboard, starting with these wooden, carved tops. One has been fashioned from a top of a wardrobe and the shelf holders from an old dresser. Here’s me putting it all together…
….and how it looks now…
The other is the top of a different dresser…
I’m going to be adding a sliding mirrored door to the cupboard soon, so will post when I do.
Every other project in the house is taking a back seat to this at the moment. My target is to finish by Autumn, even if we can’t afford the new range oven I want. We have a small, freestanding oven from when we rented, so we’ll make do with that if need be.
Since moving here I’ve aimed to have the kitchen done by Autumn each year, promising my girls we’ll make the Christmas cake and pudding on their birthdays (both in the Fall). I’m fed up of breaking the promise. This year I’m determined it’s going to happen.
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