11+11

Twenty-two weeks down, eighteen to go. More than half-way there. So what do I win?

(Note that I'm posing in front of a Clam Chowdered wall. It'll do for the duration. It'll do...)

Kitchen - The Final Act

My kitchen project is complete. And I love it. Well, mostly. (More on that later.)

Sunday was grout day, counter-top edging day, Collard Green Dog craft fair prep day and cabinet handle day. It was also the first day this baby has really messed with my emotions. The drawers and cupboards never had handles, so we decided to add them. The emotional part was deciding how to handle the handle placement. Ever cried over drawer pulls? No? Well I have. One inch in, one and a half inches up? Or one and a half inches in, and three inches up? Or four? Center the drawer pulls or equidistant from the top? Pass the kleenex please.

Bob and Will spent a lot of time playing number games and figuring stuff out. Not much has changed in five years.

But by 7 p.m., the major work was done and it was time to rest on the Sabbath. 

Except for Betty. She had to make salads. While I ogled the new back splash. 

And stressed out about Clam Chowder. Don't get me wrong, I love clam chowder. I'm just not sure I love Home Depot's Clam Chowder. Behr's Clam Chowder. I didn't want YELLOW, and this is a definite improvement over Wildflower Honey, but I might be more of a green gal. Will's take? It matches the tiles and our existing (too expensive to replace) yellow counter tops. It brightens the room. I agree. Just might brighten a little too much.

We rehung some stuff on the walls and are going to give it two weeks - at least until after the Craft Revival Detroit show. My hypothesis? It'll grow on me.

Kitchen take three

Oh the work we accomplished... Day three recommenced with Bob and Betty returning from Home Depot with the necessary supplies and some Behr Clam Chowder, to dull the awful taste, I mean eye-sore, that Wildflower Honey left on the walls.

While we rolled away, Bob dutifully problem-solved the "how to cut one-inch glass tiles without shattering them" conundrum. Not sure what the solution was but I can confirm that I have a fabulous looking back splash, nary a shattered tile.







And how did I compensate them for their third day of labor? Dinner at Roast, of course. Nothing like some charcuterie, beef cheek pierogi, duck confit soup, roast goat, lamb ragu, pork shank, rosemary fries, spinach and feta au gratin, fried brussels sprouts, lemon blueberry tart and Rauchbier to satisfy the crew, and prepare them for the home stretch.

Kitchen take two

Because I was absent most of Day 2, I'm not privy to the particulars B&B's seriously intense attack plan.

What I do know is that the cabinets got another coat, my dad tiled an amazing back splash (and set up a dog-open-cabinet-deterrent-system), and my mom (with Will's help after 3 p.m.) tossed some yellow paint on the walls. Pretty awesome, hey?!

The yellow paint did cause some issues, though. Why? Because it was yellow. Not yellow. YELLOW. YELLOW. YELLOW. Mellow had left the building.

So, at the beginning of Day 3, we had some serious yellow to debate as we prepped and planned for our trip to HD. What hue would should we choose for gallon numero deux? Good thing Betty was on the job.



B&B headed out with a shade in mind, I blogged, and Will and the boys ran. Stay tuned for the rest of Day 3, and hopefully, the end product.

Mussel mania

Let me preface this post by pointing out a somewhat obvious fact. My love of food had to come from somewhere. I think it's genetic.

After cajoling B and B to come down and labor away, wage-free, on our kitchen, I knew I had to have a compensation plan. Didn't take long. What better way to pay a foodie than to feed a foodie? The plan - they cook Wednesday (don't judge - they hadn't done any work yet), Cadieux mussels on Thursday, Red Dog wings on Friday, and Roast (a Detroit Restaurant Week participant) on Saturday. If they stayed until Sunday, well, we'd figure it out.

So Thursday, we scooped Will up at work and headed downtown, to the infamous Cadieux Cafe. Home to belgian beer, mussels by the mixing-bowl-full and feather bowling.

When one thinks of a Belgian restaurant that serves copious amounts of mussels, "U.P. bar" probably doesn't first come to mind. But, really, that's kind of what you get at Cadieux. B and B Contracting was very comfortable.

As were we.

When the food arrived, smiles enlarged even more. Each bowl holds about 50 mussels. So yes, you are looking at 200 slippery little delicious little edible bivalves of the marine family Mytilidae. Will and Betty's were seasoned with garlic and white wine. Mine with dill and white wine. Bob's with white wine and veggies.

  

You know it's serious business when this is the spoon you get with your food. And they have Pirate beer. And when the take-home container is a 2 gallon plastic bucket.

 After dinner we went to watch the feather-bowling pros. (Leagues take over the courts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.) What is feather bowling? Well, as Cadieux explains, it's a blend of bocce and horseshoes. Again, I turn to Wikipedia - in which the most notable phrase is: The only place to play the game in the United States is the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit, Michigan.

Next visit, we're going on a Monday (all-you-can-eat mussels for $14.95) and I'm taking on The Contractors. Hopefully, Uncle Pete can join us. (Or one-time Cadieux visitor and personal hero, Tony Bourdain.)

Kitchen opening scene

B & B Contracting arrived Wednesday evening, bringing with them a car load of kitchen renovation gear, Collard Dog display paraphernalia and a Bushey's beef tenderloin. We consumed the tenderloin that evening and planned our Thursday morning attack: off to ACE for cabinet paint at 8, followed by a stop at Home Depot for tiles, tile supplies, wall paint and cabinet drawer pulls and knobs.

The supply run went off without a hitch and we returned to 505 armed with everything we needed, including $250 worth of glass tiles.





Nary a second to waste, the slave-drivers started unloading equipment and setting up an assembly line. (Being the retired sort, they did take a coffee break first.) Check out the blue sky!









Betty Roo and Kip were tasked with removing the cabinet doors (a power drill is a key piece of equipment in this step - no laboring with a Philips, silly Maggie) which exposed my poor cabinet organization skills.

And Bob's private Gilby's stash.







Outside, Bob used the horses to craft a sanding, TSP-ing and rinsing assembly line, tended to by moi, and after organizing his harem of workers, Grandpa B.

Will was working. Somebody has to make the money to pay for this stuff...






With all of us cranking away, by 2 we'd moved the assembly line indoors (at a 42 degree outside temp this made Enlarged Marge very happy!), eaten some leftovers and started talking cabinet-painting-strategy.

I was a tad bit nervous about the ACE cabinet paint. After my initial idea to use Behr Premium Plus paint was lambasted by some pros, I turned to home forums, where the merits of various cabinet paints (including ACE) were debated: Insl-X Cabinet Coat, Benjamin Moore Impervo, Dutch Boy Cabinet and Trim, Sherwin Williams Proclassic Waterborne... Sounded like ACE held its own against the big players and was the most affordable. Downsides - it was supposedly stinky, set up fast (brush stroke worry) and required multiple coats.

Being a somewhat fussy painter, I worried about the setting up time. And being pregnant, I worried about the stinky-ness. (All the paint we used was latex-based, which is considered safe during pregnancy. The only worry is the odor and being overcome by the fumes.)

But once Betty and I got going, both worries abated. It was low-odor, and though it set up quickly, once you got into the groove, went alright. Because this is a "tide-me-over" sprucing, I opted not to paint the cabinet backs, so clean edges were important and keeping them that way, a bit tedious, but overall, we were pleased with the first coat.

Day one closed with one coat of paint on the cabinets, washed walls, prepped back splash area and a plan for day two (when I would be the one bringing home the bacon).