Making Space for a New Stove

Well our stupid stove seems to have finally bit the big one. Not only does the oven heat vary wildly from what you set it at and the 1 large burner not seem to work around the edge, but the oven just turns off in the middle of cooking for no apparent reason. It’s hard to cook something without checking every 5 minutes that the oven is still on.

As I was getting increasingly frustrated, we decided to bite the bullet and get a new one. It is a full size stove this time with a ceramic top and convection oven.

To get it into the kitchen, some modifications were required as the existing space was only 30” wide. We decided to remove the cabinet to the right to make room. After removing the screws holding the countertop in place and taking off the doors, the cabinet practically fell out by itself. The only tools needed were a hammer and it came apart into pieces. Underneath was a nice surprise, there is a wood floor and at least that section is in good shape.

The stove went into the new hole without problems but unfortunately it is not as great as we thought it would be. The oven takes a long time to warm up and the fan is quite loud. I tried levelling the unit but it made no difference…I think we are going to have to get a repair person in to take a look.

And now we know: it looks like there may be hardwood flooring in the kitchen. Overtop there is plywood, sheet vinyl, cement/adhesive stuff and then vinyl tile, but all that seems to float unsecured to the wood. We are not getting our hopes up but are going to wait and see what condition it is in when we renovate the kitchen in the fall.

Painting the Closet Shelves

After patching and a coat of primer, the new closet shelves were ready for 2 coats of trim paint. They look good and the trim edging gives them a little character.

I was too lazy to get out a roller and do all the cleaning up that goes along with it, so painted it all with a brush. 
And now we know: I think the paint could have used a little longer to cure or a clear coat or a darker colour paint cause the shelves really show the dirt from the shoes. However, as the shoes cover the shelves, I’m just going to let it be!

Cleaning Up the Front Hall Closet

The front hall closet is an eyesore that it always visible as there is no door. The shoe rack is not sufficient to hold everything and the area beside it just becomes a pile of stuff all jumbled together.

To clean it up, the idea was to install shelves that ran the entire length of the closet, not only creating more storage space but being more attractive than the old shoe rack. I started building with some 1x2’s as a frame and then added plywood to the bottom of both shelves.

After screwing the frames in place in the closet, I added another layer of plywood to the top of each shelf and added trim to the front. They need a coat of paint, but I am happy with the way they turned out, they look much cleaner now.

And now we know: install the bottom shelf and the top layer of plywood before you even start installing the top shelf. I had to cut the top layer of plywood for the bottom shelf to get it in place as it wouldn’t fit with the top shelf in place.