I bet some of you are wondering just how full of stuff was the guest shed since the last four posts were about stuff I am getting moved out of there. Well, it was really, really full. So full in fact that I forgot all about some of the things in there, even things that we could use right now if only we remembered that we had them.
In the great shed clean out of 2020 I forgot I had three kitchen upper cabinets that our neighbors in our suburban house gave us five or so years ago. They are your basic oak front cabinets with particle board on everything except the front oak part. We were gifted one over the stove cabinet, and two 30 inch upper cabinets.
As soon as we unearthed them, I knew immediately where those puppies needed to go. They were destined for Redneck Retreat- our little cabin that sits on 130 acres in Newton County, Texas. Most of the time this property is just the domain of dudes. From September until January it is filled with hunters who really don’t care what the place looks like as long as the deer stands are wasp and rat free they are happy. The Redneck is a one room cabin with three sets of bunk beds, a queen fold out couch, bathroom, and kitchen… well sort of a kitchen.
The photo above is a picture of the kitchen after my buddy The Social Planner and I cleaned it. There are no photos of the kitchen before cleaning to protect the innocent. The builder of the cabin was a building contractor. He used materials that others were taking out of their homes and offices to build the cabin. It is an eclectic mix of brass, Formica, scrap wood, cut glass light fixtures along with donated appliances. The building is solid, level and has air conditioning and a wood burning stove so the problems are all related to how it looks.
The outlet and switch covers above are all three on one wall in the kitchen and within three feet of each other. The stove, fridge, and sink work so I guess technically it is a functioning kitchen. The cabinets, counter tops, appliances, and walls… not so much. I especially like the vent hood that goes nowhere.
With the three found cabinets and an awesome microwave oven my parents gave us that was almost new because of a Hurricane Harvey flood and a total kitchen remodel two years ago. It was also hanging out in the shed just waiting for a home. We had some time so we headed to the woods to do some work.
Our plan was to
- Take down the back wall two cabinets and vent hood
- Take down the cabinets to the left of the sink.
- Prime and paint the found cabinets
- Polyurethane three cedar live edge boards for shelves
- Install the microwave and vent it outdoors to reduce moisture in the cabin
- Install the cabinets
- Install cedar shelves
The weather forecast was two days of rain free days followed by three days of rain. We planned on getting all of the painting and polyurethane done out in our tarp covered space before the rain set in. The weather folks missed the mark. We got there in the rain, it rained all day, then the next, and the next. We had to get creative to get things dry. Everything had to be brought inside with heaters on and ceiling fans running in order to get the paint dry enough.
The former doctor office cabinets came down pretty easily. We filled the front porch with particle board cabinets then moved on to the install of the upper cabinet above the microwave and the microwave that is vented to the outdoors. It was important that this part get installed first because the other two cabinets would have to be installed around it. I am ever so thankful for a “Mathy” husband when it came to installing the microwave and cabinet, cutting the holes in the bottom and back then figuring out the height, then the microwave and venting it through the outside wall all without the template that would have come with the microwave if it were new.
Working and living in a one room cabin was rough folks. Don’t judge the clutter. It was driving me crazy moving stuff around so that we could work. Getting the venting to go outside was a scary. Mr. Math only missed on the outlet hole and that was because we both forgot to get it cut until we were just about to install the cabinet. It was a rush job that even though it works, looks a little rough. Everything else looks perfect in a really imperfect cabinet.
The difference in the wall after the upper cabinets were installed makes me so happy!
We still have bottom cabinet issues to address like ugly mismatched counter heights, and lack of actual cabinets below really bad Formica counter tops that are pieced together. but wow, it looks so much better on the top half. I will focus on that for now.
It was a productive week at the Redneck.
I can’t wait to show you the cedar shelves.
I hope you all have had a great weekend.
Blessings,
Karen
