While cutting some pieces of plywood today, I failed to probably plan all my cuts, with the end result being that I now have many nice long scraps that are only a foot or so wide. They’ll be perfect for the ductwork tunnel, but I need two pieces 21 1/8″ high for the interior divisions of the dishwasher cabinet and only have one suitable piece of plywood left. Before I steal more of Croft’s ugly scraps ( 😀 ), I’m going to go raid the other store he mentioned has a scrap bin. I went by there tonight just to scope it out and see where it is and, sure enough, there is a huge bin marked ‘free wood’. It’s behind a locked fence, so I’m going to hope for clear weather tomorrow so I can check it out. I also went by Home Depot, but their dumpster was locked up and there were only pallets outside of it.

The only other thing I’ll work on tonight is getting rid of The Ugliest Light Fixture In the Universe. I have four of these in Miranda; two in the dining area and two in the study, using up valuable wall space. The ‘shades’ are made of a rubber-like material. They have never worked, which explains why one lit up when I pushed on its switch yesterday. It was like it was telling me “don’t throw me away!” Here’s a picture for posterity.

It’s a shame these lights run off the 12V system. If it was off the 120V grid, I would have been able to replace the fixture with a plug for the dishwasher. I’m instead going to have to run wiring from the nearest plug to this general vicinity.

This picture also shows just how much of the window the dishwasher will be blocking as it is as wide as the counter and at least as tall as the bracket by the stove. The only other option would be to have the dishwasher facing out towards the dining room, but even that would chew up some window space. There really is no ideal solution and I want a dishwasher, dangnabit, so I’m just going to have to live with this. 🙂

This weather is going to make me cry. 🙁

I got out of bed at 9 this morning and promptly went to work. It was sunny and warm, albeit a bit damp. I set up my workshop outside, got all the tools, cut my first piece of plywood, and made a hole in the plywood for the furnace vent, then big, ugly black clouds rolled in and it started to spit. Thank you very, very much. Not.

So, this is how far I’ve gotten today:

This shows how the seat was longer than the base. I cut the seat down to make it the same size as the base.

I used some of Croft’s oak paneling to make a nice bottom for my cabinet.

This is the panel that will be visible from the front door. Note the hole for the furnace duct.

I used the wardrobe door plywood to make that side panel and still have more than enough for the three interior divisions, bringing down the cost of the wardrobe doors. It’s amazing what you can get  out of a sheet of plywood!

After lunch, I’ll start working on cutting and assembling the interior partitions. I’m not a cabinet maker and I don’t have the tools or the knowledge to do a really ‘pro’ job on the joinery for this project, so I’m going to rely on glue and angle brackets and focus on making the exterior as polished as possible while accepting that the inside will be stuffed to the gills and not all that visible.

The divisions will give me a space accessible from the kitchen side through a door, one accessible from the lounge with a door also, a drawer, and another space above it with a door. The two large spaces are being designed with specific storage in mind, which will free up a couple of cabinets in the study and give me easier access to a kitchen tool I haven’t used since hitting the road and miss very, very much.

Off to lunch; it feels so well deserved today! 😀