Just when I thought my hydrangea bushes would never bloom, this sight greeted me this morning. There are still plenty of buds left to open, too.

Item #18

I finished the door trim in the guest room, item #18 on the list. Each of the doors was too close to a corner for full-width trim, so I had to rip lumber to fit. It looks a little goofy, but I've seen this situation in houses where it was original to the house.

#46 and #102 and #16

Now that the pantry is functional, I'm forcing myself to refocus on The List. I finished #46, hanging the master closet door; #102, hanging the guest bedroom door; and #16, hanging the door to the back stairwell in the guest bedroom. I had doors but no jambs, which is why it has taken so long to get to these items. But having made my own jamb for the pantry, I realized it really isn't that hard or time-consuming to make. Not only did I get three things crossed off The List (and a start on the door trim), but now I have three less doors downstairs in the living room/carpentry shop. Just in time to make room for a whole lotta windows.

More garden stuff.

I promise this won't turn into a gardening blog, but I just had to share a picture of the first peony to bloom.  It's about 6" across. The irises are still hanging in there but will probably be done in another week. Several times a week I collect a handful of wild strawberries from around the yard and the girls eat them for breakfast. About half of the dahlias I planted have sprouted, and yesterday I filled several hanging planters with petunias. Three of my faux-copper pots of pansies were stolen off my front steps, so I need to find something else to put there. Of course, stores are done with pansies for the year, so my new pots won't match the old ones. I have another post or two of house-related projects coming up, but I've been sick and can't seem to find the energy to tie up the loose ends that keep them from being totally done.

One man's trash...

I can't even begin to express how excited I am. Our friends, Bruce and Becky, wanted to get rid of all the old windows from their house. The previous owner replaced them all with energy efficient ones, and the old ones have been taking up space in their attic, garage, and basement ever since. Bruce asked me if we wanted them, but Becky insisted they weren't in very good shape. I took a look and nearly passed out. My heart raced. I gasped. I may have even squealed. They are almost as tall as I am, with original 1920s brass hinges and latches - an old-junk lover's dream. The wood is in perfect shape, but they do need to be refinished. So now I have a vanload of windows in my living room, just awaiting the day they can be properly put to use. I've got big plans for this awesome find.

Garden updates

Last week I decided that I needed some flowers for a cutting garden. I love my peonies, but they're a one-and-done flower. So I bought some dahlias without having a place to put them. We had a little flower bed against our side porch, but it was too small for the 9 tubers I bought. I expanded it and planted all the dahlias there. It isn't the perfect spot since it gets shade in the late afternoon, but it'll have to do.

Before

After

The iris have opened up as well. It's hard to believe that all of those flowers (plus many more that I gave away) came from a single overgrown clump. There are still buds galore on the stalks, so it will probably have flowers for another two weeks. Hopefully the peonies will start to open by then.

The pantry reveal

I still have a couple of things left to do (scrape and paint the door, buy/hang the light, and run the circuits to the circuit breaker), but I'm starting to fill the shelves already. Finishing touches could be a while, so I'll give the grand tour of the pantry now (all 15 square feet of it).

First, you'll notice the door. I know it's crazy to use a French door on a storage closet, but it's really only by a stroke of luck it has a door at all. I bought it from a charity yard sale for $5 without measuring it or having any idea where I'd put it. After I started this project I realized that all the doors that are original to our house were too wide, but this door was perfect. I spent a few hours with a heat gun and got off most of the paint. Unfortunately, I got too close to the glass in one spot and it cracked. It was missing its hardware and a door jamb, so I had to replace those. I found a full-mortise lockset with glass handle at Lowe's, so I didn't have to worry about patching the mortise in the door. I would have preferred the bronze color, but I could only find the nickel version in-store. Door jamb kits are made for 6'8" doors, and this door is 7', so I had to build my own jamb. It's really not difficult, but my hinge mortising skills definitely need some work. I'm bummed that I can't use the back of the door for storage, but I don't mind (yet) that I can see the thousand cans of diced tomatoes and million bottles of barbecue sauce I somehow didn't realize I had.

I also patched and refinished the flooring. Termites had eaten holes in some of it, and some had been removed during previous demolition. Once I patched in new boards, I took a heat gun to it and stripped off whatever finish was on there. I then lightly sanded and applied three coats of SealCoat. I cannot recommend this product enough. It's awesome stuff - easy to use and makes my imperfect wood floors look beautiful. This flooring is extremely thin (about 1/8" thick), so I did not want to get too aggressive with the sanding process. The unevenness in color is a result of my sanding, not of the SealCoat. This picture also shows the overall space. I still can't imagine this tiny area being a bathroom.

The inset niche is painted with leftover paint from our bedroom (Dutch Boy's N039 "Storm Clouds") mixed with white semigloss. Love the resulting "haint blue." I installed two shelving standards that hold double brackets. That way, the shelves are adjustable and I can change them as needed. I used plywood for the shelves which are now loaded up with all manner of goods. This shows the door in relation to the shelves.

This is the other side of the pantry. The sloped wall is the underside of the stairs (covered in drywall as per code). I will probably add more shelves on the back wall and along the long wall, but I wanted to wait to see what type of storage I need. I thought I might put a cabinet of drawers here, but now it looks like shelves could be more useful. I would also like someplace out-of-the-way for the recycling, so I'm going to leave it for now and see which need would be best served with this area. I also have some hooks for my bag of bags and aprons and such that I will probably hang on the sliver of wall between the inset and the window.



So that's it. The 15-square foot pantry under the stairs. It took way longer than it should have (and even now isn't nearly done) but I'm glad it's done enough to start using!