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DIY: Installing Kitchen Cabinets

January 30, 2013 RH

Materials:

Level
Pencil
Screw Gun
Tape Measure
Stud Finder
Clamps
3½” long cabinet screws for cabinet to wall
2¼” trim head screw for cabinet to cabinet

*The cabinet is level but the wall isn’t.

1. Measure. Start from the bottom up. A standard base cabinet including the counter is about 36″ high. You want at least an 18″-20″ backsplash. So we’re talking setting the bottom of the wall cabinet at 56″.

2. Mark it and level. In an ideal world with perfectly level floors, I’d tell ya to measure left, right and center for that 56″ and draw your mark with the level. It’s good to do that anyway, but the level overrides the measurement. For instance, my floor had 1/2″ settlement on the right side so we had to shim up the base cabinets. Unfortunately, because the ceiling isn’t level either and the cabinets are, that slopey ceiling is pretty noticeable, but whatcha gonna do?

3. Find the studs. Maybe the guys helping you are studs, but I mean the ones in the wall. You can buy an electronic stud finder but they don’t always work 100%. If the walls are sheetrock, it’s sometimes possible to see screws and tape if there isn’t tons of paint. Also look for the outlets as they are usually screwed into a stud at the side. If all else fails, knock on the wall. Studs should be 16″ apart so if you find one, there is a good chance you can measure 16″ for the next one. Our crazy house was 24″ so we had to add extra support.

4. *Adding support* You need to take this step if your studs are too far apart. What we did was take two strips of plywood cut about 2″ wide and screw them into the length of the wall. Make sure they are fully secured to the studs. Now these strips will take the weight of the cabinets along with the studs.

5. Hang the cabinets. There are two ways to go about this. First way is to screw in a temporary ledger board just under the level line so you can rest the cabinets on it as you’re about to screw them in. Take the first two cabinets and screw them together. You’ll want to clamp the front of them together and make sure they are plumb and level. The second way only works if you have more than two people. Forget the board and hang one cabinet at a time, leveling and plumbing them up as you hang them. I say three people because it will take one to screw the cabinet and two to hold it up and check the level.

A few tips. It’s a good idea to pre-drill holes. Make sure to secure the cabinets at the thickest point. I hope you’re not trying to do this with the doors still on. I also hope you know that you should do the wall cabinets before the base.

6. Base cabinets. Well, this is a breeze since you don’t have to hold them up over your head. As mentioned earlier, not all floors are level so let’s assume yours is not. Start from the highest point to make your level mark and then you can always shim up. You’re pretty much going to follow the same directions as the upper cabinets. Just keep in mind that your sink base needs to be aligned with the plumbing and holes should be drilled before you install. (Duh)

Good luck!

Better than Faux

January 28, 2013 RH

It takes skills or money to hire people with said skills to create a faux aged plaster effect on the walls. But lookey what I uncovered the other day. Yes, it’s the real deal well preserved under wallpaper and skimcoat.

Is it taking just as long to painstakingly scrap down the wall? Yes. But hear me out, man. Cost: Time. Materials: Just a clear polyurethane to seal up that toxic lead paint I’m releasing into the air.

This is just a single, small wall at the top of the stairs. Nobody will ever notice it but I’m taking great pleasure in the process anyway.

Bathtub Reglazing

January 25, 2013 RH 2 Comments

Here’s how I know recycled building materials are more popular now than ever before. For the first time in my 19 years of renovations, I couldn’t find a free clawfoot tub. Our very first house, my husband got one from a work buddy who was renovating and another of his buddies, a firefighter, helped carry it in. That helpful firefighter later lost his life in 9/11. On other houses, we ended up with yet another friend’s tub after their renovation and a Craigslist free posting.

Fast forward to 2012 and the only free tub I could come up with was up three flights in a Victorian attic. I’m cheap but not that cheap. Those things are heavy!

I paid Brooklyn salvage king Eddie Hibbert $100 including delivery to Rockaway. When he took the tub out of the van, it was not the same one I chose at his shop but I didn’t have the heart to make him haul it back. Not after all the discounts he’s been giving me over the years.

So, it needed reglazing.

I’ve actually had someone reglaze a tub for me before and it didn’t work out so well. These were the days before social media. The internet existed but there was nowhere to complain about guys like this. The tub started peeling within a month and my only recourse was BBB which didn’t get me too far.

This time I went with Al and Dave whom have been in the business for 40 years and come highly recommended. Five hundred bucks including stripping and tax makes this the priciest tub I’ve ever bought. It looks good. Not perfect because the tub was in bad shape, but I don’t need perfection in an antique. The only thing that makes me nervous is that I do see drips, which makes me think it’s going to start peeling. I hear that these things never really last but I can’t imagine throwing away a cast iron tub because it’s impossible to restore.

The process took a bit over three hours to strip and paint. It was dry to the touch a few hours later but cannot be used for about three days. The painting room (bathroom) should be warm, well ventilated and dust free.

Fingers crossed it will last. If not, at least these guys can be held accountable unlike the first hack.

Before shot:

It’s Always Something in Rockaway

January 24, 2013 RH

It’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Rockaway has been through Sandy and the ongoing aftermath. Now the streets are being ripped up to install what I assume is new sewer lines. Totally not complaining about upgrades! If they are needed, then of course we should all be grateful.

It’s just sort of bad timing, is all.

Take yesterday for instance. I had a guy coming to reglaze a clawfoot tub in the morning, then I was going to buy a bunch of molding and studs for the house.

Guy starts stripping tub and sez he worries it won’t be warm enough to paint. I try to turn the heat up but wait…what happened to the heat? So, I borrow an electric heater from the neighbor so tub guy can get started and I begin the quest for firing up that boiler.

Batteries in thermostat are ok. I go outside to ask the crew digging up the street if they shut gas lines. No. Go back in to see if I have hot water. No water at all. Go back out to ask if they turned off water. No. “But your pipes may be frozen.” Let me say here that they were very helpful! Came in and told me they would put a torch on my lines to heat them up. I said I can do it with the heat paint stripper. So, Miss Wit and I sat there like schmucks in the freezing basement for nearly an hour heating the pipes. Nothing.

Here’s where I have the problem. Just like the plumbers who installed my boiler and couldn’t admit there was a gas leak (even though they actually fixed it), these guys would never acknowledge that they made a boo-boo. “Oh, it’s doubtful it’s on our side. We insulated the pipes as soon as we dug up the trench.” Finally, they knock on the door and tell me to keep my water running because they are starting to heat the main line coming into the house. Viola! Five minutes later I have water. And heat.

So, day wasted running around trying to get heat. Finally got to pick up some molding. Had to park in the middle of the torn up street up the block and run it into the house. Thankfully, Miss Wit was there to help.

Although this renovation definitely has more hiccups than any of my others, the whole episode yesterday was kind of just another day in the life of renovations. Unfortunately.

And yet. I live for this stuff.

Medicine Cabinet Before and After

January 22, 2013 RH

The metal medicine cabinet that I bought for thirty bucks stripped down nicely. Actually, it was a pain in the arse. I used heat to get the several layers of paint off, then cleaned it up with Rock Miracle. More cleaning was done with steel wool soaked in Mineral Spirits, which neutralizes the paint stripper. Finally, I sanded it all down and sealed it with an oil based polyurethane.

It still looks like an antique with all the dings and scratches but if I wanted new, I would have bought something at Restoration Hardware.

One Man.

January 21, 2013 RH

Light Fixture Fetish

January 16, 2013 RH

It’s true. I have an addiction to light fixtures. I buy light fixtures like women buy shoes. They go with many designs, they are easy to carry and they won’t make you look fat. Plus, if it’s a bargain, who can resist?

Granted, I’m pretty sure I had enough lighting to cover the whole house, but I picked up three more fixtures yesterday at Vaccaro’s. Although the entire renovation is a potpourri of salvaged styles, the lighting is decidedly tole. I suppose I’m trying to achieve a kitsch bungalow look. I did buy some deco sconces and gothic chandeliers for good measure. Can’t be too consistent! It would get boring.

All lights need to be cleaned, painted and rewired. What fun would it be if I couldn’t work on them?

To Splurge or Not to Splurge?

January 15, 2013 RH

After seeing Big Ang’s awesome pink disco kitchen (Yes, I sometimes catch Mob Wives. Don’t judge.) I told my husband that I’d love to create some kind of retro funky disco looking basement in Rockaway. He was all like “Leave the damn basement as is.” But then I walk into Build it Green Gowanus yesterday and fell deeply in love with this couch thingy. 300 bucks. Easy choice if it was my house that I’m going to live in, but an investment property that is already beyond my budget?

It’s just so friggin awesome. Quick! Someone give me a room to design around this thing!

Bed Stuy Landmarks Public Hearing

January 14, 2013 RH

Got some time to spare tomorrow, January 15th? Well, then come on down to the Landmarks Preservation hearing at One Centre Street in Manhattan. The meeting is to be held on the 9th floor from 10:30-12:00.

It should prove to be interesting as preacher Johnny Ray Youngblood is set to protest. Word around the neighborhood is that he’ll be busing people in who do not live in Bed Stuy, just to make his voice heard.

Why protest something that is in the best interest of the neighborhood and the city? Money. There are some old timers who are under the impression that having to go by Landmarks rules and doing things in a historically correct manner will be unaffordable. Yeah, there are grants to be had from Landmarks. No, they don’t force you to spend money you don’t have. Perhaps these folks will actually listen to the truth at the meeting. Or perhaps they just want to stir the pot.

Anyway, Team Landmark can use your help. No, you do not have to live in Bed Stuy to show your support. If Johnny Ray can bring people in from other areas, we only want to keep it fair by doing the same.

So, see you tomorrow?

Walk a Mile in Our Shoes

January 11, 2013 RH

There’s a big Sandy relief walk going down this weekend all around the boroughs and on Long Island and New Jersey. “Walk a Mile in Our Shoes“. Join in! So much info that it was easiest to just copy the press release. Please click on neighborhood links for walk info.

From the press release:

ROCKAWAY BEACH, New York (January 09, 2013) – Coastal communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy will gather this Saturday, 12 January 2013, in a day of action to call upon elected officials and government agency leaders to “walk a mile in our shoes.” The goal of these community walks is to show solidarity and urge immediate passage of a comprehensive Hurricane Sandy relief package by Congress. Once any relief package is passed, Sandy-affected communities call for swift and effective follow-through by Federal, state and local government agencies to deliver desperately needed funds into hard-hit neighborhoods.

“It is a crime that Congress will have failed to act until 78 days after Superstorm Sandy in providing the desperately needed funding to jumpstart this recovery,” says Michael Sciaraffo, co-founder of the “Walk a Mile” community events and founder of The Sandy Claus Foundation. “People are suffering and lives are at stake. Funding for Katrina victims was passed within 10 days after the storm. Why are we any different?”

After Hurricane Sandy slammed into the east coast in October 2012, millions of affected Americans expected swift federal government action would be taken. Yet the 112th Congress came and went without passing a comprehensive relief package.

Originally Governors Cuomo, Christie and Malloy had asked for a combined $83 billion in aid, but only $60 billion was ever proposed as a relief package by Congress. The new 113th Congress passed an initial $9 billion to replenish the FEMA Flood Relief Insurance fund, but then adjourned without further action. Now, the House is reportedly poised to hold a vote for Sandy disaster relief on 15 January 2013 — 78 days after the initial disaster. And the Senate will only get the bill a week later. Meanwhile, the prospects for disaster relief passage is not certain; hurdles and challenges remain. Even if Congress passes the anticipated package of $51 billion in aid, it is far short of the original governors’ combined request, and it could take months, or a year or more to deliver funding on a local level.

Sandy-impacted communities are concerned they are being forgotten. Neighborhoods, towns, and whole counties along the New York and New Jersey coast still bear the scars of shattered homes and shuttered businesses. While much of the disaster’s impact is immediately obvious — with swaths of communities washed away or burned to the ground — other aspects of the disaster are not readily apparent. Gutted and mold-ridden homes conceal their damage on the inside. Emptied savings accounts, bankruptcies and unemployment cannot be seen from a casual street view.

“It is like these neighborhoods are suffering from a kidney punch. There’s a terrible amount of internal hemorrhaging. A relief bill would be life-saving to these communities,” says “Walk a Mile” co-founder Peter Corless. “Much needed Community Development Block Grants could stabilize local economies and save jobs and households. Shorelines are dangerously compromised in the face of future storms. Billions in promised aid could directly lead to smart rebuilding, sand replenishment and flood mitigation projects.”

In the long run, once the day of action passes, “Walk a Mile in Our Shoes” will lead to a program of “Walk a Mile Ambassadors” from each of the Sandy-affected areas. These volunteers have offered to guide future visits by leaders from government, volunteer agencies or businesses who wish to see for themselves the damage that Sandy wrought, and to understand how best to direct aid where it is needed most. Volunteer recruitment will occur at each community walk.

To learn more about the “Walk a Mile in Our Shoes” Sandy Recovery Community Events, see: https://www.facebook.com/SandyWalkAMile. Links for additional information for community-specific events is provided below.

Currently events are planned for eight communities throughout New York and New Jersey. All except Coney Island will be held Saturday 12 January 2013, starting at 9 am. The Coney Island event will be held on Sunday 13 January at 1:30 pm. Event organizers are interested in hearing from other Sandy-affected communities to coordinate similar efforts in the future.

NEW YORK CITY

NASSAU COUNTY

Island Park

NEW JERSEY

Tiny Kitchens

January 10, 2013 RH

No space? No problem! There are some awesome design for tiny kitchens. The lime green tiny kitchen above was designed by Miles Redd right here in New York! It’s both functional and wayyyy cool.

This circular kitchen by Compact-Concepts sort of looks like a public restroom when the doors are closed. (Note to self: Public restroom in home would be kind of suh-weet.) The German company doesn’t seem to have a dealer here in the US.

Under the stairs. Of course, there are no cabinets so you would probably be ordering lots of take out. Fine by me! Via Pinterest.

Via Apartment Therapy. I don’t care if it’s functional or not. It’s turquoise.

Do You…Pinterest?

January 9, 2013 RH

Dalyan, Turkey from “Favorite Places & Spaces”

Pinterest has been a great source of design ideas, techniques and blog topics for the past couple of years. If you’re looking for a way to pass the time, this is it! Check out Reclaimed Home on Pinterest. I don’t do it all that often, but when I do, I’d like to think that I’m repinning some wonderful stuff.

Such as:

Pink shagadelic bathroom from “Hollywood Regency”

Surfboard shower from “Beach House Style”

Piping bookshelf from “Salvage Style”

How Not To Tape and Mud Drywall

January 8, 2013 RH 2 Comments

We all have our skills and limitations. For me, that limitation is drywall and plastering. I hate it like poison, which is probably why I’m not very good at doing it.

The correct way to tape and mud is to build the joint compound up 3 to 4 times while feathering it out with each coat. But that means 3 to 4 days between dry time and who has patience for that? I’ve learned the correct way to do it. And sometimes I do try. I really do. But it’s not so easy!

You smooth one area out and the adjoining area gets messed up. The mud on your knife gets something in it and leaves a streak in your perfect layer. The tape bubbles.

That’s what sandpaper is for. They say a good plaster or taping job requires very little sanding. Well, at least you can make a bad job look decent with tons of sanding.

Watch the videos below for the correct way to tape and mud. Let’s see how well you do.

Well, They DID Recycle!

January 7, 2013 RH

I didn’t come up with the name “Reclaimed Home” for nothing. I love salvaging old materials and restoring neglected homes that were once full of life. Yesterday I was reminded why I torture myself with endless renovations.

You may look at the photo above and say “Meh, it’s a rotten old sign.” Indeed, you would be correct, but this find had me jumping up and down. I discovered it as I took up the rotten bathroom floor. (We’ll chat more about that later.) The previous owners or someone before them used it as subflooring. The writing was not facing up so I didn’t know it was there until I actually started taking up the floor.

Unfortunately, the sign is in bad shape as the bathtub and toilet were leaking for years causing rot all the way through to the joists. Yes, the hole in the second photo was what the bathroom fixtures were sitting on. At any given time, someone could have ended up in the kitchen below while bathing or taking a dump. BTW, this is NOT the first old house I found such rot. Live in an old home? Pray they did the right thing when “renovating” as they often just cover things up. Enjoy your bath.

Anyway, back to the cool find. It seems to be more than one sign because I see “Library” and I also see “Club”. Actually, I’m guessing that perhaps they were the destination signs on the boardwalk? Anyone have a clue?

Whatever the case, even though they crumble in my hands, they will most definitely stay with the house as part of the reclaiming process. Right now, I’m thinking of embedding the edges in a plaster or concrete wall.

But it was nice to see that folks were reusing salvaged material even back then!

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Love Letter Counter

Starting 2013 Off With A Bang

January 2, 2013 RH 2 Comments

Hope you’re all having a wonderful start to your new year! Me? Eh, maybe not so much. Just 11 hours in to Lucky 2013 and I had a near death experience. Big bad car accident while heading over to work on the Rockaway house. That will teach me to work on New Year’s Day.

The good news is that Hubby (who was driving) and I walked out of the car without a scratch, as did the woman we t-boned who ran the red light. Sure, we’re feeling a bit sore now, but there’s no doubt that those seat belts and airbags saved our lives.

The bad news is that my beloved RAV4 is a goner. We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but that gal took a bullet for me and didn’t survive. I’ll miss her. She was good to me even though I treated her like shit. Between the dogs, the salvage, my trash and my bad driving habits, the car looked ready for the scrap yard anyway. Ah, but she ran beautifully.

With all this construction I’ve been up to, I was in fact eying bigger cars on the street. I figured I’d get through this one house and then trade RAV4 in for something more suitable for renovations. Ok, so I’m going to get a new one sooner than I had thought without a trade-in value on the RAV.

Seems I’m a year or so too early for the compact van. These are somewhat like mini vans, only cuter. I’ve been crushing on the Ford Transit Connect. Looks like there’s an adorable Fiat/Chrysler compact (below) and a Nissan (not as cute) that won’t be out for awhile.

My litmus test is “Can it fit a 4×8 piece of sheetrock or plywood?” I know that some SUV’s can do that but it would also be nice to have height so I can go on furniture excursions. Of course, gas mileage is a big issue too! Man, I never should have sold my van. I just can’t drive (or park) something that big around the city.

Anyhoo, I hope this finds you safe and happy at the start of the new year. And once again, just like after Hurricane Sandy and Sandy Hook, we should consider ourselves lucky to be here no matter what is thrown at us. What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger, even if it is a big, fat pain in the ass.

By any chance, if there are any urban contractors reading this, please fill us in on your vehicle of choice.

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