Easing Back Into Work Mode

Kitchen drawer hole...

Happy New Year, Everyone!!

Things are pretty slow going (progress wise) around The Pod right now. All work on the house came to a stop as the holidays approached. Now that the holidays have passed and we enter the new year, excuses for procrastinating have become sparse. Time to get back on the wagon! 

It can definitely be challenging to take a break from a project of this length and magnitude, then snap right back to worker-bee mode. I think the biggest reason is- we are happy and comfortable right now! All the major eye sores and heavy traffic areas of the house are taken care of-- so after working our tooshies off for a solid year- it's easy to ignore the small stuff.......for a while, anyways. 

 That little OCD person that lives in my head has started kicking up a fuss over the last week. The kitchen drawers, the cubby doors, and the counter all need to be addressed. I puttered around the house Saturday morning doing everything BUT work on those projects. Finally, begrudgingly, I put together a list of materials, bundled up, and headed out the door.  I realized getting started again was like ripping off a band-aid; just suck it up and do it NOW. You'll be happy you did. 

And I was! Dan was helping his Dad out for the day, so I was on my own with no excuses. I headed out to the big box store and grabbed the needed supplies to begin the kitchen drawers and work on the counter top. Dan had already cut the new lengths for the primary counter top, so I started by sanding the edges smooth, then I brought them inside to begin the paint wash. 

I made use of the brown color we still had from painting the rafters and the door partition in the kitchen. Much like I did for the kitchen counters with the green paint, I created a simple wash by mixing water with a small amount of paint. I was surprised to see it look like an inviting cup of cocoa!

I applied three coats of the wash and we both love the color that came out! We just need to add coats of poly now. Not only is it going to look great next to the other brown accents, but it will hide a whole lot more of the stains and crumbs that inevitably pile up each day. Also, having the poly coating will ensure that we can scrub the crap out of it if we need to. The tung oil wasn't quite cutting it for this area. Too much traffic! 

As for the kitchen drawers and cubby doors- we are part way there. We now have the wood cut to the sizes we need for both the cubby doors and the skeleton of the drawers. At first, we were going to use those fancy rolling tracks to install our drawers, but after quick inspection of the space- we found, surprise surprise, that it was not square, among other difficult details like the protrusion of the wheel well. It would have been a tedious nightmare if we went that route.

Saloon style door- you can see a little,
but most of the clutter will be hidden. 

Instead, we decided to knock it back another 60 years and go with the old school way. Make a shelf....now make a box that fits in there- hey look, now it's a drawer.  Sure they won't have that stealth mode drawer opening capability, but who cares? We certainly don't- and that's what matters. We want EASY. We want FUNCTIONAL. Let other people have the shiny, pretty, perfect. I will always love this house more than any other shelter I experience (unless we build more!), because Dan and I built it together...it is a reflection of us...showing our strengths and weaknesses, our commitment to one another, and this way of life....it is truly ours in every sense of the word.

In other news, Dan's sister came to visit and see the place for the first time. It was really nice to have her over for company- and it's always fun to see people's reactions. She has been following along the whole time, so we were excited for her to come see the place! She loved it, remarked at how the pictures don't quite do it justice (we agree), and marveled at how it all came together. Thanks for coming over, Julia! Your enthusiasm and encouragement mean more than you know! 

Family visit :)

I'm sure many of you are wondering how we did with the -10 degree weather a few days ago. We did just fine! Sure, it wasn't a balmy 72 in The Pod, but still livable. We made use of the electric oil radiator. Dan was supposed to turn it to high when he headed to bed, but that slipped his mind. Even with the single heater working on medium...the house only dropped to 56 degrees. Coincidentally, a very comfortable sleeping temperature for me. I was breathing easier, but I did notice my nose seemed a little cold when I woke up. No biggie! I threw on a few layers, turned the lights on (which bring more heat) and got a pot of water boiling- the house warmed quickly. 

I'm glad to know we can manage -10 with just the electric heater, but I hope we don't have to face anything harsher than that for the rest of the season. Next winter, we will be on solar power- so electric heaters will not work out as great. A non-electric heat source will be on the list of things to sort out in the spring.

Thanks for reading!
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