A Day of Sanding Cabinets
Monday morning. 9:00. Noise is permitted, and we start sanding. We hook the shop vacuum to the sander. It doubles the noise, but keeps our house cleaner. I have a tough time finding the space to do all of my work. Sometimes I have to hang out the window to balance pieces of wood as Martin runs them through the table saw. Now I use the table saw as a table to hold doors and shelves that need sanding.
Have I shown you how small everything is? I’m standing at the entrance to our living room/kitchen as I snap this picture.
Our couch (far right), coffee table, and dining table are wedged in the front half of the room. Our construction is going on behind the tarp. The entire kitchen is visible; I can’t fit about two feet of the construction area to the left. Our future bookshelf at the end of the cabinets (center behind tarp) is filled with screws, sandpaper, and wood glue.
We clean the floors of the house every day, and a light red dust recovers everything. I am always amazed when I dust the bedroom windowsills.
1:00. Quiet hours begin. I rinse the dust off some dishes, and we eat fresh bread, pesto, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella for lunch. It is the simplest, most delicious meal. We drink mineral water, which I guess most Americans can’t stand. We buy glass bottles by the crate and drink it warm. I cannot handle ice cold drinks anymore.
2:00. Noise is allowed again. We resume sanding.
5:00. We feel like working for a few more hours; we can’t. The work day is over. Noise isn’t allowed, and anything else we want to accomplish must be done by hand. There is nothing worse than sanding by hand.
January 27th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Katie OMG I can’t stop laughing. The image of you holding a piece of wood out the window for your husband to sand is just too funny. Hahaha! And I agree – there is nothing worse than sanding by hand. I really hope you guys finish this project soon, for your own sanity. I’ve lived in a reno-state in our previous house, and it is not fun! Best of luck!!!
January 27th, 2009 at 6:39 am
My husband likes his water without ice now too — he says living in Europe for a few years was what formed his preferences. Which means sometimes when we have guests over, we forget to turn on the ice maker in the freezer …
January 27th, 2009 at 9:46 am
It is going to look so good when it is done!!
January 27th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Wow, that is a big job in a little space! As for cold drinks, I can’t live without them! I love ice! Probably comes from all the years I melted in FL!
Toni
January 27th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Good luck on that HUGE tackle:-)
January 27th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Wow! I bet you will be glad when it’s all done. Quiet hours, huh? We’d never get anything done if we had to go by those hours! lol
January 28th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Are your neighbors really that snobby about the quiet hours?? It’s not like they can arrest you for breaking them. I don’t even think they can kick you out for something like that unless you’ve done it many, many times. Of course I know you want to keep the peace (HA!) but sometimes you just have to break the rules to get things finished.
You guys are doing great work though! :)
January 28th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
You certainly took on a big tackle! Way to go1
January 28th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Tiffany,
I don’t know if our neighbors would complain if we were working outside of quiet hours. But because we make SOO much noise during the day, we think it’s only fair for our neighbors to have time during the day when they can enjoy their homes.
Our home is only 30 feet wide, which means we’ve got really close neighbors. One is an old woman. In the very least, we think she deserves to have quiet. And one day when we’re done, we like to think that other people will follow the same model of manners during their remodels.
Hope that explains our perspective on quiet hours.
Katie
January 28th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Bless your heart. We have quiet hours too, even on post. We can make a reasonable amount of noise from 7am-1pm and 3-9pm M-Sat. Sun is supposed to be quiet all day. That rarely happens, but most people in our building do try to abide by the quiet hours. It’s very nice of you guys to be considerate of your neighbors.
When you say mineral water, are you talking still water with minerals or sparkly water? I don’t mind still mineral water (though some have a weird taste), but hate sparkly water of any kind. It makes me thirstier. Isn’t that weird? I prefer still spring water, but mineral water will do.
How much longer do you guys have on your remodel? I can’t imagine how you live in such a small space. Well, I’ve been to IKEA (squeeeee!!!) and seen how they pack an entire apartment into a tiny, tiny space, but I’m afraid M and I would kill each other. Our apartment is approx 105 sq meters and there are days when it is way too small. Mostly because M is a noisy person and makes me crazy. We have a small room upstairs (it used to be the maid’s quarters back in the 50′s and 60′s when American service members had maids-I wish!) that is approx 5.5 sq meters and that is M’s “man cave.” He goes up there and does….whatever when we start to get on each others nerves. I love those 5.5 sqm. Our apartment is like a mansion compared to many of our European friends’ apartments. We’re super lucky and I try to remember that every day.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
kudo’s on your attitude toward the quiet hours…..i knew spring was here when the daily noise from our neighbours started up….it begins at around 6 am and continues well past midnight and consists of the sounds of our neighbour repairing cars (illegally I might add) nonstop for the entire period….all day every day spring, summer, and fall….i used to hate winter but i am beginning to love it for the peace it brings….yes we make our share of noise too….my boyfriend rebuilds classic cars and we are remodelling but we try to make sure to consider our neighbours’ needs for some peace and quiet….i have a chronic illness and am on disability and I understand that no one can be expected to tiptoe around me whenever I need to rest but having a considerate neighbour like you would be wonderful…to know that I could count on certain times of day that I could get my naps in…it would be heaven!…thanks for being such an angel to your neighbours!