I had hoped to get out to the cottage, for at least part of the long weekend, but it just didn't happen. Hailey had to work on Saturday and holiday Monday. There was heavy snowfall in southern Alberta, making driving conditions poor. Nordegg largely escaped the snow, but the highways between here and there were not great on Saturday.
I ended up at the shop for part of all three days of the weekend and got quite a bit accomplished. Two of the three lower sections of the kitchen cabinets are now complete. I installed the drawers and mounted the doors on Saturday. In the spring I still need to find some tree branches and trunks to mount onto these doors, like the ones I used on our bathroom vanity and our pantry. But for now we will install the cabinets without these finishing touches.
The weather remains pretty cold, as it has been since late January. There is a full moon on Tuesday, and with it we are forecast to get some gradually improving temperatures. It was still nearly -30 on Saturday morning when I went into the shop and on holiday Monday morning it was only a couple of degrees warmer. Through the day on Monday it improved quite a bit and I think probably got up to about -15.
I came in to the shop on Sunday afternoon for a while and did the final adjustments to the doors and drawer fronts. I also worked on the remaining two bedroom doors. I finished installing all the tongue and groove pine paneling to the door frames a couple weeks ago. This weekend I continued by flush trimming everything, filling all the nail holes and knots, and began sanding out the doors. I continued with this finishing work on Monday morning. Then I took a break to meet the girls for brunch, before Hailey had to head to work. Then I came back for a couple hours in the afternoon to finish up the sanding, and to clean up the shop.
The doors are now ready to start finishing. They will get three coats of satin lacquer. After that I need to install the antique windows into them, rout out the hinge mortises, and install the door latches. Then they will be ready to take out to the cottage. I made the door jambs over a year ago and they have been in storage waiting for the doors. Once I get these put in then I can finish up the casing and the baseboards in the cottage.
The interior finishing is close to getting wound up now. I'm glad I have been able to do most of this stuff during the cold winter months. If I can get the last of this work out of the way now, that will mean that I can spend a lot more time relaxing this year. Never did get a chance to go fishing last year, and always meant to try a round of golf at the Historic Nordegg Course. Also didn't get out much with my camera. This year will be different. Once these doors and cabinets are in, and the casing and baseboards are finished, there isn't much left to do. I still have one center section of the lower cabinets to build. The body is built already but I still have to face it, build the doors and drawers, and put everything together. I also have a slab of fir that has to be trmmed and finished to fit into our bay window. We have to come to a decision about counter tops so that once the cabinets are in, we can get these installed and put in our kitchen sink. I'm leaning towards quartz or granite but haven't decided for sure yet. After all of that there will still be a few odds and ends to look after. This includes some interior shelfing, the upper cupboards, and some handrails. But I can try to slow down and relax a little, and putter on those remaining chores at a more leisurely pace. There are still a few things to do outside as well. Highest on the outside priority list is to build a landing and some steps at each of the two entrance doors. Once these are in we can get the final inspection done for our building permit. We have a June deadline, and I think I should be able to make it....
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