With a ting and a crash, a pebble kicked up by a weed whacker shattered one of the panes of our back door. Alex swept up the glass and piped in some silicone sealant around the shards left around the edges of the intact other pane. That was three years ago. Last Monday, I finally convinced Uncle Leonard aka Krash to come help us install a new back door. I sawzalled (that’s a word, right?) [...]

BD6CTNZJQEB8 I surprised a friend the other day by revealing that I am a multi-project person.  My head is constantly filled with plans. It drives Alex bonkers sometimes and I have been accused of not being spontaneous, but that’s just who I am.  I can’t help it – I like having things to look forward to. Here are just a few things in the works at Hound central: Installing and learning to use wood stove [...]

Friends were recently discussion kitchen cupboards.  A well organized kitchen thrills me, so I offered to photo-document what’s going on in my cabinets. When I designed this kitchen in the fall of 2008, I centered my thoughts around working zones and storage. I’m a ‘everything in it’s place and a place for everything’ sorta girl, so I designated space for what we use where we use it.  Primarily I selected IKEA drawers because they keep [...]

When we renovated the kitchen last winter, we installed a super deep single bowl stainless steel sink, the Numerar.  It is a sit-on-cabinet sink which means no countertop cutout, saving counter cost and effort.  This sink is so deep I can bathe the little dog in it and she can’t climb out.  Alex can soak or rinse a whole turkey.  It was only $159 from Ikea. But that’s not the best part.  Let me show [...]

This is a continuation of the Tutorial.  Part One covers materials. Construction First, dimensions of the surface to be covered are measured, and the plywood subcounter is cut to shape.  Screw this into cabinet sides immediately so the kitchen can be used. We lived with construction plywood counters for just about a year, so I suppose you could just stop here if you were ok with counters that can’t be thoroughly cleaned and are pretty [...]

At the request of several readers, I (Alex, Rachel’s husband) wrote this tutorial about the installation of our wood countertops on the cheap. Advantages/Disadvantages to Wood To begin with, you need to decide if a wooden surface is right for you.  If you already have wood cabinets, more wood on the countertops can lead to an overload of natrual products in a kitchen.  Consider using a contrasting wood for the countertop than you use for [...]

Today, Alex installed two pieces of wooden countertops. He made them with cherry plywood and aged solid cherry edges. Finished with six layers of polyurethane, they are smooth and cleanable!! Alex even let Lil help apply the glue. Yay Alex!! We have lived without proper countertops for 11 months!! I am just a little bit excited. (Now, get working on the other two pieces.)