Above 1200 Sq/FT Bailey's Barn Build

[Mike.ASC]

Well, the oil can/cooler Christmas gift got pushed out to the screened in porch. Golly, I thought The Wife would want to leave it in the living room!


So, heck, if it's going to be on the porch, it may as well be in the workshop. Not sure what the best location is, but with the recent cold weather in SC, the cooler isn't really needed, yet. Looks pretty good next to Ole Paint.

What, no Cheer Wine...?

 

[xtremek]

Nice looking cooler. I think it'd look better next to the Old Mule than Old Paint.

 

[mwbailey]

Hey, Mike.ASC, the Cheerwine was in the fridge so it wouldn't freeze this past weekend!! Well, actually, I thought the Dixi-Cola that was bottled in Rock Hill during the 1940's or so would be a good accent for the cooler. . . .

xtremek, I can hook you up with a cooler for Old Mule. You might rather have a pick-em-up truck cooler: https://thinkoutside.biz/us/catalogue/ee-i-ee-i-o-functional/pick-up-truck-cooler/

 

[mwbailey]

A little documentation as much to remember what the effort was as anything else: The Wife "gave" me a two post lift for my birthday. Actually, it was more "permission" to pursue it as anything else, but I appreciated the thought. That was in September! Now that I've had time to look into what brand of lift, how to deliver, how to install, where to position, etc., I've pulled the trigger. It will be the Bendpak 10K symmetric two post lift. Also, after much to-ing and fro-ing, I've decided to have the lift installed instead of doing it myself. Arranging for delivery (without a forklift among my vehicles), renting masonry drill and bit, aligning the posts, etc., the job got above my head. The lift has been delivered locally; just waiting to see when the installer can schedule installation.

Still, a good bit of effort was required to make "room" for the lift (seems the workshop collected a lot of "stuff"). I must have taken five large garbage bags of trash to the green boxes, but the remaining "stuff" takes up a good bit less room. Hmm, I wonder if the lift was just The Wife's ploy to get me to clean out some stuff....



OK, so you have to look kinda hard to see the improvement, but it's there!

Then came moving the Cameo Ivory Olds 442 down to the attached garage. After three years of sitting, it didn't want to start up. Changed points, condenser, and rotor. Then it started a ran REALLY rough. Tried cleaning carburetor from "outside" with little real progress, but the engine fires right up -- just runs rough. Had to move the Miata out of the attached garage, but I know it will start up easily. Tried to maneuver the Crystal Blue 442 frame and body with floor jack and wheel dollies to give more room. Then used the wheel dollies on the other one to get it lined up better for backing out. Would have been easier with FOUR dollies instead of TWO! Also re-positioned the Model T body and a few other items out of the "high bay".


The Wife refused to help me guide the car last night in the rain, so first thing (after coffee for her, etc.) this morning we relocated the 442. She was afraid there would not be enough room for her car and the 442. Looks like a pretty good fit to me.


Then back to the blue 442. Moved it mostly out of the high bay with dollies and jack.


Oh, and Ole Paint, the 1949 Ford 8N tractor, will have to stay under the lean-to for a while to make room. Almost everything else is pushed into the "back half" of the workshop so the high bay is mostly empty.


It's not really obvious from the photos, but now I can get a ladder to the three light bulbs that have blown out and replace them.

The little Miata looks almost lost in there now.


OK, let's seen when the installer is available. . . . In the meantime, I'll try to figure whether I want the lift centered in the bay (it's about 19' wide and 24' long) or moved to one side. Wish the door was wider or off-center so I could pull a car in and run it straight into the lift. Oh well, maybe the installer will have some suggestions.

 

[HOTFR8]

Stuff...... We all have that hassle come issue. We need to see the two post lift installed now.

 

[mwbailey]

Installer says, "Wednesday".

 

[xtremek]

You obviously don't have enough project going if you can see that much floor space. I can send you three or four projects to help bring your situation into "balance".

 

[HOTFR8]

Installer says, "Wednesday".

Photos after that no doubt.

 

[mwbailey]

Don't worry, xtremek, there are plenty of projects. Before my "clean-up", I could walk through the back half of the workshop -- blue 442 body and beyond in this photo:

Now, I have to go out the sliding barn door to get back in the "man door" behind the mess and find my broom!! There are enough projects back there for several months, and that doesn't count the ones that The Wife has assigned for me. But thanks for the offer of additional projects.

Yep, photos to come HOTFR8 when the lift is installed. It may not be operational Wednesday since the installer doesn't "do" electrical, but I'm having lunch with a "shade tree" electrician on Thursday. He'll probably be interested enough in the lift to lend me a hand. That's the plan, anyway.

 

[HOTFR8]

Will be keen to see but do make sure all the wiring is done to code.

 

[mwbailey]

No worries, HOTFR8, my shade tree electrician works for the city doing significant electrical hook-ups for pump stations and the like. He also installed my 100 AMP service at my former house to serve the detached garage. Hmm, he did suggest that I look the other way when he threw the switch on the box. . .

But, I need some advice from any "Journalist" who might be interested. I'm trying to figure out the best placement for the lift. I have a roughly 20'X24' "high bay" area for the installation. The easiest choice would be right smack dab in the middle of of the bay, but that would seem to possibly cut down on access area for, say, parking classic cars and such. So, I'm wondering if the lift should be offset to one side of the bay and maybe a little forward. There's no issue with walk-around, toolboxes, etc., toward the front because there's still another 24' of floor under the loft.

Here are a couple of options, sort of extreme positions. So, there are many more choices, of course.




Any suggestions?! No rush, the lift will be here tomorrow/Wednesday. . . .

 

[HOTFR8]

I suggest you place it so it is in the most practical location. Also consider placing it in case you have a vehicle you can not move so your door is not blocked by the hoist.

 

[xtremek]

.........consider placing it in case you have a vehicle you can not move so your door is not blocked by the hoist.

Really good point.

 

[mwbailey]

Hey guys, thanks for the input. Fortunately, there's a door at both ends of the workshop. Once I get my "stuff" redistributed following lift installation, I could get vehicles out the back door, if needed. I like the practical approach, HOTFR8, that always seems to work. I also expect the installer to have some input. His E-mail is liftbrown, so I expect he's installed a few lifts. . . .

I'm leaning toward a slight offset from center to help with exit through the front door even when the lift is in use.

 

[mwbailey]

Lift was delivered and installed today less "professional" electrical connections.

I had marked the floor about where I wanted the lift -- inside edge of lift "flush" with door opening and rear edge of lift about two feet past the center of the "high bay". That should be practical in driving vehicle into lift area and still give a little more room for vehicles to the left of the lift.

The installer picked the lift up from freight drop off on 30-year-old trailer and brought to the workshop. The lift was pretty securely packaged; lots of cardboard and two ~2X2 angle iron ends mounted to the lift.


I had decided it was best to let someone else install the lift instead of a DIY project. Two men -- pretty good sized men! -- did the job. But the first thing I noticed was that they didn't take the lift off of the trailer and place it on the floor. In my mind, that was the first thing I was going to do! They did much of the hydraulic line installation on the trailer then used the height of the trailer to help cantilever the first upright (post) into a vertical position. Gee, I might not have thought of that. One of the installers said he'd been doing lifts for 30 years. Guess he knew the shortcuts, huh?


The second post had to be positioned with a cherry-picker since it was turned 180 degrees on the trailer/packing. A little more precarious, but not too difficult. A little shimmying and they were within an inch or two of the desired location.


We decided to go with the wide (145") versus the narrow (132") setup. That necessitated extending the top structure and, later, adding a short hydraulic hose extension to the lift. Placing the top structure looked to really require two guys. Some of the rest looked like it could have been a one man job. Anthony, on the left, was concerned with heights but apparently had agreed to work up to 12' without hazardous pay?!


I had accepted the builder's statement that the slab was 4" of 3000 psi concrete. None of the holes went through to dirt, so that seemed to be so. The installer's drill made short work of the drilling and a small sledge got the bolts in place. Control side post required a shim or two on the rear bolts, but otherwise the floor was pretty flat/level.


Here is the lift complete with jumper wires for test run.


And there's still room for the Miata. Looks like I can swap out with the 442 with no problem.


The installers were here from about 11AM to 5PM, without lunch. They were not in a hurry, but worked pretty steady. A few issues developed like missing cap screws for safety catch cover, missing hydraulic fitting to connect extension hose for 145" set-up, bent hose clips from shipping, etc. Fortunately, the installer had a fitting that would work and a 30-minute run to the nearest hardware store provided cap screws.

So far, very satisfactory process. Will be a few days before I can load a car on it due to sickness in family. The Wife stopped by twice to brag on her birthday gift to me!?!?!? We did find that the five gallons of hydraulic oil she had purchased to have something to give me on my birthday included two gallons of 32 weight (or whatever the designation is), one gallon of 46 weight, and two gallons of 68 weight. Fortunately the installer had brought along five gallons of 32 weight. . . .

Looking forward to getting this thing wired properly and getting the body off the 442's frame.

 

[HOTFR8]

Impressive and then they knew all the fitting tricks as well. Looks like you have a good set up now.

 

[Mike.ASC]

Congrats, now you will wonder how you ever did without a lift .

 

[mwbailey]

Medical issues with a niece kept me from "playing" with the lift after Wednesday's installation. But, my visit with Big Sister was the right thing to do.

Now, The Wife has invited folks over for dinner tomorrow night and I'll help get ready for that. I just HAD to try it out this afternoon. Still not wired up fully, but lifting the body from the frame with the Bendpak was a lot easier than trying to arrange for six guys to come over -- AND, I'll have a place to store the body while the frame is worked on.

Just lifted it to the first or second safety stop, but that's enough to "prove the point."

 

[HOTFR8]

Body storage whilst you work on the chassis. Well done as it will be off the floor.

 

[mwbailey]

Yep, HOTFR8, and I'll get the wiring completed then lift the body up all the way. Might even park the other 442 underneath until the chassis is complete. . . .

Hey Mike.ASC, you might appreciate that when I told Big Sis that someone suggested I would wonder how I ever did without a lift, she laughed out loud and said something like, "Men and their toys!" Maybe she just doesn't understand.

 

[Mike.ASC]

Yep, HOTFR8, and I'll get the wiring completed then lift the body up all the way. Might even park the other 442 underneath until the chassis is complete. . . .

Hey Mike.ASC, you might appreciate that when I told Big Sis that someone suggested I would wonder how I ever did without a lift, she laughed out loud and said something like, "Men and their toys!" Maybe she just doesn't understand.

A lift is simply a tool that makes work more enjoyable and efficient which leaves us with more time for other things like family. The wear and tear on the body alone from working on your knees and back justifies a lift. I'm sure she understands she's probably just giving you a hard time. Let us know how it works for you.

 

[xtremek]

I think you need to loan that lift to me for a couple of months.: I need to pull the cab off of the Screw so I can replace the motor in it.

 

[mwbailey]

Mike, I got the safety thing to work with The Wife, but I'm afraid Big Sis is too far gone. Luckily, Big Sis doesn't really have to understand.

After the newness wears off, I might consider a loan, xtremek. Looks like you do pretty well with your projects, anyway. Keep up the good work.

 

[mwbailey]

Well, it took a while but I got the lift wired up. The installer and my electrician buddy both suggested double pole, 20 amp breaker box at the lift. So, here are the "parts":


Experts called for 12/3 cable from box with 220V power -- supplied through the workshop main breaker. Smallest box I could find that I liked was the 70 amp, two space model. Took one effort at trying to clip in the breaker to find out there are different types! Back to Home depot to exchange. Everything else seemed to be "what the doctor ordered". Ran the cable from box, down lift column using adhesive ziplock fasteners. That worked well.



Wanted to mount the breaker box on the column without screws protruding too far into interior of column. The installer kept telling me to make sure I centered the box when I attached it to the column! So, bright idea to tap holes in the column itself and use short screws. Didn't have the right bit for #8-32 screws, so started with 1/8" bit. Could not even get the tap started. Another trip, this time to local hardware store, for #29 drill bit. No major problem with tapping holes this time, especially with a little oil on the tap.


Shortest screws I could find at Home Depot still seemed a bit long, so used diagonal cutters to shorten screw. First one got trashed since I couldn't even get a nut started, so cut three with nut already threaded on and backed it off to clear threads. That worked OK. Note one longer screw as the "before" example. Box seemed to be mounted pretty well with short screws and no nuts.


Pulled the cables into the box and cut/stripped wires. Turns out, somebody might have cut one cable a little bit short -- the ground wire didn't quite reach the bus bar I was using for ground. Had to use wire nut and short piece of wire to make the connection. For the limit switch at the top of the lift to work, one cable that installer had connected up top was connected to the black/hot side of the breaker. The white wire back from the limit switch was taped black and connected to the black wire to the motor. White wire to white wire and wiring was complete.


One note: the switch box that was mounted to the motor was so crowded, it would have been hard to even put one more wire nut inside or even work with what was already there. A relatively short pigtail was outside the box, so my electrician buddy recommended using twist-lock plug for this wiring. Seemed to work OK, although a little bulky.

After a few starts and stops, a couple of trips to the store, and "inspection" by the electrician, the lift was in action including functional limit switch.


Nothing left to do now except complete the restoration. . ..

 

[HOTFR8]

Nicely done. I would guess now it has been well used.

 

[mwbailey]

Well, just when you think you've "found" some floorspace to work in, up comes a request to house a 1914-ish horse-drawn buggy.


Apparently, this buggy is one of only a handful left from the Rock Hill Buggy Company that was a major manufacturing facility in the town of the same name -- before about 1916 and the demise of buggies in favor of motorcars! Soon afterwards, the factory began to manufacture automobiles. That's right, cars produced in South Carolina before BMW! So, a buddy of mine who now owns the "Cotton Factory" near where the buggies and then cars were built found the buggy and wanted to preserve it, but had nowhere safe to store it. I offered the newly acquired floor space for two months before I started charging him

In the meantime, I've started pulling out parts for the 1967 442 chassis.


Somehow I seem to be coming up short. For example, why would there be only ONE emergency brake cable and only the return gas line?! Besides, there are TWO rubber mats for the trunk and last I checked, the car only had one trunk. . . . I seem to remember viewing new gas and brake line clips, but now they have not surfaced. I think I will check my purchase list before going through EVERY box I have to find them.

When I find my parts -- or have them on order -- I'll start some installation work.

 

[Mike.ASC]

Very interesting about the history of the buggy. Do you know if the buggy company/Anderson car company factory building is still in existence and if so where it is located? Your chassis is coming together nicely. As you are finding out, one of the challenges in restoring/rebuilding cars is the parts management/inventory.

 

[Bob Heine]

Shortest screws I could find at Home Depot still seemed a bit long, so used diagonal cutters to shorten screw. First one got trashed since I couldn't even get a nut started, so cut three with nut already threaded on and backed it off to clear threads. That worked OK. Note one longer screw as the "before" example. Box seemed to be mounted pretty well with short screws and no nuts.

MW, you might already have a screw cutter in your tool collection (I hesitate to call it a bolt cutter but some do). Several decades ago I bought an AMP crimper/cutter/stripper and it has several common screw cutters built in. Mine cuts 4-40, 6-32, 8-32, 10-32 and 10-24 threads. You have to back the screw out of the tool after the cut and that takes care of the buggered threads on the end (just like the nut you put on first).

Other companies sell them, including Knipex, in the event you don't have a pair of these. If you don't want to spend big bucks on them, Amazon has them for less than $10.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N5EW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[mwbailey]

Hey Mike, I don't think anything much remains of the Anderson company -- buggy or car. Here's a story about the history: https://www.rootsandrecall.com/york-county-sc/buildings/anderson-motor-company/

The area near where the factory was also became a pretty significant textile facility through much of the 20th century. Now some of those buildings have been and are being converted to offices and such. Major plans in the works to include condos, shops, and a HUGE athletic complex. All of this is between our local university, Winthrop, and downtown Rock Hill. The hope, of course, is to encourage student-townspeople interaction, student business downtown, technology innovation for businesses, and, of course, lots of athletic events to bring in participants! We'll see. I like the plans. . . .

Gee, Bob, didn't even think to look at existing tools that were "designed" to shorten my cap screws. I hope I don't forget that just like I've forgotten where I've stored my chassis parts!!

 

[mwbailey]

So, The Wife says two friends from Montgomery will be here, Saturday to Tuesday. I spend the last three days or so pulling weeds, spraying RoundUp, spreading woodchips, blowing out garages and porches just to find out today that they cannot make it. Hmm, I wonder is that was just a ruse to get me to do some work?

I would be more concerned that I had been tricked if I hadn't seen The Wife vacuuming most of the morning hobbling around in her "therapy boot" from the bunion surgery. Come to think of it, seems I also made the beds in the guest rooms and helped with the grocery shopping.

Oh well, it doesn't take much of an excuse to get me to pull out Ole Paint. I got a half-dozen boxes of chips moved with the old 8N tractor.

And, part of the effort did help the "landscaping" at the workshop. I replaced two dead conifers in planters. Here is dead bush and replacement:


And the new bushes in their planters -- hope they grow up soon.


Wow, look at the new cover on the parts car. We were going to be ready for the ladies. I believe I'll suggest that next time they just drop by unannounced; that will be a LOT less work for me.

 

[Bob Heine]

Are you saying the conifer in the first photo isn't supposed to look like that? My wife claims they are supposed to look that way...

 

[mwbailey]

Actually, Bob, I thought the hue of the dead bush went with the barn's color palette very well. The Wife seemed to have other ideas. . . . Maybe you can get Your Wife to talk with My Wife!

 

[xtremek]

........Oh well, it doesn't take much of an excuse to get me to pull out Ole Paint. I got a half-dozen boxes of chips moved with the old 8N tractor.......

I have to admit, that even though I don't enjoy yard work in general, making the Old Mule grunt is strangely rewarding, so I understand where you're coming from. What is it about these silly old tractors that bring a grin to our faces?

 

[mwbailey]

Hey, xtremek, I don't know about you, but I can mention a few things about the old 8N's: my dad had one to use for cutting fire-lanes in case of forest fires (he was in woodlands management for a large paper company), they crank up so easily and sound like old tractors, they are not so complicated that I avoid the maintenance and repair.

But, I have to agree with a comment I heard even before I bought mine: "They are so underpowered and incapable compared to today's tractors that the only good reason for having one is that your dad or granddad did."

 

[mwbailey]

Well, sometimes the mind gets to mulling things over and just doesn't stop. This AM I got to thinking that I needed a stand for my little parts washer to get it off of a workbench. So, I checked things out on the Internet for ideas. I like to use the Kreg jig that I have so I looked on their website for a project and came up with this:


I wouldn't need the attachment for the Kreg tool (the blue metal strips), but the general design would work. Didn't have a full 27" depth for top plywood as plans specified, so settled for 24"; also narrowed the bottom shelf and cross-braces from 22" to 18" and used 1/2" plywood instead of 3/4" for the bottom shelf. The plan suggested sorting through 2X4's at Home Depot to get straight, clean studs. I just used what I had on hand -- nail holes, dirty, treated, or whatever.

Here are most of the pieces cut to length. Although the material LIST made it clear that four legs were required, the actual drawing of the cuts list left out two legs -- that piece of overlooked information became pretty apparent once I started assembling the bench!!



Did all four legs reach the ground so the stand didn't wobble? Of course not. So, the old belt sander was pulled out with 80 grit paper. After three attempts to get one of the long legs short enough, I found that I was sanding at an angle and not taking ANYthing much off the front of the leg. Fixed that and now the table is pretty steady.

The plans also suggested sanding and maybe even painting the bench. Hmm, that's not really needed for a parts washer stand, right?



So the stand turned out a bit larger than I had anticipated, although I had thought about some extra room on the side to hold parts as they were queued up to be washed or were drying after washing. And, just like you cannot have too much floor-space, it's hard to have too much horizontal benchtop area, too. Of course, this will quickly fill up with junk. . . .

 

[xtremek]

....... it's hard to have too much horizontal benchtop area, too. Of course, this will quickly fill up with junk. . . .

 

[mwbailey]

This may be better under a "projects" heading, but the complexity of the mission is a result of the garage. So, here is a short picture gallery of the way things "work" around my garage.

So, some posts back, I was laying out the parts needed to assemble the chassis for the crystal blue 442. I came up way short of needed parts and couldn't locate what I thought I had in my "well-organized" garage.

My next step was to check my records to make sure I had purchased the fasteners and clips that I thought I was missing. My records showed they had been purchased. Still no luck finding them.

So, having recently watched a YouTube on Quadrajet rebuilding, I thought I would give that a try. I found out that my cameo ivory 442 was running pretty badly, probably due to gunking the carburetor up with old gas. I had purchased a professionally rebuilt and reconditioned Rochester for the crystal blue car but put in on the cameo ivory car, temporarily. . . it's been there four or five years, now. Still, I knew (?!) I had the old carburetor somewhere in the workshop and figured it would be a better candidate to test my rebuilding skills on.

That started a search for the carefully stored older carburetor. No luck with that, but I did find a box full of clips and fasteners -- AND, pedal pads, spare tire hold-down, chromed 442 emblems, etc. [Note that the clean horizontal space is filling up, just as predicted, xtremek.]


Not to be discouraged at the exciting find, I went back to where I had seen the Carter carb for the Hot Rod Lincoln engine. Sure enough, on the very back of that shelf was not one, but THREE Rochesters!


It looks like only one is worth rebuilding (on the far right), and that's about what I had expected. BUT, I couldn't find the model number on it to ensure I get the right carb kit. And, since I'm planning to get TWO kits to rebuild the gunked up carburetor, too, I need to make sure I get the right kit.

Three steps forward and two steps back. . . and sometimes there's no telling where the path will lead.

 

[xtremek]

Preach it brother! " I know I have a roll of exhaust gasket material, where did I carefully store it?" Buy a third roll and get home, what do I find. As far as the other carbs being junk, don't give up on them. A good ultra sonic cleaning may make them like new.

 

[mwbailey]

Hey, xtremek, I'll keep the extra carbs around; I've had them for years, no reason to start throwing things out now!!

I haven't even gotten the carburetor kit in the "good" carburetor, but our grandson is coming for a few days during his Spring Break. We'll need to go fishing a day or two, so I figured it was time to finish up the fishing seat/trolling motor project I started before the last time he came up to fish.

I had left the "access" hole taped up with blue tape:


That was OK while I figured a way to cover it. Since the battery wasn't going to fit in the open bow storage areas, there was no reason to use an electrical connector near the motor. So, what to use instead? Well, maybe all good seamen need a little teak on their ship, somewhere. So, along the line several months ago, I picked up a teak "step plate" to use. Problem was, the step was too thick to bend around the bow of the boat.

In due time, I planed the step down with my hand planer and drilled a few countersink holes. Planing made the piece of teak flexible enough to bend around the front open bow seat back.

Then I pursued teak oil and treated the skinny step with a couple of coats. Drilled the countersink holes and looked for some brass screws at Home Deport. Found six #4 screws, but wasn't confident they would do the job, so also got some #6 SS screws, smallest size I could find in stainless.

After trying to figure out a way to put some sort of wooden backing on the inside of the access hole, I gave up and tried just screwing directly to the hull. Started with pilot holes and tried a brass screw without the wooden plate in place. Broke the heads off of two brass screws! Increased the size of the pilot hole for the #6 SS screws and found on the third screw that I must have turned the teak plate upside down! I had marked the holes with the plate pressed into the curve of the hull, and using it as a template with the predrilled holes. Rightside up seemed to work fine.

I may have made the plate a little too thin -- or the inside bow of the boat has too many curves. I may have cracked the teak with the top, left screw. I'm going to ignore it for a while and see!


All I need to do now is charge the batteries in the boat and for the trolling motor. . ..

 

[mwbailey]

Working in the "other" garage to provide storage space. When the house was build, the cabinet guy didn't like the way a few cabinets in the kitchen were looking. So, he replaced several doors and left the "unacceptable" ones with us. I offered to use my Kreg jig to put together a couple of cabinets for the garage The Wife's car lives in using the left over doors and she was receptive.

I used plans that also had a couple of YouTube videos with them:


Problem was, I only wanted TWO cabinets and this design used three. My doors were already sized (and, somewhat fortunately, finished), and didn't match the plan dimension. So, a few adjustments were made, using only 1X12" pine boards plus the two doors and some 1X3 hardwood for the face frame.

Somehow, it seems even with measuring twice and cutting once, I cut a number of wrong sizes. But, most of the pieces were correct, and the others were re-cut to a better size.


The Kreg jig seemed to work fine except in one spot where the 1X3 split. No problem, this is for a garage, not kitchen or living room.


The Wife and I exchanged opinions of paint color for the cabinet and of which wall in THE garage to use. Since these cabinet doors are essentially identical to the ones in the kitchen and the kitchen was painted Kingsport Gray as recommended by the "interior decorator" -- costing us additional money for the eggshell paint and for the especially skilled painter -- I figured Kingsport Gray would do. Besides, we had leftover paint. Nevertheless, to satisfy The Wife, the first couple of coats were Cream colored; needed to put on primer coats anyway. Just as suspected, that did not give enough contrast with the doors. Finished with a couple of coats of Kingsport Gray.



My first experience with hidden hinges, but the doors were already drilled for them. A little bit of a challenge to install, but satisfactory results.

The Wife wanted the cabinet on the side wall, but it was so large the cabinet would have looked lost. So, she acquiesced to the front, shorter wall.

After hours of figuring the center of the wall, the location of studs, the height of kitchen cabinets and Expedition hood, I chose 54" for the bottom of the cabinet -- knowing the top shelf would only get used by yours truly. First comment as we were hanging the cabinet was, "That looks too high." Well, the doors are pretty tall, but, again, same as kitchen. . . . Somehow my stud-finder (knuckles on drywall) didn't seem to be working today, but I think we were able to get enough 2" screws into studs for the cabinet to stay on the wall.


Oh, dang. Even on the shorter wall, the cabinets look small. I promised to add another compartment on each side -- we have two more doors, after all. But this may be at some later date!

We'll let The Wife fill this one up, first.