Day 3: The Other Counter Unit

I'm supposed to build the second cabinet/counter unit I need to make my little kitchen space more functional. My plan is to take a dresser I have, top it with another one of the doors I have, raise the whole thing to the same height as my other counter. It'll be placed across from, and with its drawers facing that counter. Not only will this give me some of the storage space I need, but it will also separate my kitchen from the rest of the living area.

My issue is that I don't have enough floor space to do any of this work. I make some. Turn my bed sideways, and surround it with some trunks and boxes. Move the dresser I'm going to be turning into cabinet today into the kitchen area. Move the dresser I use for my clothes into the bathroom area, along with a 24" wall cabinet I saved from being taken to the dump. 

I start stacking boxes as high as I can get them. Boxes sitting in another set of shelves are removed, and added to the pile. I get some shelves hung on the wall over the counter I built yesterday, and fill them with whatever I think they'll safely hold.

Four hours into my day, not only do I have the room I need, but it's also starting to look more like a place where someone actually lives rather than a place where they store their stuff.

I decide to hang some curtains around my sleeping area to add to that effect. I am quite pleased. It looks very cozy.

Around 2:00, I turn my attention back to the cabinet I'm supposed to be building. I have to empty the drawers. They're full of all my Christmas lights and decorations. These go into boxes and are added to my pile. Next, I go over the whole dresser to repair and reinforce all its joints. I decide to leave the top on, and just cut off the half inch of overhang on each side.

I am hoping I can do it with the little battery-powered panel saw I have. I am always hoping that I will find the thing that saw was meant to cut. I've had it for almost ten years. It came with my screw gun, as part of a kit that also included a reciprocating saw, hand-held vacuum, and flashlight. It is very light, even with its battery attached. When you turn it on, it sounds like it has enough power to cut through a bank vault door. It just doesn't. You get about 2 inches into any cut, and it just gives up. I've tried it on 2x4s, 1" ply, 3/4" ply, 1/2" ply, 1/2" pine shelving, and even some 1/4" fake beadboard paneling that I thought for sure it would be able to cut through like butter. Same disappointing result every time. Mostly it just sits on my work bench gathering dust.

I'm pretty sure it's not going to be able to do the job this time either, but I give it a try anyway. It doesn't. I go back, and get out my jig saw to see if that'll do the trick. It does, but only with a lot of effort and I'm afraid if I persist, I'll burn it's little motor up. I go back, and get my circular saw.

I have a love/hate relationship with this particular tool. I'd love to be able to control it well enough to actually get it to cut a straight line. I hate the fact that I simply don't have the upper arm strength to make that happen. Every time I use it, I feel like I'm wrestling a cow. It bucks, it broncs, it pulls hard first to one side, then another. Only it's not a cow. It's a saw. It can cut off my fingers in a flash if I'm not careful, and I'm perfectly aware of that fact.

For me to be able to exert any kind of real control over it at all, I have to set up some kind of guide system against which I can rest one of its cutting plate edges. Even then, it's a real test of my strength to hold it to that guide while I'm actually making my cut.

It's really my only option at this point, so I get out the stuff I need to make a guide. Twenty minutes later, I start cutting and realize the blade is too worn to made the cut without burning the wood as it goes. I don't have another blade. At $20 a pop, I can't afford to go out and buy one either. Trying to make the cut with the blade I have is going to make it even harder for me to keep it from wandering. I decide I really have no other choice.

The cut turns out to be just as ugly, burned, scarred, and uneven as I thought it would be. I get out my jigsaw and trim it up as best I can, but it's still an embarrassment. I let it go, and set up a guide to cut the other side. This one goes much better than the last, but it's the edge that will go against the wall. It's the other one everyone will see. I kick myself for not taking that into consideration. I know, from experience, that the first cut is always worse than the ones that follow because it always takes a little time to get familiar with what you're up against. I tell myself I'll try to remember that next time, and move on to attaching the legs.

The legs are square - a set of four that came with an Ikea bathroom cabinet I assembled for one of my clients who'd didn't like the way they looked so had me replace them with something else. They are an inch and a half too short to raise my dresser to the height of the other counter. The door I want to cut and attach to the top is just shy of an inch thick. I can either make up the difference with a series of shims, or I can forego the top, put 2x4 blocks at each corner, and attach the legs to that.

I decide it's going to easier all around to just forego the top. I get my blocks cut and attached. Next come the metal plates for the legs, then the legs themselves. I flip it over. I move it into place. I replace all the drawers. I stand back to admire my handiwork. I am very pleased.

I have a kitchen.

Tomorrow I will unpack my kitchen things, fill my drawers, fill my shelves, and get rid of a whole bunch of boxes in that pile. I will cut the hole for my kitchen sink and get its drain line installed.

And tomorrow, after a month of waiting for AT&T to get my order right, they will be sending out a service technician to bring me my modem and reconnect me to internet.

It's going to be a great day. It's been a great day. It's been a great three days. I can hardly wait.