Subfloor and the Shinja

Before I start painting and stuff, I had better get some subflooring in.

I ran into the Shinja the other day at a gas pump. He said he has been keeping up with this kitchen project on 88caprice...
...then he mentioned something about a picture being worth 1000 words...
...and then he vanished.

Well, thanks Shinja! And in your honor I will let the subfloor pics do most of the talking.

I'm really proud of how this thing turned out.

Custom cut.

Undercutting the door jams really worked out well.
Fitting nicely.
Air compressors, staple guns, and power cutters. Muwahahaa!

Well, that's worth several thousand words, I assure you!

Patching Holes, Caulking Cracks

It's time to tackle wall patching and the one mega area of disaster.

Popping the old back splash titles off left me with a big nasty mess of glue. It WOULD NOT come off without taking the top coat plaster with it...

...so I chiseled the whole mess off.

Redneck Friend took the lead on rebuilding that section of wall. We consulted Mr. Darker for advice, and then got to work.

Redneck Friend came by five or six different times to slowly build it layer by layer.

Then he covered the old plumbing holes with a screen-like patch.

More layers...Ready for sanding!
Thanks Redneck Friend (and Mr. Darker)!

In the meantime, I had a hole in the corner to work on...And a problem with the wall separating from the ceiling...Uncle Biker Chef told me that he had used some paintable caulk to fill in cracks, so I looked into it. Sure enough, it worked great!
That caulk smoothed out beautifully! Thanks Uncle Biker Chef!

With the walls coming together, I feel some painting coming on...

Shrimp Smoothie w/ Robin's Egg

If I could locate a color card or a paint swatch that matched our walls, it would probably be called Shrimp Smoothie. You know, a little shrimp, a little coral, a little peach.

Shrimp Smoothie commits several bummers:

1. It isn't cute
2. It covers both wall AND ceiling
3. It's high gloss painted over older high gloss, so it's peeling right off

So! You're going to peel off, eh? Then I'll peel you ALL OFF!!

Enter Robin's Egg Blue:
While I'm thinking about it, Wife (aka Dear) is awesome. Everyone should have a wife like Wife.

Anyway, I scraped as much Shrimp Smoothie off as I could, then I sanded the rest--gave it a good scuffing so the next coat would adhere better.

And then, PATCH TIME!


I was able to squeeze some joint compound into just about all the cracks, holes, dings, and dimples, except for one. This area was SO BIG and SO BAD that I dared not tackle it alone. I needed someone with redneck skills, redneck ability, and pure redneck power...

...I needed Redneck Friend.