26 December, Pantry Renovation Continues

A grey morning with temps hovering at freezing.  The Rose of Sharon/hibiscus growing at the edge of the side porch wore a few icicles.  I wonder if it caught water dripping from the porch roof.

Charlie and Willow sharing opposite ends of a toppled tree trunk in the scrubby woods

 bordering the drive.

Willis picking his way across the frosted side lawn.

The first shelf installed on the long wall of the pantry.

 There were two in place at the end of the work day.  

The pantry renovation got off to a slightly bumpy start this morning.  We went early to a hardware store in Liberty to buy a tub of wallpaper adhesive.  Back at home, I found a large plastic wash pan, carefully stirred a little water into a dollop of adhesive per instructions on the label, spread out the first strip of wallpaper and proceeded to brush on adhesive.

[This followed an argument/discussion with Jim who insisted the adhesive should 

be applied to the wall.] 

 We maneuvered the floppy length of paper into position and began the process of adjusting and smoothing.  As soon as we pressed down the edges they popped up and tried to curl. I attempted to smooth out wrinkles working from the bottom up--Jim who was fussing at the top of the strip seemed to be pressing in more wrinkles.  The strip of wallpaper was having trouble adhering to the carefully primed wall, so I peeled it back while Jim brushed more adhesive behind it.

After 10 minutes of struggling, noting Jim's mounting exasperation, I reluctantly decided to abandon the plan of papering that wall.

I've done a fair amount of successful wallpapering in the past, don't know why this attempt wasn't working.  I do know I couldn't summon the patience or the energy to cope with a process that wasn't promising satisfactory results.

I pulled the strip of paper off the wall and bundled it out to the woodstove.

Jim thumped off to the workshop and I was left to sponge slimy adhesive residue from the wall.

Faced now with an extra space to paint I assessed my remaining Antique White paint and knew it wouldn't stretch to cover two walls.

There is always a plan B.

I had about 3 quarts of satin paint in a soft apricot/beige color called 'Sugared Almond' [paint names are so fanciful] which we used in the downstairs bath.

Stirring this into the remaining Antique White gave me nearly a gallon of paint in a warm sandy color.  It covered the long wall--finally obscuring any hint of blue--as well as the short wall behind the door [the one destined originally for wallpaper] and around the window wall. The final wall can't be tackled until the shelving in progress is finished.  

While my vision for the pantry had to be jettisoned, I wasn't willing to make the 30 mile round trip on the chance that Wal Mart had a gallon of premixed Antique White on hand--the local store isn't consistent  in its paint stock.

So--the project is moving along.  I think we've gotten past what looked like complications.  I've adjusted my thinking, we're working to make the best of the existing conditions; I've been frugal in making do with the paint on hand.

Tomorrow should see the back wall shelves completed and [hopefully] most of the clutter sorted and back in place.

 Nellie is not happy that the arrangement of crockery prevents him from settling in front of the window.  The cats are displeased with the disruption of the kitchen. 

I reassure them--and myself--that the end results will be worth the muddle.