Guest Bathroom - Part 7

Plodding along, I am.

Work on the guest bathroom is now done for the time being, to be continued late this year.  The bathtub is next, when work continues.

This is one of those posts that goes into the details that are important if you're actually planning to do something like this.  If you're looking at this post for general interest, I would advise to just click through the pictures and go back later if you decide you want to know how exactly the process was done.  Just saying.  

In Part 6 I completed work on the woodworking phase of the vanity top construction.  The next step was to apply an epoxy finish to the cherry and rosewood to make them waterproof.   The first coat is always rough, because the epoxy soaks in at different rates depending on the grain of the wood — so high in some spots, low in others.  I applied the epoxy with a roller, and then used a foam brush dragged lightly along the surface to level it out and eliminate the tiny air bubbles.

After the first coat of epoxy, I used a random orbit sander to take down the high areas, and then dry sanded with a large pad to get the surface level.  After the second coat, I wet sanded with 220-grit paper.  After the third coat, I started by wet sanding with 320-grit paper, and continued through 2000-grit paper, and then went on to rubbing compound and finished off with furniture paste wax.

I had applied four coats of epoxy to the kitchen countertop, which sees a lot of use every day.  The guest bathroom countertop will rarely get used, so I judged three coats to be sufficient.  In my remodel/renovation work, I am not aiming for cosmetic perfection, because there is so much work to be done, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life on the house.  So much fun stuff waiting! (and waiting)

So this is what the "finished" vanity top looks like:

Down below the top, there was plumbing to connect.  Although it would be rarely used, the vanity was not intended to be a museum piece.  It needed to be functional, which meant water in and water out.  Down below were the connections for the water supply lines and the drain.  Starting with this:

And ending with this:

Back above, a mirror was needed — bought from my local glass store.  I would frame it with cherry molding — a simple rectangle section with one edge beveled.  The mirror would run from wall to wall, and from the top of the backsplash to the ceiling.  I found the right side was straight and square to the top of the backsplash, so I glued the molding to the drywall behind on those two sides (using plain wood glue).  Gravity clamps worked well.

I did not attempt to attach all four sides of molding first, and then install the mirror, fearing that a slight discrepancy in the left or top wall measurements (they were not precisely straight), would mean the mirror would not fit.  Easier to trim the molding afterwards if it did not fit — before I glued it in place.  Sigh.

The right side molding went up using a single finish nail to hold it in place while the glue dried.  I used mirror mastic (applied with a caulking gun) to attach the mirror against the back wall.  Once the mirror was attached in place, I added the molding on the left and top, and filled the small irregular gaps with caulk.

All worked well.

Then lighting for the vanity.  An experiment.  I had bought a strip of LEDs that I planned to run around the sides and top of the mirror.  The self-adhesive strip had peal-off paper backing, so I could stick it up anywhere.  But where?  I considered a number of alternatives, and then picked one.  No idea if it was better or worse than the others.  I could have just stuck it to the wall, but I elected to install a triangular section molding a few inches (9 cm) in front of the mirror, and then stick the LED strip to the back of that.

I made the molding from cherry, but it was too prominent, and accentuated by its reflection in the mirror, so I decided to paint it the same off-white as the wall, hoping it would blend in.

The LED strip itself came in a roll and looked like this:

The LEDs needed a nominal 12-volt direct-current power supply.  I searched through my collection of old plug-in power supplies (wall warts), but found no 12-volt DC examples.  I did have a 9-volt one, which I knew would work, although giving less brightness.

Previously, I had wired an electrical receptacle underneath the vanity, controlled by a switch next to the vanity — for the very purpose of operating an LED light strip.  Which is also why I put that pink nylon string through the wall before I closed it up.  Now I taped the output wire from the wall wart and pulled it through to the base of the LED molding.  Then soldered the wires together and applied heat shrink insulation over the bare solder joint.

Underneath, the wall wart (direct-current power supply):

This is what the LED strip looks like up close (the actual strip on the back of the molding, and the reflection in the mirror):

And the whole thing:

Like I said, this lighting treatment was an experiment, and now that it's done, I think I would have done something more conventional if I had it to do over again.  On the other hand, I may decide I like it once I have had a chance to use it.

One thing about the LED strip — I assumed that the adhesive on the back of the strip was applied directly to the strip, so when I pulled off the paper backing, I expected the strip to stick firmly on the molding.  Didn't happen that way.  Actually, there was a thin strip of double-sided tape between the LED strip and the paper backing.  When I pulled the paper backing off, I didn't notice that the sticky tape was sticking to the paper backing (and not the LED strip).  So the LED strip did not stick well to the molding, but the paper backing was very sticky.  I discovered this halfway through the job, and separated the tape from the paper backing.  The second half of the job was good, but I'm having to go back with super-glue to stick the LED strip in place where it's pulling away.  Little things, so aggravating!

So now — putting some plants in the ground, some retaining wall work, some exterior scraping and painting.  And beginning work on the garage extension.  Clean out the garage, sell/give-away the old wide garage door, raise the old garage door header (which supports the garage roof trusses), and then order a big truck-load of wood.

I've started detailed design drawings (to scale), to determine the exact sequence of work, and to prepare a list of every single piece of wood I need to buy.  And just picked up the new garage windows today.  Will keep me busy for awhile.

Guest Bathroom — Part 6 + The Drawer Factory

So I've been working on two fronts since last post — the guest bathroom vanity top, and the nine more dovetail drawers I mentioned.  The drawers are done, but the vanity continues to be a work in progress.

As I mentioned last time, I was initially looking for an acrylic (like Corian) vanity top with an integral sink.  The sink had to be small.  After discarding the idea of getting another custom Corian countertop for my 18" deep vanity, I looked at other Home Depot stock countertops.  They were all for standard 22" vanities.  I looked for a drop-in sink, that I could use with a plain (plastic laminate, or wood top — not wanting to spend the big bucks for marble, granite, or quartz, since this was for a bathroom that would seldom be used).  No drop-in sinks.  I went on Amazon and searched "small bathroom sinks" and found just one — a nice little ceramic undermount sink (for not too many bucks!).  Bought it.

You may recall that I had trouble procuring a kitchen countertop, and finally ended up laminating one from strips of maple, cherry, and walnut — and using a stainless steel undermount sink.  Applied four coats of epoxy resin to that, successfully, and have been very happy with that.

The guest bathroom vanity top would be a much smaller project — 31" wide by 18" deep, versus the 12.5 foot long by 30" deep kitchen monster.  And instead of using strips for the bathroom counter, I used three 6" wide boards glued edge-to-edge.

The sink came with a paper template, so I positioned that on a cardboard template to see where I could eliminate some wood in the middle, then glued the boards together using biscuits to maintain alignment during assembly.

While that dried, I used the cardboard template to mark out the position of the sink, before cutting a hole in the vanity top and then routing a recess to support the sink.  Normal people use vanity cabinets that have no top, and hang the undermount sink with clips from the bottom of the countertop.  Not me.

The sink instructions warned that the template might not be a perfect fit (given the sometimes unpredictable shrinkage of clay during the firing process), so before cutting a hole in the solid cherry vanity top, I used a simple cardboard gauge to mark my cardboard template with a uniform overlap around the periphery of the sink.

With the corrected sink outline marked on the template, and cut, I transferred that outline to the cherry top and then cut the hole close to (and inside) the line.

Then I used my oscillating spindle sander to smooth out the opening.  Because the cardboard template was not real smooth, I sanded to get a smooth curve rather than trying to follow every little irregularity on the line I marked.  In the photo, you can see a couple of the biscuit slots I cut for attaching the front edging.

Then I used a router to round over the edge, with a smaller roundover on the bottom where a bead of silicone caulk will eventually be applied between the top and sink.

Now it was time to attach a bullnose edge to the front of the countertop, and make a backsplash.  As I had run out of cherry at this point (for matching trim), I decided to use a different wood from my inventory for contrasting trim.  In this case, I used rosewood.  With that done, I test fit the countertop.

I now have to apply the four coats of epoxy to the countertop and backsplash, sanding it all smooth for a satin finish.  The cherry on the cabinet front and trim on the shelves has been given a couple of coats of polyurethane, so it looks darker.  Presumably the new bare countertop will darken to match that other cherry once it has its epoxy finish.  We'll see.

I also need to do some work on the cabinet itself to accommodate the drain and supply lines.  Then, make a frame for and install a mirror, along with the LED strip lighting around the sides and top of the mirror.  That work will be the subject of the next post — Part 7.

All of this custom work has pushed the timeline for the guest bathroom down the road a bit, so it's a good thing I didn't order the big bathtub.  After I finish up the vanity/mirror work, it will be time to start detailed design work on the garage extension.  Bathtub, say hello to the fall.

The Drawer Factory

Nine new drawers this time, all with dovetail joints.  Six of these use half-blind dovetail joints, new for me (mostly).

The other three use the more common through-joints, which look like this:

This joint belongs to a new spice drawer for the kitchen, made from maple.  I use through-joints when I plan to use drawer slides.  My cabinets use inset drawers, so the fronts have to fit precisely in the drawer opening, and the drawer fronts have to extend beyond the sides of the drawers to cover the ends of the drawer slides.  The procedure I use is to install the drawer carcass, and then build the front to fit perfectly inside the drawer opening (with small uniform gaps around the periphery), and then position the front exactly before screwing it to the carcass.  As always, pictures help.

Here's a photo of the drawer carcass installed with the slides:

This is a spice drawer, so I have installed partitions to limit the contents sliding about.  Here is another photo with the front attached to the open drawer.

And the drawer closed.  I need to make another two identical drawers below this one (along with about 30-40 others for the kitchen - sigh).

The other two through-joint drawers in this batch include another one for the pottery studio — drawer closed (the shallow top one) and open:

The last of the three through-joint dovetail drawers in this batch is a wide one for the credenza (the other, deeper drawers for the credenza were made from cabinet-grade plywood).

The other six drawers use half-blind dovetail joints.  They just slide in and out of the drawer opening without mechanical drawer slides, and so do not need separate drawer fronts applied after they have been installed.  They do need to fill up the drawer opening (height-wise) so as not to tip when opened.  This type of construction works well when the drawers don't have to carry much weight, and for drawers that don't get much use (although in times past that's how most drawers were built).

Half-blind dovetail joints are easy to make — once the dovetail jig has been set up — because you can cut both pins and tails (fronts and sides) in one pass.  Through-joints need two passes for each joint (cutting only one piece of wood at a time).  This is what the router cut looks like (in this case the dark wood is the front and the light poplar is the drawer side):

The three master bathroom drawers I was making are fairly tall, and they just slide into the drawer opening (with no wood or metal slides used).  The drawer sides had to be as tall as the opening.  My half-inch thick cherry boards were not wide enough, so I needed to glue two pieces together to get the required width.  Again, I didn't have enough cherry (and the wood store is a three-hour round trip), so I used poplar to gain the needed width.  A simple butt joint.

Part of making a nice looking dovetail joint involves sanding the dovetails smooth.  They don't just come out nice and pretty after gluing (at least mine don't).  Before and after:

I made three small half-blind dovetail drawers for the master bathroom vanity, and another three drawers for the new TV console.  These are the three for the master bathroom, open and closed:

That leaves the large (lower left) towel drawer to build (plywood), and the large door for the opening under the sink (that one will be complicated — wait for it).

The last three drawers in this batch were for the TV console (the center shallow drawer open; there is another shallow drawer to its right).

I really need to make more drawers for the kitchen as a priority, but there are also other priorities (the garage, the outside of the house, and on and on).  The only certain thing is that I will be building drawers for years.  😧