Friday, October 11, 2013

The Disobedient Wife {Open Kitchen Cupboard}


This is one of those posts where I'm vulnerably throwing my reputation as a good wife on the line.  
Okay, so maybe I don't have that reputation, but I do strive for it.  Unless of course, it's just plain and simple to see that I'm right and he's wrong.  Which is usually the case.  Unless it comes to smart phones.

So the story of the disobedient wife goes like this:

One day, our ugly old cream-colored fridge died.  I was not disappointed in the least.
We bought a new one - faux stainless steel.  Much cheaper but still looks nice.
The probem was, it was just a tad taller than the old one and so my cupboard doors wouldn't open all the way.  A very frustrating problem!

This is how far they would open:


As you can see, the one on the right is practically useless.  So finally I got fed up with the dang doors and took them off.  I had these cute old egg crates that my Grandma had handed down to me which were not getting proper attention.  My hubby's Aunt Dee graciously spent a morning at my house sewing a lining for them, since who knows what they would look like if I had tried!  She did a great job.

It works, but when you walked in the house and looked above the fridge I felt like it wasn't "Oh, what nice open cupboards" but "Oh.  She took the doors off."

I told my hubby that it would look so much better if we cut the top of the middle partition off.
"Absolutely not" was his reply.  Of course I tried to persuade him to see things my way, but he felt it was just way to "permanent" of a change. Once you cut it off, it can't be put back!  We're not messing with that.


So I dropped it.  For about half a year.  And then the other day it just got the best of me and I ran out to the garage and grabbed my little scroll saw.  I figured I could have it sawed off in five short minutes, touch up with paint and it'd be a done deal.  Wrong....

The metal guide thingy-ma-bobber around the blade made it so that I couldn't make the cut flush with the top.  It left about a half inch hanging down.  Well now that just wasn't right... so I ran out to the garage again and grabbed a hand saw.  Oh dear.  Things went downhill fast...... 


I was sawing away and went up just a little too high.  No paint was going to hide the big gouge I had just made!  Fiddlesticks.

Trim!  The idea was a good one - it would look better with a trim piece up anyway and it would hide my big "oops".  Luckily I save every little scrap from every little project and I had some.  Luckily I also know how to cut this real easy with a miter saw.  Now I know the Hubs would normally secure this on with his nail gun, but I wasn't quite sure how to use that so I did the next best thing.  Wood glue.  Then I clamped it on, and waited for it to dry.

Now comes the "you had to have been there" part.  It's the afternoon and I suddenly realize Hubs will be coming home from work any minute.  I grab a bar stool and get the clamps off.  Eek.  Totally have a lot of touch ups to do with white paint.  I just get the white paint on my brush when his LHS pulls into the driveway.  Paint is flying as I try to make it all look normal and throw the egg crates back into place.  I wasn't quite done, but I had to get down.  I'm a little out of breath when he walks in but I act calm and tell him the cats needs food in the basement, could you please feed the cat.  He heads downstairs like the obedient spouse that I am not and I leap back up on my barstool and throw some more paint on.  Footsteps are coming back up the stairs and I frantically but quietly sneak the barstool back in place and get the paint brush tossed into the sink - just as he comes back into the kitchen.  Our college student boarder is watching all of this by the way, with the most incredulous facial expression ever.  He comes back in typical man-style, not noticing a thing.  I could only take it for a few minutes however, before I just had to ask him if he noticed anything different.  He probably never would have known.  It took him a while and several hints.  When he did finally figure it out, he didn't say a word, except to ask how I was holding the trim up.  He quietly went and got his nail gun and put it up the way he would have.  Then he got another little piece of quarter round and put it on the shelf to make that look finished.  I think he's secretly glad I didn't listen to him.  It looks so much nicer... don't ya think?






While looking to see if I had any pictures of what this area looked like before, I came across this one from just a few short years ago.  Can't even believe that's what it looked like!!
A little paint goes a looooong ways, people!


Now tell me I'm not the only bad wife.  Do you have any stories like this to share?!Pin It

Three Mango Seeds

8 comments:

  1. Hahaha...poor guy ;-)
    It is definitely an improvement, though, including his addition to the shelf.

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  2. I'm sure your boarder though she was watching a live episode of Lucy. Good thing your husband is such a great sport. I think if the support were narrower it would look even better.

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  3. Dearheart, that scrollsaw is actually a jigsaw. Big diff. However, it wouldn't have made it any easier! I love your transformation. I think you had huge patience waiting as long as you did! Now it looks planned and pretty cool.

    I have a Fein Multi-Master (because it has a quick release) which I use for TONS of stuff. I recommend asking Santa for one. It would have taken 30 seconds to cut that baby flush. And ohhhh the details I use it for! Trim, cutting out outlets, notching corners and shelves, etc.

    You have a very pretty kitchen, too!

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  4. Awesome! Where there is a will, there is a way. :)

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  5. You crack me up :) Whenever I need a laugh all I have to do is read one of your blogs :)

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  6. I love that you consider this being disobedient! LOL! Also, I love the new look! We'll be featuring this over at Someday Crafts tomorrow, so come on over if you get a minute :)

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  7. I found you at Someday Crafts! This is too funny. You did a great job! BUT, the reason I am so excited, and saving this post to my favorites, is because I can show MY HUBBY, who said we can't take that middle bit out!!! I have wanted to do the exact same thing, sooo badly. My hubs even said it wouldn't hold up structurally! And I can see from you that it will hold up just fine! I'm so excited to have a proof... I will let you know how it goes... (can you tell I'm excited - I'm rambling!). :-)

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  8. LOVED your story........and yes, you sure do have company. The way to get my builder hubby to do something is to start is......no matter how much he argued against it, he finishes the project for me. BTW, my little 4'8" Nana decided she wanted a wall between the livingroom and hallway gone. Back in the 30s men just made a declaration "NO" and that was that. For some ladies. Nana took a sledgehammer to that wall and when my grandfather came home he informed her that the wall held up the 2nd floor. He didn't see any need to tell her this before and had to install a heavy beam to do the job. From then on he gave her any explaination that might be important. Then she would call in a professional and get it done her way. What a kick she was.

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