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Reconstruction


Space Voyager

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What are the two holes to the right of your doorway?

 

Laser barrier projectors. SV doesn't want any illegal aliens gaining entry to the kitchen!

 

:P

 

Electricity plug below and light switch above.

 

BTW, yellow that you see in the living room is not the yellow you will see in the coming days (today if I kick myself hard enough). I'll repaint it with a lighter, smoother shade of yellow, more suitable for living room - or at least this is what we agreed upon (read: what she wanted).

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Ah well, ceiling didn't turn out total crap. Nadja is quite happy with it so it means I'm ecstatic.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01386.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01387.jpg

 

It took me cca. 10 hours to paint it twice. I started to paint with normal brush, as I was told by Andrej it makes better covering than roller. For that he would have been killed if he did not come and help me paint the living room yesterday. It went like 10 times faster with a roller after I cursed like a construction worker and threw the brush away. Only the wide one naturally, I needed the small one for details like all crannies between boards.

 

Floor mastermind came by to throw out excess parquet and install a new one. This is where the wall used to be. We agreed that it would be best if it looked like it was deliberately different from the surroundings to mark the transition between two rooms. This is the raw form naturally, he will sand and coat the whole floor now.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01390.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01392.jpg

 

Luckily this happened BEFORE the living room was painted. And no, I didn't fetch a real camera with a macro filming option.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01393.jpg

 

And yes, it was a mosquito.

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The ceiling turned out quite nice indeed. Congrats, SV! :P

 

Cursing is extremely useful under certain circumstances. As we've seen here it's always best to have it generously employed while the work is undergoing, since if you happen to be driven to expletives afterwards it's surely not a very good sign. :P

 

::

 

If you could have avoided slamming your fist against the wall to kill that mosquito the outcome would have been virtually flawless... ;)

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The ceiling has actually turned out alright. And hey, if the lady is happy, you can't ask for anything more.

 

We agreed that it would be best if it looked like it was deliberately different from the surroundings to mark the transition between two rooms.

 

Sensible, getting it to match colour-wise could be a bugger.

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My intention with the ceiling was to retain its wooden look yet to make it lighter, thus room look bigger and keep a lot more light.

 

So I decided to buy a white non-covering lacquer, dissolve it a bit more and apply a thin coat. This would make original dark brown colour a lot lighter.

 

So. Do you see silk-like evenly applied coating that made my ceiling look lighter?

 

You don't?

 

THAT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NONE, DAMMIT!!!

 

It looked cool on the tester, a board that I painted. But the board was not a big one and it was very smooth. I was able to apply the damn lacquer very evenly. THIS crap looks as if...

I COATED THE CEILING WITH A THIN LAYER OF BIRD POO!

 

Anyway, I need to meditate on this bird poo a bit, but it is most likely that I'll buy a covering wood finish and paint the damn ceiling. It will look somewhat plastic but compared to what I did...

*nods* Trying to lighten up dark wood with a transparent stain or lacquer is nearly impossible. Were you trying to roll it on? Overlap is a huge concern so you would almost need to roll the entire length of the board in one pass with no re-dips of the roller in the pan/bucket. A power roller might have been better. But overlap from doing the grooves would have been just as bad.

 

Your other option would be a paint sprayer. That method would be a little easier (no tedious paining the grooves with a brush) but a professional really needs to apply it so it looks acceptable. Still no guarantees with that method either.

 

Another option would have been a semi-transparent or solid color stain. Semi-transparent would have provided better coverage and also would be less likely to show overlap. Solid color would be basically just like paint, except it would show the grain more. Or you could have done what FA did: strip the boards to try and remove the dark color and then clear coat it. Very, very tedious though.

 

Personally, I think you made the best choice by painting it. Ceilings are very hard to clean (especially in a kitchen where cooking grease has a tendency to condense on the ceiling and that in turn collects dust making it harder) so a nice smooth surface is almost a necessity.

 

You did a good job though, nice. :P

 

- Zombie

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Thank you for the tips. I don't think I'll try lightening up wood ever again. If I wanted the slightest chance of success I would have to apply a layer or three of transparent lacquer before going for white (or whatever light colour) transparent (translucent?) lacquer. This way the boards would perhaps not soak all the water (it was a water based lacquer) instantly and I'd have more time to apply it evenly.

 

As it was the water was soaked in a second and even when I tried to distribute it it was obvious where I rolled twice over that board. Everything that was not completely optimal became visible - uneven boards, unevenly distributed lacquer on a roller... And there was a lot of that.

 

Any future ceiling projects will go in two directions; I'll either cover the existing ceiling with a new wooden ceiling, as I did in Tja

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Thank you for the tips. I don't think I'll try lightening up wood ever again. If I wanted the slightest chance of success I would have to apply a layer or three of transparent lacquer before going for white (or whatever light colour) transparent (translucent?) lacquer. This way the boards would perhaps not soak all the water (it was a water based lacquer) instantly and I'd have more time to apply it evenly.

 

As it was the water was soaked in a second and even when I tried to distribute it it was obvious where I rolled twice over that board. Everything that was not completely optimal became visible - uneven boards, unevenly distributed lacquer on a roller... And there was a lot of that.

 

Any future ceiling projects will go in two directions; I'll either cover the existing ceiling with a new wooden ceiling, as I did in Tjaša's room (I'll post pics) or simply screw plaster boards (knauf) over it. That is the easiest way to be honest. Patch it up and paint it with normal wall colour of your choice. If I had known I'll need to paint the ceiling with a covering colour sooner I'd probably opt for plaster instead. I'd need the same amount of time (were I prepared) and in the future any colour changes I'd want would be easy, cheap and very fast.

You probably would have got better results with an oil-based product instead of water. It would have soaked in just as fast, but there wouldn't have been much overlap since it doesn't dry as quick giving you more time to even out areas with more stain. Heck, I would think a good quality wiping stain would have worked assuming that you could apply it into the cracks with a rag. So, oil-based and spraying it might have been better. But that's water under the bridge at this point. ;)

 

I'd be more inclined to keep an existing wooden ceiling if it was in good shape & didn't have any holes in it, etc. Not many people can claim to have wood ceilings over here and it's a nice architectural detail to keep if possible. But recovering with new wood? Nah, I'd opt for a new wood floor before I'd go with a ceiling anyday. Parquet really doesn't scream modern to me (not that this is what you are going for with the archway details and such). Even so, I'd opt to redo one room in new tongue and groove hardwood flooring and leave the other one alone. That way you wouldn't have that splice of disparate wood where the wall stood. JMHO though, as I don't know what your budget was. :P

 

Today sanding of the floor begins so this final painting project will have to wait a day or two. No problem, as long as the kitchen is ready for the kitchen elements.

Good luck. Remember to cover all doorways in plastic to minimize the dust in the rest of your house. I'm interested to see how the floor turns out. Even though I'm not a huge fan of parquet, once you get a glossy coat of finish on it, I think it will shine. :P

 

- Zombie

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You probably would have got better results with an oil-based product instead of water. It would have soaked in just as fast, but there wouldn't have been much overlap since it doesn't dry as quick giving you more time to even out areas with more stain. Heck, I would think a good quality wiping stain would have worked assuming that you could apply it into the cracks with a rag. So, oil-based and spraying it might have been better. But that's water under the bridge at this point. :P

LUCKILY it is. It is also beyond my level of expertise frankly. :P

 

But recovering with new wood? Nah, I'd opt for a new wood floor before I'd go with a ceiling anyday. Parquet really doesn't scream modern to me (not that this is what you are going for with the archway details and such). Even so, I'd opt to redo one room in new tongue and groove hardwood flooring and leave the other one alone. That way you wouldn't have that splice of disparate wood where the wall stood. JMHO though, as I don't know what your budget was.

Budget is tight, scraping money from pay to pay. I'm not fastest of workers so this was not unbearable. :) But, as you noticed, I'm also not very fond of modern look, with the exception of aluminium that - in my opinion - goes incredibly well with wood, and I love wood. So I'd be keeping parquet in any case.

 

On wooden ceiling - this is how I did the ceiling in Tja

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, FINALLY it is done. Love it. I took my sweet time for this last square meter of paint. Parts of future kitchen in the background. Assembly starts today.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01420.jpg

 

Detail 1: IMO this grey stripe works great as a separator between the orange and yellow. It would look awful if those two came together.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01421.jpg

 

Detail 2:

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01423.jpg

 

Kitchen is completely ready for elements. Last thing done were electricity plugs. It is hard work for one man to hold it in the hole and screw it at the same time so I helped Andrej a little. :P

 

This is how the parquet came out. Love it.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/DSC01427.jpg

 

My new air conditioning, works as an air-air heat exchange so it will be used to heat a large part of our floor at minimal price - until temperatures fall under -15

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It is hard work for one man to hold it in the hole and screw it at the same time so I helped Andrej a little.

 

Just spotted this, LOL.

 

The doorway/separator looks a bit futuristic with those top corners, I'd be expecting a sliding metal door to descend.

 

Cracking job overall though, total transformation I think.

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  • 1 month later...

Past weekend we finally moved completely to the upper floor. We would have moved sooner but I had a non life threatening surgery has set things back for a few weeks.

 

I'm waiting for the weekend to take some photos. When I get home from work it is too dark and lights just don't give enough illumination to get decent pics. Had to make some interesting ad hoc solutions, too...

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Hope the surgery went fine?

 

Can't wait to see some more pics, actually, the place is looking good.

It went very well really. Though I wasn't able to sit for a week and needed a pillow for another... so you can guess what it was - but I'm not going into details! :(

 

You wouldn't believe how many things you need to improvise in the last moments... Or realize that they ill have to be changed later even though you planned it all "perfectly".

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This time it was not the wife... It was my poor planning. Though for none of these mistakes I don't feel as guilty as I perhaps should, I have an explanation for all of them. Naturally, I'm a man! https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Smiley/evil4.gif

 

Ok, firstly a cleverly constructed panoramic photo of the new kitchen. You'll never notice the seam, I'm that good at constructing panoramas.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/Kuhinja1.jpg

 

In my defence; it was not meant to be a panorama so there was utterly no care taken while taking the photos. I just wanted to cut the number of pics for the forum so you have these two combined. https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Smiley/shrug.gif

 

Ok ok, to help imagine the kitchen, here's one of the two in its original form. Before I deformed it.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/Kuhinja2.jpg

 

This is a general view of the living room.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/Dnevna1.jpg

 

Right now it serves as a living room, bedroom and general playground. Ehm, the bed is messed up on purpose, so that the picture looks more life-like. https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Smiley/pinochio.gif

 

AAAAANYway, now the blunders.

 

No. 1

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/Napaka2.jpg

 

See this? The ceramics is not lain far enough... The guy starts putting things together and I look at the length of the elements and the desktop. I ask "This is going to be a bit longer, right?" and the guy goes "Nope, I wondered why the ceramics isn't lain a bit farther myself". After picking up my jaw I showed him the plan that I used to project the ceramics layout and he is pretty fast to point out... "Hey, the plan is a bit off, this element is not 75 cm wide, it is only 65." Oh, yeah, why didn't I think about it, right?!!?!?!?!?

So after having a pretty loud conversation about the cost of repair with the lady that put the plans together, and she was more scared than I was angry, I took the manly approach and gave up. Screw that.

 

No. 2

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/Napaka1.jpg

 

I wanted the doors of the refrigerator to open to the left. It would have been easier to access from the cooking part of the kitchen. But I failed to figure that if you make the niche for the refrigerator as narrow as the machine, it would not be able to be inserted completely, as the doors need to stick out completely. Not really a problem, I like the general look of it, BUT the element to the right of the refrigerator opens (is pulled out) to the left and sideways, so that it pulls out the corner part as well. Nice and well, but if the refrigerator handle would be on the right side, the corner element would not be able to be pulled out at all. Well, that same lady from above, who has been putting kitchen plans together for years, failed to notice it as well. Meh, crap.

 

No. 3

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Za%20net/Napaka3.jpg

 

Looks pretty cool, right? I also lost quite some time and nerves to complete the hole, as you might remember from previous updates. Sadly, the hole will have to be closed down and the aluminium tube will be turned to the other side. The rosette will be installed into the ceiling and there will be another tube that will lead the exhaust into the attic. It is a completely open attic, so that is a viable option.

But WHY?, right? Well, the reverse-draft hatch of the kitchen vent is not as efficient as I thought, so when my brother cooks downstairs... I better leave the vent running as well. Get the picture? GAH.

 

And now I'm too lazy to install the television cable through the attic and my GF is not all that happy. Also the lack of TV does not have the promised effect when it is you who is responsible. So I'll just have to kick myself and do it.

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'Blunders' 1 & 2 could and should have been easily avoided, so your annoyance at them is certainly justifiable and understandable, SV. Ultimately, though, these are fairly minor issues.

 

Number 3 is an entirely different matter, however. I can already imagine your enjoyment at having to mess with that lovingly finished wooden ceiling boarding. :(

 

::

 

But, most of all, leaving a woman without TV is a serious felony in most countries and, perhaps most relevantly, could prove hazardous to your health/sanity, so you better get on it pronto! :(

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