Drawer pulls

Stainless steel drawer pulls from IKEA ($3.99 a pair for any of three sizes, seems to be clearance, get yours while they last). Only caveat is that they're metric, so if a longer screw is needed, for example, it's hard to find the matching thread size.

Sink connections

From left to right, Watts Premier reverse osmosis model WP-4V, generic soap dispenser, American Standard Easy Touch pull-out faucet model 6310. And below, Insinkerator Badger 5 food waste disposer.

Granite countertop

Here's another project where splurging a little adds a nice noticeable BANG (in my opinion). A granite countertop simply feels awesome. Backsplash to come later will probably be tile.
But for what BUCK, you ask?

$1,216 total cost, including sink

Compare to:
$584 laminate
$2,116 Corian
$2,503 Richlite eco material
(full comparison at right)

Base cabinets

Squared, leveled, and plumbed. Ready for countertop.
For lack of a lower fastening point to the wall, I've driven screws to the subfloor at the cabinet ends, which will get covered with a finish panel. $91 material for corner unit and misc. self-install
$1009 factory-made cabinets, corner face frame, etc.
$1100 TOTAL COST for base cabinets

Corner sink cabinet

A corner sink design becomes very custom. I had to fabricate practically this entire unit from scratch. Only the face frame (with door and false drawer front) was purchased ready-made to match the adjacent base cabinets.
Those peculiar side cuts are for the corners of an average-sized sink that normally wouldn't fit such a small corner cabinet.

Subfloor leveled

Added 3/4" OSB to make the subfloor level.This area of floor was originally planned for tile, and thus, was sunken for the extra thickness. But I changed my mind. I used only screws to attach it, so future removal, if there's a need, would be easier (than if it was glued and nailed on).

Cost = $61

Standard pocket door

...came together fairly well. The only foreseeable problem is having to remove the finished head jamb if the door panel needs to come off. There's simply no space to reach in to unlatch it from the rollers. The gap has to be covered, caulked and painted to look right. This seems to be the nature of pocket doors. As such, I've used screws instead of nails, and they're still visible under the paint.

Now I only hope the carpet thickness won't force me to remove it for trimming.

$34 door panel
$22 finish jambs
$11 pull / latch
$86 Johnson pocket door kit (#2511)
$15 casing and finish

$182 TOTAL COST (with tax)


Walk-in closet

Interior doors

Standard 24" door on the right goes into the bathroom. It's a hollow core prehung unit from Home Depot. With door knob, casing and finish, it comes to about $110.

The 14" (by 8-foot) door on the left opens into a tall coat closet. It's custom made from clear 2x4 Douglas Fir. With knob, casing and finish, it comes to about $120. Insert panels will hopefully be acrylic... if I can scavenge some long scraps from Tap Plastics.

Second year Sandalwood

Just over two years ago it went into the toughest little patch of dirt in the side yard. Now it's the largest tree I have!
Click on photo to backtrack Myoporum laetum 'carsonii'
Carson Myoporum

PG&E connects!

They finally came out and did their disconnect/ reconnect.

But not by following their own procedures...














My DIY splice at the neutral wire in September (necessary for removal of the old weatherhead to close off the roof before the rainy season), was actually faulty or became corroded over a few months. It caused intermittent voltage fluctuations. I reported the problem in March as if I didn't know what was going on.

PG&E comes out for "usual" problems like this upon a couple of months notice (instead of no action over 19 months of submitting an application for the 200A service upgrade -- click on photo to backtrack). They decided to replace my 2/0 wires with 4/0. Perfect. No need to press them on the status of my application!

What a hoot.