Sunday, July 8, 2012

Phase 1 of our "Big" Kennel Project is completed...Day 116 of our Productivty Project

A few days ago, I left Superman a hair raising status update on FB detailing how I'd spent the afternoon and evening in the garage playing with just about every power tool we own, plus paint.  I think he nearly had a heart attack, especially after I wouldn't tell him what I'd been working on.
Phase 1 - Finished!
I've finally done the last of the painting, so I can say we've finished Phase 1 of the Big Kennel Project and I'm ready to share the pictures of our progress to date.

This is where we began:


Dog kennel:  Unfinished dry wall, exposed insulation (thanks to Lucy!)
Unfinished fence boards to protect the drywall from the chewer (aka Lucy).
Basically, it was a terrible eyesore.

Honestly, the dog have never complained, but it was certainly an eyesore.  I've been promising Buttercup that I'd do something about it for more than a year and my productivity project seemed to have been the perfect motivation.  Still, we had the self-imposed constraint of using stuff we already had laying around to manage our transformation.  This had to be a completely free project.

Step 1 - Buttercup was itching to get painting, so I handed her the "mango madness" left from our formerly "Macaroni & Cheese" basement and set her free.

Buttercup makes quick work of the painting.
She made quick work of it, even with it needing two coats.  (We didn't primer first.)  After that, I got to work with the "construction" part of the project.

This wall needed to be insulated, so I used a box
cutter and a knife and cut a piece of rigid insulation to fit.
Since my plan was to use the leftover wainscoting from our bathroom project, I added 1x1 for structure.  The nails needed somewhere to go, right?


After that, I pieced together the wainscoting and installed it all.   The fiberglass insulation was fine, it just needed to get tucked.

It was hotter than heck in that get-up, but those are my "grungies", so that
is how I geared up for this project.  (Plus, I used my nifty work gloves my
sister sent me...they really project your hands, but your exposed fingertips
make working in them a breeze!

This is how the wainscoting part of the project turned out.  Doesn't it look fabulous?

Finished wainscoting and trim board...
After that, I added some trim boards and moulding, painted the fence boards, and added a decal for fun.
A few coats of paint did wonders for these boards!
 Phase 1 finished and we did it all with scrap materials we had in the garage.  It was a great way to get more familiar with all of our power tools.  Phase 2 will be astroturf, a new food dish holder, and a new dog bed.  Oh, as I'm looking at the picture, I'm thinking ceiling paint should be added to the list, too!

Phase 1 is Finished, but Phase 2 is bouncing around in my mind.

116 Days and counting til Superman comes home.  I'd say we get to count this one as productive, too, wouldn't you?

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