Built-In Bed #7: Paint and Pumpkin Pie

Work on the built-in slowed to a crawl as we got to a serious painting phase. The painting sub-contractor started out enthusiastically, but after an initial coat of primer was nowhere to be found. It’s so hard to find good help these days. I had to take over the painting—not my favorite activity but these panels are actually fairly easy to paint.

In this photo, the customer dropped in for an impromptu inspection. She approved of the quality of the painting, especially when I explained that the alternative was to paint it herself.

Painting also taught me a lesson about veneering. In a few places on the panel edge where I veneered there were small voids where the plywood that made up the inside of the sandwich was lower than the two sides. This was fine when I veneered, but the addition of paint (liquid) made the veneer bubble up in those places. It’s a minor flaw, but it will bug me for the rest of my days, I’m sure. Next time I’ll fill in any voids before veneering.

Another delay was incurred when we absconded to Phoenix for Thanksgiving with my parents, brother and sisters. Had a wonderful time with my family, and I was able to deliver some Drunken Cutting Boards to my brother and sister in thanks for all they’ve done for my parents this year:

But of course no work happened on the built-in while we were feasting and catching up, so first thing on our return it was out to the garage to sand and put on the last coat of paint.