Fireplace Remodel Day Thirty Eight

Today is Monday April 6, 2020, and it has been almost a week since my last post. Quire a lot has happened since then, most significantly Real Estate and related activity was reclassified as essential business in my country last weeked, so I am back at work....although the pace of business is similar to that of a lethargic snail with a severe hangover. Meanwhile I've been plodding along at the outstanding parts of the almost-but-not-quite-finished fireplace remodel. This post is a summary of recent progress.

So...after the painting was done, I turned back to the hardwood floor, which needed belt sanding to 120 grit and another application of red oak wood filler. Once the filler was dry and the excess removed the floor was sanded through to 400 grit with the orbital sander and declared smooth as a...

Unlike the living area, where the floor color is basically oak plus the yellowing tone of the varnish, the hardwood in the dining room is a markedly different organe-ee-brown tone. We tried to compensate for this by staining the new hardwood colonial maple with a hint of golden pine mixed in. It came out on the C+/B- boundary:

The hue was improved by the addition of varnish - this photograph is one day into the drying time after the final coat was applied. We noticed in the kitchen that the boards we stained acquired a tone closer to the original flooring after about three months; hopefully we'll be able to say the same about this area...whatever happens, we'll be building a cabinet/bookcase over this area eventually.

We will also be buying or building a TV cabinet of some kind, but for now we just need something to put the TV on that ins't the floor. This is the perfect size:

At least it is after I cut it down by ten inches and relocated the central divider.

Just about ok for now...

I also installed the new cabinet doors in the entrance hallway:

I've also been working on the top panel for the shoe rack/cabinet. By this time amazon had delivered the #20 biscuits, so I toddled down tut workshop, and dry clamped on the trim pieces.

This was successful, so I glued on the long trim pieces using the kung fu technique, and then popped back upstairs to find tut sithers.

The next day it was a case of same-again with the perpendicular trim pieces - after we got back from a family trip to the In N' Out drive through. If you were wondering, I had a double double (with grilled onion/no tomato), animal style fries and a large soda. Followed by a food coma. If you've never been to In N' Out, I can only sympathize*).

Either the following day, or the day after that (it's bit of a haze for some reason....), the glue was cured and it was time for the final fit up. The trim overhangs the plywood at the exposed edges, but has to be flush with the base at those edges which meet the wall. Basically, this requires removal of some small sections of walnut trim. I used the circular saw, set to a shallow cut, to tear up the excess material and knocked it down with a chisel.

The next step is to make similar, shallower cuts with the tenon saw and clean up with a chisel.

The last bit was removed with the block plane and the orbital sander.

After finish sanding I applied some walnut filler, and when that was cured, the work-piece was sanded to 400 grit.

I took it upstairs to be varnished; this was done at the same time as the hardwood floor in the dining room.

Came out nice! Right now the panel is curing; I hope to install it this week.

(*If you think you might know what Samual Sheep ordered at In N' Out, post it in the comments. The first correct (or nearest correct) answer wins a gold-colored Ford Tippex, courtesy of those lovely people at Kelloggs Cornflakes; see this link for full competition rules).