February 6th - Day 37/328 days to go!

I spent the morning sanding more roof part and by noon....I'd had it. I just couldn't do anymore sanding for a while. Talk about....boring!!!!

So, I spent the afternoon bashing the stove. I needed it to be less deep by at least an inch, and narrower by at least 1/2 an inch.

Since I have been asked, I will tell you how I did it and let you decide if it is something you want to try...and also how the final result turned out.

This is a picture of the original and it is about 2 1/2 inches deep which takes up far too much room in the Beacon Hill kitchen. It was also too wide for the wall that I wanted to put it on.

In the second part of the picture you can see the white shelf that comes out of the lower side and also the white piece that is used for the stove top....both were removed (they are not glued to the stove at all). I also removed the legs so that they wouldn't get broken. I scored where they met the stove bottom and carefully wiggled them out. They were pegged in and I sanded the edge so that I'd have a smooth surface when I glued them back on. Since I was making the stove narrower, I removed the left oven door. I did have to cut the metal pegs but they can easily be replaced later with new ones cut from dressmaker pins. I then carefully cut off the back wall behind the stovetop section. I used an ink pen to mark the back of the stove with the cut lines to ensure that I kept my sawing edge straight. A fine toothed saw blade worked well. After that back section was cut off, I cut the stove in half.....one half was the whole right hand side with the two ovens and warming drawer....and the other half was the cooktop and lower oven. The easiest way to make the stove narrower was to cut the excess off the stovetop side. I marked my 1/2" line with pen on the back and underside, turned it over....and cut it off with a saw. I also cut 1/2" off the shelf that I'd removed earlier so that they would be the same width when glued back together. Now for the fun part! I wanted to make the stove less deep by about 1".....so, with an ink pen, I marked my cut line 1" in from the back of the stove. This eliminated any reconstruction of the right side ovens and warming drawer. I used a fine toothed saw to cut off the back 1" of the stove. After I had done both sections of the stove, I dry to fit to make sure they were the same depth....and glued them back together, and glued the back shelf on. Now time to tackle the stove top. Since I didn't like the stove top itself since it was just holes in a piece of wood, I used the lower shelf that I'd removed from the lower left side to make the new stovetop. I cut it to fit and then glued it on. The old stovetop is now a leftover piece that I didn't use. I printed off some burners from the internet, sized then down to fit and glued them on. I also made a tile printout that will match the tile wall that will be on the opposite side of the kitchen, under the upper cabinets....and glued it onto the backsplash of the stove (to add some colour and detail).  Since I had made the left side of the stove narrower, I had to trim down the oven door that I had removed and then I put it back into place.  I filled in any cracks with glue, touched up the stove with black paint, when the paint was dry I painted the whole thing with varathene to match the shine on the whole stove, then I drilled new hole for the back legs....and then glued all the legs back on. The stove is done....and it fits the spot I want to put it in.

I'm not sure if I would have bashed the stove if it had been an expensive one....but for $10...it was worth the try....and I'm actually pleased with how it turned out.

Once I have added food cooking on the stove top and dressed up the shelf....you won't even notice that it was bashed (and no hammer used either).

As you can see by the pictures of two stove tops done by Betsy Niederer, the detail is in the accessories and the stove itself becomes secondary. Betsy's work is amazing and I was fortunate to be able to purchase a few items from her last year at the Guild School. In fact, in the picture on the right, at the back, is a huge pot of stew....I bought one exactly like that from her and it will be in the Beacon Hill kitchen. If you ever get a chance to pick up any of her food items....run, do not walk to her table.....with your wallet out ready to buy (and her prices are really good too)!