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3/16 My work from home situation has been a blessing in disguise because I can do more at home than at work. Unfortunately, my laptop doesn’t have all of the information I need, so I’ll have to go to work today to get some files from the desktop.

In the meantime, I decided to call my sister, Wendy, to see if I could meet her to help with the cabinet installation. We settled to meet at my niece’s house because she has a long driveway and would give us room to work. When we arrived, we got right to work to dry fit the frames to the furring strip that was installed the other day. The front cabinet went in fine after I had to take apart the back bottom support and readjust it to fit the angled wall. Then we asked my niece, Ashley to help with the larger set and they were installed with her help. It turns out that my vertically challenged body could not screw in the frame at a straight angle from the ceiling. Thanks, Ashley for volunteering!

Next, we were trying to figure out how to brace the frames, and Wendy’s husband, Joe came along. He assessed the situation and we made a bunch of shims to brace the frames in the back of the cabinets. He was in construction and is a perfectionist, which I greatly appreciated. Fortunately, the frames were pretty level to begin with, and the shims in the back added stability and brought them to a perfect vertical level. He also helped to figure out what to do about the front shelf because after I adjusted the support, the shelf was too narrow and didn’t sit on them. He jigged a couple of pieces at the bottom and the shelf stayed put. I just need to tack the shelves down to keep them secure. After a lot of teasing we got everything installed. The doors went in easily and I put the knobs in and they look great!

He showed me how to change out the drill bits to keep them locked in, and how to drill holes without splitting the wood. I got teased a lot about the baby level I had and he strongly encouraged me to buy a bigger one. Hopefully, I won’t need to after this.

The last part will be to tack down the shelves and install latches to the doors so they don’t fly open while I’m driving. I will also install a small shelf between the cabinets. The drive home was nerve-wracking and I finally put duct tape on the doors to keep them closed.

I drove to my storage unit and put the vinyl sheeting in it to warm it up a little at Joe’s suggestion. The vinyl should be easier to manipulate and cut when it’s a little warmer.

WHAT A DAY!