Kit Bashing...

I spent a good deal of last evening and today trying to make the furniture kits I have become what I need for the space in the barn house - It's what we like to call kit bashing.

I thought I was being so smart by scanning the pattern sheets into the computer, then printing them off so that I could cut them and affix them to my gluing jig. It was all going so well, except when I scanned and cut the upper cabinet pattern and held them up to the frames i'd already made, and was baffled when the cut pattern was smaller than my frames! Argh! I retraced my steps, and figured out that my scanner and printer settings were set to Fit To Page, Then it dawned on me why the lower cabinet was such a struggle. Okay, a cup of coffee and a little regrouping later, I decided I'd just have to punt.

By eliminating the space between the first upper cabinet and sink, and using what was supposed to be the over the oven cabinet for above the sink instead, the overhead cabinets fit perfectly above the base unit.

I added some additional trim pieces to give it some symmetry, and it turnes out I can live with the result.

I bought a few old House Of Miniatures kits so that I could turn the pieces into vanities for the bath and powder rooms. Because the MBS sink I had was a little wider than the sink base, I again had to punt, I made patterns of the top and drawer front pieces and then went to work with pencil, scroll saw and sandpaper until I could dry fit everything together. It was a lot of work, but I managed to come up with something I can live with.

Not bad for a days work, and I can take some of these "learning moments" with me to the next vanity, hutch cabinet, and sink and stove kit. Wish me luck!