Beware of smell and alert the neighbors

A couple of weeks ago, I left town for a girls weekend.  While I was away, Chris slaved away over the hutch that we (ok he with a little help from me) started this summer.  I was really surprised when I got home because not only did he build the doors and the shelves but he finished the sanding and added detail and trim.  The idea behind the hutch is to have it match the diy dining room table. Chris started staining the hutch this past week (pictures to follow).  Each piece requires two coats of stain and at least one coat of polyeurethane for the finish.  The stain and finish smell REALLY strong and even cause some light headedness so Chris opened a couple of windows in the basement and we went out to walk the dog.

Diy Hutch in progress

When we returned from our walk, we noticed a fire truck on our street.  I looked at Chris and said, "that's never a good sign..."  and before I could finish my sentence I noticed some neighbors gathered on our lawn and a group of fire fighters walking out our front door.  As it turns out, our neighbors who are attached to us smelled a strong smell in their house and thought it was a gas leak.  She had noticed me come home but had not seen us leave with the dog.  When she knocked on our door, she could see my purse and phone and with no answer, feared that I was in the house passed out from the "gas".  She called 9-1-1 and the fire fighters came, broke in through the opened basement window, and toured our house.  They knew the smell immediately and even complimented Chris on the hutch.  Luckily, no one was hurt, our house is still standing, and no charges were laid.  We have taken a break on the staining though so you'll have to wait to see the finished product.

Dining Room Nook

There is a nook in our dining room that we have been contemplating on how to fill. Since we ended up making our own dining room table it only made sense to complete the set. Chris measured the space and drew up the plans and we set out to the nearest Home Depot to build our new buffet. We picked up more planks of pine and started the glueing and sanding. Once the hutch is built we will stain it in the same colour as the table.



In the interim, we filled the space with a bookshelf and a couple of bar stools (for a lack of a better plan for both the nook and the furniture).

Here is a picture of the hutch as it stands now. We plan to build a shelf in the middle of each section and doors on the outsides. I can't wait until it is finished but since we (by we I mostly mean Chris because he prefers to work alone) haven't worked on it in a while, I figured I would blog about it instead. Please stay tuned for the end results!!