Saturday 28 October 2017

ELF Kitchen, left side

I have written at length about putting ELF kits together so won't do so again here.  This is just a fast record of the kitchen units assembly. If you have only just found me and would like really detailed information just click on a couple of links over to the left of this post.  Under the Labels heading, choose Furniture kits.  If you want to see an ELF kit going together go to My YouTube Videos, again in the left margin, and click on How-to-Videos.  You will find it listed there.

In this post, as I said, I thought I would briefly record the process for the diary aspect of this blog (for myself) and as a quick reminder for anyone else and, more importantly, as reassurance for anyone wondering if they could assemble an ELF kit.  I am sure the old adage 'if I can do it, anyone can', is absolutely true.

None of the photos are staged for your delectation so I hope they are not too confusing to follow.


Day one.  I spent a lot of time just sorting out what the pieces were and how I would approach the work.  I clumped together all the stuff that was needed to complete the 8" side of the room and put aside the items I would need to make the 6" inch side.  Eazy kits are based on simple boxes with all the doors and drawers and cookers etc added to the front of these.  Here, I am making the second of the three boxes this 8" side will need.  They were all glued up before lunch in hopes of being dry enough to paint after lunch.... I do have to cook it as well as eat it so there is a longish gap in the middle of the day,  Basically this is less than a couple of hours work and much of that was used up giving it a good coat of thinking before I raised a toothpick in anger.




 By the end of of my mini working day I had sanded all the pieces and figured out which bits needed no paint, which bits needed one coat of paint and which bits needed three.  The final photo shows the kit being left at the second coat stage for a good overnight dry.  A final sanding and third coating will be applied tomorrow.  




Day two.  Today began with my adding a third coat of paint to the edges of various pieces and a couple of other places to ensure a perfect finish anywhere where the paint might be seen.  I should mention the other paint is just to make a good base for the sticky back plastic film to stick to.

While this was drying I made up the under-counter fridge kit, beginning with the usual box building.


I sanded the piece of steel to round off the handle.




I carefully marked where I wanted the glue (and therefore the handle) to go with the point of a small drill and then put a ruler on the door so I could add the glue and the handle and keep the handle dead straight as it ht the superglue.  What you really don't want is any superglue on any of the aluminium surface.  Great care is needed.






Et voila - one stainless steel fridge which looks absolutely spiffing in real life.  Much less crinkly than it looks here.



After that all the paint was dry and the pieces were sanded and everything that needed to be wrapped in sticky back plastic was wrapped.  I am using a plastic gloss finish for the first time.  All my previous ELF kits have been painted.  I just wanted to try something new.



Day three.  

My fabulous worktops arrived.  The 'real' granite tops are from the equally fabulous Dollshouse-Flooring.com  via ELF Miniatures.  To explain..... I wanted to have an underslung sink and didn't know how to cut out the hole for it.  Elizabeth from ELF was about to order some things for other projects from Graham at DH Flooring so she suggested she ordered my worktops along with those and she would cut the hole for me.  Here they are along with a ceramic hob.

The edges of the tops are polished and the correct corner is rounded off for me.  All very subtle in the photo but meaningful to me in situ.  Most of all I love Graham's attention to detail.




I thoroughly enjoyed putting the oven kit together.


The black glass with the two strips of aluminium glued in place

Then I made the cooker hood.  The lovely realistic filter is just a piece of mesh from ELf and a bit of white card (my own) cut to shape.  The instructions suggest it is spray painted with silver paint.  I don't have tons of stuff like that to hand but I discovered that my trusty silver pen did a great job.  Bit of a trim around the edges and it was good to go.




By the end of the third day I had one side of the kitchen done


the hood is not curved it is just catching the light that way

The background is my worktop and hive wall; the kitchen is not in place in the house yet.


You may have noticed I weakened and added handles to my original plan of sleek no handle cupboards - they just sort of looked unfinished????

(08/09/17)

20 comments:

  1. It all looks GREAT! I love it all Marilyn and I am glad that you added handles to the cupboards because it visually ties them in with the stainless steel surfaces.
    It looks clean and perfectly functional for a compact attic kitchen :D

    elizabeth

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  2. Thanks Elizabeth. Spot on comments as that was the intention. A nice neat functional kitchen for a flat in a roof!
    M

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  4. The kitchen looks beautiful.

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    1. Thank you vey much....all credit to ELF. marilyn

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  5. Each element came out just perfectly, Marilyn! I like the arrangement as it looks not only clean and contemporary but functionally organized, as well! I am really looking forward to seeing the sink installed beneath the beautiful counter top!
    You did not say much about applying the sticky vinyl to the units. Did you find it fiddly or easy? I had purchased a sheet in gray for Alki Point's kitchen, but chickened out and painted instead.

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    1. I confess to not being fond of the sticky back plastic, but I didn't really want to say because I am certain 99.99999per cent of normal humans would love it. It may be just that I am too aware of what it is. I won't use it again I will go back to being a good girl and do lots of coats of paint and rubbing down. Marilyn

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    2. Thank you for the honest opinion, Marilyn! I was worried I'd make a mess of the corners, not get all the wrinkles out, then end up having to paint anyway a day or more behind. I think if I want the nice shiny finish in the future, I'll probably just spray paint. :o) Yours turned out beautifully, tho, so double well done!

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    3. Mmmm, struggling to find what it is I don't like.....it sort of adds another layer, and softens the surface in some way and the edges lose their sharpness. I am certain good gloss spray paint is the way to go and something like an enamel or a car paint would give that crisp high gloss kitchen finish. Also on a hide into nothing with me as I don't really like glossy kitchens!!!! What can I say? Bonkers. M

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    4. Just a quick comment here - to Jodi, you don't have to do "corners" as such as the film only covers the front and two side edges, with a small strip folding round to the back on each side of the door (this ensures that over time, there's no way the film can peel away at the edges, as it's "trapped" under the door). If you want a nice crisp edge to the doors, I suggest that when you've laid the door face down on the film, you use a BLUNT knife, and a light touch and score down each side of the door - not enough to cut through the film (hence the blunt knife) but enough to give a much crisper edge to the door. I then cut the excess film top and bottom (Actually, sometimes I do that bit BEFORE I fold the film over the sides - I pick it up and do it with scissors). Once the film is complete, I sand top and bottom edges with sanding block, sanding AWAY from the front, towards the back. Paint the bottom edge in colour to match the film, and then glue in place. If you've got some scrap wood, try it with the film you have - you'll see it's really easy, and once you've seen you can do it, I'm sure you'd manage a kitchen with film - I know that way more clients use the film than paint! (perhaps because the idea of four, five, six coats of paint is a bit daunting, and tedious). Re gloss paint, I personally hate using spray paint (each to their own I suppose!) and I would say that once it's all assembled, if you do need to touch up, it can be problematical as you would need to mask off worktops/hobs/oven fronts/wine racks, etc, which could be tricky.

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  6. Looks great, you did a great job!

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    1. Thank you, Ingi, it always helps to hear that, especially the times I find it hard going. Marilyn

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  7. Love how it looks. Can you make it life size and ship it to my house?

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    1. Nope, but after living in thirteen homes I am good at designing kitchens.... so let know! Marilyn

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  8. Wow, this is a spiffy kitchen! You have done a very neat job on finishing it off.

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    1. Thank you. The first kit I ever made about five years ago was a large modern ELF kitchen of my design. It was so easy and so lovely people berated me for sending them photos of a real kitchen!! So this is just a sample really but still a joy to do. Marilyn

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  9. Wow looking fabulous! I have some elf kits sitting waiting to be finished and this will help me so much. The countertop really looks realistic! And thank you for linking the countertop site... I wish they offered it in black too. :)

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    1. Thank you. I have covered ELF kits numerous times so go back to the first paragraph in this post if you want more nudges to get on with yours. I love the scale of the material and the accurate cutting and attention to detail. Hard to beat for quality. Enjoy every little minute of their assembly. Marilyn

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  10. Hello Marilyn,
    It looks terrific. I love ELF kits and it is great to see how they go together. It will be a very bright and functional kitchen. I cannot wait to see it installed. I think the handles were a good call. they really finish the kitchen and make it look that much more realistic.
    Big hug
    Giac

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    1. Thanks Giac. I confess this third floor is no being 'fun'. I keep making mistakes and the vision in my head is not taking shape. Big sigh...... M

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