Last week I left off after I had headed back to the shop to cut some kerfs into a badly warped plywood false front.

Another day, another problem (problem #3)

I brought the (previously warped, now straightened) false front back to the client’s home to install it. When I arrived, I let the client know that I would finish soon. I also joked that I said the same thing yesterday. I then proceeded to install the two drawers and drawer fronts directly below the newly returned false front, which (thankfully) all worked out pretty well. Adjusting the fronts to leave even gaps around all the drawers is sometimes a challenge, so why would this job be any different? I was able to install the fronts fairly accurately, which gave me a solid head start, but some adjustments still needed to be made to perfect the look.

The tricky thing when adjusting drawer fronts is that one small change in one place might lead to having to make a large change somewhere else. Making matters even worse is that false fronts have to be unscrewed from the cabinets to be adjusted, which is a pain. I spent a good deal of time dialing in the fit, only to realize one of the drawers wasn’t working as well as it should be. I was using top-quality undermount slides, but for some strange reason the one (and only) drawer the client chose to open didn’t slide very well. I spent time fiddling with that, then had to readjust the drawer fronts because of it, which took a fair bit of time.

Problem #4

The glass installers taking care of the shower surround were on-site a few days before I arrived to do this second phase of my part of the installation. Sadly, they realized one piece of glass was cut to the wrong size and had to be remade. Long story short, when they showed up at the jobsite to install the new piece they were not pleased to see another tradesperson there: me. They quickly complained to the client that moving this large piece of glass was dangerous and they didn’t want to have to work with me in the room. Things immediately got pretty tense. The client reminded them that if they hadn’t made a mistake in the first place, they would have had the job complete well before I even showed up, so we were going to have to work together to make this happen, which was completely fine with me. It just didn’t leave us with a great atmosphere in the bathroom while we all worked in tight quarters for the next few hours. Thankfully, everyone managed to get along just fine.

Problem #5

With just about everything installed, my last task was to drill the holes for the handles. It was a simple job that was made easier by the jig I made and brought with me. I knew the sizes of the handles, so I was prepared. The only tricky thing was the fact that there were two handles with different widths and two different drawer front heights, as the false fronts were about 3″ narrower than the standard drawers.

As I worked, I was more focused on the fact that I was almost done, though the fact that I was working beside a few guys who really didn’t want me there didn’t help me focus on drilling handle holes. Things were now going well (honestly) until the very last false drawer front. Instead of using the holes for the narrower front, without thinking, I quickly bored a hole that I knew right away was for the wrong width of handle. My heart immediately sank. Ten seconds ago, I was so close, yet I was now so far away from being done with this install. Not being alone forced me to show no signs of frustration or imperfection. Some quiet head scratching, followed by an idea; I’d bring the false front back to the shop, fill the tiny hole as carefully as I could, apply another coat of finish over the small area and return a few hours later to finally wrap up the job. At this point the installation had taken about four times longer than I anticipated, so what was another few hours?

Back in the shop, I very carefully selected a piece of walnut with which to shape a tiny face-grain dowel, glued the dowel in place, let it dry, trimmed it flush and applied a bit of finish to it. It looked surprisingly good, thankfully. I called the client to make sure they were home, which they were. I hopped back uptown for … what? … the sixth time? At least this time was going to be the last time. As I drove, I remembered myself telling the client over 24 hours previously, “This shouldn’t take more than a few hours.” A quick (and somewhat frustrated) chuckle was all I could muster, as it’s all too common for these installations to go off the rails for the weirdest reasons. “I hate installations,” I said to myself.

Thankfully, after 10 minutes of work in the bathroom I let them know I was finally done. I apologized things had taken so long, but they said they appreciated being kept up to date with what was happening, and they really loved the fact that I took the time and care to install the vanity properly. I thanked them for understanding. A couple of handshakes and I was off towards the shop, knowing my next job was also a vanity, though this one was surely going to be a lot easier. Hopefully, I’m right.