bats in my belfry.

Published on by Quandie

Shortly after I brought home the giant English cupboard that I shared last week, Ken started working his magic and added bead board paneling to the inside back to cover up the particle board.

This is just cheap faux bead board paneling.  I debated adding actual bead board, but I felt it would make the cupboard way too heavy.  Plus I knew I was just going to paint it, and ultimately it would mostly be hidden by stuff on the shelves so no need to go overboard.  By the way, I suspect that the creamy color on the interior sides is the original color of the entire cupboard.

After adding the bead board, Ken moved the shelf supports on one side based on my specifications.  He also had to add new shelf supports on the other side because as it turned out there were only supports on one side of the cupboard.

 Then he cut down some 1″ x 8″ boards to use as shelves.  Two 1″ x 8″ boards side by side were a perfect fit for the depth of the cupboard, Ken just had to cut about 8″ off the length of each 6′ board.

Once that was done I painted the inside.  I decided to go with a pop of pretty color inside, even though I don’t really have this color in the room.  But since the cabinet is never intended to be left open, the only person who will see that color is me.  So why not go with a color that will make me happy every time I open those doors to put things away?

For me that color is Fusion’s Laurentien.  I really love this color.  The ladies who own Reclaiming Beautiful knew that about me when they gave me a jar of it last Christmas, and because of that I had plenty of it on hand (thanks again Monique & Susan).  Turned out that I definitely needed it for the cupboard interior plus the shelves.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but with summer coming to a close it’s starting to get dark out earlier in the evening.  When I started painting it was still light out, but by the time I was almost done with just the inside back and sides it was dark out.  As I was sitting on my stool painting the cupboard I kept seeing a shadow flicker out of the corner of my eye.  I figured it was a moth circling one of my lights because I’ve had that happen before.  The shadow looks so big, but it’s just a moth close to the bulb casting a big shadow.  No big deal.  But I kept looking up and not seeing a moth.  Finally I finished the cupboard interior, I stood up and eeeeeekkkk! a bat swooped over my head and through the door to the other side of my carriage house.

I know bats are good to have around, they eat lots of mosquitoes and so on.  I also know full well that I very likely have bats in my belfry … or is it technically a cupola?  Anyway, that thing on the top of my carriage house.  We certainly see plenty of bats in the night sky around here.

But I really would prefer they not swoop around my head while trapped inside a room with me.  Shudder.

At that point, although I had intended to continue on with painting the shelves, I found that I just couldn’t make myself stay out in my workshop with a bat for company.  So I decided to save the shelf painting for another day.  But at least I had gotten this far …

A few days later I set up an assembly line of sorts for painting the shelves (in broad daylight) and I cranked them out in no time.

So the inside is done.

I’m super excited to get it moved into place and start filling it up with stuff!

17 thoughts on “bats in my belfry.”

  1. I’m proud of you, you were startled and concerned but you didn’t harm the little bat who was probably just as upset as you were. I used to keep a porch window open for my cats to come in and out and one day, a bat flew into the porch and then right into the living room, flew around the light/fan and then flew upstairs, obviously looking for a way out. Of course, my cats, little black minions, followed the poor thing and let me know that she was hanging onto a curtain, trying to plan her next step. I got a heavy towel, captured her and brought her outside. Shelly, the smallest cat, cussed me out, royally. When I taught, I would always ask my students, who likes mosquitoes? No one? Then you should love bats because they LOVE to eat them.

    I know you understand this, since you were just reporting the very normal fears many people have about bats. Still, good work, hope your bat got free.

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    1. LOL, yes, I know exactly how it is to be cussed out by a cat. My cat Lucy complains very loudly if we try to take her ‘toys’ away from her. As for the bat getting free, I’m sure it did. My carriage house has plenty of openings for critters to get in and out (unfortunately), which is why I no longer store finished pieces out there! And can I just say, you were very brave to capture that bat in a towel. I definitely could not have done that!

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  5. Not to rub salt in your wounds, but you might want to check for bats in every door and under the bottom etc. before you move that big cabinet inside your house. You never can tell where they might hide during the daylight hours!

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    1. Yikes! Now I’m entirely freaked out! There could be bats everywhere. I’d never thought to look under pieces of furniture. So far I’ve never encountered a bat hiding under anything. Perhaps my cat encourages them to roost up high.

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  7. So pretty!!! I love that you slected that color it looks so fresh. It will make you smile every time you open the doors. I have got to do that to my tv armoire in my sunroom. As for those bats I’m with you they creep me out.

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    1. I don’t mind the bats so much when they are flying around up in the sky where they belong, but I don’t want one 2′ from my head! Hopefully I won’t have any more bat troubles in my workshop, fingers crossed 🙂

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  8. Pingback: living with it. – q is for quandie

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