Built in Ironing Board and Ice Box

Monty, I'll take what's behind door number one...

Eek! The new tenants are moving in on Saturday. Where did the month go?

In getting the top-floor unit ready for our paying guests, we found ourselves with a longer to-do list than we originally anticipated. Isn't that always the case? While the electrical and plumbing systems take priority, it was fixing the ironing board and cleaning up the ice box that were the most satisfying tasks.

The built-in ironing boards were definitely one of those vintage details that sold us on The Box House in the first place. Each unit has one. But the one on the top floor was off its hinges and the screw holes were stripped. There was no way they'd hold new screws. There were also some dowel rods on the underside that needed replacing.

To take care of the screw holes, I filled them with PL Fix Wood Repair to create a new surface. We were very impressed with how it worked. Ted was able to screw the hinges back into the ironing board and said it was "almost" like screwing into wood. So we do recommend this product.

Voila! Now if someone opens the door, the board will not come crashing down on his or her head.

There's even a separate board for ironing sleeves.

I'm not sure if the tenants will actually use this, but it's a fabulous vintage detail, and one that really makes me feel connected to the women who toiled in the kitchen before me. Yeah, right. Like I really toil in the kitchen.

As for the ice box "repair", that was a bit of a surprise. When I was at Home Depot for my 20th trip of the week, Ted secretly stripped off the old and ugly contact paper that was covering the tenants' ice box in the pantry:

So now it looks much more presentable.

We should be able to wrap up the final tasks on our list Thursday, and spend Friday doing a last clean-up before the tenants move in. I'm excited because they seem like very nice people, but slightly apprehensive because we've grown somewhat accustomed to having The Box House to ourselves.