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kitchen

Douching the Kitchen

I got a little overwhelmed with everything I wanted to do in this big crazy life. So, of course, I did nothing. I freaked out about money and that was about it.

I finally got some perspective and went all laser focused on my kitchen. Amazingly, a Saturday of focus and the counters were clear, the dishes were done, the trash was taken out, the refrigerator was empty and the table was cleared off and we could eat together.

I learned something sucky. If I slack off for two days in a row, the kitchen goes back to looking like a trash heap again. Rather disheartening to have to do it Every! Day! Like a clockwork routine.

My reaction was about like this, without the delight of Fancy Feast.

At least this time, I only had a few days of damage to deal with, instead of long term neglect.

I’ve been saving things to reuse or recycle or compost (newspapers, no, I don’t have piles of food sitting around) – I have accepted that right now, that’s not going to happen. Yesterday, the newspapers went in the trash. Today the jars and the plastic will come out of the cabinets, because I’m over it. My kitchen isn’t a landfill, and I need the space for better things.

Also to purge? All those recipes pulled from magazines. Years of pages. Those are hitting the trash can today. I’m done with the collecting of things that I might do, I’m gonna try being busy actually doing things.

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kitchen

The Kitchen – Before and After


Categories
kitchen my smaller home

Planning a Smaller Kitchen

My kitchen is ticking along. Currently in a state of disaster, but I know it will come together. I’m fully taking advantage of not actually having to live in this smaller home yet, I like having my little hobby home, so to speak.

I am picturing how this kitchen will come together. White cabinets, laminate floors, the antique wood table from my family – with all the extra leaves in it, to make room for the family and the heathens’ friends.

I see cabinets and drawers not overflowing with stuff I don’t need. I have this ideal of not bringing anything into the house I don’t love.

I yanked out the pantry I didn’t like (too deep, shelves were already warped, took up more room than I was happy with) and instantly opened the feel of the kitchen. Someday there will be a built in butcher block desk area to match my someday butcher block countertops.

I see this workplace as taking the place of an entire office room. Taking advantage of a corner of my world in this smaller home.

I see a pantry cabinet full of ingredients to help nourish us and keep us healthy. Or more to the point, get us healthy again. The dude and I are trending toward truly fat, I’d rather cook for us, but man things in wrappers covered in cheese are yummy.

I could work on this kitchen forever, but I already have the sense of when this first stage will be “done”, when I find my “enough” and will have the heart of this smaller home beating and ready to let me branch out into the rooms.

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kitchen my smaller home

The Original Smaller Kitchen

We lost my beautiful grandma on the 16th of January 2011.

She lived 97 years. She was a walking ad for Oil of Olay. (If the Olay people would like to hook me up, that would be fantastic. Just sayin’)

Grandma and Grandpa owned a funeral home and lived in the apartment above it. When they retired they moved all the way across the street into a house. The only time any of us had ever been back in there was for Grandpa’s funeral in 1991.

My cousin arranged for us to be able to go back into that original home the house before Grandma’s funeral. Everything was smaller than we remembered, but it was the kitchen that brought the most memories.

In the corner was where Grandpa kept the “medicine” he gave us before bed at night. (aka one piece of candy corn). The countertop is where the noodles were rolled out, the TINY stove cooked the giant pots of noodles and mashed potatoes. Nothing decorative or fancy or pretty cabinet pulls. The women washed and dried all the dishes in there (hey, all the men were on the roof in the snow and wind adjusting the TV antenna, the kitchen was at least warm.) The smoke detector was on the outside of that wall – and when it went off, dinner was done.

We stood together looking in that tiny space, I remembered the warm security of a home full of yummy smells, crammed with toys, overflowing with people and joy and love.

Whether or not those times were ACTUALLY perfect isn’t the point, the memories are definitely perfect.

That kitchen was teeny and full of love. The bar is set high for my own little smaller home.

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kitchen my smaller home

Repairing Water Damaged Walls

There’s some water damage in the kitchen from a leak last year – the inspector used his moisture detector and said it’s completely dry now – but there is still damage I have to repair before I can paint.

(looks kinda like a person throwing their hands in the air to party eh?)

I know the general idea of fixing it

  • scrape/flake off the paint and drywall tape that has bubbled off the wall
  • some kind of joint compound to fill any gaps
  • sand it smooth

This post about drywall repair mentions drywall tape. I dunno. I’ll have to ask my experts and see what they say.

Categories
kitchen my smaller home

Kitchen Flooring

I shouldn’t really say “kitchen” flooring, because whatever goes in the kitchen will go through the whole house.

I thought about carpet for about 30 seconds. Then Alex spilled syrup and orange juice and popcorn all over the floor and I thought about how lovely it would be to not have to spend my life scrubbing stickiness out of carpet and decided I wanted more wood. (That’s what she said.)

The nasty lineoleum and carpet has to go.

The Dude recommended laminate and I scoffed at him. I’ve had some laminate before and hated it. I could see the rough surface of fake wood and the seams around each plank. No way was I spending money on that.

I went to the local big box store to look at wood. Came home and said, “Uh, the stuff I liked the best was laminate.” Tasty, tasty words I got to eat.

(Tecsun Mocha Teak $3.34/sqft)

Time to start trying to price beat!

Categories
kitchen my smaller home

New Cabinets from Old Cabinets

I think I can manage to redo the cabinets with some paint, spackle and patience.

And saws.

Like cutting out the fronts of these doors

Then I saw this in Better Homes and Gardens

(click through for source and more info)

Which made me think I would try taking a door or two off and seeing how that looks for some more variety.

Opinions – of the numbered doors, which would you leave off? Or would you do something I didn’t think of?

Categories
kitchen my smaller home

Kitchen Cabinet Knobs

Knobs . . . Pulls . . . Hardware . . .

With the plan for white cabinets pretty set in my brain, I started thinking about knobs. First I was going to go with black, but then I decided that was starker (more stark?) than what I really wanted.

I looked at a small washstand I have with some glass knobs on it and luffed it. A white and yellow kitchen filled with sparkly glass? Yes please!

This whole house project is about balance – buy from the little guy instead of the big box . . . when it is reasonable – reuse old instead of buying new . . . when it is practical

Sure, I’d love to go all vintage indie on my kitchen – but it is hard when one small vendor has old knobs for 6 dollars each before shipping and the big box store has new and shiny for 3.50 each. (Multiplied times 46 . . . then factor shipping. Pass me a drink.)

I searched Etsy for glass knob and got good results. A search for glass pull got me a lot of zipper jewelry and cell phone charms. Cabinet glass was another fun search, except it pulled up a lot of sets of magnets. Then I realized I was only searching “Handmade” instead of “All Items”, so I went back and searched again. I tried glass hardware but didn’t get any new results.

I marked anything that caught my eye as a favorite (have to be logged in to your Etsy account to do this) so I could go back and delete

  • anything over 10 dollars per knob (including shipping).
  • anything without hardware (because there were plenty of options with the screw and bolt included).
  • anything smaller than 1 1/4″.

My best options – and a few just freaking cool thoughts

Categories
kitchen my smaller home

how to get back my girlfriend

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Yesterday I showed you the before photos of the kitchen.

the best way to get back with your ex, how to win back your x.

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I know my first step will be painting the walls and the cabinets.

I’ve been devoted to Sherwin-Williams paint for years. The only paint I’ve ever liked

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better was Pratt and Lambert Red Seal. Call me a paint snob, I can take it. I’m going with Sherwin-Williams because there is a local store and the closest Pratt and Lambert is 40 miles. I played with the color visualizer and got the general plan for the paint.

My mom has always loved yellow kitchens, so I know where my yellow kitchen attachment came from. She goes for brighter yellows, I’m a Hubbard Squash girl.

examples of Hubbard Squash “in action”

I used the Sherwin-Williams low VOC paint when I painted my last kitchen. I thought it worked just as well as conventional smelly paint, and since Alex was right next to me as I was painting, I felt better about not having the tiny baby huff paint at the tender age of 12 weeks.

I thought about doing a softer white cabinet, but for now I’m just going to go the ultra bright white and then see if I want to glaze them or not.

Painting the cabinets will be a bitch, I know, but totally worth it. HGTV has a couple of tutorials on painting kitchen cabinets. I’m hoping I don’t lose my mind.

Categories
kitchen my smaller home

Kitchen Plans

My new kitchen.

The previous owner was a 98 year old man. I don’t think the cabinets were ever touched. So they are in perfect shape. However, I have never liked cheap ass, slightly rough oak cabinets with gold hardware. I love the condition of them, but they are going to get some paint on ’em.

Note the tiny white fridge, off-white range and black dishwasher. I should have a hook-up to swap that range and dishwasher for some white – but that is in a holding pattern till the 3rd.

The floor is rolled out faux linoleum in the actual kitchen part and old man smelling gray carpet in the dining area. All that needs to go as well. Buh-bye fugly!

I’m sure we can find a better way to light up the joint – I have no clues about what that’s going to be yet, but together we will figure that out!