One last hurrah… giving up a repurposed kitchen design.
Since the beginning of time, I have been shilling an unconventional/repurposed kitchen with all the zeal of a late-night infomercial.
And for all of that time, Paul’s feeling has been that if we just nail together architectural salvage for the sake of nailing together architectural salvage, what we will get is nailed together architectural salvage.
And for the exact same amount of time, my response has been: Giant Fancy Things are out there… WHY NOT NAIL THEM TOGETHER AND SEE WHAT WE GET?
Every conversation we’ve had about this idea has ended with Paul assuring me that the end result will look crappy and homemade.
And me trying to tell him I am fine with that because it will be crappy FANCINESS THAT IS OLD.
But without a real visual tool, I could hear how I sounded:
Then we will find this thing, and that thing, and then we will cut the things in half, and then we will hang half the thing here, and half the thing there, and use the middle of the thing over there.
So I made these faux-kitchens to SHOW him that I had a clear, specific plan… Not that the plan is executable – but it EXISTS… To me, this is basically the same.
When I showed the mockup to Paul, I asked him – does this appeal to you in THEORY? I mean, I understand there are a lot of variables. But does the hypothesis appeal to you?
And Paul said – no… Finding any piece of furniture that is an exact fit is going to be impossible. Then it is going to be up to me to retrofit it. THEN not one single piece will be perfectly level. Then cutting into furniture and keeping the stability and integrity to support the counter. Then matching veneer, stain, patina of the wood… It’s madness.
We have had this conversation at least 57,000 times. The first 56,999 times, the conversation was a prelude to me going out and buying some piece of craigslist crap that is now stored in the garage.
I would have blogged about them, but generally, immediately after bringing them home I found that Paul was right after all… (But that I was also right; because now they are mine, and no one else will be able to have them.)
Now for some life-hodgepodge… over the last few weeks, we spent vacation at the beach with Elvis, my parents, and my brothers and their significant others… came home and did the 19 loads of laundry mysteriously generated by two people in one week of vacation… picked the 50 pounds of cucumbers that grew in seven days, finished an enormously stressful work project, took Elvis to chemo, picked another 50 pounds of tomatoes, froze 10 vats of pesto, (which grinds down to nothing,)… and informed Paul that all tomatoes other than Brandywine are nonsense, and his feelings about getting an earlier crop will be disregarded next year.
We also had our eleven-year wedding anniversary, (watch our wedding recap,) and Lara got married… which I ended up going to alone, because for my own sanity, someone had to be with Elvis, and even though my mother volunteered to come stay with her the days we were gone, A— I only trust Paul to be able to give her the pills. And B— I don’t want Elvis’s routine disturbed.
On top of everything, I was in this wedding, and the weeks leading up to it had a lot of bridesmaid-dress-drama that would be unbelievable as fiction… summation: I didn’t have an actual dress until two days before I left.
You can see some of that on Instagram.
Anyway… normal life chaos should resume now, and my absence here is over. This post is supposed to convey that I am saying goodbye to a repurposed kitchen option and we are going to do traditional cabinets around the exterior walls.
It is hard for me to say goodbye to the possibility of GFT’s and the certainty that one day I will go to Craigslist and THERE IT WILL BE. (Which will obviously happen the exact day our cabinet order is finalized and non-refundable.)
But the time for making decisions has come and gone… And an arrangement of repurposed materials has failed to coalesce.
You can stop reading now… nothing else interesting is going to happen. I’m just going to write a bunch of words about what we are NOT doing.
There are plenty of problems with these mockups, but the biggest one is that none of these base cabinets exist.
I mean, I have SEEN plenty of antique sideboards. But none of them have actually been the right size where you could cut off either end and have the side-pieces fit the space perfectly… not to mention also being magically the right height for the countertop.
Aside from the slight problem of zero materials that fit in the space, the second issue with doing anything nontraditional around the perimeter is:
A – how do you connect the two walls? Are they two separate kitchen areas?
B – assuming the sink and stove area must be separated because how can you wrap an antique buffet around a corner… you are losing a lot of counter space.
But forcing the sink wall to be unconnected to any other counter space would have given me the option of using this vintage, standalone sink.
$25 is a crazy good price, and this was a rare instance when I was GLAD some Craigslister beat me to it… I would have been compelled to drive far to get a sink that I really have no use for, just because the price was so good.
Vintage apron-fronts with a centered basin are expensive, depending on condition. Here is one on eBay for over $2,000. (Even more rare is a double-basin and double-drainboard sink.)
Okay, random end to post… I hope you all are enjoying the last bit of summer!
September 17, 2015 @ 10:17 am
It’s nice to see you posting again. I hope Elvis is doing better. Best wishes, Silvana
September 17, 2015 @ 10:17 am
Only two cabinet doors? Why not just have them made by a cabinet maker to pair with the piano?
September 17, 2015 @ 4:04 pm
I like Kathy’s idea. Okay, so it won’t be antique…but it could be the next best option. Get the look you want, and be done with it. Paul will thank you, you will thank you, and you’ll have more time to spend with Elvis.
P.S. Please give her a snuggle for me.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:19 am
Wishing the three of you well, and some peace within the normal chaos 🙂
September 17, 2015 @ 10:20 am
At least you have to awesome island, that has to count for something. Anyway you really would hate all those open shelves next to a stove, the grease goes everywhere so if you get glass front uppers you can still show off all you treasures. Best wishes for you and Elvis.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:24 am
Ah, reality rears it’s ugly head. Paul will install conventional cabinetry and you can add giant fancy pulls and knobs and cool funky (and sparkly) lighting and accent with your Japanese rice scoop filled with potholders (cause everybody has a Japanese rice scoop) or something else unique to you and it will work perfectly and it will all look fabulous and your one-of-a-kind piano island will stand out as it should.
And you’ll be done with kitchen remodeling hell. And plotting your next project which will be even more giant and fancy because Paul now owes you big time for giving up on the GFT kitchen cabinets.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:25 am
I may have mentioned this before, but that green sink’s cousin was left on my folks pump house, after they had passed and we had spent about ten or fifty years cleaning the place up. My Dad had it secured to the pump house for his cleaning fish sink. We slogged through the big clean up and all of us picked things we wanted and we filled a 20 yard dumpster and had an estate sale. My nephew was hired to finish the job and he filled another 20 yard dumpster. Meanwhile that sink stayed there. I don’t know what happened to it. Chagrined.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:27 am
So sorry about Elvis, but congrats on giving in to new cabinets. I pushed my husband (another saintly Paul) for authentic standing seam tin roofs and other fancy old details when we restored our 1890 Victorian fifteen years ago, and frankly we would have been fine with the newer composite materials he recommended. Lower maintenance and great look.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:28 am
Prayers for Elvis. Hope she is feeling comfortable. Love all your fancy things ideas.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:28 am
Oh thank God you posted. I was thinking about you just yesterday and concerned that your world was completely upside down due to Elvis’s illness, and that perhaps you had spent the past month huddled in a (fancy) corner, not eating or showering and just petting your kitty. Glad to see you are still up to your GFT shenanigans and keeping Paul on his toes.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:30 am
Well you know…good for you. You can now put your abundant energy and creativity into something else. Don’t look back.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:31 am
So sorry about the death of the dream … darn practical husbands with building skills. I had big dreams of loosing my upper cabinets, or at least inserting an antique wall hung in place of one of them. Nope … practicalality won out. Thanks for the giggles … love your writing! Oh and just started following you on instagram as flea.o.logy.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:34 am
Piano reinvented as an island — sounds like enough fancy to cover several kitchens.
Pats to Elvis — wishing you all well.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:35 am
So happy to read a new post and that all is going well. I know the frustration of having a vision and not being able to execute it only too well. I despise the word “settle”, but sometimes we just have to give in and let go of some of our dreams , and settle – easier said than done. You have a fantastic sense of style, and I am sure your kitchen will be amazing – with or without the BFT!!!
September 17, 2015 @ 10:37 am
I think you should talk to Kristy at 4 the love of wood (Fb ) because she us a master at creating new stuff out of old
September 17, 2015 @ 10:39 am
Sometimes a roadblock on an idea takes us in a new direction that we end up being happier with and then we are THANKFUL for the roadblock. I have a feeling this will be true of your kitchen!
September 17, 2015 @ 10:40 am
Welcome back! What happened to the piano island?
September 17, 2015 @ 10:43 am
We still love you Victoria… you have plenty of house to fill with GFTs
Posting on FB, and G+!
September 17, 2015 @ 10:43 am
That $25 sink – exactly what we had in our family house. I am currently renovating my kitchen and I dream about getting that sink- but it wouldn’t fit anyway. I admire your determination and wish you could have your dream. I had to fight with my husband and contractor just to not have upper cabinets!
September 17, 2015 @ 10:45 am
Oh Elizabeth! I’m SO glad you still have a bit of time with Elvis. Have you considered finding just some cool sets of cabinet doors to use on new cabinets? That is MY kitchen sink with the high back and double drainboards. Those things are jewels. There is no place for grey slime to grow. We’re about to install a second, matching single-drainboard sink so I’m getting in Zeke’s way when he’s cooking. Good luck with the remodel… Now I’ll go check out the wedding.
September 17, 2015 @ 10:47 am
Paul is a saint. Why? Because he knew the GFT cabinets would never work, and yet, let you explore every conceivable possibility, wasting valuable completed-kitchen time, until you finally came to that conclusion yourself. There, I said it. Of course, I still love you! I would do the same exact thing, but my “Paul” (his real name is Frank) would have been only slightly less patient.
You see, we just re-modeled our kitchen with (manufactured) white beadboard cabinets, granite countertops, and a stainless single-well farmhouse sink. This came after two years of my desperately trying to re-do, rehab, and refurbish the old cabinets. So you see, we are twins separated at birth. What our cabinets were before would not qualify as “giant” or “fancy”, but I was wanting to save money. I can only console myself for having found the most gorgeous, definitely FANCY, stainless hardware known to man… at a yard sale for $15. This alone saved us $262! I’ll take that small victory after living in an upside-down mess for two years.
Kiss Paul and cook him something good to eat. Goodness knows he earned it. And ENJOY your new kitchen. After all, you need to rest up… Christmas is right around the corner and soon it will be time to toss some tinsel! We’ve missed you. Glad you’re back!
P.S. No Navy SEALS were involved in the remodeling of my kitchen, which is the saddest thing of all.
September 17, 2015 @ 4:11 pm
P.S. No Navy SEALS were involved in the remodeling of my kitchen, which is the saddest thing of all.
I am rolling!