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64 Comments

  1. Susan Walburn
    November 1, 2017 @ 2:58 pm

    I sure hope Paul has some supporters on the magic, electric interweb too! You have an amazing fan club! Regarding the Bilco doors, have you considered a breezeway to semi-detached sunroom/aka Versailles solution rather than a traditional addition?

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  2. Meg
    November 1, 2017 @ 7:02 pm

    As with all home stuff…know thy self! some stuff looks awesome and I like it but I know who am am and how I live so wont work for me. in theory i love the glass doors…but don’t want to keep the fridge that clean…and the cleaning fairy seems to have forgotten my address.

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  3. Michele
    November 2, 2017 @ 12:31 am

    Hmmm, ok I see a problem- even if you do buy a fridge that looks like an armoire or another huge piece of furniture you are still adding when you want to subtract- correct?

    Ok, I have an idea… (whisper so Paul can’t hear me) have you considered a walk in fridge? that way all paul has to do is add a teensy tiny room off house and all you would see from inside would be a door? And everything would be visible on shelves right in front of Paul?? And you could find some really cool unique door on Craigslist to hang over existing of you don’t want AND still retain your basement access?

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  4. Kelly
    November 2, 2017 @ 4:47 pm

    Thanks so much for the shoutout!! That was such a lovely surprise! We LOVE the bookcase!! AND I am totally, outrageously inspired about what can be done to hide an ugly fridge – that wardrobe!
    Kitchen layouts in an old house are SO HARD to configure. There’s a million ways to arrange things but only one RIGHT way that you have to somehow find after 5,067 attempts on paper. Plus there’s the “what ifs” such as “what if we did a bump out…walled a doorway…added on…take out the chimney…!” The brain-racking is real…

    p.s. – sorry that this thank-you is coming so late – I’ve been having trouble for some odd reason with my comments appearing after submitting. Hopefully this time it works! 🙂

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  5. Kimmothy
    November 3, 2017 @ 7:09 pm

    Hey Victoria,
    The first picture with Jennifer Hughes name under it is the photographer. The kitchen actually belongs to my friends Nate and Kimberly. Their house was featured in House Beautiful. Kimberly designed the refrig area. I can introduce you to her on facebook and she can tell you how she did it. She has lots of tricks for the kitchen.

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    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      November 4, 2017 @ 8:35 am

      I would LOVE that!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

      I’m leaving tomorrow morning for two weeks in New Mexico (my baby brother is getting married!) so my attention span right now is zero, and I’m about to try to cram everything I own into suitcases because of course I am not packed yet… so let me check in with you when I get back and have regained some sanity?!
      xoxo!!

      Reply

  6. j
    November 5, 2017 @ 9:33 pm

    I have an idea that I’m not sure you would be interested in but here it goes. I have written before that I hate built-in cabinets and I use furniture pieces as my kitchen cabinets etc. I also love symmetry as do you.

    I once upon a time a few decades ago decided I did not want to see my fridge it was a side-by-side so I shopped and shopped antique stores and finally one day I found an armoire that was the exact depth of my fridge and the doors were the exact opening plus a few extra inches it was also tall and beautiful. So i removed the back of the armoire and basically slid it over my fridge. This worked because it was heavy and had very sturdy legs.

    The key to this working was the armoire was a few inches wider than the fridge this mattered because I needed to be able to open the armoire then open the fridge doors so I needed the extra inches on each side.

    This kept my fridge intact and the armoire as well all I had to do to change it was remove it put the back on and I had a perfectly good armoire and a fridge I could easily resell when we remodeled again.

    It was sort like the door to Narnia. Was it perfect well it looked just like the last photo you posted but was not attached to the fridge. Yes I had to open the armoire door first but it was fun to have people over and say, could you get the goat cheese from the fridge and they would stand looking around puzzled then I would say in the armoire fridge. They would open the armoire door and to their shock they had to then open the fridge. Everyone loved it.

    The second to last photo could easily be built in place and just slide the fridge in.

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  7. Mary
    November 5, 2017 @ 10:57 pm

    Is there a place that these armoire fridges exist and are sold? Or are they converted to fridges…? Thanks love your blog,just started reading it. I have seen a few of these armoire fridges online, and love them. Thanks,
    Mry

    Reply

  8. Candace Ford
    November 6, 2017 @ 10:06 pm

    My Dear,
    You are not vapid. I’m sure that’s only an adjective for someone who doesn’t love cats (or dogs-I love them both and horses and mules and chickens but never mind.) which I know that you do. You want things a certain way as we all do. The rest of them can just get over it!!!

    Reply

  9. Yvonne
    November 7, 2017 @ 10:48 am

    What’s beyond the 13’6″ line these days? Could you get your symmetry by removing everything from the frig wall, build a walk-in pantry to the left of the sink (with a window), float a farmhouse sink at the tall window (http://www.avso.org/interior-design-ideas/small-kitchen-ideas-and-solutions-for-low-window-sills), put panel ready frig between next windows (to balance pantry), and an island across from all this? Or… still dealing with a chimney stack???

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  10. Mary
    November 7, 2017 @ 12:38 pm

    Oh great, thanks soooo much Victora. Now what am I supposed to tell my inner voice? Please send me a link for where I can find these lovely refrigerator doors.

    Reply

  11. Melissa Love
    November 8, 2017 @ 8:38 pm

    Ahh…the perfect trifecta of form, function, and knowing you were right to procrastinate.

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  12. Suzanne
    November 12, 2017 @ 7:44 pm

    Omg….where did you get that fridge that looks like a piece of furniture. I’m almost thinking someone may be able to re-create this look by cutting the back out of a similar armoire and sliding it over or into the stainless,steel fridge. You woukd probably have to open two doors….the Armouir Doors,tgen the fridge itself doors. But it may be cheaper than buying a whole Frig Armouir.

    Reply

  13. Jessie
    November 30, 2017 @ 5:11 pm

    I look forward to all of your posts. You fill my moment with much laughter and inspiration. I love Paul from afar he is the perfect man.

    Reply

  14. KathyT
    December 22, 2017 @ 11:54 am

    I started reading your blog last night and we are so much alike in our decorating, Craiglist buying and fixation on a single idea at the expense of everything else. I am older and some of these tendensies have changed but I was exactly like you in my youth. The “I bought another mirror, I can feel you judge me.” really hit close to home. Right now I can look straight ahead to see my Carvers Guild black and white tile mirror (200 on Craigslist, I couldn’t talk him down because my hands were shaking with excitement) and to my left I can see my La Barge Chinoiserie Verre Églomisé mirror (75 from junk shop) and to my right is my mirror screen I got on some internet clearance, and I paid to much and blocked out the price. As for the fridges, I can see myself falling in love with the hidden armiore look when I was young and obsessing about it endlessly. My kitchen remodel is almost done but like you I have trouble finishing things. It needs a backsplash and hardware on one area of the kitchen, and the floor redone. Those last choices are toughest because then all the possiblities are spent. I get you. I really do. I even have a Paul type husband (named Steve) but he is the level headed father of my children who really cares if my crazy dreams come true. You made me laugh too.

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  15. Jake
    February 23, 2018 @ 11:35 am

    Perhaps something like this would work as an interim solution? Not the right look, but certainly customizable. http://www.oldhouseguy.com/icebox/

    Reply

  16. samantha gunderson
    January 23, 2019 @ 12:59 pm

    I am in the same refrigerator hell! I am considering putting two Bosch 10 cu. panel ready side by side and adding a beverage mini fridge to my entry way or kitchen…

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  17. Kleep
    April 8, 2019 @ 3:18 pm

    I’m extremely late to the party, but I laughed so hard when I read this. Thank you!!!

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  18. Laura
    May 23, 2021 @ 4:43 am

    Thanks for a laugh out loud this morning! I love your writing. Although the musician in me hates the idea of tearing apart an old piano, the idea is actually quite brilliant! We have a 1900 art nouveau apartment here in Turin, Italy, and have gutted and redone the whole space. That was quite the investigatory process! Of course, after filling it with white furniture and stainglass windows in the interior doors, we had two kids! Yikes. I still have about 573 do it yourself projects, but no time now. My husband is forcing me to use professionals to do the big projects, like renovating a big bookcase (from FB marketplace – people don’t tend to use craigslist much here) into 15x12foot library in our den. It’s killing me. 😉 So I’m living vicariously through blogs like yours! Big greetings from Italy. Laura

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  19. Karen Rowell
    September 15, 2021 @ 4:57 pm

    Love your ideas.

    Reply

  20. Sue Ray
    February 12, 2022 @ 2:33 pm

    I’m new to the blog / can you please refer me to the way you attached the amoire doors to the refrigerator doors AND does your freezer doors open simultaneously with the refri section? Thanks for the reply

    Reply

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