Makeshift kitchen / let the remodel mess begin / EXCITING NEWS.
There are three different floors going on in the kitchen/addition.
Surprisingly, this is not the look I am going for.
The floor needs to be the same throughout the two rooms to make both spaces feel as coherent as possible… We are not going to change the roof line or shape of the addition, (although that half bath is getting evicted,) so we want to be sure that we eliminate as much difference/lines of demarcation as we can.
Here is the space before we started exploding everything. You can read an entire post/see a detailed layout of the addition here.
I do love the original kitchen floor, simply for being original. It has a rustic look that sort of goes with the current kitchen, and it looks okay in pictures, but in reality, it is rough.
It has been sliced and diced, and in places removed/re-patched. Plus, after 125 years, some of the boards have decided that life is not worth living… So we are going to lay new hardwood over it.
This means that either we are going to have to do some (a lot?) of tearing out/repairing… Or install a brand-new subfloor.
We also need to gut at least part of the sink wall.
But because we are still uncertain of the final kitchen plan, we still need some kind of kitchen—we cannot just tear it all out and make it unusable… Or rather, we COULD. But then I would have a nervous breakdown. So we moved the kitchen down into the addition.
Paul hooked up a very long drain for the sink and taught me how to hotwire the garbage disposal.
On one hand— ugh.
On the other hand, I am grateful.
It would have been a LOT faster to just rip it all out, and Paul not (yet) consigning me to the basement utility sink with a rice cooker and a folding table is a kindness that rivals strapping an 8ft tall Kingdom Mirror to the top of a truck and driving it home on a 14-lane highway.
Now.
For the most exciting announcement of all time:
We got our kitchen island.
WHAT! I know!
(If you are new, here was inspiration. Here was what I considered.)
So I have to go… I am working on a video of the acquisition and it is infinitely more interesting than continuing this post.
In the spirit of suspense and having more than zero followers, I posted a teaser photo on Instagram.
I am late, late, late to Instagram, as I am late to everything… I was actually planning to just skip it because the last thing I need is another place where people vote if they like me: facebook! twitter! pinterest! But then I read a thread where other bloggers were talking about the weirdo bloggers who are not on Instagram who are total idiots because all the fun kids are all in the awesome-instagram-sandbox.
And I guess I felt like that was a challenge: to revisit the years between 10 and 18 38 and fix my socially-awkward aversion to the sandbox.
So I have signed up to be a filtered version of the best photo of my best self selected specifically to impress total strangers.
This sounds like such a fantastic use of my time.
From what I have seen, I will be required to get some hair extensions, delicate gold rings (and/or) bohemian jewelry, whimsical throw pillows (and/or) framed prints, succulents (and/or) geometric décor pop-of-color accent, and also take photographs of my feet while showing off at least two of the following: ironically hideous footwear, drink/manicure/bangle combination, distressed jeans, awkwardly positioned thigh gap.
If I’ve missed anything, please let me know?
April 7, 2015 @ 11:38 am
I can’t wait to live through every agonizing decision with you! I’m not even being sarcastic, I seriously can’t wait!
April 7, 2015 @ 11:38 am
I got on Instagram because my blog template had an icon for it and I didn’t know how to get rid of it. I’m an Instagram fail because the only time I remember I have an Instagram account is when I’m eating. Add half-eaten plates of food to your repertoire. It opens up all new photo ops when you are unmanicured, unbangled, dressed in yoga pants, and need a haircut.
April 7, 2015 @ 11:47 am
Have you thought about adding a large deck off the french doors so you wouldn’t have to go up or down stairs to barbecue or entertain, etc. It looks like it would be more than wide enough if you took it to the edge of the original house for a table, lounge chairs or chaises. I would wrap it around the other wall part way and use that space for the barbecue station. If you did this, you could cover up the brick step. You could do smaller blue stone patio below. If you added the deck, could square off the room without any demolition (might have to add a little more concrete or support for squared off portion of walls. Whatever you decide I know it will be wonderful!
April 7, 2015 @ 11:48 am
I love seeing other peoples’ mess.
Btw; just a co-inkydink, I just followed you yesterday on Instagram.
I reactivated mine to do #the100dayproject
April 7, 2015 @ 11:54 am
Of COURSE you’d get your island! Duh. Like anyone who knows you would ever think you wouldn’t get it! Maybe it just took being on instagram? Also, if you’re seeing bangles and bad manis, you’re following the wrong people.
April 7, 2015 @ 11:55 am
I love the roof line and I envy you the high ceiling. However, I do hope the sunflower yellow walls will get evicted, too.
April 7, 2015 @ 11:58 am
You nailed it with what you need to post on Instagram. But, do not forget the cat. Ohhh, the mighty cat pictures on Instagram. Ohhh, AND, check out tagsforlikes.com so you can get a handle on which hashtags are best.
April 7, 2015 @ 1:03 pm
As a fellow owner of ancient and gorgeous Douglas Fir floors which squeak more than the myriad ghost mice living in my basement and are also prone to poking holes in my socks with nails that have suddenly given up the ghost, I spit my morning tea all over my iPad in a sudden burst of hilarity reading your description of the floor boards. You inspire me.
April 7, 2015 @ 1:04 pm
You forgot “floppy boho hat” and maybe “statement red lipstick”, I think? I’m *supposed* to be a photographer “on the side” and I’m not even on Instagram… ! (?) Maybe I’ll take the plunge again now that I know I can follow you! haha. Love your blog and can’t wait to see more kitchen updates!
April 7, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
This is exciting news on so many levels. First and foremost, it means you’ll be post more often since you’ll have great subject matter and second, I know it (your new kitchen) will be fabulous!
xo,
Karen
April 7, 2015 @ 1:32 pm
Macrons! Sheesh. If you can’t take photos do Macrons and your feet at least twice a week, don’t bother. Like blogging, it also helps if you’re LDS.
April 7, 2015 @ 1:47 pm
Well I’m just gobsmacked that you didn’t like the picture of my feet in ironically hideous footwear!!! But seriously, I’m thrilled that your now on instagram and I’m following you.
April 7, 2015 @ 2:03 pm
How exciting. Since I am another decade and a half older than you that makes me officially a sloppy recluse with no plans to join pinterest or twitter or instagram. FaceBook already eats up enough precious time to live my own life, but I’m glad that I can click over and see your island photo anyway.
Enjoy the process! I just leafed through the blog I did of our kitchen remodel 10 years ago. It took six months and we two managed pretty well with the laundry sink, camp stove, toaster oven and electric fry pan. I still have recipes I want to try in that thing, like pineapple upside down cake! Hope you can salvage some of those gorgeous floor boards for another place. I’m still sorry to hear the 1/2 bathroom is getting evicted, maybe since I don’t know how far your outdoor guests will have to go from your bbq deck party to use the facilities. No doubt you’ve got that wired into your master plan. LOL! I’m still trying to figure out how to ADD a half-bath close to the guest bedroom so friends don’t have to tromp through the whole house to get to it.
April 7, 2015 @ 3:00 pm
so excited to see your island and the kitchen re-do! also, that is the most accurate summary of Instagram ever! LOL
April 7, 2015 @ 3:23 pm
Make sure to follow lots of accounts including cats. It makes having to scroll past the thigh gaps worth it.
April 7, 2015 @ 6:52 pm
It’s the bending over to wash dishes in a tub that I couldn’t handle. Too hard on the knees and back. We had a double laundry sink to do dishes in. I made real meals in the basement using a commercial induction cooker I had spent $400 on so I could temper chocolate for dipping truffles. (Crazy, I know, but cheaper than the cheapest home tempering machine, and more versatile.) I used my cast iron pan to make steaks and fish and all kinds of things, and the microwave to cook vegetables and the occasional baked potato. We ate sitting at our old kitchen table and stored our cook and tableware in our old kitchen cabinets, which we had our contractor move down and hang in various places, thus giving us basement storage we had never had. We even saved the counter with a run of lowers so I had a prep location. Oh, and we put our old refrigerator in the garage, so all I had to do was open the door connecting the basement and garage, and the fridge door was right there I was rather proud of our makeshift kitchen and had fun cooking down there–for a while. Even such a good setup gets old when your kitchen reno goes on for months. I used to muse on how a third world family would think they had died and gone to heaven if they could live in our basement (which is heated and also has a large bedroom and full bath), when it was set up to cook and eat in. And we live in a modest house–nothing fancy about our basement.
Speaking of fancy, the Versailles pic has me panting with eagerness to see your acquisition. Don’t make us wait too long!
April 7, 2015 @ 7:09 pm
” . . . awkwardly position thigh gap.”
Thank you for that. I thought I was the only person who noticed (and, obviously, ADMIRED) such things.
April 7, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
Yours is the 1st blog I’ve felt compelled to comment on. New and different – I’m excited to see your island and the kitchen. In fact your whole house! I very much enjoy your blog, your humour and your decorating adventures. 🙂 you go girl!!!!
April 7, 2015 @ 8:04 pm
I hope you don’t stp using your blog. I can’t wait to see what you have come up with….but I don’t do Instagram or all this Tech stuff. It ticks me off that you have to sign up, become a member, get an ID just to say hello, or someone did a really great job! Maybe I’m an old fart….don’t care about that either….but I do, do my nails if that counts….
April 7, 2015 @ 10:46 pm
You guys are not getting to the right places on Instagram. There are so many cool, not silly fashion, people to follow. I’m a grandma and totally addicted.
Love the Versailles, I’m sure it will be fabulous!