Open Sesame

If you click on one of the photos and scroll, the doors open and close.

The uppers are done and loaded with stuff

The uppers are finished and I love them.  They look like cabinets from the time and style of our house.  And they are very convenient.  John did a great job.

Floor Seven and a Half

I think John felt like he was on floor seven and a half a lot of the time when he was painting the uppers but you can't really feel sorry for him since he insisted on doing it himself.

Raised beds

I'm not a big raised bed fan but I like these.

We saw them on our walk to the library.

Nesting Days

I was struck by the nesting bug and did a fair amount of baking and cooking these past two days.  I made chocolate chip cookies for John; he loves having them in the freezer.  We had to dig out the big mixer and a few special ingredients because I hadn't expected to be baking until the kitchen was done.  It did take quite a bit more time to make the cookies than it usually does.

Making cookies

Yesterday we made an especially delicious chicken pot pie... talk about comfort food.  It did make a lot of  messy dishes but it was worth it.

I've also been collecting things for the blind corner time capsule.  I am putting in some local menus, advertisements, receipts, catalogs, manuals for electronics and whatever else I can find that says "today" to me.  I am putting the things in local business cardboard boxes (Rejuvenations, Portland Nursery, local crafted beer).  I am still trying to figure out what to do about photos...

John was looking really tired so I insisted that he take a couple days off.  He looks much more rested now.  The prep is done on the kitchen cabinets and today we commence painting.  I am not allowed to actually paint his new cabinets but instead will act as his handmaiden.  We are starting with the insides of the cabinet uppers.  The shelves are already painted so in just a few days, the upper cabinets should be usable.

Big Business Tomato

Kumato tomatoes are available year round and they are good, believe it or not.  I am not crazy about their business model, but the tomatoes are great, good enough to eat with just salt and pepper.  They are available locally at Zupans and I read on the web that Trader Joe's also carries them.

http://www.yumsugar.com/What-Kumato-Brown-Tomatoes-13490363

Spring treat

It rained for a week and we got three inches of rain in that week.  It's also been unseasonably cold.  Although the forecast for today called for mostly cloudy and chilly,  the sun came out and it was a really beautiful day.  It was even more of a treat because it wasn't expected.  I worked in the garden and we ran an errand on foot and then we sat on the porch.  I think a day that has those three activities is a pretty darn good day.  I feel so satisfied tonight.

I didn't think to take any photos until about 7:30 tonight and there was less light than my camera likes.  Or less than I know how to deal with.

Cold and dark and rainy

It's raining and it's cold.  The rain and the cold are both record breaking.   We need the rain but the cold is a little out of hand.  All I want to do is curl up and stay warm.  We closed all the windows and put another quilt on the bed.  We even turned the heat on.  We did go for a short walk but I was cold and didn't enjoy it.  I did enjoy futzing in the garden a little, staking a few things beaten down by the rain.

We've both been working on surfaces today.  John painted all the shelves, two coats on each side.  Then he put some plywood sheets on top of the cabinets as a temporary counter top; he can also stand on the plywood to paint the upper cabinets.   I've been making marmoleum liners for the drawers, like I did for the island drawers last year.  The marmoleum works great for drawer liners.  I only have two left to do.  My wrist has complained some but not much.

I couldn't resist getting out one of the sink cabinet drawer fronts to see how it will be.  It's so cool to see the kitchen come together.  There is still much to do, mostly to do with surfaces but the scale is there and the shapes are there.

                     

layout for drawer liners

Today's progress

Today John installed the drawers.

 

more pretending

Either lying down on the job or working on the kick...

my 42 inch wide moby drawer

 counter top sample zodiaq wintergreen

Ready for counter top template!

We are ready for the counter top fabricator to do the template, which happens Wednesday.  John has a few small tasks tomorrow.  My sink, the queen of the kitchen, is in her place (though not yet plumbed).  She is gorgeous.  There is much elation tonight.  Still deciding what to call her... maybe Queen Crosspatch after the fairy queen.

Here is the countertop sample next to the sink

Before

Now

Now is still pretty unfinished.  No drawers yet.  No cabinet hardware.  No counter top.  No window sill.  No faucet.  No back splash.  Floor is partially covered with ramboard, which is a kind of cardboard floor protection.  New cabinets are not painted yet.  Cabinets are empty.  We are also changing the lighting over the sink.  Still, it looks so much better to me.  I like the lines of the new upper cabinets much better.  And the lowers don't have that chopped up stuff to accommodate the dishwasher and the blind corner cabinet.    We have much better and more accessible storage, even without the blind corner.

We made the uppers on the wall with the window two inches less deep to let in more light.  They start two inches lower than the old ones, which makes them look right (more graceful)  and also make the storage more accessible to me since I am short.  That's the great thing about custom cabinets.  They can be right sized for the space.

John is a foot taller than I am and one of our challenges was making the kitchen work for a tall and a short person.  The pullout cutting boards are so I have a work surface at the correct height.  The farmhouse sink also helps me.  I often stood on my tiptoes to wash dishes and where I had to bend to use the old sink made my back hurt.

Something old, something new

As the final phase of our twenty year kitchen project comes to a conclusion, it makes me think of the advice for brides to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.  Our kitchen includes lots of new things and several pieces of vintage furniture from the twenties.  So we got old and new covered. I am dropping the borrowed and blue categories and replacing those categories with "local", "ubiquitous" and "unusual".

For local, we plan to use Pratt and Larson tile, which is locally owned and made.  When I go to Pratt and Larson's showroom, I see the tile makers on break in their covered outdoor break area.  I think building with local products used to be more common, but today most things are made outside the US so locally made  products aren't so common.  I like the idea of using something locally made.    Besides, I think the owners of Pratt and Larson are aging hippies like me.  I like that, too.

We are installing the Kohler Whitehaven 36 inch tall apron sink, which is THE ubiquitous trendy sink of today's kitchen remodels.  It's a great sink and deserves its popularity.  Not only is it pretty but it is functional with it's drain tucked in the corner giving extra room under the sink.  It is designed to be easy to install, though it is certainly heavy.  I like the idea of something in our kitchen that marks the time of our remodel.

This is my sink, still in the box, but soon to be installed!

We aren't going to have a dishwasher or a garbage disposal.  I think that covers unusual pretty well.

And I think we will actually wrap up this twenty year project in just eighteen years instead of twenty.  It's good to be early.  I better get busy on that time capsule.  I don't have nearly enough stuff for it yet.

Kitchen Progress

The uppers have their crown molding.  The plaster is fixed.  And, the lowers are in the kitchen, ready for installation.

I love the pullouts and the height of my new work surface.  Here I am pretending.  I can't wait  to put things back in the cabinets.

Glad to see some rain

I am glad it's rainy.  We need the rain.  The back yard is looking nice from the door, especially the honeysuckle, which is blooming and smelling wonderful.