Vintage in My Cozy Winter Home

Day 10 of My Cozy Winter Home with The Nester ... Vintage.

These shelves of vintage items help set the homey tone in our kitchen, year-around.

These pieces from their respective kitchens also bring in my grandmas, mom, and mother-in-law to be with us everyday.

My Cozy Winter Kitchen

My Cozy Winter Home (with @thenester ), Day 5: Kitchen! 

--My favorite and warmest room in our house. 




















It’s lovely and serene when clean and quiet, but full and bustling is even better!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Priceless (Princeful) Decor

Loving these kitchen accessories!  

I don't usually allow literal 'counter-seating.' But sometimes the rules just aren't necessary, and appreciating the view...and the blessings in it... is.  Prince CuddleBunny is growing so fast.  I'll cherish his presence while I can, and the doggies, too.

Back into the Kitchens

Chief Architect:
Home Designer Architectural 2016

No, the plural used in the title wasn't a mistake.  I've been immersed in kitchen design again lately, which I love.  It's been a pleasure to work in my Chief Architect drafting software again, producing 3D renderings to bring dreams and ideas -almost- to life for a few projects.

 - The kitchen part of a whole-house remodel an empty-nesting couple are doing in their 1980's home is coming together.  Their family-friendly banquette is gone; that seating area exchanged for a baking center for the pie-baking husband.  The new seating, now for grandchildren, will transfer to their new island, which sits where the wall, between kitchen and living room, used to be.  


The gifted cabinets.  They'll be painted
white. She was without a lazy susan in
her corner cabinet before, so this older
version (the door spins in) is an upgrade.

 - Old church and homeschooling friends are working together to redo a water-damaged kitchen for a deserving family in their 70's home.  We are re-purposing donated cabinets for all of the bases, with new, taller uppers to maximize storage.  This situation creates opportunity to remove walls and redesign the layout.  Their big family will benefit from the open design with an island, offering better traffic flow and much more countertop workspace than they had previously.

 - My nephew is remodeling the kitchen in his turn-of-the (19th to 20th)-century home, upgrading appliances and adding an island, while maintaining location of plumbing and venting for economy's sake.  He had the design figured out, and I just put his vision into renderings, so he could double check before diving in.  He's chosen classic Shaker style cabinets in white, respecting the age/style of the home and ensuring the modest space is not overwhelmed... though a wall oven, gas rangetop, stainless apron front sink, and, hopefully, quartz countertops will help modernize it and create a chef's-level work environment.                                            

 - An e-friend I met on the Gardenweb kitchen forum will be, I hope, finally getting the kitchen we've been discussing for years.  Their home has been under construction, but in an area of extreme weather, so the building window is small. It requires patience, but is giving her the time she needs to be certain about making the kitchen the best it can be.  It will be an immense upgrade to the tiny space she baked in as her family grew. She's trying to balance a homey look with simple, clean lines, and surfaces that are easy to maintain.  We just adjusted the plan to replace counterspace she won't miss with a small kitchen table that she'll enjoy daily.

Within our many email messages discussing the goals for her design, she shared a link to an inspiration kitchen, a Houzz Kitchen of the Week. All of the Douglas fir and the beautiful windows definitely make it swoon-worthy. If I could have an awesome kitchen like the one in this 'microhouse,' maybe I could warm to Hubby's dream of building a tiny house. Well, since this kitchen is probably larger than an actual 'tiny house,' maybe I'll just say I could be OK with 'tinier...'

Kitchen of the Week: A Warm and Eco-Friendly Update

I'm betting you might be hoping for more details and some images of those projects I mentioned... Of course!  Stay tuned...

 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Good Medicine

It is uplifting for a grandma's melancholy heart to have such a cheerful, adorably cute-- and quite insistent! --helper... 
(He pushed and pulled on my legs until I picked him up to let him in on the action.)

And so great to have my kitchen used in one of the ways it was intended, even though baking with grandchildren seemed so far away when it was designed!

Speaking of Kitchen Changes

My husband surprised me one day this summer when he came in and said, "As soon as we get the garage addition finished (ha?), maybe we should just redo the whole kitchen."  And then he went off to do something else.

Uh, what?!  He'd mentioned remaking the never-finished island, but a complete redo?

Several days later, I got the chance to ask more about what he meant.  He had just finished painting the cabinets for the kitchen area in the bonus living area above the garage.  He explained that he was really liking the finish, and followed up with, "I thought maybe we could do some painting in our kitchen, because we have too much wood."

If I was surprised by his first statement, this one had me thinking someone else had inhabited his body.  I couldn't believe my never-can-have-too-much-or-too-many-kinds-of-wood-anywhere-anytime wood craftsman would EVER utter such woodophilic blasphemy.  


I still didn't believe he'd ever seriously consider painting over vertical grain fir, so didn't give it much thought.  

Even though some of my favorite kitchens have white and/or all painted cabinets, I couldn't imagine living in one.  ---Until I saw this kitchen posted on Facebook, from a slideshow of Cottage-Style Rooms by Better Homes and Garden.

All of the sudden I could imagine walking into my kitchen, looking sunny and warm, with creamy white cabinets.  The backsplash and counters would still work beautifully.  It might just get me closer to the sunny-outdoors, bleached-warm-rocks-along-a-lazy-river feel I was after in the room.

Maybe the dark burgundy baking cabinets would be too much contrast and a bit stark, so they would probably have to be repainted.  The backsplash there, though, includes a few softer colors that would work, and allow that backsplash I worked so hard on, and love, to remain.

So, I changed the fir cabs to creamy white, the island to the gray-brown driftwood color as in the inspiration photo, and tried different colors and combos on the baking wall and the dish hutch.  (My new software, Home Designer Architectural 2014,  isn't as fully featured or flexible as the pro version of Chief Architect, so my flooring and stove backsplash run a different direction, and my trim options are a little different than what we have in the house.)

I am still torn.  I love the kitchen the way it is, and am intrigued by how bright and cheery it might look changed.  But am I just antsy, and want to change things for no good reason?  That could be a mistake.  It's not like changing clothes.

Now, these few months later, after thinking, drawing, commiserating... I show the renderings I've worked on, and shared my excitement as well as hesitations with Hubby, hoping to have a good discussion and make a thoughtful and agreed upon decision for our home.  

His response?  "I don't remember saying that..."  

Write31days.com

Changing Something That Wasn't "Me"

I've mentioned before, I think, that when I planned my kitchen, I wanted a Grandma's Baking Kitchen.  I was far from being a grandmother myself at the time, but both of my grandmas were wonderful and prolific bakers.  I wanted a kitchen that, though they never got to see it, they would love.  



I wanted it to seem like a space that should have bread baking in the oven, and pies cooling on the counter.  





It should be full of functional comfort, love, and light... and be a great place to work alongside my kids, and someday, my grandchildren.

I knew it wasn't really "me" when I picked out the lace valance for the window.  But it had tea cups on it!!  One of my grandmothers, the one who had passed away most recently, collected tea cups, and this reminded me of her.  Even though I wasn't a particular fan of lace and/or ruffled valances, it was a way to include her in the kitchen, in a more obvious way.

But the rod, stretching so far for such a wide window, always drooped.  The lace got dusty, and the style continued to fight with the rest of the room.  One day I was checking to see what photos from my blog had been posted to Pinterest, and found these that were originally found on My Kitchen page.  

That particular post must have been removed now, because I can no longer find the comment.  But it said something complimentary... about liking the look of the materials and colors in the kitchen, followed by: 'except for the lace window treatment.'  I so agreed with that comment that I knew the lace teacups had been there long enough and had to go.

So now I have new pics of that side of the room.

I still need a backsplash on that wall.  I still need trim on the top of the hutch, and all the other upper cabinets, in fact.  I still need to paint the chairs around the kitchen table.  --Eggplant, or a mix of eggplant and red, I think.  And the island was never finished.

Ah, well.  A little at a time.

Write31days.com

My "Forever Kitchen" at 5 Years

5 years ago yesterday, after 18 months of DIY building, and almost 2 years with the 10 of us squeezed housed in a 30-year old, 900 square foot, single-wide mobile home, we got our long-awaited Certificate of Occupancy.

We're still not finished with all the details, as you probably know, but at that point not all the cabinet doors were finished, the wood for the island top was piled on the island, dishwasher panels were yet to be made, carpentry tools sat amongst our cooking tools, etc., etc.  

 

But we were thrilled to have a working stove and running water, and permission to turn them on!  We had stir-fry that night,  having long wondered how it would be to actually stir-fry over a gas flame, as opposed to pretty much steaming a similar dinner on an electric range.

It was a welcome sight to see this go away!!!!!  It did it's job for us,
and we'd been thankful it existed... But we were more than finished with it.

I plan to follow up with how our choices have endured the last 5 years.  Most things I'm very happy about.  Some things I would've done differently.  More of that ahead.

New floor!

Almost every time a member of the family walks into the kitchen, they say, "I love this floor!"  

I'm not sure if they love it that much more than the Marmoleum Click we had, or just more than the torn  up floor with disintegrating acoustic pad.  ;-)  (That story, and the options we were considering were discussed in Torn Between Two Covers)

It's the DevineLock plank vinyl tiles by DevineColor, in their Burr Oak color.  It seems solid, but comfy to stand on, and it also seems like it will hide a bit of everyday mess, be easy to clean, and according to our research, as well as the feel in person, be tough enough to wear well and keep looking nice over time.

It's lighter than I expected, since it appears that the sample we had was a section of the darkest shades.  But that's I think lighter than expected is probably better than darker.  I really have to paint our kitchen chairs now, though, as they look so blah, without any contrast to the lighter floor.

And it took a lot of the night, but I finally got our dining room from looking like this...

To this, to prepare for today's family Christmas celebration:

2 Days 'til Christmas!!!

Timing is Everything

Sometimes timing doesn't work out perfectly, but you just have to go with it.

Princess Bossy and Prince Helium arrived yesterday from their state far away... Yay!  On Sunday we'll be hosting a family Christmas celebration for approximately 27.  It's an event I very much look forward to, but have yet to prepare any food or baked goodies, and I still have gifts to sew.

But my dining room and kitchen currently look like this...

Complete with dogs' behinds...
and I'm too lazy tired to take & upload another shot of chaos

And this photo is too wide... but see lazy comment above

A bit of a disaster, to be sure, but it's a sign of good things to come, like, specifically, 

OUR NEW KITCHEN FLOOR!  

It goes in today, and I'm so excited to have that accomplished.  Not only am I eager to see how it looks, feels, and performs, but after having our the floor, plus baseboards, at different stages of "torn up" and piled in different areas of the house since September, I am SO looking forward to having my house put back together!  Hopefully, well before 2 PM on Sunday...  ;-)

Move-In Ready Kitchen

You may remember that in TKO Tuesday: Jazzing Up a Stock Plan, I first introduced this kitchen plan, and explained how Hubby has taught homebuilding and cabinetmaking for the last 18 years or so.  The construction class builds a home in the community for which the cabinetmaking class builds and installs the cabinets.  I told you, also, that Hubby had passed on the construction class to another teacher, but he is still in charge of cabinets.

Well, his fall off the ladder in early June and the resulting broken shoulder, severely changed his cabinet installation schedule, and instead of by the end of June, he just got finished this past weekend... In time for the new homeowners to close on the sale Monday night!

I thought you might want to see the result.  It's not my choice of colors and styling, which is what happens when men in a hurry (who are most excellent craftsmen/husbands/fathers/community service guys, but aren't exactly Totally Kitchen Obsessed and up on all the latest trends) consult only the layout 

and not the rendering.  ;-)

But since this is likely a starter home for a young couple who are happy to be moving out of an apartment, I think they will be thrilled with their new house and kitchen.  And maybe they'll appreciate the clean lines of this more transitional style, anyway.

Taken at night, with flash, the colors aren't quite accurate.  The island is quite gray, leaning a little
toward taupe, rather than bluish

Having the Marmoleum Pulled Out from Under Me

As it went in.  It's quite DIY friendly.   Ours was
mostly installed by, then 18 year old, Stoic,
and his 12 year old helper, Inventive

Issue #1:  The salesman warned me that I couldn't put the dog's water dish on our Marmoleum Click kitchen floor.  But I did it anyway.  I wasn't totally stupid about it, I didn't think, because I put a larger baking pan underneath to catch the slops. 

I have loved the retro look and soft sheen.  The pattern has
interest, but doesn't demand attention.
It's been comfortable to walk on, and is fairly easy to clean.
I'm OK with a bit of 'patina,' as this scratches & scuffs a bit,
but I don't think it ruins the look.

Unfortunately, at some point, moisture got underneath and condensed on the metal pan, keeping the floor damp, and expanding the seam just a bit.  Not noticeable by anyone but Hubby and me, so no biggie.  We moved on and moved the water dish outside.

Issue #2:  Princess Sassy and Prince Steadfast's puppy, Henry, liked to chew.  He especially liked to play with and chew water bottles.  Empty or full, they were tremendous fun to him, either rolling or crackling.  We stored the extra cases of water from the wedding receptions under my little desk.  From an open end of a partial case, he would occasionally get hold of a bottle, chase it around the house, and grab it in his mouth.
  Eventually, it would break open and we'd have a frustrating, but harmless, puddle to clean up.  (It was better than his other puddles!)

He made his way through that partial case of bottles and it was the end of the problem.  
We thought.  
Until we found that he'd tried to get into the remaining, sealed case, biting through one of the bottles, which leaked a lake trapped under the box.  (We'd underestimated how tenacious he could be.) We discovered that when the flooring started to swell in front of the desk and across the doorway between the back hall and entry.  It wasn't a large hill, just a bubbled up spot that was springy as we stepped from one area to the other.  Over time, it dried and shrunk.  Not completely back into place, but it was ignorable.

Wetness on the underside of the flooring planks

Issue #3, AKA: The Last Straw:  One morning in September the floor in front of our main sink seemed a little springy.  Day-by-day, the springiness grew along with the height of the floor.  The mountain of flooring got high enough that we were tripping over it.  (Being an incompetent blogger, I neglected to take it's picture for sharing.)  The flooring in that spot was obviously ruined, and I pulled it up to find that it was quite wet underneath, the wettest place situated between the sink cabinet and the dishwasher to its right.  We, of course, quit using the dishwasher, which caused a whole 'nother set of aggravations in a household that produces a LOT of dirty dishes.

You can see the water stains on the pad.
This messy-looking exposure only got worse,
as it's tough to not have flooring in the messiest part of the room

Hubby said we need to replace the flooring.  Of course, we 'abused' the Marmoleum Click in a way that no wood-fiber-cored material could handle.  It wasn't technically the flooring's fault.  But they were just things that happen in a busy household and kitchen, and we need a floor that can take it.  We have kids, dogs, 2 dishwashers, and a set of laundry equipment all sitting on that flooring.  It's very likely it'll face water again... Besides, replacing a section of click-together floor means tearing it out to an edge and replacing a large section.  We probably don't have enough flooring on hand, and they don't make our color any more.

We seem to have 3 options for replacement to consider.  I'll leave that discussion for another post.

By the way, like our van's mysterious metally-scraping sound that disappeared as soon as it was in front of the mechanic, the dishwasher, when pulled out as far as we could while still being hooked up, so we could watch it while running, refused to leak.  --Unless it's underneath or behind, where we still can't see it.  Before we replace the floor, we have to pull it out all the way, so that's when we'll do more sleuthing about that.