Some of my helpers checking out the work to be done!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Rolling pantry
I bought this from Improvements Catalog and put it together tonight. It takes the place of cabinets we had to give up in the renovation.
Temporary counters
For now we're using some plywood as counter tops on the unit that used to house the stove/oven combo.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Kitchen Remodel Part 2
We are almost done with the first half of the kitchen. Due to my insistence that we remove the popcorn ceiling, our efforts were delayed by about two days because it took much longer. Trust me folks, you DON'T want to remove this stuff!!! Not only was it extremely difficult to take off, but I found out later that it probably contained asbestos, a known carcinogen. Anyway, here's a tour of the pictures below.... the first one is my husband, Mike relaxing at the dining room table with our dogs hanging out around him. As you can see, the refrigerator had been relocated in to the dining room. I got kind of used to sitting on my chair and just reaching in the fridge for something! This old fridge is one reason for the remodel. My good one has been housed in the basement because it didn't fit the opening in the kitchen. Mike nearly lost his legs trying to get the other one upstairs when they collapsed under the weight of the fridge. My brother luckily was able to support the weight from the bottom of the stairs until Mike caught his breath.
The soffit with recessed lighting and ceiling fan, both of which came down in the remodel.
The damaged ceiling after popcorn removal. The wires showing on the right side of the ceiling are the radiant heat. Love the clean warmth it provides!
The repaired soffitless ceiling. (gee spell-check doesn't like that word!)
My brother (in red) and future son-in-law trying to find the studs in the wall with my new Black and Decker stud finder. Seems as though it doesn't work, so they ended up doing it the old-fashioned way... knock, knock, knock, nail, nail, nail.
Future SIL, Matt, helping put a lower cabinet back in place.
YIPPEE!!!! Cabinets are back in place!!! We relocated this corner unit from the opposite corner of the kitchen so the refrigerator could go on the other end instead of sticking out half-way through the doorway. I love this corner unit because there's a huge three-tiered lazy susan in it. Great for all the canned goods and miscellaneous food items.
Upper cabinets, new Kenmore Elite microhood (microwave, convectionoven and range hood all in one), Kenmore stove and circa 1996 Kenmore side-by-side fridge.
Microhood and stove. I'm still reading the instructions for the microhood because I need to learn how to use the convection oven. It's time to go bake some shortcake for the strawberries and whipped cream we forgot about yesterday.
The soffit with recessed lighting and ceiling fan, both of which came down in the remodel.
The damaged ceiling after popcorn removal. The wires showing on the right side of the ceiling are the radiant heat. Love the clean warmth it provides!
The repaired soffitless ceiling. (gee spell-check doesn't like that word!)
My brother (in red) and future son-in-law trying to find the studs in the wall with my new Black and Decker stud finder. Seems as though it doesn't work, so they ended up doing it the old-fashioned way... knock, knock, knock, nail, nail, nail.
Future SIL, Matt, helping put a lower cabinet back in place.
YIPPEE!!!! Cabinets are back in place!!! We relocated this corner unit from the opposite corner of the kitchen so the refrigerator could go on the other end instead of sticking out half-way through the doorway. I love this corner unit because there's a huge three-tiered lazy susan in it. Great for all the canned goods and miscellaneous food items.
Upper cabinets, new Kenmore Elite microhood (microwave, convectionoven and range hood all in one), Kenmore stove and circa 1996 Kenmore side-by-side fridge.
Microhood and stove. I'm still reading the instructions for the microhood because I need to learn how to use the convection oven. It's time to go bake some shortcake for the strawberries and whipped cream we forgot about yesterday.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Kitchen Renovation Part 1
The story behind these pictures is below them because I haven't been able to figure out how to insert the pictures at the end of my story...
Before
After not being able to cook on my broken stove for over a year a decision was made to replace it. Since it was a circa 1969 Nutone 24-inch wide unit with matching wall oven there was not an economical way to replace both units, so we decided to rearrange the cabinets and buy a free-standing range. My dreams of finally owning a smooth glass top range came crashing down when the salesman at Sears told me I couldn't do any canning with my huge pressure cooker on it. So, back to the drawing board, but WAIT! Good news, I was able to get a fancier microhood than originally planned with the money saved by not getting the smooth top range. Now I'll have a convection/microwave combo with the exhaust fan underneath (built in to same unit). The new stove and microhood are bisque. Yeah, I don't go with the crowd and since the crowd likes stainless and I detest cleaning it, bisque it is! The dishwasher didn't come in bisque, go figure, so we got a black one. Last weekend my daughter and her fiance came over to help us pull out the stove/oven unit and rearrange the lower cabinets. I will post those pictures here. Tonight my husband and I removed the huge upper corner cabinet that has an awesome three-tiered lazy susan inside. It's going where the refrigerator used to be on the other end of the same wall. Man was it ever dirty! Since there's an open gridwork on the door rather than solid wood, all kinds of dust and grime got inside. Of course we couldn't see it because of all the cans stacked inside. Anyway, let me see if I can remember how to post pictures...
Before
During
After not being able to cook on my broken stove for over a year a decision was made to replace it. Since it was a circa 1969 Nutone 24-inch wide unit with matching wall oven there was not an economical way to replace both units, so we decided to rearrange the cabinets and buy a free-standing range. My dreams of finally owning a smooth glass top range came crashing down when the salesman at Sears told me I couldn't do any canning with my huge pressure cooker on it. So, back to the drawing board, but WAIT! Good news, I was able to get a fancier microhood than originally planned with the money saved by not getting the smooth top range. Now I'll have a convection/microwave combo with the exhaust fan underneath (built in to same unit). The new stove and microhood are bisque. Yeah, I don't go with the crowd and since the crowd likes stainless and I detest cleaning it, bisque it is! The dishwasher didn't come in bisque, go figure, so we got a black one. Last weekend my daughter and her fiance came over to help us pull out the stove/oven unit and rearrange the lower cabinets. I will post those pictures here. Tonight my husband and I removed the huge upper corner cabinet that has an awesome three-tiered lazy susan inside. It's going where the refrigerator used to be on the other end of the same wall. Man was it ever dirty! Since there's an open gridwork on the door rather than solid wood, all kinds of dust and grime got inside. Of course we couldn't see it because of all the cans stacked inside. Anyway, let me see if I can remember how to post pictures...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Kansas Pictures
Yesterday I made the switch from Internet Explorer 7 to Firefox after spending two days not being able to log in to my new favorite site: Swap-bot.com. Well if you know how that site works, you HAVE to be able to log in to find out who your swap partners are, read and leave comments, and so on. Imagine my frustration when the ONLY site that wouldn't allow me in was that one! Sign from God? Well I refused to accept that as an answer, so decided to go with an alternative. Anyone else out there using it? Comments? Anyway.... while looking over my quick links I found this site that I had forgotten about. Yeah, crazy that a state employee forgot about the official state site, huh? Well it's true! If you want to see some awesome pictures of Kansas, go here
It is the official State of Kansas web site and these photos have been submitted by local citizens. It was a nice reminder for me after weeks of cold, snow and ice to remember that in the spring, summer and fall we really do have some very nice geography. Now, it's back to my bookmarks...
It is the official State of Kansas web site and these photos have been submitted by local citizens. It was a nice reminder for me after weeks of cold, snow and ice to remember that in the spring, summer and fall we really do have some very nice geography. Now, it's back to my bookmarks...
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Perks of being over 50
My older sister sent this to me today and I just had to share it with you. It's all soooooo true!
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run--anywhere.
4. People call at 9 PM and ask, Did I wake you????
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won't wear out.
8. You can eat supper at 4 PM.
9. You can live without sex but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won't get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to payoff.
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells are finally down to manageable size.
19. You can't remember who sent you this list.
And you notice these are all in BIG PRINT for your convenience.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
January Musings
I am sitting here with my lovely daughter showing her how to do some things in MS Word 2007. One of them is to create a blog and publish it, so let's show her how it works!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Recycled plastic bag tote in progress
I finally took five hours to cut strips of plastic bags with my rotary cutter, then spent the next two days hooking the loops together and rolling into balls so I could begin crocheting this tote bag. The next thing might be a rug for the garage using double strands and a large crochet hook. It was really quite relaxing doing all the cutting, tying and rolling. The actual crocheting is a little tough, especially when I get to the rubbery bags with the red circles (you all know the store name...) because they don't slide across the hook the way the other do. The bag will be very tough, durable and very washable. Below you will see the series of pictures showing the stack of strips, then pile of strips tied together, then the balls wound up.
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