Updates & Kitchen Kickoff!

I don't know how it's happened, but it's already February. Between work and school, the year is already getting away from me. Pickles has let me know just what she thinks about that:

Here are a few updates from the past six weeks.

1. More tidying and decluttering!

2. A new neighbor moved in and brought us this beautiful orchid:

3. Momma Arave sent us an exciting & accurate interpretation of our lives here on Mars, made out of horseshoe crab egg pod things that wash up on the beach in Virginia. It features AJ on the taiko drum, and me at the DuserHaus counter, with beer glasses:

And complete with a mouse behind the cabinet:

Thank you, Momma Arave!

4. We have decided to redo the kitchen this summer! And we're planning to do most of the work ourselves.

As everyone knows by now, the floor under the current kitchen cabinets has gaps that cold air & inquisitive mice sneak through. After we tear out the cabinets, we will have Mr. Bunkport seal and level those parts of the floor. Then, we will retile those spots ourselves (maybe).

Instead of installing a slick new set of cabinets, which is expensive and a ton of work, we are going to go for an older style, where the furniture is a collection of freestanding pieces (which we plan to get from flea markets, etc. and refinish over the next few months). In addition to saving us a lot of money, the end result will be a better fit with the eclectic style we have throughout the house.

We're still working through the details of the layout, but to keep costs down and keep the time to completion as short as possible, we're not planning to move the stove or sink. We're also hoping to be able to reuse some of the existing upper cabinets.

Here are some drawings (from Ikea's Home Planner tool) that show what we're currently thinking, featuring:

• sets of drawers and an armoire of some sort for pantry space on the left (but probably not that tall)
• existing freestanding bookcase next to the fridge
• some kind of wheelie cart next to the stove (but wooden)
• the addition of a vent hood above the stove (we don't have one now -- we have to open the windows anytime AJ fries something, which is annoying when it rains)
• a break in the currently L-shaped counter between the stove and sink to enable full use of the three feet to the right of the stove (right now the whole back corner is barely reachable)
• replacement of some of the upper cabinets with open shelving

Something along those lines, maybe. Susie has already improved the design with some ideas. If anyone else has thoughts on what might work well, we're all ears!

We also bought our first piece of furniture for the project last week. AJ happened to see this 1930's-era Occidental stove in a Salvation Army last Saturday, and, happily, it was still there when we went to check it out on Wednesday:

It's just over 4 feet long and 4 feet tall. That's a five gallon bucket to the right, to give some scale. Showing the dog for scale isn't as helpful, because not everyone reading this knows how big Pickles is, but it's cute, so here she is:

Getting it home was an adventure. We expected it to be heavy, but when it took four guys at the store to get it into the pickup truck we had rented, we knew we were in trouble. Luckily, two of our burliest (& kindest) friends were able to come over after work and help us get it off the truck and into the garage. It must weigh 200 pounds. It was made in a foundry, as it turns out, so...yeah.

Thank you Joe & Frank!

Our original idea was that it would just be one of the pieces of furniture that we would use instead of built-in cabinets. We may still do that, but it's in such good condition that we're considering having it restored and actually using it for cooking. It would require a substantial change to the floor plan, however, reducing the counter space next to the stove, so it might not really be doable with how AJ likes to cook. We'll see how it goes. There is plenty of time to figure this out. Although, looking at how fast the first six weeks have gone, I suppose we'll be starting the project before we know it!