The Renovation Reveal…

February 23, 2015

I am happy to report that the kitchen renovation is complete…at least 99.9% of it is complete.  Charming finished with the renovation last week and I have been a busy bee trying to get the place cleaned (except for window washing) and decorated.  Below are pictures of the kitchen.  This post is short because there are quite a few pictures to show you. The weather here has been so frigid recently that I have not been able to complete my wash tub prep table, which will go in front of the counter near the sink when finished. I need the outside temperature to be at least fifty degrees for the enamel paint on the legs and top to dry, so that will happen when the weather warms up.  I promise to share pictures whenever it's finished.

My posts may be sporadic from here on out as I need to get the kitchen curtains made and put two more rows on my braided rug.  (I decided that an extra four inches from two additional rows of black would make it look better.)  I’m also going to try to pump up interest in my classes and start a shop on etsy.com to sell some of my hand made items, as it does stack up in my studio after a while.  Somewhere in between these things I have to find time to do our income tax returns and straighten up the mess that our house has been in since the kitchen renovation started a year and a half ago.

I looked everywhere on our computer’s server to try to locate pictures of the main part of the kitchen prior to the renovation, but all I could find was a picture of what used to be the back porch. This porch, with new windows, is now the area where the kitchen table sits.  Believe me, the old kitchen was very small and not much fun to work in.  Charming's renovation (with my input on choices of materials and design) is a definite improvement.  I hope you enjoy our pictures!

Our estimate is that this porch was probably added to the house
sometime during the 1970's.  It measured about 8'x 16', which we
decided would add quite a bit of space to our cramped kitchen.

Voila!  A year-and-a-half later, Charming turned our small kitchen into
a much nicer place to be.  (You may notice the small space between
the stove and the "baking center" where the enamel top counter is...
This is where the original kitchen stopped and the outside wall of the
original kitchen used to be.)

Our kitchen table with my braided rug, chairs that I re-seated using fabric
webbing, and the quilted table runner that I finished a few days ago.  We
have a nice view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the window.  This
past week, we slid the shade completely to the side and
ate our meals while watching the falling snow.

This is the area that used to be the old porch (see the first picture above).
The buffet/sideboard shown by the window has a top part with a mirror
that we haven't attached yet.  It will provide extra space for desserts
during family get-togethers.  Note that my dear Charming, who loves his
electronic gadgets put in a TV so we could watch the morning news at the
table.  He also got a music playing thing-a-ma-jig so I can listen to my
favorite radio station or use an accessory thingy where he loads my
favorite CDs.

My "baking center" has an enamel top that I had convinced
Charming to pull off of an old cabinet that was in the basement
of our house when we purchased it years ago.  I held on to it,
knowing that some day it would come in handy...and it did!
The cabinets over the baking center hold all of my baking supplies.
The cabinet below holds my mixer, mixing bowls, rolling pins,
glass pie pans, and a couple of baking dishes.  On the right of
the counter top is a silicone sheet from "The Pampered Chef"
that has measurements for pie crusts.  It also helps to protect
the counter top from scratches.

The cabinet for the baking center includes all of the ingredients
for the things that I bake regularly including gluten-free flour,
sugar, oatmeal, cocoa, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips,
liquid flavorings like vanilla and peppermint oil, baking spray,
yeast, salt, milk powder, baking soda, etc.  I have two lazy
Susans on the top shelf and a Spicey Shelf on the bottom left.
I used to dread having to gather up all the ingredients for
baking, now almost everything is within arm's reach.  The
drawers below the enamel counter top hold measuring spoons,
measuring cups, biscuit cutters and other baking-related items.

This is the original part of the kitchen.  We kept our original
stove and refrigerator because they work fine and it saved us
a lot of money.  We will replace these with black appliances as
they stop working.  I didn't want a dishwasher because I
actually like washing dishes (I'm nutty that way) and I would
rather have usable cabinet space rather than a dishwasher.

Another shot of the counter/cabinets that house the baking
center on the right and the coffee prep area on the left.  This
part of the kitchen was the old porch.  Note the old enamel
container that sits under the window.  I believe these came
with refrigerators, years ago, to be used as a "vegetable
crisper" of sorts.  I nabbed this one at a yard sale about five
years ago for a dollar.  (I do love my cheap junk!)

Another shot of the kitchen counters. Tried to get the entire
counter top/cabinets into the shot, but couldn't quite get them
all in the picture.

Here's an up-close shot of the cabinet over the coffee pot.
It also holds all my spices.  Since the kitchen is so long now,
I just use a tray to go around the kitchen and gather what I need
to cook a meal.  I shuttle the tray from the spice cabinet to the
refrigerator and any other necessary cabinets to get everything
I need at once.  (An interesting note is that I purchased a
"Spicey Shelf" set for this cabinet and for the cabinet over
the baking center.  There were two shelves in the set so it
worked out perfectly.  The set costs $20 at our local Dollar
General.  It's made out of plastic so I don't know how long it
will last, but it does let you get a lot of spice jars into a
small space.)

This shows the greatest feature of my new kitchen...pull-out
drawers!  It's why I think my new kitchen is the greatest!  Since
my knees are over fifty years old and I have a big butt, I no
longer find it easy to get down on the floor to search in the
cabinets for pots, pans, and appliances.  Now I just lean over
and pull the drawers out to get whatever I need.  I'm telling you...
if anyone EVER asks you what you'd like for your birthday,
Christmas, or anniversary, tell them you'd like one (or more)
of these pull out drawers.  Mine are made by Rev-A-Shelf.
They're not cheap, but I'm telling you...they are PRICELESS!
Mine house all of my small appliances, except my grain mill.
On the extreme left:  4-slice toaster and pressure cooker on the
bottom tray with plates, bowls, and cups on the top tray.
Next cabinet pull-out was custom made by My Dear Charming
for the Ronco rotisserie that I got at a yard sale down the street
for $25.00 (I love that thing and use a lot...the rotisserie, I mean.)
The third cabinet holds my blender, tea maker, and slow cooker
on the bottom tray and my George Foreman grill, stick blender,
and electric knife on the top tray.  I've already listed the items
that are stored in the pull out drawers under the baking center (above).
The cabinet to the right of the stove holds all of my cooking pots
on the bottom pull out while the tops for those pots are stored
on the top pull out drawer (plus a few lids for my baking dishes).

My bread machine fits snugly under the cabinets
at the end of the counter (next to the refrigerator).
My dried beans are contained in canning jars that
are neatly labeled and easily reached by turning the
lazy Susan.  The bottom cabinet also has a lazy Susan.
I store all of my Christmas dishes and other party
plates here.  (My sister gave me the old-timey art
work on the right side of the picture.  Thanks, Sis!)

When we moved into this house, the counter tops were black
and had matching laminate on the wall behind the stove.  At
first, I thought it was a very strange idea, but it worked out so
well that we decided to carry it over into our renovation.  Grease
spots simply wipe off with no smears and no special cleaners.

This floor is actually vinyl.  The big box building material
stores (like Lowe's and Home Depot) call it LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile).
I love it!  After reading all the reviews on all the different types of
floors, we decided to go with this.  It was inexpensive (we have
puppy paws with sharp claws) so we didn't want to put a ton of
money into the floors.  Charming followed the manufacturer's
instructions to the letter and took his time installing the "planks"
(about 3-foot long strips of vinyl).  It came out perfectly.  I use
a dry Swiffer mop to push the dust/dirt into a pile in the center of
the room and then pick the pile up with a hand-held vacuum cleaner.
To wipe up the floor, I use a large spray bottle with a half-cup of
vinegar and fill the rest of the way with water.  I spray a section of
the floor with the vinegar solution and quickly wipe it up with a
dry Swiffer.  It takes me about ten minutes to clean the floor.

A close-up of the cabinets.  I chose an off-white cabinet color
that reminds me of evaporated milk.  (When I was little, my Granny
used to give me coffee that was half coffee mixed with
half evaporated milk and plenty of sugar...Lordy, that
was some great stuff!)  I also chose this style of cabinet hardware
because my Daddy was a carpenter and almost every cabinet
he ever made had this exact hardware on it.  It was what he liked
and I (having many of the same personality traits as he did)
like it as well.  Great memories, all woven into my daily life!

I had this little table in my living room with some plants on it.
The top used to be bare pine wood and got stained by an over-
watered plant.  So I painted the top with white enamel paint
and used black enamel paint around the edge of it to mimic
the enamel top of my baking center.  If you look closely,
you can see the enamel shine in the center of the black edge
of the table top.  (The crocks are not old family heirlooms.
I bought them at yard sales for a few dollars each.  I'm
constantly amazed at the history that people throw away.)

Here's my finished quilted table runner.  I didn't really think the
apples looked like apples until I added the leaves and stems,
but it looks pretty nice on the table.

My niece, Tammy, gave me this picture a long time ago.  It hung on the
wall in my old kitchen and I like it so much that I'm going to re-hang it
in the renovated kitchen on the wall between the big window and
the cabinet where my spices are kept.