Renovation Reveal Re-Do…

April 19, 2015

This past Friday, I had an “open kitchen” (as opposed to an “open house”) of sorts.  A couple of my sisters (Joyce and Sis), two neighbors, three aunts, one cousin…and a partridge in a pear tree…all came to see the results of the renovation.  (Just kidding about the partridge in a pear tree bit.)  I thank all of them for the gifts and for taking time out of their busy day to attend the big shebang.

There was enough space to accommodate everyone easily and I only had to use half of the counter space for refreshments.  I think everyone had a good time and many comments were made about the difference in the size and appearance of the kitchen before renovation, compared to now. 

So, now I’m going to bore you with more pictures of the kitchen.  This time, though, I have all of my stuff in place, along with curtains, a lovely table cloth (a present from Sis), my prep table, and my buffet/sideboard.  In case you haven’t guessed yet, I’m thrilled with the results and I must thank my wonderful husband, Charming, for all the long hours, hard work, and injuries that he suffered while getting this kitchen renovation accomplished.  Gosh, I do love that man!

This is the kitchen, entering from the living room.  The vinyl
flooring has proven to be a winner.  It is a breeze to keep clean.
I just use a Swiffer dust mop with a dry cloth to "sweep" and
switch to a clean cloth along with a bottle of water & vinegar
to damp mop.  That is all that's needed.  (I make my own cloths
from microfiber cloths and Velcro that I purchase from
Walmart...but that's a subject for another blog post.)  

This is the part of the kitchen that used to be a closed-in porch.
It now houses our table, antique buffet/side board, TV, and radio
as well as cabinets that are along the wall to the right of the table.

Here is the wall of cabinets that houses my baking center (on the
right).  It is amazingly quick and easy to whip up a batch of
cookies, muffins, or blackberry cobbler at the baking center and
pop it into the oven.  It's not good for our waistlines, but it is good!

A better view of the buffet/sideboard, along with
the TV that Charming suggested we add.  As you
might imagine, this room gets used more than just about
any room in the house...food, TV, a mountain view
outside our window...could anyone ask for more?

From the middle of the room, looking towards the living room.
I am planning to put two 24-inch shelves on the wall above the
little black and white table, at a later date, but I promise not to
make you read about it when it happens.

From the middle of the room, looking at the sink.  To keep the
renovation costs as low as possible, we kept our old appliances
and will replace them as they die off.  I chose cabinets and counter
space over a dishwasher, partly because I actually like washing
dishes...weirdo that I am.

The curtains are made from "Homespun" black & tan fabric
that I purchased from Joann Fabrics.  The apple tie
backs were made with CraftSmart polymer clay that I purchased
from Michael's craft store.  I made most of the decorative items
myself, including the braided rug, curtains, tie backs,
quilted table runner, and prep table (with a bit of help
from my man, Charming).

Chop, Chop…

April 15, 2015

I wanted to share with you the photos of my finished prep table.  I think it’s adorable and pretty crafty (if I do say so myself).  Charming still thinks it’s a bit weird, but he did say, “It’s not as ugly as I thought it’d be.”  So that’s fairly good praise, I think, considering he has been threatening to tote my beloved wash tub to the landfill for almost a decade now.  I think he’s finally realized that wash tub ain’t goin’ anywhere and, since he participated in helping me put it together, he seems to be OK with it residing permanently in our kitchen.

The prep table is thirty-nine inches tall.  The table top is twenty-four inches across.  We came upon the top in Home Depot while we were shopping for some other things.  They sold two sizes.  The eighteen-inch top was too small as the top opening of the tub was eighteen-and-a-half inches across.  So I decided to go with the twenty-four-inch top and be happy with a little overhang.  As it turned out, this works much better as it offers plenty of space for even my largest cutting board and can also function as a table if I add tall bar stools for seating.  (The fact that the Home Depot ready-made table top cost only $6.99 was also a bonus…and much less work for us as well.)

I think I’m actually more in love with the family heirloom wash tub now than when I first laid eyes on it, half-buried by fallen leaves in the wooded mountains where my ancestors resided.  To my way of thinking it just goes to show that no matter how bad an object appears, it can always be improved upon and turned into something wonderful.  I hope this inspires some of you to find a piece of trash and turn it you’re your very own treasure!

This is the "before" photo of my beloved wash tub.

...And this is the "after" photo.  The writing at the
bottom of the tub is Psalms 17:8, which says,
"Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the
shadow of thy wings."  I just love that verse and
it seemed to fit the application perfectly.

A little creative thinking can lead to a fun and
functional design.  (I never even throw a
gum wrapper away without giving some thought
to how I might turn it into something useful.)

Lucky me...my prep table came with built in
towel holders!  (Actually, the tub's handles were
what tipped the odds in favor of turning it
into a prep table.)

As you can tell from most of my recent posts, I've become
quite fond of black and white enamel paint.  (Not because of the fumes,
but because of the high sheen that enamel gives to any object.)
Five coats of the paint and just look at the high gloss on that table top!
It mimics the baking center's vintage enamel top very closely.  

Spring Renewal…

April 7, 2015

Several of my readers have been asking why I haven’t posted anything recently.  I haven’t gotten lazy.  In fact, I’ve been really busy.  I’ve been working on curtains for the kitchen and they’re turning out really well.  I’ve also been working on the prep table.  Charming (bless his little perfectionist heart) has provided advice on the painting of the table legs and top by saying, “Another coat of paint won’t hurt a thing.”  So, several coats of paint later, I have finished the painting.  I’m hoping we can put it all together this coming weekend.  I still need to get Charming to cut the cornice boards that will go above each window, but he’s been working every day except weekends helping my carpenter brother with a construction project.  Like the good wife, I try not to give him too much to do on the weekends as he’s been a bit tired lately.

I have painted my old paper towel holder.  I probably mentioned that I bought it a long time ago at a yard sale for ten cents.  From the shape it was in I figure it once lived in a garage or a wood shop.  It was very dirty, even after I had done my best to clean it up.  After painting, it may not look better, but it certainly is a lot cleaner looking.

I have also been “designing” some other stuff.  I designed a bath mitt that has a pocket for soap.  I’ve tried this out and I just love it.  The pocket on it holds the leftover bits of soap from the regular soap bars or a full-size bar of ivory or homemade soap.  It’s great not having to chase the soap around in the shower!

Since spring is finally rolling around, I’m also piddling around in the garden a bit.  We have lettuce, onions, kale, and Napa cabbage growing in the garden and I’m planting potatoes today.  To me, the greatest thing about spring is the feel of warm dirt in my hands.  Happy spring!

The old paper towel holder that I got at a yard sale.  It was badly
stained and was warped.  The glass also had years of grime on it.
This is just the kind of treasure that I live for!

I took the thing apart (for the most part) then sanded, re-glued,
and painted it and...

Like magic it turned into something much better.  I'm always
amazed at the change a coat of paint (or sometimes coats of paint)
will make in an item.

Here's the bath mitt I designed and knitted.  It's made out of
cotton yarn and it works really well...no dropping the wash cloth
or soap in the shower!

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.

The Devil Is In The Details…

February 16, 2015

Charming is, as I write this post, putting some finishing touches on the kitchen…caulking various seams and touching up paint on the walls that got marred by falling broom handles and such.  He’s dealing with his final details and I’m dealing with mine.

This past week, I spent some time working on making a quilted table runner for our table and creating a design for some embroidered tea towels that I wanted to make.  The quilted table runner is a basic design of squares with borders and a few apple appliqués thrown in for good measure.  In coming up with a design for the towels, I was looking for something that would express my love of gardening and “putting up” the harvest.  Since I have a peculiar affection for canning jars, I came up with a sketch of a jar and added a slogan of sorts.  After putting the design on paper, I took a plain thin tea towel that I purchased from Walmart (3 in a pack for $2.97) and laid the towel on top of the design.  I then used an “invisible” marking pen to trace the design onto the towel.  (The “invisible” pens can be purchased from Joann Fabrics for about $3.00.  When you use the pen the ink comes out purple, so you must do your embroidery shortly after you trace your design onto the fabric as the purple ink will fade and become invisible overnight.)

Because I love the kitchen style of the 1930’s and 40’s, I wanted to incorporate as much of that “retro look” as possible.  The embroidered towels and quilted table runner will add a bit of that “old timey” look to the kitchen.  Most of the items in my kitchen will be hand made or hand done, including the braided rug, curtains, chair bottoms, table runner, tea towels, and (of course) my beloved wash tub prep table.  Although the finished product will not be the standard “dream kitchen” of today with stainless steel appliances and marble counter tops, it is definitely turning out to be the kitchen of my dreams.

An example of the embroidered tea towels that I'm working
on.  I used variegated embroidery floss because that's all I had
on hand.  I will use solid colors on the remaining towels as I think
that will look better.

A close-up of the tea towel design.  (I didn't use the "Ball" logo
because of the legalities of infringing on patented logos and trademarks,
so I just made up my own "Home Made" logo.)

The "top" for my quilted table runner.  Those three red things in the
center are supposed to be apples.  They will look more like apples
once I add stems and leaves to them.  The table runner will be shorter
than average and will not hang off the sides of the table, as we have
pets who like to pull on things that hang off the edges of tables.

I have to congratulate myself on purchasing the swirled
brown/black/grey fabric that I used in the table runner (on the right
side of the picture).  I happened to be shopping in Joann Fabric
about a year ago and this caught my eye.  This fabric was
actually purchased before we picked out the counter tops.  It is
a super close match to the counter top on the left side of the picture,
don't you think?

The Apple of My Eye...

February 9, 2015

Bummer…no “big reveal” this week either.  Although I’ve been busy this past week, about the only tangible thing I have to show you is the final art work on my beloved wash tub.  (Yes, to me, it will forever be known as “my beloved wash tub”.  Come to think of it, because it belonged to my grandfather, I really must spend some time thinking about which of my family members would be a worthy heir for this item when I’m gone.  I can envision the family now….instead of saying, “I want that beautiful wash tub!” they’re more likely to be saying “No, YOU take that dumb ole wash tub!”)  Oh well, like Scarlet O’Hara (in Gone With The Wind) said, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”  

I have tons of things that I need to fit into today, so I must get to it.  I apologize for such a short post, but I promise that next week’s will be much better.

This is the "rough draft" that I showed to you in a previous post.

This past week, the apples on my wash tub matured and the tree
grew leaves.  (I know that a real apple tree wouldn't have mature
apples and apple blossoms at the same time, but I couldn't keep
myself from adding a them.  I do not aspire to be a great
artist; I just wanted a little pop of color in my kitchen.)

Another teaser to keep you interested in the kitchen re-do.
This picture is from last week when Charming was putting
down the floor.  The finished floor looks really good.  I
don't think  most people would guess that it's actually
vinyl (plank) flooring.  Charming is a perfectionist when it
comes to the renovation so it's been a slow go.  However,
he has done an absolutely wonderful job on everything!

Well, Smack My Face and Call Me a Liar…

February 2, 2015

You’ve probably already guessed by the title of this post, but I can’t post pictures of the finished kitchen because it is not actually “finished” yet.  I could give you all kinds of reasons like the weather, medical appointments, unexpected trips to Lowe’s and Home Depot, but bottom line is that the renovation completion date has been moved again. 

To offset that huge disappointment (because I just know you anxiously await my blog posts like I anticipate episodes of Downton Abbey), I am posting pictures of my finished braided rug which will go in the kitchen.  It’s a bit smaller than it should be, but it now measures 5 foot 10 inches by 4 foot 10 inches.  At that size, I have exhausted all possibilities of big flat surfaces in my house that will allow me to keep the rug flat as I work on it.  (Well I could work on the floor I guess, but then Charming would have to call a tow truck to help get me up.)  I started working on the rug on the counter top in my craft room then I had to move to the kitchen table.  After it outgrew the kitchen table, I had to move to our queen-sized bed.  When it began to hang over the edge of the bed, I was forced to wrestle the 25-pound rug (plus the 17-pound cat that follows the rug wherever I put it) as I turned the rug to add the rows of braids.  So I decided the rug was big enough to lend a touch of that “homespun” feel to the kitchen.  Below are more pictures than you probably want to see, but I’m a huge fan of braided rugs.

Oh…I also need to mention that I’m adding yet another “page” to this blog.  It lists classes that I will be teaching under my business name of Blue Ridge School of Mountain Arts.  Most of the classes that I will be teaching utilize the same or similar skills employed by my ancestors who lived in the area of the Blue Ridge Mountains that is now known as the Shenandoah National Park.  There will also be a few crafty classes such as making buttons and other items from polymer clay.  Class atmosphere will be extremely laid back and informal, as if you were learning something from a family member.  I will update the class list as new classes become available.  The page is located at the top of the blog, under the tab entitled, “Upcoming Classes”.  Please be sure to read the first paragraph on that page, before you read the class list, as it explains the different ways to register for the classes.

If you recall, this was my first picture of the braided
rug when it was started.

Here is the finished rug, laid out in front of our sofa.

A little closer up so you can see the definition in the
"rounds" of color.

An even closer up picture that shows the colors that make up
the color scheme in my kitchen.  I will have mostly tan,
gray, black and reds.  (Sounds pretty dreary and awful, I know,
but I tend to lean towards muted colors when decorating.)

As it'll look under the table.  Note that in selecting
my color scheme, I was going for that "traditional"
look and I think it turned out pretty well.

A slightly different angle.  (The table is centered on the rug.)