MoreCheese

Saturday Morning Farmer's Market

One of my favorite things about our neighborhood...

Love Friday: Autumn Leaves

One day late, here's a little love I spotted on the street:

A little tree full of heart-shaped leaves.  Have a great Friday, everyone!

 

The Great Kitchen Renovation of 2009

So....  NaBloPoMo...  oh boy.  It did not get off to such a good start.  I'm posting at 8:00 at night because, well, I slept all day.  I must have picked up a cold while waiting in line for the flu vaccine (sigh).  So I woke up this morning, showered, put on some make-up, ate some breakfast, and was done.  As in DONE.  Back to bed I went, with Puppykins next to me, warming the length of my lower half.  I'm happy to report that a day of napping and reading and sipping on hot liquids seems to have done the trick, though.  I feel about a million times better than I did this morning, and I think I'll be all patched up by tomorrow.  

Thank you all for the enthusiastic responses you had to NaBloPoMo!  I might be feeling a teeny bit of  pressure (ahem, Lif), but really, I'm excited.  Its so nice to have blog readers like you all.

To kick things off -- here are my pictures of our kitchen renovation!  Our original kitchen fixtures were probably from the 1950s.  We lacked a dishwasher, storage space, counter space, and did I mention space?  Things were a little crammed in there.

I did kind of like the sunny yellow formica counters and the retro metal cabinets.  We had tried to decorate it and make it sort of, well, charming, if that's possible.

But honestly, it was just old and cramped and not really meeting our needs.  Especially with a little one on the way -- Momma was gonna need a dishwasher and more cabinet space or she was going to be VERY NOT HAPPY.  And you know how that old saying goes:  if Momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy.

We were fortunate to find an awesome local contractor who was willing to work on our little kitchen and stay within our little budget.  Unlike all the others we met, he didn't try to upsell us on using designer materials or hiring an architect (yes, someone actually suggested that with a straight face).  When we told him we were expecting a bambino and were on a budget, he just sat down and started outlining ways we could save a few hundred dollars here and there.  Then he gave us a quote, and gave us his word that that number would not change, no matter what he encountered as he renovated our 1928 house.  (I know, I thought that was very brave, too.)  So we emptied out our shelves and took down all my little vintage postcards and cleared out of the house for a week.  Which is when this happened:

    And this:  

(that's our ceiling)

That's our friend, Adrienne, who put us up for a whole week while all this was going on.

Then the drywall went up:

And then, a short 8 days after it all started, we had this:

   

See that?  That is a MOUNTED microwave!!!  And that on the floor?  REAL tile, not peel-n-stick linoleum squares.  And that countertop in the foreground?  Its 22 inches wide and it has CABINETS underneath.  In its former life, it was a useless wall with a cruddy, narrow, useless countertop.  

We have what are fairly standard 21st century amenities, but having lived without them for the past few years, I have to say that having things like a dishwasher and a deep sink and counterspace is HEAVEN.

                           

Even though having the larger counters meant giving up a bit of floor space in that narrow little kitchen, the space overall feels larger and wider.  We were able to get rid of all that clutter, and now the whole room and the adjoining dining room just feel wider and cleaner and...  it is good.  It is very, very good.

So, to recap, we went from this: To this:

And Momma is very, very happy.

Our contractor is Ahmed El Ghoraiby of MAG Remodeling.  Thank you, Ahmed!