The Kitchen Project (To Do List)

Some time ago, I decided to change up the kitchen.

In truth, I wanted to glam it up. I wanted to be like the big kids and have a fabulous internet-worthy kitchen. (Whatever that might be.)

And frankly, after 14 years, I was ready for a change.

So here is what I have left to do to complete this little makeover:

1) Finish painting the cabinet doors

2) Re-install the cabinet doors

3) Sew window treatments. Either roman blinds or curtains.

4) Clean, spackle and paint walls. (This would require actually picking a colour, of course.)

5) Re-paint the kitchen chairs.

6) Do something about my poor kitchen table.

7) Build a banquette into the corner?

8) Raise the microwave shelf.

Wonder how long it will take me?

One Room Challenge: Mom's Bedroom. Week 1

I have been an avid fan of the One Room Challenge for a few years, now. Essentially, a bunch of blogger, hand-picked by Linda of Calling It Home blog take on the challenge to transform a room in just six week--and blog about it in real time.

This time, Linda has thrown the challenge open to anyone who wants to participate, and since my Mom called me in a panic just last week about what were we going to do with her bedroom, I've decided to accept the challenge!

And it will be a challenge!

First, the room is at my Mom's, meaning I will have to go over there to get things done. Second, my Mom is a bit of a hoarder. She is changing her ways--but the process takes time and gentleness. She is highly motivated to create a pretty room--I just have to be careful the stuff in here doesn't become a problem somewhere else. Third, she is raising my six year old nephew and isn't in the best of health, so though I want to get things done in six weeks, I am not going to insist on any particular pace for her to get things done. It's also her dime!

Lastly, there's the room itself.

It was built during the disastrous renovations which my Mom had done on her house more than twenty years ago. There aren't proper frames around the windows, so any curtain hardware we mount tends to pull out of the wall. The windows are also cold--so she currently has up two sets of curtains.

They are the first thing you see when you enter the room:

Immediately to the left of where I was standing to take the picture above, the wall with the door, is this:

You can't tell from the way I took that picture, but the doorway is not flat on the wall: it is angled. The room needs baseboards and because of the angles, they will be a challenge to cut and install.

At the foot of the bed is a closet and a funny little alcove where is currently keeping a couple of duelling dressers. Discussing it, Mom and I have no idea why she didn't just make this area a very large closet. Then again, I am hoping we can carve out a little space for her to do the yoga she wants to do.

And lastly, opposite this wall is the headboard wall.

Or, it will be, once we have a headboard!

I caught Mom on a bad day: she wasn't expecting me to come and take pictures of her bedroom! But she is a good sport. When she saw them she said they'd just make the "afters" look a whole lot better!

This is our inspiration image.

I have checked Amber Interiors but haven't been able to find any other shots of the room to help us.
Isn't it gorgeous?

source

Bring it on.

Here's to all the other linking participants and our first week!

Basement: Planning

Org Junkie is hosting the 29 Day Organizational Challenge. Just like Maxwell of AT, she recommends starting with answering a bunch of questions. I found these here.
.
Here they are:
.
1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
Tricky, really. In the past it has merely been the place here things go to die. It's also the place here my son exercises on the recumbent bike, and lately I've been painting the ceiling planks for the bathroom.
.
I set up our old kitchen table for spray painting.

.
The area also stores furniture awaiting repair and scrapbook supplies.
.
Honestly? I want the area to be a place here I can work on my scrapbooks and crafting/decorating projects for the house. Really.
.
I know we need a place for the bike: but maybe this isn't it. There is the area over by the furnace which has the lat pull down machine and bench. If we got rid of that....and cleaned it out...
.
There's a lat pull down machine in there. That stuff? Mostly my daughter's. No, she hasn't left home--she's eleven. It's going to be a bear to make her go through this stuff, but it's got to be done.
.
We could move the bike over here. You know what else would be cool? A dvd player and a TV, or a place to set up audio cd's or an mp3 player--or something to help pass the time on the bike. Oh--and I'd love to replace the bike with a treadmill and free weights.
.
Oh well.
.
I feel like that's selfish. Maybe I'll talk to the family. It's hard to make truly functional plans for the basement. We need more light and more heat to truly make this area useable.
.
2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
Well, as I said...we need light.
and heat.
A table, a comfy office-type chair.
I need my supplies organized in various containers.
Drawers. I have lots.
In fact, I have everything I need (except the heat and light): I just need to utilize it better.
.
3. What can I remove from the room?
punching bag
recumbent bike
broken furniture
unused furniture and decor items.
kids' boxes of artwork.
.
4. What problems do I see with the room?
Storage needs change: and I haven't been keeping up. For example, though I am loathe to deal with the all of shelves, there's old school ork and stuff there I don't need to store. I need a place for the skates now on the floor, though.
.
5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Again, I'm pretty sure I have all I need: I just have too much stuff in too small a space.
.
6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
I need to stop waiting for my husband to fix the broken furniture and just chuck it immediately?
Um. No. I don't think that will work.
This is a tough question to answer because e don't really use this "room."
.
7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Easy--nothing.
.
8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
The true deadline is however long it takes us to save up for an electrician to come and rewire and install increased amperage for the house as a whole. Include in that time frame the time it ill take to go through all the old art ork and school ork and decide what to keep and what to toss. I've no idea, really. Longer than a month anyway.
.
9. What is my plan of action?
.
Week 1:
Do the obvious.
1. List the punching bag for sale.
2. Clear out the area by the lat pull-down machine for a picture and list it for sale.
3. Decide whether the Rocking chair is repairable.
4. Decide whether to keep the upholstered platform rocker.
5. Decide wehther to insulate the wall over by the lat pull down machine this month (my husband has another vacation week coming up)
6. Put up hardware for curtains in the laundry room.
7. Talk to my husband about what needs to be done to finish the laundry area.
8. Put away items which really do have a home, like these on the bench.
.
Week 2:
Purge.
1. Look through the shelves and get rid of anything obvious.
2. Start collecting items for homeschool conference sale.
3. Go through Emma's things with her--goal: to consolidate and clean out two storage boxes.
4. Go through the scrapbooking supplies and discard little used tools and items.
5. Go through the drawers in the pine dresser.
.
Week 3:
Organize.
Hopefully, the punching bag and the lat pull don machine will be gone and I'll be able to move the bike. Then Ill be able to think about how I ant to arrange things down there.
Wow--can this really be done?
.
Week 4: The home stretch.
Don't call me crazy but I would love, love, love to paint this pine wall white.
.

I'll have a progress report for Week One next Friday.

Inspiration: the Laundry room

You had a peek at my laundry room yesterday.

Just in case you've forgotten, here is the area under consideration: (I took all the clothes down from the clothesline and put them on the folding table.)


What's working:
Everything---and nothing.

1) the donation station is in exactly the right place: it's just a little full!
2) the system for washing the laundry works: clothes are sorted into the hampers, then loaded into the machines.
3) Folding works well. I work from left to right creating stacks on the table as I go. Then, I put the stacks into the basket on the right and ask my husband to bring it up for me.

What isn't working:
Me.

I do not like spending time in this space.
Would you?

I've been wanting to paint this back brown wall for a long time. I don't know what to paint it. Nothing really comes to mind but primer--and a coat of soft, pure white.

Boring, I know.

I've been collecting inspiration images, practically all year--but unfortunately, there's no good way to keep track of their source. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

In no particular order, then:


The light! Oh the light!
My laundry room is the dungeon.
I love how the light green gives this room a spa-like vibe.



Tiny, but so cheery! Again, it is bright! But it is also colourful, which I love. The blue, green and orange is an immediate pick me up. Could I be happy folding here?



I have hampers like these: plastic ones, held together with string and duct tape. (I kid you not.) This impractically small, sleek little number is divine. I also love the metal shelving above it. I would love something similiar for my pillows and blankets.


aaah. Isn't this calming? Doesn't this feel efficient: like things are getting done? I like the idea of putting the clothesline above the washer and dryer. I love the clear plastic tubs holding everything as well.

Hmm. It does feel a bit sterile, though: like a hospital.
But of course, it isn't real life.

Day 10.6: A Tour of the Dining Room. (For my Blog Friends).

Ok. I've recounted the changes by each individual wall in separate posts. But, here it is, wall by wall, all in one place.

This is the short version:
Before:

And now:
And that concludes the short version. If you want to get a cuppa sumpin' and read the longer version below, you're more than welcome to!


The room is 10 feet wide by 11 feet deep with two doorways. Like this:


The dining room is on the left. Top is north. The kitchen is to the south, behind the dining room.
We'll start with the south-east corner, where you can see the two doors: the pine "french door" to the hallway and the doorway to the kitchen.
Before:


After:

Then, to the right: the desk and der wall. The desk is as big as my couch.
I'm so proud of this I could burst.
Before and After:
Continuing to the West wall:
You remember the infrastructure?


You know, my mom actually said she liked it. I guess to her, it looked like a good use of ratty old Ikea. When I set those pine units up in the kitchen temporarily, she liked them there too.
But I think there's no doubt, the grid rules!

My husband just commented that "this" meaning the Expedit, "doesn't stick out as far." Well, I told him, actually, physically, it sticks out farther. "It's the grid." I told him. "Your eye perceives the order and has a place to rest instead of trying to make sense of all that jumble."

And that is why I wanted it. That is why you can pack such a thing as this full--and it doesn't overwhelm. The unit has structure and it imposes order. Voila, rest and peace. (Do I hear a choir of angels singing?)

Moving on....

Then, in the north-east corner we have the china cabinet. It is dark. It's not my favourite piece of furniture, but it was a gift. I was worried when I decided to paint the room a lighter colour that it would stick out too much. It looks so right and so cosy right here.


But then, I reasoned, it just sits on that itty bit of wall. I was willing to live with it Standing Out for a brighter room.

But it's not too bad, is it? Note the table change. I'll get to that in a minute.

I actually took a few pains with the China Cabinet when I unpacked the boxes of stuff that goes into it. Remember those?

I took out some of my scrap paper to line the shelves--and settled on this blue and green just because I had enough sheets in these colours to do the job.
I was absurdly pleased. I'd weeded out a few things when I packed it up, and then I weeded out a few more when I unpacked. Yes, this is edited!


The biggest change to the room, though, took the least effort, and it it isn't something you can really see in the photos. It's the table. I forgot to adjust for the light coming through the window, so my photo of it nestled up to the window didn't turn out.

As I mentioned, once upon a time, we moved the kitchen table to the basement, and the old Ikea pine table, formerly of the dining room, took up residence in the kitchen. To stay. I had planned on painting it white and moving it back in but though it's a tight squeeze, I love having the room to spread out in the kitchen.

But that left us with a problem: no dining table for the dining room. I want to purchase a round table with leaves for this room but I don't want to rush into it. So, for the interim, (which you realise could be ten years!) I brought down another old Ikea table from my daughter's room. As you can see from the photos, it's white. And it has drop down leaves. It has been with me about as long as the desk units! And in about as many apartments. It's what we would call a "stalwart staple" piece of furniture. I only wish it was in better shape. (Note to young people out there: you really can't spend too much money on a versatile piece like this. Truly.)

The day of the photo shoot I sat down in the chair next to the China Cabinet. Just to see what it felt like.

My daughter quickly fashioned a "tea" of coffee, iced tea, chocolate cookies, m&m's and popcorn. I taught her to play Crazy Eights.

That evening, as I wrote up der wall post, my son and husband sat at the table behind me, ate their before bed snacks and read. Last night they played Quatro. This room has now already seen more use by other family members in the last two days than it had seen in ten years. It's amazing what a lot of light and a little space can do!

And so, to finish out tour. The newly re-painted book case between the two doors (also edited and outboxed):
So, in actual fact, this room has a couple of faux pas. (1) All the furniture is pushed against the walls and (2) there's a big empty space in the middle of the room.

We love it.

Day 8.5 Just A Little More....

Painting.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Day 8.4: Boom Da Da Boom

The computer is now back in the dining room! Of course, I don't have any pictures of this accomplishment, so, as a sorry substitute, I present to you the bookcase.

Here it is in its green incarnation, in the red room:

I painted it with melamine paint while the room was still red. Instructions here. And, many, many days later, we have this:
I just love these before and afters:
(I can be so silly, sometimes.)

Day 6.5 (b) Boom Dada Boom

Holes in walls are drilled. I've got the brackets up and the supports banged into place. The shelves are marked for cutting. Why no exclamation points? Well, I screwed up my measurements somehow, so I'm not going to realise the effect I was after. And, to me, as a result, it looks a bit "off." I don't suppose anyone will notice. But I'll always know.

The next step is to cut the shelves and paint them. And although the pine looks nice with my new wall colour, they're only a "walk-on" part and so Need To Be Quieted. (See Wende's metaphor in the SF week six thread).

Actually, Wende's metaphor is too good not to share, so here it is without her permission:

Decorating is like directing a play: you don't want the supporting players upstaging the billed stars, as that not only cheeses off the divas but also disrupts the balance of the action and the intended message. So if the shelving is intended to be a walk-on and something else (say, the dining table) is supposed to have its name in lights, then looking like every other Expedit is desirable. The action was never intended to develop a fully rounded character for the shelving.

Thank you Wende.

Day 6.4. The Road to the Expedit.

To refresh your memories (though no one seems to have any trouble remembering the RED) This is what we started with:

This is the colour scheme I wanted. As you may or may not remember, I decided to forgo the blue.

That's a bit of white bristol board in the front to "show" the "yellow" in the French Vanilla, but I think the flash washed it out.

Down came the west wall (lower right above) and this was the result:
With this as infrastructure, who wouldn't want a bunch of cubbies?
And when these were removed this was left:

Ouch. (Sorry about the hotspot).

On the wall over the desk, we had this:

Where did it all go?


This is the Living Room's pile of books from the shelves. (And Maxwell says to "put the books on the couch." Um. No.)

This is the start of the pile of Scrapping Stuff in the hallway. It would eventually go all the way to the end of the box (yes, that's the Expedit) and go all the way up and over the little alcove. There was about one foot of space between the cabinet (yellow in lower left corner) and the pile. Yes, you had to move sideways to get through.

And here be the contents of the China Cabinet. This is just around the corner from the hallway. (You can see the stuff piled in the background.)

Remember I said the spackle was "good to go" on October 6th? It wasn't. As we were washing the walls, I called the husband over to look at the paint standing about 1/4" away from the wall in the corner by the window. He decided it would be best to remove it and spackle over the plaster. I agreed. And so we had this for a few days:

We have no eaves. We really need to build some. The same thing happens in the outside corner of the living room.


Washing the walls was an absolute nightmare. The soap from the cloth I was using seemed to permeate the walls. We took to squirting on vinegar and water and going over a section at least four times to remove all traces of soap. I'd thought it was the cloth I was using. I eventually realised, that, no, it was because of the red. You could see the soap, that's all. And so the painting went on. And on. When we were done we realised the ceiling had to be done too. What a wonderful difference! And then, of course, the Expedit. Here it is:


I'm teasing you of course. What you really want to see is this:

I've tweaked the top a bit since I took this, but it's essentially the same. Let's look at that wall again, shall we?

Today, I actually went and found a darning needle that's now housed in there. I got the bookcase assembled and the books and binders put back on today and I unpacked the boxes and filled up the China Cabinet instead of making supper.

Maxwell allocates one week for painting. I started packing the dining room up on Sept. 25th. We finished painting and assembled the Expedit on Oct. 15th. That's 20 days. And the room still isn't reassembled yet. But I'm happy. Truly. And I'm anxious to share the finished result with you--so tomorrow, we drill holes in my beautiful walls.