Kitchen-Aid.... literally

The original kitchen went bye-bye.  Completely.  In some places, down to the studs.  While quaint, in a how-adorable-thank-god-it's-not-mine quaint kinda way, it was not workable at all. 

So - clear it out, reboot.... a wallpaper scratcher, hot water mixed with fabric softener.... and four layers of vintage wallpaper later we have unearthed plaster... surgical pink paint and an innercity roadmap of cracks.

What we're working with here is like a galley kitchen, although wider, with the lake end of the kitchen having a 3 sided, protruding, window seat.  There is a narrow bar stretching across it almost to the living room door, and between the bar and the window seat was a small, extendable table with four chairs.... cramping up the kitchen up way to much.

Deciding to make the sunroom the main dining area gives us space to create and reimagine the kitchen.

The cupboards went out, the linoleum followed it, the scary ceiling wallpaper, the appliances either given away for sold off cheaply.  Lots of scraping, plumbing, electrical, the CrackWhore did his plastering and mudding/remudding behaviours, then the Paint Bitch follows. 

At first we're afraid, very afraid of what the papered ceiling was hiding - my theory was the stuff was holding off hell from dropping in.  I wanted to beadboard and paint it - very period appropriate for a craftsman cottage kitchen, with the pluses of cost and labour effecient... but Kee thought plaster would look better.... so he plastered, sanded and repeated until the ceiling, in the clear morning light reflecting off the lake, shows nothing but a smooth expanse of cream.  The repro station lights look great against the plaster.

Eventually we arranged the cupboards - lots and lots of cupboards.  After it was all done, we even had a lazy susan for the mudroom and there's two left over upper doubles for either the mudroom or the shed.  They were brought in from the shed, stacked, positioned and repositioned around the measured outlines of the stove and fridge.  We scored big here, the Hanover cupboards were in excellent shape, needing only new hinges and handles after resurfacing.

For some insane reason, I thought the large side-by-side fridge should go alongside the sink on the east wall, with the stove on the opposite wall.  D and Kee, giving me the need more or less medication? look, explained, slowly, with small words, that that massive unit would block off a lot of light in that position, besides making a lakeview impossible from the sink.  But, if She-Who-Thinks-She-Knows-Best, will allow the countertop-level range to go there - flow, view and light will display beautifully.  Of course.  Much better, how clueless of me not to see it.  I am nothing if not a reasonable decorating despot.

I use melamine paint on cupboards, the colours of the colour strip that started off with the ceiling cream/grey/taupe shade: the lower cupboards the darker, solid tone, the upper cupboards repeatedly rag-rollered - light and slightly darker - an operation that ends as a subtle, bleached wood effect.  Over the fridge and stove, another colour, halfway down the colour strip, is used on the high, shorter cabinet doors, with the dark lower colour on the frames.  Look great... the different tones, the faux and non-faux, the brushed steel hardware work well together, results in a layered, non-flat look... gives depth and dimension to a small, galley-shaped kitchen.

One of the cabinets has the lovely, pricey, dragonfly handle - which one of my GGs thought was a crucifix when I emailed out an image of it.... wondered why I'd be putting a crucifix on my cupboard door... a niced lapsed Protestant like me...

Between the upper and lower cupboards went up beadboard - very era-appropriate - and behind the fridge, from the baseboard trim up about four feet.  Painted in melamine the ceiling colour, it's very washable, light-reflecting, clean looking.  Beadboard hides a multiple of scars.

Using the smaller floor tiles, Kee tiled the backsplash behind the sink, one tile high, from the countertop to window frame.

Kee set in the final choice of tile, a 12x12 and 4x4 combo of cream, matte, grey-veined, stone-looking ceramic, with a grey grout, on a room-widening angle pattern.  Matches the ceiling and cupboard colours perfectly. 

The countertops were granite-tiled, a fleck similar to the kitchen tones, with a tight grout line.  Advice:  don't seal finish the tops, it peels off, just finish the grout. 

Kee carved out the window seat to create more storage - actually it already was hollow - but making two perfectly accurate doors in the front was a stroke of genius.... storage is our new religion. 

Under the hanging cupboard to the right of the oven, one asketh, and Kee delivereth - four rows of wine stem hangers - created from whole cloth - left over trim he found dumped in the shed. 

Using the left over eight to ten inches from the end of the lower cupboard to the fridge, Kee extends the granite countertop and underneath it builds in two open shelves - perfect for foil and cling cartons up top, baking sheets and cutting boards underneath.  Sheer - Ergonomic - Genius.

The lights are repro station lights, in an oiled brass steel finish. 

I love pointing them different directions.... to highlight the Havana photo over the small kitchen table, or the stain glass windows from Kee's brother and our sister-in-laws old Victorian house, or the three pottery gourd candle holders I brought back from Teopotzlan.

It's an old kitchen, with lots of new stuff, highlighting facets of our life, triggers and bytes of memories. 

.... less storage... I'll pare down, likely a couple of times... and we'll continue to practice our religion of storageholystorage... but, I'm thinking I like it better than my other one, already.  We created it from whole cloth, old and new.

Pieces of the past....

As I've said before, I'd like to have a mix of vintage and modern..... things that would be totally appropriate for the cottage when first built, bits from the 40s and 50s... not so much, I think, from the 60s to the present - no nostalgia for me in these decades- except for the modcons I'd like that are either modern reproductions, like the shower units and station lighting or are outright modern as they should be - appliances, for example. 

The lovely matching stained glass windows came from Kee's brother's house - that they sold to another niece.  When she sold the house, she removed the window tops, never used them and after we bought the cottage, asked if we'd like them... she had no use or place for them.  Of course!  And that's how they ended up over the kitchen sink window and over the middle kitchen seat window, cleaned and spruced up with painted frames.  The sun comes glowing through them every sunny morning and at night, the over-the-sink light radiates their colour out like a welcome home.  Muchas gracias, Jammie.

Not only does the old fan that was left here work, it oscillates quietly!  But I've put it up high - safety concerns for little fingers were obviously an adult responsibility, not the manufacturer's when this old thing was made.  The am radio works great after Kee rewired it.

We found the old "genie" lamp in the miscellaney room (aka the 2BBath).... sanded, then sprayed the rusting framework, cleaned out the ceramic body and found the glass shade at the Lighting Boutique in Windsor.  After rewiring, it was hung in the small hall, to function as a hall light.  I love the soft illumination.

The jam cupboard was bought for $30 at an auction.  In bad shape, but all the panes were there - albeit on the two shelves.  I asked Kee to add in three more shelves, painted them the ceiling cream and the rest of the piece an aubergine.  New clear glass knobs - and voila!  This holds all the kitchen linens, pot holders, oven gloves, baking and cooking small utensils, measuring tools, containers of what I call "white woman herbs & spices" (summer savoury, oregano, lavender, sage, etc) and "exotic herbs & spices" (cumin, coriander, chiles, saffron, Chinese 5 spice, achiote, etc).  Coffee beans and filtres, teas and strainers.  The bottom shelf has extra wine stems, silverware, corn on the cob sets and other miscellaneous.  With space and storage at an ultra-premium, this 30/$40 dollar investment is a total satisfaction - adding space and atmosphere to a cottage kitchen.

Gun Metal Spray

The first time I set to painting a window, I brushed the colour also over the semi-circular window lock and the lift handle.  This niggled.... didn't like the look, it seemed to be cheating on the integrity of the intent to restore.  Also, there was nigh-on 80 years of previous paint, one more coat and they wouldn't shut or open.  So we chipped, chipped and chisel/hammer banged at the paint over the window ware. 

 

One of the most lovely art deco features are the two ceiling lights, in our bedroom and the smallest bedroom, in the original 1932 portion of the house.  We immediately knew we should restore these.  I had found some beautiful faceted bulbs, as there'd be no shades over the lights, to enhance the fixtures... these bulbs, put on dimmers, look fantastic on full force or gently lowered.

At Rona, we looked carefully and choose a gun metal spray.  It looks great on the windows, doors and several other items in the house... has the right Depression colour, sheen, impression. 

Three floor lamps were left... one very ornate, with a Viking ship on top, another very simple with a large milky glass bowl shade and the last with three satellite bulbs around the central large bulb and shade.  These lamps were invaluable while painting the originally dimly lit rooms during the fall and winter.  Before we move in, they get GMS'd (gun metal sprayed) too.

Kee and I take off all the knobs and plaques, spraying them.  The colour suits perfectly and reflects beautifully the facets of the old glass knobs we buy at Habitab for Humanity.

Even the visible drain pipes of the small bathroom corner sink and the legged wall sink in the green bath are sprayed.... along with the round, corroded drain shut on the bath tub (after it was sanded) and the inset soap niche on the shower wall.  The cones around the bare bulbs in the closets were sprayed.  Cut glass knobs on yank chains make a simple, period and effective lighting.

Like the ceiling paint, I wish we could've bought this particular spray by the vat.

"Playhouse" mentality... The Fabulous GGs....

So I've got these three friends see... the GarGoyles, aka The GGs.  [explanation of GG later] I brought them down to the cottage right after we made the offer and were waiting the counter... the agent let us in.  They fell in love with it immediately, could absolutely see everything I incoherently told them to see.  And these wonderful women, even with whatever they were before, have been a support, sounding board and liquid lifeline to me since.  Every weekend in the hot September of 2009, two would come from Chatham, pick up the 3rd in Wheatley and bring wine and chips.

 
As the weather chilled, we sat in the living room... on four old upholstered chairs left behind, on the threadbare oriental.  Kee built us raging fires and skeddadled out, leaving us to rant and ramble, as the red and white wine went down... relive our fabulous 12 day Yucatan road trip of the year before; constantly deconstruct, reconstruct and bury the bodies of the Board of Education; commiserate with some honking major boulders currently on each other's paths and generally relieve my tension of working at school, working at home, then working down at the lake.  We'd stay latelate.

Everytime they came down - Peggums, Juanita and KweenReen - we had something new to show them.... the amazing recovery of the walls, then the so-fitting paint, the glowing reclamation of the wood floors, the day they walked in to find the kitchen gutted to the studs in some places.  What a squad of cheerleaders they've been for me.

Late one frosty, winey February night, as J & R were "debating" on who was DD next time, I looked around and thought, what we have going on here is our own little playhouse, a girls-only mentality... it all doesn't seem real, because they know when they go home, I'm going back to my real home tonight too.  And I'm looking and thinking, jeez, I'm going to miss these "Friends of Renovation" visits.  We'd had serious lookers on our house.... soon, this renovation would have to be an on-site one, we'd be living here.  When I said that aloud, Reen wondered what we'd do - when Kee was here, full time, at our GG Playhouse...  small shared moment of apprehension..... a full time boy in the playhouse?  Selfish bitches, eh?

But we - and Kee - have adapted just fine.  Because he's shaved and refitted the french doors between the living room and the sun room to a nice tight fit - he can ignore our rants that rise as the wine level lowers - and watch the sports tv that he loves.  At a GG visit, he takes his accolades for the latest reno-miracle, takes his bows, takes a beer and beats a retreat.

During a spring 2010, Michigan shopping trip, at Costco, I was with the girls when Reen's BB rang.  It was Kee and she handed it to me.  The house had sold.  We jumped and screamed in the middle of the busy main aisle.  They were happy for me that one of the major concerns of this rocky road of real estate load had been solved.  It was perfect that they were there when it came about.

Projects continue.  When they walk in the door, first we hug, then we wine-up, then do the "What's New Tour".... then we rant.

This summer, we did what every middle-aged party of females do - when they're 16 - we pierced Juanita's ears!  How can you be our age and not have pierced ears?!  She couldn't get our vacation-memory-trip-bonding-purchase - the matching Mayan calendar earrings in Valladolid because of those virgin ears.  Little did we know, all it took was a bit... well, a lot, of bebidas alcoholicas.  Downing margaritas, enjoying lunch, wine and Bailey's at Peggums, we noted that while J could borrow an outfit, she couldn't complete the look with the matching earrings - because her ears weren't pierced.  KweenReen suggested that we could remedy that immediately and we all thought, why yes, how easily we've solved this concern.  My hookback crystals were off and dropped in boiling water, a thin needle went in, a lime went behind J's ear and we all took turns tunnelling.  It was perhaps the first operation where all participators and observers were anesthetized!  Eventually the lime went in J's mouth, as we felt she was squealing a bit toooo much, but in they eventually went, completely level.  We celebrated by semi-skinny dipping at the cottage and drinking tea late in the evening.  Juanita wore the earrings a couple of months and now has more and more danglers each week.

And.... this summer we wine-toured the Lake Erie North Shore District, picking out dozens of wine..... visited a lavender festival in Chatham, won $150 on the Michigan MegaMillions while shopping over the river..... had loads of laughs and fed each other food and support throughout the year.

I'll never think back to the chapter of the first year here without the support of these women.  GGs Rule!

Origin of the Term GG:  years ago, after a workshop in Sarnia, and after a short, uneventful hour at the casino, the four of us were going to go out for supper.  I suggested going over the St Clair River, on the ferry, from Sombra to Marine City, Michigan, to a nifty little neighbourhood bar called Gars.  Gars has the biggest, juiciest hamburgers, goldfish-sized bowls of beer called boombahs and bowls of popcorn shrimp that you can consume quantities of as you watch lake freighters plow up and down the river.  Others were invited, but just us four went over the water. 

We already had a slightly tighter connection - a similar bend of humour and a snickering view of  the "tea lady" mentality of a few of the elementary school office supervisors of our job group group.  But on the positive/nonbitchy side, also the building of friendship and respect for each other that grew when we undertook the long rewrite of our job group's formal Job Evaluation, that resulted in the successful raise of the elementary office job points and subsequently, the pay.  We still regard that work as a job well done and for the real benefit of many.

As we sat there, I said, in my bestest Noo Joisee accent:  Y'know, we're jist a bunch of goyles, sittin' at Gars, dat makes us Gar-Goyles!"  And it stuck.

Anecdotals.... before I forget....

Last spring we had Kee's dad, Norm, over for dinner, and that evening became known as:

Attack Of The Ant Queens

So we're sitting in the sunroom, enjoying a post-prandial coffee and kahlua, when a large, flying art strafes us.  We kleenex it midflight.... garbage it and move on.
Then the luftwaffe of those things move in. 
The living room seemed to be the source of tens and tens of them, insanely seeking light and escape.  Kee & bobbed up and down for an hour, swatting and dumping in the toilet over a hundred downed winged ants. 
Finding their entrance into the living, a hole in the corner of the pine-panelling, we agent oranged the opening and plugged it with toilet paper, then duct tape.
Leaving my father-in-law wondering about this deal.......


We decided the east side of the lot needs some delineation from the neighbours lot... They're good neighbours, erecting a barrier is definitely not the goal here, we'd just like to line the long driveway to the beach with pine trees.  Vesey's (from Prince Edward Island, where I ordered the majority of the bulbs) has these Jurassic Pines, they're supposed to grow up to 70' in 15 years - sounds unbelievable, but that's the claim.  They're 3 for about $80 and I'm tempted to chance them.... just 3, spaced out, with other pines in between.  They'll grow up with their big sister pine that's close to the house and I'll monitor their grown, taking timed pictures to see how that 70 foot boast works out for them.


My sister Sandy has schooled me well in Auction 101.  But I'm reaching the end of auctions.... I've raised my number on an authentic art deco bedroom suite, cabinets, buffets, lamps, paintings, chairs, tables, carpets.... I'm obviously not going to buy more than the cottage can use or hold and I think that's approaching fast.  There's been exciting scores, besting outbidding beeyotches, losing to outbidding bastards, but I must say that everything I've wound up with has been good, really good.  And I'll still auction, just a bit less, a lot more narrowly.


Repurposing has become a passion and Habitat for Humanity has really been a magnet for me.  We gotten some amazing finds there - the oak french door with thick, bevelled glass panes that, after stripping and refinishing, now separates the kitchen from the mudrooom; the upper cupboards in the mudroom that needed just paint, hinges and handles; a mass of cut glass-handled door knobs (that went from $5 a d front/back pair to $20 in the space of a year); the door for the 2BBathroom (5 wide glass panels) that we "stain-glassed" with translucent film....


Another repurpose was the metal stairs that we'll be using to access the beach, from the lawn atop the breakwall.  These are from Omsteads Plant 2, when the factory was being dismantled as different owners/rental took bites off the building itself.  Kee asked if these stairs became available... they became, they came here.  Very sturdy, industrial, can be welded onto the top of the steel breakwall, very safe.


When we first moved here, our stackable washer was hooked up, but there wasn't a dryer there previously, so for the spring and summer of 2010, I hung the laundry on the double line located between house and the driveway.  Even when the dryer was hooked up, in the fall, I continued to use the line.  I love the hanging up, the sequence of clothes, towels, sheets, placing the undies on the lakeside line with the towels and sheets roadside, protecting their privacy; then the smell - sharp, natural, oxygenated; and the feel - slightly rougher, realer than dryer-output.  Airing out the duvets and cotton coverlets is a satisfying chore... burying my face in towels, shirts, blankets often.  The savings in electricity is a nice icing on the cake, but the cake itself, of merely hanging laundry, is a very tasty cake.


Modem Manipulations:  so Bell comes down, sets up the phone/internet - but - we only get internet reception at the new end of the cottage, where the modem is located - but it should be for the entire house.  We endless and, it seems, pointlessly, complain to Bell, with vague threats of seeking comfort elsewhere.  Bell coughs up a new, more powerful modem, which is sent through the mail.... no joy.  More phone conversations, several with people whose accent I cannot decipher and who likely cannot understand me.  Upshot - another, more powerful modem.

Kee has a stroke of genius that the Bell professionals couldn't come up with:  let's locate the modem in the cente of the house, which turns out to be the small cupboard in the 2BBathroom.  Contact!


Avion points - are a good thing
Silverware accumulation...
Photoshow of lighting...
Lavender, soap, lotion, shampoo, etc...
Faux finishing the cupboards...
The putput boat...
The bed, a reading light, underwear...
Jam.....
The GGs summer wine tour...
Storage, thinning out, empty nest prep....
BB goal and planning...
The light in the morning...
Refinishing brass on antique vanity...