Wednesday, September 7, 2016

REPOST!!>>>Weekend in Review..its all about the Kitchen

I was just reading about Plain English, the very expensive and wonderful cabinet making coming stateside over on remodeilsta (my go to interior blog).  It reminded me of my inspiration point for my kitchen but with a wildly different budget.  I think i did all the cabinet work for about $1000 dollars.  Not bad for an oak painted kitchen, I love ikea but i love real wood better.  The handles were picked up in hong kong so this amount doesn't include air fare :-) Take a look and scroll to the bottom for some updated photos....

I seem to always be pulling a ceiling down.....This weekend was no exception, but not to the extent of the living room.  In the kitchen I wanted to leave the lath, which is the thin strips of wood that are nailed up to the beams to hold the plaster on/into.  So off I went making a mess and pulling a whole burnch of plaster down.  This had to happen as the ceiling had that awful texture that makes it look like the top of a cup cake on it (thats a technical term).  So even if the lath or beams weren't good under there it had to come down.  I feel like the house is totally working with me as it came down and revealed just what i wanted underneath it.  The greatest thing about this house is that it doesn't matter what any body else thinks about it! Some people may think this looks messy, or not finished but it couldn't be more perfect for me. Heres the before shot..

before..

As the process begins, putting tarps down helps the clean up
and really makes clean up that little bit better (translation it
still is the worst part)
Me in the dusk at 9pm and you can see all the
crap that comes down as you start to pull it
down, its a process!
hello my beautiful ceiling, at this point i was just happy it was done.  I really should save
these projects for when people are here, but i have not patience i just want to get it done
I am my mothers son...

It looks like a disaster in this shot, well a lot like
a disaster.
The worst, lugging all the crap to the dump, this is
the bit i would love to pay someone to do 

then this guy had to go, would look good in another
kitchen but not mine..
oh thats me, I innocently thought i would just take the tap
(faucet) off and then it ended looking like the below


One thing led to another, it was interesting getting that
heavy cast iron sink out alone, i did a kind
of rolling technique 
At this point there is no turning back, i have no sink
and a room full of rubble, i chose to think of this as
progress???


Somewhere in amongst all this I had a washing machine and tumble dryer delivered.  Yes this out of everything feels the most grown up.  Thankfully I found a used set on craigslist so I didnt have to spend a ton on a grown up things like this.  There used but Kitchen Aid brand so a good brand that can be (inevitably) fixed and repaired.  Im in love with these shark bite connectors for plumbing. I moved the faucet outlets over, put the supply box in for the washing machine, moved the electric so its above the water line.  Never a good idea to have them too close.  Please note the use of a can lid to cover a hole in the shelf? No idea why they did this but i kept it.  Secretly love all of these weird make do and mends.  The plumbing was way easier than i thought and was smooth sailing.


Shark bite T's
Electric moving  

This is the wall behind the kitchen so all the plumbing is
exposed in the utility room so makes working with it
really simple.  Pvc pipe going in.  Im telling  you the glue
they use to put this stuff together is potent, no wonder
plumbers are always smiling
Probably should have cleared the shelves of the china first
but as you can see I just went ahead and work around it.
This again is the pantry/utility room and its amazing, all
the mess and tools are in here, its going to be a great
project room !


Glamour shot of the new stop tap box and the washing
machine
Even more glamorous shout of the washing machine
out let to the drain. 


Now that something essential like the washing machine was in and working i can move onto more exciting developments.  The dryer not so much, I need a 240 volt outlet installed and as much as I would like to try this I have to draw the line somewhere.  My friends dad is an electrician so maybe he can do it, in the mean time I'm going to get a local guy out to give me a quote.

As i say on to something a little more exciting, and may i say putting my wood working skills to some use.  My cordless tools are some of my favorite things at the moment but i really wish i had a table saw for some more accurate cutting.  Using an old box as the cutting bench is somewhat challenging, and the circular saw doesn't give the cleanest cut but...


These are just the basic stock oak cabinets at home depot
The quality is okay, and the price is ever better at 120 for
the 18" base and a little more for the 24" base

Adding the side support rails for the platform
for the sink to sit into.  This is planned 
around a farm house sink



I don't have the farm house sink yet so in the
interim i wanted to try an idea i have had for a while.
Just using a simple galvanized feed bucket and put
a drain outlet in it 
I've built it so the farm house sink can drop in here
when i get if but for now this will do 





Cutting the hole in the bottom for the drain.  Side note,
make sure not to cut this too big as i did....
Here is the drain inserted in the new hole,
worked better than i expected and would be way
better if the hole was 1/4" smaller




Another view of the framing.  The farm house sink will
drop right in there, as long as i got my measurements
 right. Im thinking of framing the front of it out like in
this picture.  I will see once the sink is in there....
More framing happening and these are the clamps
that i swear by.  I used them in the city apt when
doning all the door frames and they are just great,
another set of hands




So if I had been smart I would have taken this
photo without the shadow.  There is a subtle
difference in the color on the top half and on
the bottom half...
...the top colour is the living room, the colour on
the left was option A for the kitchen
 (not grey enough) and the colour on the right was
option B for the kitchen.  

So i painted half the room in the colour B paint, and i was on the fence about it, was too blue, almost cold.  On a whim i mixed a 50/50 blend with the option A taupe color and it came out perfect, thats whats on the bottom half of the room in the first photo (on the wainscoting).  Its a warmer grey without being too taupe.  The colour on the top half was too blue.  Ended up a prefect shade of grey/taupe by chance.  I basically didn't have the time to drive back to home depot for more paint.  Moral of the story, have a go and see what happens. Moral of the story, spend more time on paint choice...



One last shot of some details of the framing, i won't
bore you any more with the details but feel free to ask,
way cheaper than a custom kitchen.
I am so pleased with the way it all looks, they are not
finished yet but coming along. I really enjoy doing this,
given the time it would be great to build them from
scratch


Definitely not finished, there is another 18" drawer unit (i think) to go in the run so its a set of three units.  Always sets of three.  The 24" unit on the left hand side will hide the dishwasher when i find one on craigslist (lets all cross our fingers to the craigslist gods that the perfect one no more than an hour away for little money will be listed).  The concept is pieces of furniture opposed to box standard units.  I have this great blackened hardware that i have been holding from a trip to hong kong that will look perfect once they are painted grey.  But this is where i left the weekend.  I finally got to install my antique shelf brackets out of storage.  They are already a white, chipped perfect patina.  The massive old floor boards were used in the basement as vegetable storage.  After a thorough bleaching (in the snow) and scrubbing down they look perfect, and were weirdly the perfect length.  Finally all my white china has a home!! You have to read back into previous post to see my ramblings about whiteware, stoneware etc etc, my inner Martha Stewart takes over, all be it a British gay version of Martha.  Now i have so much room for more, bring on the flea market finds. The cabinets themselves will be washed with the same grey as on the walls, but with some of the grain still showing.  You can see the base rails being added as well to the units.  I also just put some board on the tops so i have some counters to work on, and painted them black so i can get an idea how the slate will look.  Its gonna look perfect. I can see some tile or a piece of slate running along that back as well, just a few inches.  Along the top of the ceiling i also want to run a 1" by 2" wood trim to add a finishing to where the ceiling meets the walls.  Again that balance of finished and unfinished.  Its a work in progress...check back later in the week for the stove make over...





Where we are today......


Cabinet outlay $1000, then slate tile for work top and simple black tile back splash, along with white belfast sink.  Total spend on cabinet run and back splash/sink $1600




Side cabinet picket up at a flea for $20, tiles found in Vietnam for a $1.50 each 










1 comment:

  1. I just saw your feature on Design Sponge and love what you've done with your home. It's perfect.

    ReplyDelete

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