Progress People, FINALLY!

This is my cottage kitchen BEFORE we tore it down and started remodeling it.  Following, is the story of why we would even want to do such a thing.  Really, because this is a pretty little kitchen, right?  It is, I agree.  The problems weren't skin deep, however.  The footings and floors in the original framing of the cottage were so off kilter that when you opened the door of the refrigerator, then went to remove whatever you were getting out of there, would slam shut on your  butt hand.  And that's a cold shock, believe you me.  When you walked across the floor all the appliances wiggled.  Kind of beachy, right?  No, more like living on a dingy boat adrift at sea before you battened down the hatches.

The last owner remodeled it a bit from its 1950s original state.  I liked the colors and the tile and the cabinets looked pretty but, they were cheap awful.  They were from IKEA and don't get me wrong, in the right place IKEA furniture and cabinets are great.  But in my kitchen these cupboards warped within 3 months of us moving in and actually using them. You know how when you go to IKEA and you sit in the ready made rooms and dream of how it would be if that was your kitchen/family room/bedroom? Well, if you actually take the kitchen cupboards home and do things other than stock them with dishes and food.  Well, in our case, it wasn't pretty.  The paint was chipping off, especially around the sink where they got a little more sopping wet moisture whenever my kids had their turn on dishes.  The flooring looks beautiful here as well.  However it wasn't hardwood (as it was to the original house.) It was linoleum made to look like wood.  Yuck.   Remember after we tore everything out we found this serendipitous surprise?  Unfortunately for us, the beautiful floors beneath the linoleum got ruined in the torrential rains we got here in California right about the time we removed the roof during our remodel.  I cried.  More than once. I think I am going to cry again, just give me a minute.

Thank you for your patience. Lets have a look here.  This is how my kitchen looks now.  Well, actually this is how it looked about a week ago.  It now has a beautiful ceiling with gorgeous wood beams which I will show you in a sec if you just remain patient.   My new kitchen is now completely on the other side of the house from where it used to be all snuggled up by itself.  All snuggled up by itself on the other side of the house meant that, my family used to feel GUILTY all the time because I was over there slaving and cooking away for them, all by myself.  Even my husband would drag himself away from the football game that was on tv and pop in now and again to ask if there was anything he could do to help.  Umm.  That would be harder on me than doing it by myself since I would have to spend all that time telling you where the dishes are and all.  This is the same man who was a bachelor for 12 years after high school, and before he married me.  He owned a house but it only had one spoon and a fridge for his beer.  No stove.  Because, upon my asking he replied with a quizzical look on his face, "Why would I need a stove?"

Now don't get me wrong about the GUILT thing.  I personally am a huge believer in the power of guilt.  It makes the strong man weak and the weak man strong.  I'm a good Catholic mother therefore, I use guilt to my advantage whenever I can. In my arsenal of good 'mothering skills', I would rank guilt right near the top of the weapons pile.  But, whilst my family was feeling guilty, I was feeling lonely and to be honest, a little bit like a slave over there all alone cooking and preparing meals for a husband and kids who have no appreciation of my culinary skills a family of 7 who would just as soon eat take-out from Roberto's on the corner of Coast Hwy 101.

Now, because you were so very patient, and patience is a virtue, here are the beams on the ceiling of my new kitchen and family room.  They will be painted in a beautiful, high gloss white when they are finished.  We spent several days staining the boards which run crosswise but, after installing them I decided they looked too orange and for that cottagy feeling I'm going for they would look better all in white.  What do you think?  Go ahead and be honest, I don't get my feelings hurt easily.  Tssssst.

This picture shows where the clear glass door will be right next to the kitchen window.  Under that window will be a my dream (farmhouse) kitchen sink.  All that is to the right.  To the left is part of the family room bank of windows.  This is our city/mountain view to the East.  It's a beautiful view. You can share that view right here in the next picture.

I'll be looking at that amazing view, right HERE through these windows   And this is in the daytime. Wait until you see what it looks like in the early evening.

Now, I could easily show you more remodeling stuff but, I don't want to OD you all at once.  Next time you come on over here to the cottage I'm going to show you the new stair case.  It was amazing to watch them build it.  I'm not very good at visualizing on the blueprints so I just couldn't imagine what it would look like when there was just a big void there.  But, wait until you see.  Soooo cool.  Until then for those of you who celebrate Holy Week, I wish you a blessed one.  HE IS RISEN.

And to all, Happy Easter.

And cause I love all of you, each and every one.  Here is is, my view to the East, through my new family room and kitchen windows.  I'll no longer be alone and slaving in a kitchen waaaay over on the other side of the house.  Instead, that will be the laundry room.  I also slave in there but, that's a story for later.  Much later.  

Isn't this amazing!  I love this view.  And I'll have lots of windows to look at it from.  I am one lucky girl and I'm counting my blessings every single day.

Sending out a special shout out to my sister Sue.  So glad you had your heart valves all cleaned out and you'll be around for a long, long, time because, I love you more than all the easter eggs that all the kids will hunt all over the world on Easter!

Blessings,

Tia