You think you want to embark upon a complete overhaul of your kitchen space?    This post is for you.   These are photos of my current kitchen.  This is what I have been living with for a year now. 

It ain't pretty. 

Because it isn't functional. 

I've been constantly frustrated, irritated and hindered by my not-ergonomic kitchen.  I have had 6 strangely shaped drawers, two cupboards, one old ragged set of shelves and a mish-mash of tables and various "surfaces" to work on.  The place stays cluttered because there simply isn't space to put things away in.  If I spend the time to tidy it up and stack dishes, bowls, boxes of food, etc...  It just gets messy again within 24 hours.  Very frustrating.

Not to mention the fact that my studio sink has been doing triple duty as the kitchen and livestock sink. 

Ya.  Gross.  I've been using a lot of Comet since the piggies arrived.

No wonder I haven't gotten any dyeing done this summer.

But this is all about to change.

Cupboards and a dishwasher will arrive on the 16th.  We need to finish the mud work on the East half of the room, prime and paint and get ready to prime & paint the cupboards when they arrive.  Once the cupboards, counters & sink are in, we can shift things to prime and paint the other end of the room.  Bry also wants to refinish the floors at some point in this process - they are really thrashed. 

Maybe by the end of July I will have a working kitchen for real! 

I am sooo excited!












.....

We've been a bit overwhelmed lately.  I don't even have time to spell it all out - suffice it to say that it is getting cold and we Still haven't had time to finish the soffits and fascia on the new roof or get the new windows framed in and insulated.  Rather uncomfortable, really.

BUT.  The Ft. Jackson house has sold.  Woo Hoo!  We're not going to make any money on it but a family has moved in - he is a construction contractor and she loves the house so all is well there. 

We have re-thought our color scheme for downstairs - again.  One thing we have learned is that you NEVER buy paint until the very end.

(Does anyone want to buy two huge buckets of pale blue paint?)

Because our plan for the layout of the downstairs has changed slightly and because the cabinets we had priced and planned for last winter are no longer available, we have had to re-think our whole plan for the downstairs.  I'll tell all in another post once I've got caught up with the mess in this house (it is truly amazing how much volume the cabinets in the Ft.Jackson house were hiding!) but in the meantime - here is a short overview of our color scheme:

Kitchen walls - Dark teal (yes, really)

Living Room walls - that dusty pink and/or the chocolate brown - tile work with will be done in that faux aged stone tile with a few decorative tiles thrown in.

Cabinetry and Built-ins in both rooms - pale mustard yellow with that dark formica flecked with gold and teal for the counter tops.

Ceilings - the paler yellow

Paprika Curtains in the LR, teal throw pillows and other accents, something lightweight and cream or kitchen curtains.

We hope to have at least some of it done before Christmas!

O.K.  Time for some real life work.  (The color chips look so much better in real life - I've played with the color balance but digital cameras just don't manage blues against reds very well.)

Unlike this cat*, we have been feeling the advent of September with a great deal of discomfort.   It has been the "School is coming and we still don't have the roof fixed yet" variety of discomfort that only teachers and the spouses of teachers can fully appreciate.  We worried about it for a while Monday because of the rain and because of our exhaustion and because we were beginning to feel just a little bit helpless and hopeless. 

Bryan sat down and scribbled pictures of sticks on pieces of paper and tried to explain them to me.  I nodded sagely and turned away feeling rather bewildered and, I imagine, looking quite a bit like Buttercup before she stepped into that patch of lightning sand.  On Tuesday we looked at the weather forecast and saw that there were 5 days in a row that did not predict rain and certain doom for roofing projects.  Bryan promptly climbed up on the roof and began tearing off pieces of tin.  I began exhibiting small signs of extreme stress, like chuckling under my breath at strange and unlikely times and rocking back and forth for no apparent reason. 


You see, last year my brother-in-law, Jonathan, tore his roof off with similar abandon mid summer.  He blithely explained that he was going to build a few new walls, reinstall his rafters and put new siding on in order to have an extra story on his house.  He anticipated that this project would only take a week or so, especially if the weather behaved the way the forecast predicted. 



He took his roof off.

We had monsoons.  Water poured out of the electrical sockets in his downstairs living room.  All of his  lovely sheet rock walls downstairs were destroyed.   Several rolls of insulation were saturated.  High winds and rain squalls persisted for WEEKS.  It was like Jumanji without the stampede and giant alligator.  The whole family played games with thunder and lightning in a desperate attempt to get Some work done whenever it was dry and light enough out to work and then to get SOMETHING over that house when the rainclouds invariably began rolling in.  It was a nightmare.  It was so traumatic that when his wife came home and saw that our roof was off, she almost threw up in her driveway.


Perhaps stimming in the corner is not such a bad coping strategy considering the experience I've had with absent roofs.

Perhaps my terror was unfounded.  Progress has been good. 

Tuesday. Day 1.  No great pictures because the day consisted mostly of Bryan consulting with Amish men (who do not enjoy having their photos taken), writing checks and hauling lumber on the hay wagon over to our yard.  (You can see that my lens is a bit greasy in this photo.)




Wednesday.  Day 2.  Tin gone.  Decking gone.  Naked rafters.  Scary things falling from the sky.

























Thursday.  Day 3.   Old rafters gone.   (I worked at the Arts Council so did not get to witness scary things falling from the sky nor all of the silly horseplay on the naked roof.)   New rafters up.  Dormer framed up and built in.








Friday.  Day 4.  New decking.  Tin begins to be cut.














Saturday.  Day 5.  Will it rain?  If it stays dry, we'll  get our tin on. 

We're over budget but things are moving so beautifully fast and smooth.  It looks very promising.  Dad and Jonathan and Trenton and Ken and Mickey and Robert and Mom and Greg and Nichelle have been so incredibly helpful.  The men and Mom have all pitched in on the actual labor and Nichelle and mom have helped me out by taking turns with me to prepare meals for everyone.  It's been great.  I'm still rocking and chuckling quietly, though.




*(This cat believes herself to be Queen of the Universe.  And she can climb walls.  She has actually Climbed Up The Side of The House and gotten in through the construction project.  There is no keeping her out.  She is every cliche' you have ever heard about stubborn, persistent cats who keep coming back.  And she's absolutely adorable.  I'm trying SO hard not to be in love.)

What was I thinking?

Here's a slice of reality for anyone following this blog who thinks everything is all rosy and well - or who thinks I've got my little Mormon colored glasses cranked up way past reasonably happy.

Things are difficult around the Beorningstead lately.  The last few weeks have been crazy busy what with Bry planning and then running YM's Camp, work week at Mom and Dad Burnett's and trying to get the Ft. Jackson house cleaned out so as to be ready for drop-of-the-hat walk throughs.  I say we have been crazy busy, but aside from getting the Ft. Jackson house cleaned out (thank you mom, Lue, Molly & Chrissy!) we have made absolutely no headway on the Beorningstead AT ALL.

 We've got 3 weeks left of summer to get the back roof done.  Bry is planning a dormer and thinks he's got the plans pretty well hammered out.  He bought lumber today and the long term forecast predicts about 4 clearish days between now and Saturday.  Perfect.  Except he doesn't have any help lined up and several of the men who could and would help are either out of town or leaving town this week.  Part of me wants to just say - forget it.  We'll do the roof next summer BUT

We have thousands of dollars tied up in the bathroom project that cannot be reimbursed from escrow until the bathroom is finished.  The bathroom is under the roof that needs to be replaced.  Without getting that bathroom done, we can't afford the cupboards for the kitchen or our new appliances - washing machine, drier & dishwasher (oh, please, give me a dishwasher!).  In the meantime, I am functioning in a kitchen with seriously inadequate cupboard & counter top space.  This wouldn't be such a big problem except that the kitchen keeps getting filled up with more and more boxes of stuff that magically appear from the Ft. Jackson house as soon as there is room for them.   Some of it is stuff I don't want to keep but haven't had time to sort, some of it is stuff I want to keep but don't have a place for yet and some of it is stuff I need to use right now but can't get unpacked because there's too much else in the way.

There is also a serious mouse problem in the pantry area so all the dried goods and chewable packaging has to be stored in a bin.  I think I could have bought that coveted dishwasher with the money I have spent on bins during this project.  (That bag of dog food right there?  They love it.  Molly stuck her had in to get Ziggy a scoop of food last week and a little mousey ran around on her hand and arm.  Squeeal!  The dog food has been transferred to a bin.)


We're also using the Ft. Jackson house as our own private laundromat.  This is slightly inconvenient.  Especially when the pump or well or something decided to take a break in the middle of a big load today.  This means that on top of everything else, we have to figure out what that problem is and fix it fast before someone actually decides they want to buy the place. 

My studio is a wreck , though I am trying to get that sorted out this week.  (That top photo?  That's my dying table.  It looks worse than that today and it will stay that messy for at least a couple more months.  It just doesn't make sense to move all of the tools out to the tool shed -which is full of bins- or the barn - which is full of scrap metal waiting for a good hauling day- until we've got more finished up inside.)  The kitchen, studio, shower and small bath still need to be painted even though they are now filled up with boxes and other stuff and/or are being used frequently.  The living room still needs its wall board and electrical outlets, switches and light fixtures installed.  The windows all lack sills.

We still have not received a letter of reasonable assurance about Bry's job next year.  In June, he was told he'd be working full time again but with Albany playing games and school districts not having any trusty budget to work with, lots of teachers have been sweating it.  The household account is running low and I'm counting on a big infusion on September 15th but what if that doesn't come?

It is all very overwhelming.  I wigged out today.  Yelled at my husband, even though none of this is specifically his fault.  He grumbled back.  Maxx threw the kitten on the ground and was sent to time out and got a spanking when he wigged out about time out.

Nerves are frayed.  Tempers tight.  I'm trying hard to resist my stress eating/spending behaviors.  I can feel my will power crumbling fast.  We all really just need a few hours to relax on the porch.  And a case of Ghiradelli - one of the dark chocolate varieties.  That might help.

This Saturday, we all went to do some work at the Beorningstead. 

Bryan worked on our Teeny Tiny temporary Shower. It still needs water and some waterproof walls and a vent.

Ya.  It's not going to be fun.  But we have determined that we will have to wait for summer vacation to get the roof work done on the back part of the house, which means that the main bathroom will have to wait until the roof is done. 










After sweeping upstairs and pulling off a bunch of loose wallpaper in preparation for priming the upstairs bedrooms and hallway, we determined that it was a good time to get this abomination out of my studio.

It is the sink/counter top that Barbara used to use.  There was a disgusting rickety old improvised hand pump attached to it.  The pump came off with just a teeny bit of prying and promptly fell apart as I pulled it up out of the counter.  The rest of the de-construction was a bit more challenging.  I started in on the project myself but Molly & Maxx, seeing something they could pound on, promptly promoted me to supervisor/journalist and set to the task quite happily themselves.

As mentioned in previous posts, the Amish used huge nails to hold all sorts of things together.  They used several rail-road spike sized nails to secure the counter top to the back wall.   The bottom was inset into the floor and was nailed to the wall, the riser around the counter bottom and to the floor.  Some nails were pounded into the structure from down BELOW.

That thing did not want to MOVE. 




(Don't you love how Maxx had to insert himself into that photo?!)
It was finally dragged out, after much sweating and prying and now I have an empty spot with a lowered floor in my studio.  This is where I plan to put my long dyeing table.  I'm not sure how I will deal with the inset in the floor but I surely am glad to have that icky sink thing out of there.

Oh - our swallows are back.  As I was packing up our lunch gear, I head this little guy singing away about springtime, nests, old barns and bugs to eat as his mate swooped around the eaves.

This is between us in Ft. Jackson and The Beorningstead.











The drive is now 12 miles instead of 6 - and we have to backtrack to get there.  Sigh. . . .















It makes fun tilt-shift fodder, though

















. . . ..

The roof, which was tight and secure all through the storms of summer and record rainy season of fall, has decided to leak.   Everywhere.  Thousands of little rivulets, puddles and pools.  Dribbling down into my studio and warping the ceiling in that room.  This is maddening. 

On the one hand - it is only the back roof, relatively small, over the part of the house we intend to put the main bathroom and, eventually our bedroom.  Because of Bry being so sick post surgery, we did not have time to install the insulation and wall board as planned over the winter.  No building supplies were ruined.  No labor was wasted.  That is a good thing.

The ceiling in my studio was ugly anyway.  We've talked about putting in a skylight in the bathroom because there is no window there but since we didn't plan on doing anything to the roof, decided not to.  Now maybe  we'll put in a small sky light over the bathtub.  (How much costs a little skylight?)

On the other hand, we wanted to move in over Spring Break.  We were all set to install the pump, finish running the plumbing, install and prep the sub-floor, install the shower, potty and vanity, insulate and put up wallboard and prepare the spot for the tub over the next three weeks.  Now those three weeks, and probably more, will be spent pricing, procuring and installing roofing materials.  That will delay our move-in which will delay our ability to really push the Ft. Jackson house (Which is really at it's most lovely at lilac & poppy time) on the market.

We're not sure yet what the extent of the repair/replacement will be.  The back roof is OLD.  The reason it is leaking is because the original tin roof was installed with nails that have no gaskets or other kind of weather proofing.   For decades, those nails have been doing their job, keeping the roof on, without leaking.  We don't know if it was because the house spent the winter without heat (doubtful - that part of the house wasn't heated anyway) or if this spring was just THE END for that particular aspect of the house's construction.  That's likely.  It's been there for at least 30 years.

A good roofing screw will have a bit of rubber thing-gummy under the head so that when you screw it down tight, it creates a water tight seal against the tin.  When we fix this roof, we should be able to expect it to last for the next 30 years or so.  Happily, the rafters are still good and solid so this will only be a repair, not a re-build.  We are a little concerned because most of our available escrow money is tied up in - guess what - insulation, wall board, sub-floor, plumbing and fixtures for the bathroom that is supposed to go under that roof.  We can't get more $ out of escrow until those are installed and the bank inspector comes to check out our progress.  We can't install these beautiful things until the roof that will protect them is repaired.  We can't repair the roof until we have more money to buy materials. 

What fun!  We can probably get some more escrow money freed up when we finish the downstairs wiring, install light fixtures in the front of the house and put wall board in the kitchen and living room again.  That roof seems to be sound - it is newer and better constructed.  We may also need to come up with some creative ways to boost our income in the next little while to provide more cash for this process.

Anybody want to buy a scarf?