This past week has been a little different and has gotten us off our normal routine. Race week was interesting with 160,000 NASCAR fans around, but is now over and our little town is getting back to normal.
Then cousins from Richmond came to town, camping in Aunt Carol’s fifth wheel at the lake. So we made several trips out there to visit and one day to sightsee with them. This morning we went out to say goodbye and witness the “giving of the quilts”. My sweet mom and her two equally sweet sisters made these fabric works of art especially for the cousins who were duly surprised and grateful.
I am back to working on our project rehab house where the wall paper removal continues to challenge me… but I am winning with only a couple of rooms left to do.
Yesterday Liza got her new chain saw and Paula Bunyan has been happily felling many small trees that were killed by this Spring’s extreme frost. There are plenty of trees on this property so the dead ones won’t be missed and will be replaced in the Spring.
Yes, I like having a schedule. Liza’s mom had her own retirement schedule: bathing, coffee, dressing, US TODAY cross word puzzle, breakfast, housework, bill paying or letter writing until it was time for her to prepare the lunch sandwich she would enjoy during “The Young and the Restless”, “As the World Turns” and “The Bold and the Beautiful”, followed by a nap. And so it was, every weekday the same. It seemed to serve her well.
My own mom has a daily routine that I think helps keep her grounded: early rising, grooming, breakfast, projects like quilting, gardening, laundry (she still irons everything) and household chores. Then lunch with her soaps, nap, after which she reads until dinnertime. She reads everything: classics, mystery, romance, historical fiction, you name it. The reading is the reward for her busy and productive mornings. It is her schedule.
What would my perfect schedule be? How could I fit it all in a day? Rehabbing on our project house, reading, writing (which has been reduced to blogging too infrequently), cooking and caring for us, real estate and personal clerical duties, spending time with family and friends, studying and learning, gardening, music, oil painting and other art related activities, traveling…. Trying to find my way and set up a routine that makes me feel happy and productive but not stressed and over-booked. I’m probably not alone in this quest.
Our “before” kitchen was quite the 60’s/70’s charmer. The avocado green built in can opener was our favorite feature!
Seriously, the room is a good size and the basic layout of the appliances is the perfect triangle. But the room still seems dark since the only natural light source is through a cut-out over the sink adjacent to den’s glass doors.
The first day I stood in this room I could see the difference opening up this room would make. I envisioned the cut-out expanded and the entire left wall above the bottom cabinetry removed. I could imagine slicing cucmbers at my sunny kitchen counter while bird watching through to the lush, rear courtyard.
Within the first few days of ownership we knew we would be spending half of our renovation budget on the 600 sf. kitchen and den areas. It is the heart of the home and the area in most need of updating.
1. Demolition of kitchen cabinets, old flooring, paneled walls. This involves calling the plumber and electrician to disconnect what ever we can not unhook!
2. Build new staircase to lower level and remove impractical and unnecessary spiral.
3. Prepare floors to receive 3/4″ hardwood flooring.
4. Install support header beams where needed.
5. Have plumber Chris and electrician Jamie come back in to update, reconnect, run new lines, etc.
6. Sheetrock on walls and over popcorn ceilings. Sand and paint.
7. Order and install cabinetry from Kitchen Floyd.
8. New appliances, countertop, backslash, and fixtures.
Not particularly in that order… but you get the idea. Total overhaul. It’s OK. I can see the results, smell the food cooking, feel the revived energy of the home’s spirit.
Our project kitchen will be “starting over” too.
Here is a picture looking into the kitchen from the den. Our rehabbing always gets scary after demo day one. You think…”I just spent a pile of money to purchase this home and now we have torn it apart.” Something about it must get worse before it can get better!
The day the dumster was delivered I knew we were nearing demo day. Out with the old and in with the new. I wonder what the neighbors think or how the old owners feel when they drive by and see this 22′ long hunk of steel parked in the drive.
I hate thinking about the debris to go to the land fill but I tell myself it is better to throw out an old kitchen than the whole house. So we will forge ahead in our attempt to recycle this home.
When demo started we filled this metal cavern in two short days with old kitchen cabinetry, rusty filing cabinets, the jade shag carpet from downstairs, and old flooring and paneling from the kitchen.