I loved the concept of a tiny home, until I realized I was living in one (2 bedroom, 1 bath, half a duplex) and we are not minimalists. We're not packrats either, but we have stuff. Stuff that we'd like to use, but have no place to put it, other than to store it in a box in the basement and take it out only when we need it. We have things that will be useful once we can move to a bigger house, and these are things that we won't find again (without paying an arm and a leg for...like my husband's enormous roll-top oak desk that currently sits at my nephew's house). So I'm not willing to give those things up.
My kitchen has long plagued me. It's set up completely wrong, with cabinet space that is totally useless unless you're Mr. Fantastic, with stretchy arms! It's hell to try and reach under those counters into a back corner to get a heavy pressure cooker, or the bread pan that slid waaaaay back there by accident. Counter space is at a premium, so extra storage to put the microwave and toaster oven on are essential. There's no pantry space, so I had two small sets of shelves against one wall and two crappy, fiberboard shelf blocks under the microwave against another wall.
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| A jumbled mess of stuff! |
My longtime goal has been to build shelving that goes up to the ceiling (or close to it). I finally...FINALLY...set aside time and money to do it. Valentine's Day weekend, my husband and I picked up lumber. I just used an inexpensive soft wood (SPF). Now I know I could have gone out and bought shelves for less than what we paid for the wood, but I really enjoy woodworking, amateur though I may be. It challenges me to build my skill and I learn from every mistake. It's also a great source of pride to see things I've made grace my home. I appreciate those things so much more.
I spent Saturday (2/20/16) cutting and sanding...and cutting and sanding some more. It took forever, but I did manage to put half of it together before I was done for the day. And I was just toast. It had been a long day and all I wanted was to wash the fine layer of sawdust from my hair, face and arms!
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| As you can see, my supervisor Sid had to check out my work. She's a bit of task-master, so she's lucky she's cute! |
This past Saturday, I spent cutting shelf separators and corner wedges (and cutting and sanding, yet again). It was tedious work, but it stabilized the whole piece and made it look so much better.
On Sunday, my dearest darling husband hauled it out of the basement, to the deck for staining. I chose Minwax Provincial (only because Lowe's was out of my favorite, Early America).
It came out much darker than I had anticipated, but it grew on me as I continued to stain. I loved the way it really darkened up the unique characteristics of the grain.
By 4:00 PM, it was ready for the kitchen. Nick and I emptied the space, took down the shelf on the wall and brought this 7 foot monstrosity in! By 6:00 PM, it was secured to the wall and filled to the brim. Nick had already emptied the fiberboard boxes onto the kitchen table and brought up the sewing table (that will eventually go upstairs), as a temporary microwave stand...just until we can invest in a dishwasher this summer.
We had two shoe cubbies by the door, stacked on top of each other, housing our shoes in the kitchen. It wasn't the most esthetically pleasing thing to look at, but it was mostly functional. I got the bright idea to repurpose the two smaller shelves that this unit replaced as shoe and extra storage by the door:
It also opened up an extra foot of space at the end of the table and we can store canned goods and dog food there, rather than on the floor by the corner hutch (which was just messy and annoying). AND my kitchen table is completely clean...as in, we can actually sit at it and eat dinner again!
I keep walking into my kitchen and marveling at how functional it is and joyful it makes me!
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