So we have been living in this house for longer than we have ever been in any place. (Did I ever mention that we have moved around a lot?) Since we are not planning on moving soon - after all, my husband just got tenure - we are changing the house some more.
Last summer we fixed the front steps - not aesthetically changing things, just getting rid of the insect riddled wood. We re-did the dining room, finally stripping off the old lady wall paper and putting some paint on the walls. We have ripped up the living room carpet to discover the disaster floors the previous owners were hiding (they were good at hiding things). Now we move onto greater things.
In the Spring we are getting the foundation fixed - a good deal of the surface cement is flaking off the cinderblock which supports the house. We are also getting the drainage fixed (two contractors are working up estimates) so - hopefully - we will be able to turn the big room in the basement into the studio space we thought it could be, instead of the wet, nasty, "storage for all the junk we do not know what to do with" space it currently is! This will involve a backhoe and tearing up all the foundation plantings along the front of the house come spring, as well as re-grading the front lawn. Which means I will be spending some time at the nursery looking for shrubs I actually like for out front. (Have you ever tried to walk through a barberry bush and an evergreen to turn on your hose? A very prickly experience).
So what are we doing NOW? Tearing up the kitchen! We have decided that the lack of counter space is getting a bit frustrating, and the breakfast nook has become a pseudo office, so the kitchen table is not being used for anything but sewing. In order to streamline things, we are tearing up the flooring; a nasty vinyl which is old, with cracking and curling along the edges.
We are redoing the floor - probably in a strand bamboo. We are adding about four feet of extra counter which will wrap around into the breakfast nook, and have about a 10 - 12 inch overhang so we can eat at it. We will get rid of the stained cream coloured Formica countertops and replace them with (insert marble, porcelain or granite here when we finally make the decision).
To start things off, my husband and I spent far too long at the Lumber Liquidators website, and walking the flooring aisle at Home Depot deciding what type of flooring we wanted. Yesterday my husband and daughter painted the nook the same colour as the rest of the kitchen. (Yeah, that was one of those things that never quite got finished last year).
So today we are off to pick up the base cabinet for the foundation of the counter. Since the counter will be bridging the archway into the nook (part of a load bearing wall, not to be messed with) my brilliant husband has decided to fill the space in between the two base cabinets by building a wine rack. (Have I mentioned before how clever he is? I was thinking storage for the dustpan!)
Last summer we fixed the front steps - not aesthetically changing things, just getting rid of the insect riddled wood. We re-did the dining room, finally stripping off the old lady wall paper and putting some paint on the walls. We have ripped up the living room carpet to discover the disaster floors the previous owners were hiding (they were good at hiding things). Now we move onto greater things.
In the Spring we are getting the foundation fixed - a good deal of the surface cement is flaking off the cinderblock which supports the house. We are also getting the drainage fixed (two contractors are working up estimates) so - hopefully - we will be able to turn the big room in the basement into the studio space we thought it could be, instead of the wet, nasty, "storage for all the junk we do not know what to do with" space it currently is! This will involve a backhoe and tearing up all the foundation plantings along the front of the house come spring, as well as re-grading the front lawn. Which means I will be spending some time at the nursery looking for shrubs I actually like for out front. (Have you ever tried to walk through a barberry bush and an evergreen to turn on your hose? A very prickly experience).
So what are we doing NOW? Tearing up the kitchen! We have decided that the lack of counter space is getting a bit frustrating, and the breakfast nook has become a pseudo office, so the kitchen table is not being used for anything but sewing. In order to streamline things, we are tearing up the flooring; a nasty vinyl which is old, with cracking and curling along the edges.
We are redoing the floor - probably in a strand bamboo. We are adding about four feet of extra counter which will wrap around into the breakfast nook, and have about a 10 - 12 inch overhang so we can eat at it. We will get rid of the stained cream coloured Formica countertops and replace them with (insert marble, porcelain or granite here when we finally make the decision).
To start things off, my husband and I spent far too long at the Lumber Liquidators website, and walking the flooring aisle at Home Depot deciding what type of flooring we wanted. Yesterday my husband and daughter painted the nook the same colour as the rest of the kitchen. (Yeah, that was one of those things that never quite got finished last year).
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