Tonights progress brought to you live by Alaskan Amber :)

So the southern munchkins of Michigan have tore into it once more.  Last major update we left off with the new wood floor ending at the door to the kitchen, and that was just after we had company here months ago... Probably 2010.  So now that the kitchen agreement has taken place we can move forward and continue the flooring.  YEA!!!  (the sunshine outside doesn't hurt either)

Flooring skills have improved. We have gotten a little quicker and installing these.  The blank space is well underneath where the new cabinets are going to go. So to save the expense of wasting flooring nobody will ever see we made the decision to nail plywood down the same thickness as the floor. I may end up staining the plywood so if the stove is pulled out it won't look terrible. But this will allow appliances to sit correctly and save a  couple hundred bucks in the process.

Oh, P.S. we painted the wall!!  it looks a little more lime greenish than it is in person.  The color brightens up the room , makes it a little fun and funky, and still keeps in the character of the historic house. Just what we were after. The stove and island keep floating around the room as flooring progresses.  It would probably move even faster if stuff wasn't in the way.

And of course if there is paint involved Amanda's creativity is not far behind.  She has attacked the  now guest bedroom full force. Note the lack of oak flooring.  That was a weeks worth of work carefully pulling that out.

Amanda applying the metallic paint. 

She paints and the floor starts creeping in.... spooky.

 I did learn one neat trick to laying wood floors, while pulling out the oak floor, I found the flooring changed direction at the door to the downstairs bath.  You can buy splines for the 3/4" flooring so you can flip the boards around and run the opposite direction. An answer to a mental delima for a week or so. Certainly the solution I needed to traverse the doorway and move back toward the back wall of the bedroom.  (the skinny paint stick on the floor is one of the splines I cut from a paint stick to fit our floor.

Well we hope this finds all of the friends and family safe in the windy south.

Ughhhh

Well good morning.......Ugh

Spring has Sprung!!

Howdy All!!

Well the snow is gone and the colors are on their way back.  It's still a little on the chilly side occasionally but after working in the garage over the winter the temps in the 50's are pretty amazing, and with the occasional 60's number I've actually expressed my desire to blind the neighbors with my white legs in short pants on a few occasions.  The excitement of summer approaching is brewing in Michigan.

Proof life does exist after winter!

We haven't lost the gardening bug from last season. But much like the apartment life we are restriced on space in the yard. So to pull off vegetable gardening as eloquently as we can we built a pair of raised beds to conduct our edible experiments in.

Start of the 4' x 6' Cedar Garden Beds

View from the Deck

With the boxes built, we had to get started on the growing season.  Knowing the length of time it takes for many of the things we enjoy to grow, and the cold weather we have jump started our growing season indoors this year.

Amanda's handy work, working hard.  We purchased some of the bio seedling starter things and have planted pompus grass, and some other things she will have to chime in and tell you about.

Heirloom Tomatoes, and a colorful variety of peppers underway!

Well as life here is prepping for the enjoyment of a Michigan Summer, I hope everyone your way is doing well.

A Farmhouse Kitchen Renovation

2 layouts, 13 paint swatches, 7 tile samples, 1 day of moving appliances, 3 trips to Lowes, and 4 trips to Ikea and we have a new a kitchen design!

Inspiration
We found some of our inspiration here  . . . http://www.ikeafans.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=4719&Itemid=492

The Challenge
The existing kitchen layout poses a few design challenges.  It was originally built as a "galley" meaning the oven/range, sink, and refrigerator are all on one wall.   This is the only traffic path from the front of the house to back too.  So no matter if you're cooking, perusing the refrigerator section, or cleaning up you run the risk of being run over.

Existing Floor Plan

Brainstorming
We started evaluating the functionality of the kitchen first and 
decided that one of two major concerns needed to be alleviated.  


As you can see in the existing layout, the range/oven partially 
blocks the walking path and the refrigerator door doesn't open
entirely because it's too close to the wall.  


We tested a couple of theories relocating the frig. and oven/range.  At first glance the refrigerator takes up more useable space than the we hoped it would.


To further test the layouts we created a few models to see how 
each choice impacted the rest of the kitchen.

Option 1, View 1

Option 1, View 2

Les and I both liked the location of the range/oven of the first layout.
The downfall of this layout is the awkward corner to the right of the frig. shown in this view.

Option 2, View 1 

Option 2, View 2

Option 2, View 3

The second layout shows the refrigerator moved closer toward the sink and off the wall, so that it opens correctly.   Moving the range/oven instead of the refrigerator gave us more counter space and even enough room for a small island. Since the lack of storage in the house is a challenge, one of my favorite features is the floor to ceiling cabinets in the left corner.  We intend for these to have glass doors, so they're decorative too.

Eureka!

New Kitchen Floor Plan

New Kitchen View

Aerial View of New Kitchen

And of Course . . .

You didn't think I forgot to show you the pretties, did you???

(Top, left to right) Wood floor, soapstone counter top,
paint swatches, and backsplash tile.