getting ready

Happy New Year (it's still not too late to still say that, is it?) from cold, dreary Illinois. I apologize in advance for the dark photos, but this is what the natural light in the house is like right now. 

Monkey and Clementine love to hang out in their cat tree in the living room, watching the birds and squirrels (if you look closely, you can see the gray squirrel on top of the fence) out the window. But, in just five days, their cat tree will be relinquished to the basement, as workers will be here next Tuesday to start renovations.

Totally clearing out rooms takes more time than you think - even if you think a room doesn't have that much stuff. You learn you really have more "stuff" than you think you do! When you have to remove every knick knack, plants, artwork, mirrors, books, and every piece of furniture...well, let's just say I'm glad I not only have a helper, but that we have a basement where we can move all this stuff to in the meantime.

You can see that we still have to remove the curtains and blinds, cat tree, chair, rug and coffee table. The couch and buffet will stay in the living room and the workers will cover and seal these two pieces.

One of the things we're having done is having a mantle built and installed. After almost 27 years of waiting, I'm excited about finally having a completed fireplace.

This photo shows how the fireplace wall is on an angle. I'm considering getting rid of this buffet ~ it takes up so much room in our small living room. It used to belong to my parents and my mom doesn't want it back. The thing is, a lot of my serving and glass baking dishes are in this buffet, along with wine glasses. The drawers on top hold extra dish towels and cloth napkins, as well as paperwork and mailing supplies. I could relocate the dish towels and paperwork, and perhaps get rid of some of the wine glasses, but I have no idea where I'd put all the serving dishes and baking dishes. Most of the wine glasses are Waterford crystal from our wedding registry back in 1984 and we never use them - I think I could sell them at my favorite antique consignment shop. I'm entertaining the idea of clearing out a lower cabinet in the kitchen where we store all the extra food containers (mostly glass). Then, perhaps I'd have room for the baking dishes. 

Another idea is to keep the buffet and have my mom chalk paint it (she's in the business of doing this now) so the living room doesn't look so dark. I haven't passed this idea past Mom yet, so Mom - if you're reading this - surprise! ;-)

The biggest project - and most dramatic, I think - will be having an 8' pass-thru cut out in the living room wall. (The other side is the kitchen.) This is the main supporting wall, so it can't be totally removed. Well, technically it could if we chose to have a support beam put in the ceiling, but that's a ton of work and expense. And this little house and neighborhood we live in isn't worth that kind of major renovation as far as resale value.

Here's the kitchen side of the wall. Can't you just picture the pass-thru and how much light will flow between these two rooms?

The workers will also be tearing the wainscoting off the walls and then painting the entire kitchen a neutral cream color. Good riddance to robin's egg blue! The kitchen has been painted this color the entire 27 years we've lived here. Needless to say, I'm way past this color.

The color I chose to have the kitchen painted is Behr Eggshell Cream. It'll flow nicely with the living room and hallway, and having neutral walls in the kitchen also means I can decorate with whatever colors I wish. With having blue walls, I was limited in color choices with table linens, dishes, chair pads, and decor.

We'll also have that lovely 1980's range hood and the two small cabinets above it removed, and a microwave installed above the range. The microwave on the counter will be donated. We're thinking of purchasing a toaster oven and putting it in the microwave's place.

Lastly, the brown faux wood trim around the kitchen doorway that leads to the basement will be removed and white molding installed. Sorry for the horrendous photo. I had to turn on the ceiling fan lights and it cast shadows all over the wall.

There's still a lot more that needs to be done in the kitchen - recessed lighting, new kitchen window, new counter tops, backsplash, maybe some upper cabinets removed and open shelving put in its place, and cabinets refaced - but all that will have to wait until more money is saved up. Not to mention, there's a lot of other (more important) work to be done in the house. Ah, the joys of home ownership!