kitchen countertops

Our existing red formica countertops were cute, but there just wasn't enough room for what we needed in the kitchen and we really had our hearts set on warm wood counters. First was the big trip up to Ikea (twice) to purchase the Numerar counters in Oak. Then cut the notch that would sit around the existing 2x4 that we were leaving in place as a threshold into the new space and then many coats of tung oil....4 I believe.Once the long piece was in and secure, we had to tackle the removal of the orignal formica on the other side. We really held off on this because it meant no sink while we made the cuts, applied the coats of tung oil and moved it into place. While we had the countertop out we could finally take off the fake plastic tile backsplash and install the tin pieces we had salvaged out of the basement. A previous owner had put tin ceiling up in the basement and when we rebuilt the basement stairs we had to tear down the tin....so we flattened it out, sanded it, primed it and painted it white for our backsplash.

new york fashion week

some things i did in new york

danced, jumped on the tiny beds at the W, walked over 100 blocks, ate tasty d-lite, went to a fashion show in a limo, took some pictures, took lots of taxis, used my NFT book (if you dont know what this is look it up), went to a sky bar, had the best pizza of my life ... that was all one day.

shelf project

After finding some inspiration for our kitchen project in these images.....

I knew a few things that I definitely wanted in the design......

• lots of white (but different textures)
• stainless steel
• warm wood
• open shelving so that I could display my favorite kitchen finds.

Not all open shelving, I'm not neat enough to not have a few closed doors in the kitchen, but enough for some key items that have been given to me, or I have collected and are a good representation of the different colors and styles that I like.

So here is the beginning pictures of our open shelf project. We took the three longest cabinet doors off and moved the existing shelves to create the proportions and grid we wanted and, built face frames in front of the shelves and painted it all white!

kitchen run through.....

Back in the spring Kris and I slowly but surely began renovating our kitchen. It started with the floors and the new stairs to the basement, which is all I have posted about so far. So I thought it was time to play catch up....this is how it began......Our biggest issue was the size, no matter what appliances we bought, floor we remodeled or counters we installed, there wasn't even a drawer in this kitchen! The silverware lived on a shelf next to the refrigerator....its was bad! So we needed more room........

The new space for the kitchen came from the half of the former pantry that wasn't being used for the basement stairs, it worked out pretty well. And with a week long visit from the father in law, we got a lot done. We tore off the plaster, discovered there used to be a door opening there, braced the wall above, took out the original 2x4's (which we saved to make out outdoor table out of) and sized the new wood for the lintel. There was an original 2x4 at a 45 degree angle that we framed around to expose a bit of the old structure. And we added 5 more feet of kitchen space....and more importantly.....counterspace and room for a drawer!