I didn't sleep much last night because just before bedtime Jeff told me, "Oh Dave wants the range niche measurements." It has to be decided immediately because things are moving quickly now. I panicked! What? How am I supposed to know the measurements? It hasn't even been conceptualized yet, and I am no professional. I only know what I want it to look like in myt head. I have no idea how to make ideas to scale or what measurements of the range we have to be aware of. So I racked my brain to draw my ideas. This is the very amateur rendition of what is inside my brain:
We had a meeting with our contractor tonight, and wow--they have completed so much in a week! Things are ahead of schedule. An inspector will be coming out Friday to check everything, the electrical work should be complete soon, the drywall will start on Monday, and the 6 kitchen canned lights are installed.
You can also see the huge sill that will be on my future triple window. That's going to be even nicer than I thought! I will have plenty of space to put my potted herbs or African Violets there. I was fascinated by the original components from the 1920s that were uncovered in the demolition. You can actually see the bark on the log they used as a support beam:
I wish my dad was still with us. He would have loved to see these type of things. We also found a perfectly mummified 1920s mouse in the wall.
The gable fan is also installed:
We would have prefered the fan to be centered, but it wasn't possible because of the old chimney and another reason I have forgot. The brain really does need sleep.
I was disappointed that the overhead center light in the kitchen was taken out because of a miscommunication. I already purchased a crystal, nonreturnable light fixture for that space on Ebay:
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| Photo from the Estate Lighting store in ebay.com |
On top of that disappointment, we discovered that our designer left us in a bad position when she suddenly was eliminated or left the company; she did not include any information for the carpenters in the drawings concerning the decorative elements (window valance, corbels, appliques, etc.). She told us to buy 3 pendant lights for over the island/peninsula. We did. Today we discovered that 3 will not work and it's too late to return the third light. She also left before completing the complete design project, so we had no direction with the backsplash which brings me to a great disappointment. The carpenter told me that the backsplash that I designed myself isn't possible to actualize because where the range will be is along a support beam, so there won't be room for the large 30" niche that I wanted. That was a big blow:-(
The original vision I had has been whittled down and changed so much. I know that it will still be beautiful, but I really wanted the entire wall to be removed between the kitchn & dining room, a gas range, a wall oven, the fridge in a more convenient space, medallions for the island pendant lights. And especially this wonderful/useful range niche. I'm more sad about this than I should be. Renovations can make you crazy believe me. I just have to keep reminding myself that it will all be beautiful, and so very worth it in the end.
That was my mantra when we were told that we had to purchase a new kitchen door tonight. The 1920s one is in bad shape and it scrapes the floor. We hadn't even eaten dinner yet, but I threw some pasta in the pan and we wolfed down a bite before heading to Home Depot & Lowes to comparison shop. Just look at the confused look on Jeff's face (or is that sleep deprivation?)
Buying anything under duress is no fun. Jeff & I ran around trying to find something we both like. I'm picky. The doors that I liked all had to be special ordered, and because of the time crunch we were limited to what was in stock--and we had to buy 2 since there are 2 back doors and we want them to match. Ugh... not a fun shopping trip with my back hurting so bad tonight from standing up for over an hour in the new house. We really need to get some furniture in there!
We're getting a 9 light classic door like this one because it's what they have in stock for immediate purchase:
I would have preferred something else like this one:
I love that it looks like a cross in stained glass. We almost bought this door, but we decided to get inexpensive doors for the back (and I told Jeff that we're getting a really great door for the front entry later on since we didn't get to pick out something special for the back). The 9 light door will be nice though since I want visibility of the beautiful view, lots of light will filter in, and I will be able to see onto the back porch and if anyone is at the door.
After the initial shock of the range niche being nixed, I thought of a decent work-around. I'm thinking of creating a 5" shelf from a remnant of our granite (or maybe wood) that will run the length of the range and supported by decorative corbels or brackets. Then I will still have a useful space for my most used cooking items (olive oil, salt & pepper mills) and maybe a small photo frame so I have something nice to look at while I cook.
All in all, I am super impressed with our contractor. He and his team have been extremely efficient and helpful every step of the way, and he even saved us over 2K on the electrical work. Jeff made a wonderful decision in hiring him.
It was good to shop tonight because I found a really great renewable bamboo adjustable utensil drawer organizer and knife block in Lowes.
You can expand it to look like this:
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