My lovely little 1940s kitchen (it’s not perfect, and there’s still lots left to do, but it makes me happy :)
I adore my kitchen. It’s old (half the cupboard doors don’t close properly without a little help.) And it still needs a lot of work (pictures showing the disasterous floor and beat up countertops to follow!) But I love it. It’s a little eclectic and kinda cute. It’s e-clute-tic. (Teehee.) And it’s where I make brownies and chocolate bark and yummy soups and all sorts of goodness that feeds my Sweetie and my friends. :) Do I wish I had a dishwasher? Omg oui. Do I wish I had more cupboard space and prettier appliances? Oui oui. But for now it’s quasi-functional and pretty-ish and it makes me happy (at least from baseboards up – just don’t look at the floor.)
Just to show progress to-date, here are a few befores (photos stolen directly from the house listing when we bought it) and after-ishes (the -ishness because there’s still so much left to do.)
Before, with a seemingly pointless and rather greasy (blek) chair rail that ran around the room and dirty blue walls:
Don't you just love the brass switchplate on the island? Yup. Me too. Was a selling feature, for sure.
After – chair rail removed, ugly light fixture replaced and everything (ceiling, walls, cupboards, windows, and trim) repainted (the walls with BM Stonington Gray, and the cupboards and trim and such with BM Snowfall White) (it’s close-ish to the white of my white appliances, just a wee bit creamier):
Before (I love that they attempted to stage the island for photos, but left the ginormous bag of dog food sitting out on the floor [next to the fridge] in the background…):
That's one very whirly fan!
After (sans massive bag of kibble, and with lights swapped out for ones that actually match and aren’t icky):
Sweetie chose the pendant for over the island. He did good eh?
Before (with coffeemaker perched on top of the microwave on the too-small kitchen cart):
Nothing screams "lots of counter space!" to a potential home buyer like stacking your appliances...
After (with a properly fitting kitchen cart [best kijiji score ever!] and minus the random appliances plugged into the stove) (although I did forget to move the giant pile of mail off the island… just ignore that k?):
I'll eventually get around to painting the wood beam around the island - promise!
Much better eh? I like to think so. :) Here are a few details too…
The view looking toward the front door, with my pretty little painted piano stool (and that big pile of mail again – just keep ignoring that…)
The mirror over my stove is one of my favouritest HomeSense buys ever! And I love having a mirror over my stove (made possible, of course, by the fact that no one in the past 70-ish years has bothered to install a proper [and, um, I think mandatory] range hood above it. I won’t tell if you don’t. :) I’m sure I’ll go through gallons of Windex trying to keep it clean, but I don’t care. It’s a little unconventional and rather pretty and I love it. :)
A LOT of people told me to remove the 1940s-ish scalloped edge above my sink when we moved into the house, but I absolutely love it and just ignored them all (those scallop-hating sillyheads.)
I replaced all the old black pulls and hinges on the cupboard doors with pretty brushed nickle ones when I repainted the cupboards last summer. These have just a tiny little bit of detail. I quite like them. :)
My ikea Grundtal rail holds my grandmother’s old measuring spoons and cups (and some newer ones too.) I love having these out. They’re old and remind me of her. The super cute polka dot bowls belong to the cats.
And tada – there you have it! The prettier parts of my kitchen. It’s not at all perfect, but I like it. :)
And now (insert dramatic: dun dun dun…) for some ugliness (and there’s lots)…
Our countertops are archaic. And scratched. And pitted. And worn. And kinda blue. Ish.
Ack eh? We’ll be replacing them at some point, but I haven’t yet decided with what. I’m kinda liking the look of the ikea butchers’ block countertops at the moment, but I’m a wee bit worried about watermarks and stains and maintenance and such (even though people who have them tend to say they’re awesomely durable.) That said, the butchers’ block countertops aren’t hugely expensive (I think they’re even cheaper than laminate) so it wouldn’t be a huge investment… Planning a trip to ikea very soon (yay!) so I might know more about beautiful wooden countertops shortly. :)
And then, once we get new countertops, we can also get a new sink and faucet. Oh how I miss my double sink. And my pullout faucet. Lots. And lots.
Oh. And then there’s my floor…
Yup, it’s pretty snazzy. In case you can’t quite tell, I’ve got old peel-and-stick tiles, on top of old peel-and-stick tiles, on top of something else, with maybe something else underneath. And, sadly, the floor will likely be the last thing I replace in the kitchen. While I (at least) have a vague idea of what I’d like to do for the countertops, I have no clue what to install on the floor (and whatever I put on the kitchen floor will continue through the hallway, since that old brown carpet is ug-ly. Times ten. Which also means it has to match the old hardwood in my living room and dining room, the faux-tile linoleum in my loo, and the wood-look laminate flooring in my sunroom.) (Did I mention I inherited a hodge-podge of flooring?) I’m sort of waiting to hear how Sherry and John (a la Young House Love) (hi Sherry and John!) make out with their cork floors (they’re currently mid-amazing kitchen reno) (nothing like using other bloggers as flooring guinea pigs, eh?) to decide whether cork could be an option.
So there you go! Kitchen tour chez Joy. :) Still lots left to do, but it’s come quite a ways so far (at least I think it has.) I’ll keep you posted on the countertop situation. :) And once I’m done stalking YHL’s kitchen reno, I’ll let you know if cork flooring might be in my future too. For now, my kitchen is at least fairly functional and pretty pretty-ish. Just don’t stare directly at the floor or countertops. :)
Leave a commentProject Laundry Room: Part Two-ish (one step forward, two steps back)
A happy update! My eagerly-awaited and much anticipated (isn’t that a line from something?) (I think it is…) (anyway…) washer/dryer delivery took place over the weekend. Hooray! Well, kinda. I was in bed while the whole move-in (new appliances) and move-out (old appliances) took place – let’s just say it was a long dark day in migraineville. :( When I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, I ran (quite literally) downstairs to soak in (ha ha – funny washer pun) the view in my laundry room. That’s when I saw this…
Scuffy-wuffy was my washer
Yes. That’s right. My washer was scuffed. (Insert a very sad sigh here.) Right on top. Right near the front. Right about where I would be looking EVERY SINGLE TIME I do laundry. Like the mean old movers had dragged something rough and metal across my lovely and perfect new washer. :(
I won’t lie: some tears may have actually fallen over my now less-than-perfect-washer. I KNOW… it’s just a machine. And I know… it’ll likely get banged up over time, but this is the first time I’ve EVER (ev-ver) had my own, brand spanking new appliances. Purchased full price (kinda, minus the sale), not scratch-and-dent, not hand-me-downs, not new-to-me. New. And perfect. At least until I noticed the scuff. I kinda freaked out just a little (shhhh… don’t tell.)
To my rescue? The fine folk at Home Depot. One rather sheepish phone call later (during which I admitted that the scuff is only about an inch long, and mentioned that my hubby thought I was a little OCD for getting a wee bit upset over a scuff) and I have a replacement washer being delivered next week. Yes. Really. :) Brenda, the Home Depot appliances-section lady: you are my hero. She empathized with me. She stated that new appliances should be perfect when delivered to the customer. She agreed that the scuff-spot could rust over time (my main concern.) She was awesome. She has a big hug coming her way the next time I venture into HD. :)
In the meantime, we were told to go ahead and use the new (slightly imperfect) washer. And I’m loving it. Loooooving it. We actually stood there and watched the washer go through the entire wash cycle with our first load of laundry. (Yep – we’re big huge losers like that.) It’s stupidly quiet, and sings a happy little song when the load is clean. I do the laundry dance every time I put a new load in (um, yeah… really.) I’m so in love with these melodious and fantastical machines. And will be even more in love with the non-scuffed version of my washer coming later this week. :)
In the meantime, here’s a quick peek at the laundry room progress to date. Shelves still need to go up above the machines, and the new light needs to be installed still too (the hanging bare light bulb just isn’t fitting for such pretty machines) but the walls are coated in lovely Gossamer Blue-ness…
Laundry room loveliness to date
Big happy sigh. All’s well that ends well, right? More progress updates to follow. :)
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Hearty Beef Barley Soup (aka yummy goodness in a pot) (thank you milk calendar circa 1998!)
(Aside: today’s post on the best soup ever [seriously - it's awesome] is by Sweetie. Thanks Sweetie! He’s helping out this week while I battle my way through Project Laundry Room: Part Two.) (Official-sounding status update: the laundry room is now cleared out and the walls have politely asked me for a coat of loveliness-in-a-can [aka BM Gossamer Blue paint] – I’m pretty sure me and my paintbrush have a hot date tonight. Oh! And only two more days till my pretty new machines arrive!!! Am I excited? Just a wee bit. [Insert random happy dance here.])
SO, while I’m off working away at that, here’s Chef Sweetie’s favourite soup recipe… :)
So it’s winter, you’re feeling a little down, a little blah, and you want something that’s not too difficult to prepare, but still yummy as all get out with that stick-to-your-ribs-ness? Well, please allow me to share one of my favourite soup-as-a-meal recipes straight out of an old milk calendar! :)
12 oz (375 g) trimmed boneless beef sirloin steak
1 tbsp (15 mL) butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried thyme
2 cups (500 mL) sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup (125 mL) pearl barley
2 1/2 cups(625 mL) beef stock
2 tbsp (30 mL) Worcestershire sauce (approx.)
3 tbsp (45 mL) all-purpose flour
3 cups (750 mL) milk
1 cup (250 mL) shredded Cheddar or Swiss cheese
Salt and pepper
Cut steak into 3/4-inch (2 cm) cubes. In large pot, melt butter over high heat; brown beef on all sides. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add garlic, carrots, onion and thyme; cook, stirring, for 3 min or until onions are softened. Add mushrooms and barley and stir to combine. Stir in beef stock and Worcestershire; bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 20 min or until barley is tender.
Increase heat to medium. Whisk flour into Milk and gradually stir into pot. Cook, uncovered, stirring often, for about 5 min or until slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with cheese.
That’s it! I can usually make this in about an hour start to finish, and man oh man is it tasty. Some suggestions to consider (and things that I found helpful as someone without a wide variety of cooking experience…):
- Pretty much any cut of beef works for this, just make the pieces all more or less the same size when you cut them up.
- Don’t worry, that’s enough barley. You can add a little more if you want, but it’ll become more stew-like.
- Maybe make this the day before. Letting it sit over night seems to make it taste even better. (And become more stew like… trust me, not a bad thing.)
- A little splash of red wine works well in this. (I’m partial to a Pinot Noir.)
- For the mushrooms, I usually use portobello mushrooms. If you know someone doesn’t like the consistency of mushroom chunks, wrap them in cheese cloth and cook with the soup, then take them out and serve on the side.
Enjoy!