Help
Sign In
community friends family bicycle
April 2009 
Kitchen ~ down the home stretch
Posted on Jun 19th, 2008
by 
onyourleft
onyourleft
The granite counters have arrived. They are installed and dahling, they look mahvelous. Instalation was not without drama but what remodel goes entirely smoothly?
Now I get to reclaim the kitchen. All remodels start by getting everything and anything out of the way. Since long before the work began that meant ... no kitchen.
Now I get to reclaim the kitchen. All remodels start by getting everything and anything out of the way. Since long before the work began that meant ... no kitchen.
This condo really never had a kitchen. I moved in to decrepit press-board, crumbling cabinets so this is new, having a functioning kitchen.
I'm liking it already.
When we started I jokingly said to H. "as long as I have coffee and a microwave I'm fine" But I was getting tired of Trader Joe's MRE's. Now I'm bringing pots and pans downstairs.
The theme of this blog is "poor gals guide to green remodeling" one thing I will keep is the French Press coffee maker. Most coffee makers have standby mode which uses energy even after that morning jolt of Joe.
A French press does not, and the coffee is grrrreeeeat!
Remodeling is like moving, only not going anywhere ... yet. The kitchen moved aside, then upstairs, now back downstairs .... I've packed and unpacked countless times.
Each mini-move gives me the chance to think: keep, sell, or donate?
The first rule of selling a home is de-clutter ruthlessly. I never thought I had that much "stuff" but last year I donated almost $1,500.00 worth of items to charity. Much of that were clothes I shrunk out of by riding.
This year will likely be much more.
Whether you're doing minor fixes around the house or a full Extreme Makeover, construction can be very wasteful. Leftover paint can be donated to schools for theatre projects, someof my leftover lumber may build dog houses for a dog shelter, spare blankets and towels and tarps went to the local Humane Society, light fixtures have been freecycled or donated to the Habitat for Humanity store and so on.
I'm designing for the general public so I'm not using re-purposed materials much. I'm doing granite and not some "greener" material. But the next house could be "greener still".
So watch this space because I'd like to do this again (once I get over the dust and best just sit back and enjoy my home for a bit). When I do we'll go full circle: use repurposed and green solutions whenever I can and recycle-repurpose the old gunk.
I believe it can be done, done cheaply and well, and be beautiful.
Access: Public
