Sarah's Country House Update

[sarahperdue]

Hi Everyone,

It's been slow going in the country--at least it seems slow--because all of the work since last October has been demolition and structural repair.

We demolished the kitchen, and there was a lot of structural termite damage. My grandfather went through many years of alcoholism, depression and recovery during which the house became infested with termites that did a mind blowing amount of damage.

We have opened up the kitchen into the breakfast room, insulated with rock wool and framed the new door openings. Some of you may remember my kitchen floor plan and drawings, but I will post them again here for those who haven't been following. I can't remember what I've posted in the past and what I haven't.

We decided to remove a poorly done addition and salvage it for house parts. The first thing we harvested was the pine floor. I'm going to reuse it in the kitchen.

I have all but one of the steel Geneva cabinets I need for the kitchen (an 18" base with scroll handle in case any of you have one hanging around) and all of the appliances except the dishwasher--

I have a 1958 GE wall fridge, a GE Americana fridge, a 30" stainless Thermador cooktop, a 6' stainless Elkay sink, a turquoise Frigidaire Custom Imperial double wall oven and a GE under counter washer dryer combo (Thanks John L). (Thanks Turbokinetic for all of the refrigerator help.

I'm anxious to get the kitchen installed but not so anxious to paint the cabinets.

So, without further ado, here's the photo update.
The first two pictures show the addition as is and photoshopped out. I think it's going to look much better with it gone.
The next four are kitchen floor plan drawings
The seventh is a picture from the porch in the rain
The eighth is the combo--can't decide whether to paint it turquoise or white. The wall fridge and Frigidaire ovens are turquoise. I'm still trying to decide whether to paint the cabinets and remaining appliances turquoise or white.
The ninth is the Americana, my temporary kitchen in one of the rooms scheduled for demolition.
The tenth is the kitchen opened up.
The eleventh is my outdoor kitchen sink. I'm looking forward to having it and the Americana in a completed kitchen.

Did I mention that I am very tired and looking forward to some finished space on the ground floor? I'm tired.

Cheers,
Sarah

Sarah

 

[toploader55]

A Labor of Love for sure. Like your drawings and colors.

Get some rest.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

 

Thant's going to look fantastic. Can't wait to see the end product.

 

[vacbear58]

Colors

Hi Sarah

Its sounds like you are making good progress, slow of course but then I know from experience, these things always are.

I think whether or not you paint the cabinets turquoise or not has to be down to your personal preference but I came across this youtube video, the first part of which might be of interest. The appliance are mint green of course but it may give some idea what your kitchen could look like as they have chosen red tops in a similar colour to that you you are considering with white cabinets.



I hope it helps and best wishes on the project

Al

 

[sarahperdue]

Cool

Thanks Al,

The quartz countertops in the first video look great and much more retro with the squared edges. I like the mint green too.

I'm thinking about painting all cabinet surfaces white except the door panels. I'm still not sure if I'll go white or turquoise there. It seems like the turquoise might be too much, but the tone on tone look is beautiful.

Every bit of input helps me evolve my plan. I'm getting there.

Best,
Sarah

 

[mattl]

The nice thing about paint is when you tire of it paint it over.

 

i have golden oak, no a thing wrong with them except they are golden oak.  Go back and forth about painting them, but I'd want a furniture finish so they would need a filler of some sort to hide the grain. Indecision so nothing happens...

 

[mixrman]

Sarah- The dishwasher is still in the shed... trying to find someone to work for me one day so I can bring it to Tuscaloosa. The house looks wonderful with the addition removed! Love the tile porch floor and brick walk.

I am planning a complete re-do of our kitchen this autumn. Will keep appliances, countertops and cabinets- but new wall and cabinet colors and new arrangement. Our old 1920s heart pine floors have rotted and cannot be saved (no sub-floor, no vapor barrier under the room- too close to ground too...). Will use #2 pine with slight bevel on edge. Will install vapor barrier when floor is out, sub-floor, and felt underlayment. We went to Memphis last weekend and got a load of 9 Youngstown cabinets that included some hard to find items and original countertop.

 

[sarahperdue]

Kitchen update

Hi everyone,

Here's the latest update. Going slowly but still going.

Al, thanks again for the video. It's been great for visualizing how the colors will work.

I'm using reclaimed pine flooring both because it was already part of the house and because, unlike the linoleum I wanted, it is virtually indestructible.

The countertops will be Wilsonart red cracked ice laminate with metal trim. My first choice was solid surface, but cost, cost, cost...

I'm going to do all white cabinets with the turquoise wall oven and wall fridge. I will have lots of turquoise accents. I found some very cool true vintage white, red and turquoise barkcloth fabric for curtains and cushions on a window seat we are building.

My cabinet layouts have shifted slightly since I posted the last plans. I am getting three more GE cabinettes. My carpenter and I pulled all of the cabinets into the kitchen and placed them. We found several places where the planned layout would not work. Fortunately, having twice as many cabinets as I needed turned out to be a blessing in this area. I'm still looking for that elusive mixer cabinet and have two more "wants" on my list--a 180 degree open shelf for the end of my peninsula and a 12" upper or lower to go next to the door. Jerry can build the open shelf unit, and I can put a spacer in place of the 12" if needed.

The mixer cabinet is 21." If I find it after the kitchen is completed, I have a 24" and a 15" that I will swap for the mixer cabinet and an 18" that I will keep in reserve.

I'm thinking about using mirrors for the backsplashes. I never, ever would have thought of it except that we have them in our current house. It makes the kitchen seem brighter and larger. It also makes it possible to both work at the counter and chat with the people behind me in the rest of the kitchen.

The kitchen will have ample lighting options--two matched vintage milk glass ceiling globes with a painted kitchen utensil motif. There will be a bare Edison bulb pendant with cloth wire and antique porcelain paddle switched socket with matching porcelain ceiling rosette above the window seat plus four GE cabinettes with lights, the lighted Americana refrigerator backsplash and possibly a light over the sink. We will be able to go from bright to night light intensity with ease.

Storage space is premium in the whole house, so we are going to put a broom cabinet between the joists in the hall adjacent to the kitchen. We are also redoing the plumbing with PEX and will have a manifold in a second hall cabinet so that we can turn off the water by zone if needed.

We are converting a vanity space in the downstairs bathroom to house the water heater and a full sized stacked top loading washer and dryer. I'm hoping to also have enough space for a small counter cabinet.

The sitting room adjacent to the kitchen will have a door opening into the back yard. We are salving the door from the demolition. A chair rail will be made from paneling salvaged from the demolished bathroom. For lighting, there will be the chandelier from my grandparent's bedroom and matching pendant lights I found on eBay. The sitting room has a small closet with a 36" door. We have enlarged the doorway to accommodate a pair of French closet doors I salvaged from a house here in Tuscaloosa following the 2011 tornado.

My best brainstorm to date has been the realization that we can demolish the middle of the old addition and keep the back third as a workshop. As I thought, the back part was a third addition to the main house. When we opened the floor, we found that the part we plan to keep as a workshop has its own foundation separate from the bedroom addition.

I've decided to go with electric "window" combination heating and air units but create openings in the side of the house so that I don't lose window space. My general old house experience is that simplest is often best. I will miss the vintage Fedders a/c that was stolen by burglars some years ago.

We haven't started any exterior demolition on the old addition, but we have harvested the pine flooring and cedar paneling in the bathroom and closet to use as chair rail in the sitting room.

Spur the wonder dog developed an abdominal tumor in May. We kept him comfortable until he stopped eating in early June. We had the vet put him down, then buried him in the country. We sent him off with stories and libations. It's the first time we have not shown the body of a dead pet to the surviving ones, and it took Chip the cat a long time to stop looking for Spur.

I was at the house alone when hurricane Zeta hit October 28. It is a hundred and thirty-seven miles from the coast, and I didn't expect it to be a big deeal. It wreaked havoc on the trees--including the last oak my grandmother planted when they built the house in 1938--but the house was steadfast, unshakeable and undamaged.

Well, this is a huge update. Thank you, as always, for your interest and encouragement. I've missed you guys. I've spent most of my internet time searching for the last few cabinets and am driving myself a bit nuts.

Sarah

Now for the pictures
1-3 marked up pictures of the kitchen with cabinets placed.
4 Dreadfully spoiled Chip-the-cat in baby sling
5-7 Storm damage
8 Cozy night stranded after storm
9-11 My grandfather's camellias
12 Spur as a younger man
13 Spur the last week

 

[pulltostart]

Sarah,

GREAT update, and I love the last photo.

 

lawrence

 

[bradfordwhite]

Nice work.

 

gone are the mismatched ceramic tile counter tops.

 

[mattl]

Glad to see things progressing! Been wondering how you are doing - now I guess we know. Update as time permits, I'm sure we all want to see the progress.

 

[sarahperdue]

Thank you!

Thanks, as ever, for your support, encouragement and interest. I love it and appreciate y'all.

Do you have any ideas for changes/improvements in the plan?

Best,
Sarah

 

[circlew]

Sarah, your kitchen looks to be coming together nicely.

Sorry to hear about your dogs illness, and subsequent passing. Also a shame about your oak tree. I had an oak in my back yard that just fell over one night. It had rotted internally.

 

[sarahperdue]

Specialty cabinets. Holy Smokes! All my dreams come true

A seller in Kingsport, TN listed a kitchen full of gorgeous Geneva cabinets on FB Marketplace, and I found the listing 22 minutes after she posted. She sold me the mixer cabinet, the open round shelves for the end of the peninsula, the glass shelves that go on either side of a window, and...a must-have that I didn't know existed: a pull out trash bin! Trash was one of the issues I hadn't resolved yet. I figured I'd retrofit a pull out kit, but this is amazing! It's a full 18" wide and 24" deep. The bin section is close to 36" high, and the whole thing rolls out from under the counter. I also got two beautiful in wall exhaust fans.

[Begin whining and agonize over pricing. You're probably better off skipping this] I paid a whole lot more than I did for any of my other cabinets (many of which I feel like I either paid too much for or shouldn't have bought). I started worrying that I was going to be frustrated with myself for paying too much. Ultimately I decided these are premium cabinets in great condition at a price that is competitive with Ikea or basic Home Depot cabinets. I went out to dinner with a friend last night, and paying the check was the clincher--it was half the cost of the trash cabinet, more than half the cost of the glass shelves, one-third the cost of the peninsula curve...and that was for something I had consumed in two hours with a friend. The cabinets are definitely a worthwhile investment. [End whining]

I'm also getting acres of Youngstown chrome counter trim from a woman in North Carolina. I'm bringing her a Youngstown hutch from here, and she's meeting me in Tennessee with the trim. The pictures of the trim are just a few pieces. She has two 12' sections, and I'm pretty sure what she has will do my whole kitchen. I'll have Geneva cabinets, formica countertops with Youngstown trim, oh, and did I mention the GE cabinettes?

The pictures:
#1 is the mixer cabinet. It's to the right of the dishwasher with the doors on top and the drawer on bottom.
#2 is part of the peninsula round in the right foreground.
#3-5 are the trash bin
and #6-9 are trim

Wow! I am very excited!
Sarah

 

[sarahperdue]

And another thing...

Since I checked in last, I've found three more GE cabinettes in St. Louis. That means I will have a turquoise cabinette under the the wall fridge, two white cabinettes that meet in the corner of the sink and cooktop walls, and another white cabinette
on the wall perpendicular to the wall fridge. I'm going to have massive storage!

Sarah

 

[chachp]

Close to the finish line?

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Hi Sarah, love all those cabinets you picked up.  You must be getting pretty close to having this kitchen finished.  I can't wait to see it.  We have a pull out trash bin and I love it.  I open it, work above it and slide stuff right from the counter into the can.  It's very convenient.  I'd love to have a mixer cabinet like that.  My mixer is a beast and sits on the counter because it's a pain to move when I want to use it.  I'd love a set up like that.  </span>

 

[sarahperdue]

Wow!

Keith, you have quite the memory. I remember when the black & white vitreous tile was on the counters adjacent to the sink. The all of the ground was gone from the tile on the left side of the sink, and the cracks were filled with kind of a black goo--sort of like toe jam. My grandmother would scrub and scrub and the tiles themselves started coming up. When I got older and began learning about old houses, I couldn't understand why the tile came up like it did, the vitreous mosaic tile just didn't do that in most situations. When I tore up the counter that still had it, I realized that it had been installed paper side down...

 

[sarahperdue]

And there's more!

I came down Friday night and started dragging the cabinets around the kitchen again, and I am starting to see it. I thought I was done after the specialty cabinets in Tennessee, then, I had a new idea and wanted two more. Does it ever end?

Good news is that I've already found one of them!

Sarah

 

[pulltostart]

Sarah,

It's looking good - plumb walls, square corners, solid flooring - excellent progress!  Three questions - 

 

Drywall to cover the remainder of the construction?

 

Color of the finished product (cabinets)?

 

What would your grandmother say???

 

lawrence