Kitchen renovations, A Respite...no snow for four days....

Well life on the ol' farm and its surrounding areas has revolved around snow storms, clean up, and the trials and tribulations of the population in relationship to these nusances. Yesterday the neighborhood had some fools arrive on a work barge. They then proceeded to get frozen into the mire of the ice in our cove. It definitely provided the neighborhood concern and entertainment for the day. One neighbor offered their dock for an overnight tie up, because he was worried about the welfare of the men on the raft...even if they weren't as worried as they should have been about their own welfare. Working on a barge with no walls or sides around the perimeter, and working as such with no life preservers...seems damn fool hardy when the river is in a soft ice state. One bump or false step and you would be in great distress and water/ice too cold to move around in.  Anyway after much exhausting effort they were able to break through some ice and tie up. They left earlier this morning. I often say you just never know who or what is going to show up here. There is something about the water that brings action, whether it is people or animals there is almost always something interesting developing in the neighborhood.  When we lived in suburbia it was much more staid and hum drum. Here you just never know how the day is going to develop. I think that is a good thing.

Anyway, yesterday brought some changes... well the last couple of days brought some changes. I am really singing the blues over the unfinished kitchen. I hate unfinished projects. I hate moving on to another problem when the first issue is not settled and solid. All team players here don't see eye to eye on this one. The kitchen was a complete and disguisting mess when we took over this place. Mind you, the previous owners hired someone to come in and clean so they did make an attempt, but the place was so ignored before that that it could not be restored to a normal state without herculean efforts. The kitchen must have been the fried chicken capitol of southern Maryland because the grease on the cabinets had to be scraped off with razor scrapers. Yuck! Dripping oozing black/brown water splattered everywhere in the process. Scrubbing did help a bit, but the scrubbing also scrubbed off the finish on the cabinets because it had been on there for so long that the grease had eaten away the finish on the cabinets. When the finish came off in the scrub, the color under the finish became uneven and compromised. They had to be refinished and remodeled. Here is the kitchen that existed when we purchased the house.

Major clean up and renovation needed and in process. This is really a big job, so it is taking quite a bit of time effort, planning and work to make it happen. Some of it has been completed, but now parts that were completed have to be done again because the rebuilding of the foundation caused cracks in the sheetrock that again need to be repaired.

They will not get repaired until the foundation work is completed. So in essence this whole kitchen job is a trade off, you finish one thing and it throws off another. Rule #1 in doing an old house is that is in never a cut and dry as one might hope it would be.

I will put in a few pictures of some of the new kitchen in process. This is a trickle in project. As money and time tricles in, new changes trickle in. It is a painful process! Rule #2 in old house renovation-paint is cheap, use it to make things feel and look better. It can always be changed.

Okay so this is a pretty bad picture of work in progress. I will have to do better on the kitchen. I think it has been so pressing that I have not kept up with photos of it as it creeps along. The kitchen arrangement has been changed and opened up more. An island is in process of being designed and changed. Cabinets are now a white country kitchen that looks a heck of a lot better than it looks here. The real thorn in my side is the floor which I can not tolerate. It is so worn out that it is dangerous.  Mr is working on slide outs for the inside of the cabinets so that there will be drawers for the pots in the lower level cabinets. Bless him! There has been one other BIG issue in the kitchen. No heat. Actually this should just be referred to as the no heat house because we have spent so much time without heat. The big improvement this week was a very ugly and primitive, but welcomed little electric heater for the kitchen. It was in there when we bought the house...we now know why...and it has been returned to service, there is now some heat in the kitchen. Hooray. This is the hot mama.

She is welcomed, even if she in not the best looking hot tamale on the block.