Kitchen Renovation
We are finishing up a kitchen renovation for a residence on Lake Maxinkuckee. The old kitchen was top of the line when the home was built, but it was looking dated and did not function the way a modern kitchen would. It lacked a working “kitchen triangle”, and it had a wall and galley door closing it off from the dining room. While there was a window over the sink looking west, the dining room had two walls of windows looking west and north.
Existing Buffet Shelf
We obtained options from two kitchen cabinet providers for new cabinets and countertops each suggesting different concepts. The one we chose included removing the door and cutting the wall between the kitchen and dining room to provide a bar top counter. This opened up the kitchen to a tremendous effect. There was an existing marble buffet shelf/sideboard in the dining room on the adjoining wall that we were able to re-purpose as a breakfast bar top. This provided some continuity for the owners and salvaged a unique piece that would have cost hundreds of dollars to duplicate. (Green that saves Green.) We were also fortunate that the wall between the kitchen and dining room was not load bearing, so we were able to remove it with little difficulty.
Former Buffet Shelf re-purposed as a breakfast bar top
The original kitchen included a wrap around counter that served as a breakfast table, but its location was between the refrigerator and the sink and stove breaking up the workspace. When someone sat at the table, their chair conflicted with the galley door. This made for an intimate kitchen setting for a couple to have breakfast, but made for a difficult situation when the house was full on a summer weekend.
Aside from pulling the refrigerator back into the workspace, little was done to change the cabinet layout. Existing metal cabinets were replaced with wood cabinets with a finish that complimented the wood floors in the dining room, again pulling the two rooms together. Plastic laminate tops were used as an economical solution, but decorative edges were included to enhance the design.
The original kitchen had white cabinets on white walls. This helped brighten the space and gave it a clean look. The new kitchen is more of an extension of the dining room, so green tones were used in the countertops, walls and tile along with extending the wall color out into the dining room as an accent wall. These colors were chosen to play off the salvaged buffet shelf. These colors along with the wood tones of the cabinets helps to pull the two rooms together. Mike Fox of Talk to Tucker in Indianapolis has been helping us with color schemes and has done a great job of pulling things together.
Protect Your Belongings When Using a Hand Truck
I ran across this tip in American Profile. “Clayton Beggs of Kelseyville, California, pads his hand truck with foam pipe insulation to prevent damage to whatever he happens to be carting around.”
This is something we have done for years. It’s one of those things that seems obvious and makes you wonder why hand trucks don’t come this way… You can pick up pipe insulation in various sizes at your local plumbing supply store. (We actually have some here.) Select the size that will fit your hand truck rails. Slit it lengthwise with a packing knife and fit it around the rail. Generally it will stay in place on its own, but you can glue the joint back together with adhesive made for this or you can use a few zip ties to hold it in place. I wouldn’t recommend gluing it to the rails as you may want to replace it when it begins to wear.
You can read the American Profile article here.
Excerpt from ABC Construction Economic Update 3-1-13
NONRESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION SPENDING FALLS 3.3 PERCENT IN JANUARY
As further evidence that the nation’s construction industry continues to struggle, nonresidential construction spending fell 3.3 percent in January, with outlays decreasing to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $572.1 billion, according to the March 1 report by the U.S. Census Bureau. Year over year, total nonresidential construction spending is up only 0.8 percent (unadjusted for inflation).
Both private and public nonresidential construction spending were down for the month. Private nonresidential construction spending fell 5.1 percent on a monthly basis, but is 4 percent higher compared to one year ago. Public nonresidential construction spending declined 1 percent in January and is 2.7 percent lower than January 2012.
“January’s construction spending decline was particularly alarming because the loss in momentum spread deep into privately financed categories,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “In previous months, decreased spending in a number of public spending-oriented sectors like sewage and waste disposal and public safety was roughly counter-balanced by increased spending in intensely private segments, such as power and manufacturing.
“That changed in January, with privately financed segments like power and manufacturing reversing course and experiencing substantial monthly declines in construction spending” said Basu. “The upshot is that nonresidential construction spending is virtually unchanged over the past year.
No Range Cord! Arghhh!!!
6 foot range cord
We’re installing some appliances for a client today. The client purchased the appliances at a reputable appliance store. You would think they would include everything necessary to install the appliances, but nope! No range cord.
Now I understand why they don’t come attached as there are sometimes issues with the type of existing outlet. What I don’t understand is why an appliance store would sell you a range that you can’t install… They sell the cords. Wouldn’t you think they would ask? Wouldn’t you think they would try and sell you a cord so you could do the install?
I KNOW they don’t come with cords and I still forget sometimes. And I’m thoroughly tic’d with my supplier when it happens. They shouldn’t forget. I would be much happier knowing that charge up front and receiving what I need to do the work.
Letter to the Editor
I shared some of my rants regarding the changes to the zoning boundary with Jeff Kenney of the Culver Citizen and he suggested that I send him a letter to the editor on the subject. I am a little freer with my writing here in the blog since I know my audience is different, so I wrote a separate Letter to the Editor and cleaned up my prose a bit. Hopefully it will encourage people to get involved and do some of the research themselves. My earlier piece included all of the links and drawings, so I’ve made it easy for anyone to follow my research. What do you think?
PS – If anyone can tell me why I lose my paragraph breaks on text I cut & paste into a post, let me know! Drives me nuts! It looks right in the editor and then loses the spaces between paragraphs when it posts… I guess I’ll go old-school and add indents…
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