kitchen planning (again)

The idea of renovating the kitchen this summer had been put on the back burner after the realtor I invited over to take a look at our home and discuss its sale next spring told me not to bother myself with the project.  I'm not sure that she understood how much this project wouldn't have bothered me at all!  But I stopped myself from trying to sell her on my new plan, wanting a completely honest and unbiased opinion from her on selling the home, as it is. 

In the meantime, however, a home down the street from us went on the market and sold within three days for over the asking price and is a pretty perfect comp for our place.  What it has on our place: a fully renovated kitchen, fully renovated upstairs bathroom, and about 150 square feet overall.  In any case, the numbers speak for themselves and I think they bode well for moving forward with a full renovation of our kitchen (and bathroom - jump for joy).  Pardon my excitement, but I love demolition!  And these projects would mean I'd get to do quite a bit of it.

So, I recently went back to my dream plan for the kitchen and made a few modifications and now have a pretty firm plan that we've begun moving forward with.  We've met with two general contractors and are currently waiting on estimates.  I haven't shared anything up until now because I haven't wanted to jinx the project, but that's just plain silly.  So here is the new plan for the kitchen (where budget and practicality are trump).

This new plan leaves the back door in it's current location.  There is a small roof structure on the exterior of the house that provides some shelter outside of this door and if we moved the door, we would have needed to reconfigure/remove this overhang.  It's extra work that, if we don't do, will save money.  This plan also keeps all of the appliances and fixtures, except for the refrigerator, in roughly the same location.  This will also be a big money saver, minimizing the plumbing and electrical work.  What the plan does give us is a lot more cabinet storage space, countertop prep space, and a view into our living room so I can keep an eye on Ella while I'm making meals.  These are things that are sure to be attractive to any future buyer.

It's funny because I actually prefer this plan now over the dream plan I initially drew.  Moving the refrigerator to the outside wall will allow the room to open up a bit more to our dining room.  And leaving the corridor to the basement open will help the space feel a lot larger and hopefully allow our side entrance to become a more practical entry point when the weather starts to get wet and snowy.  I can see some coat hooks and wall-mounted shoe bins in that corridor now to help manage all of the cold weather gear in our future.

nice and neutral nursery

Pardon the serious lack of blog posts last week, but it was for good reason.  Besides the birthday excuse, I have been very busy working on, well . . . work!  Today I'm excited to share a little more of the nursery project I've been trying to pull together.  The client had already chosen the bedding (this one for a girl), and wanted a room where the foundation pieces could easily be adapted for a more masculine child's room in the future (if needed).

The room is located in an attic-type space where the ceilings are sloped to the exterior walls of the room and, because of this, the room itself already feels quite cozy.  So it seemed the perfect space to introduce a heavily neutral palette, to create a light and open feel, and to allow for easy conversion down the road.

1. West Elm Tripod Wood Floor Lamp
2. Restoration Hardware Tailored Track Arm Swivel Glider in White Brushed Cotton with Toast Trim
3. Urban Outfitters Magical Thinking Woven Wall Mirrors
4. IKEA Lack Wall Shelf in Birch Effect
5. Urban Outfitters Magical Thinking Embroidered Diamond Curtain
6. Serena & Lily Rope Rug, 5x7
7. Serena & Lily Shell Trellis Crib Sheet
8. Serena & Lily Lola Crib Bedding
9. Oilo Band Pillow in Blush
10. Land of Nod Streets of Paree Buildings Throw Pillow
11. Serena & Lily Wayne Pate Seagull Pillow Cover
12. Land of Nod Ribbon Throw Pillow
13. Land of Nod Head in the Clouds Pillow
14. PB Teen Cushy Lounge Ottoman Cushion in Cement Faux Suede
15. Pottery Barn Kids Kendall Low-Profile Crib in White
16. Land of Nod Charming Hamper in Herringbone/Pink

And here's the plan (though I'm not quite sold on this exact layout yet):

I am still working on collecting art and photos for a small gallery wall for the space above the crib and picking a color for the existing cabinet to be painted.  Perhaps something bright - teal?  green? Any suggestions?  Right now the room seems a bit matchy matchy for my tastes so a great color surprise might add just the right finishing touch.

kitchen dreams (in plan)

Just before moving to Ann Arbor, my husband and I finished renovating the kitchen in our old house (yes, perfect timing, I know).  I left beautiful porcelain tile, quartz countertops, a butcher block peninsula with seating, lots of friendly drawer storage, a huge, deep sink, and a comfortable amount of square footage for, well, none of these things.  And ever since moving in, I've been dreaming of ripping our current kitchen completely apart and tackling another renovation.  It is apparent that a previous owner made some updates (it's such a stretch to use this term), but Ted and I still curse the kitchen every time we set out to prepare a big meal and inevitably run out of space to work.

Here is the floor plan of our kitchen now.  It is small but I don't think that small kitchens function poorly because of their size.  They function poorly because of their design and layout.  And this layout is terrible.  Can anyone spot the refrigerator?  Oh yea, it's hanging out on your way to the basement stair!

What would I do differently, you ask (because I'm sure you're incredibly curious)?  Well here is the plan of my kitchen dreams (for this kitchen anyway, and for this house sans addition).  I'm a big fan of opening rooms up, and with a toddler running around, an even bigger fan!  I would love to be able to work in the kitchen and see her coloring at the dining room table or playing in her own kitchen.  The new plan is a modified galley style kitchen, narrow, but with a lot of counter space (the longest run being almost 5'-0").  The previous plan had too many openings, and thus paths of circulation,  breaking up the wall space and kitchen functions.  Here I've eliminated two of them, relocating the door to the basement and the back door.

This plan would be a huge project and I highly doubt it will ever come to fruition (especially since we'll only be here for one more year).  But I am determined, at least, to give the kitchen a facelift before we leave.  More on that to come. 

figuring out a floor plan

I'm taking a break from my usual Tuesday update on Jane's Playroom/Workroom (frankly, we need the break to actually get some things done on the room) to talk about my favorite way to figure out a floor plan.  When I was eight years old, my family moved into a new house.  I had a very small room and to help me figure out where to put things, my mom showed me this handy method (man, she is smart).  I still have the kit from that first bedroom of my own and I've made many more since (Jane's Playroom/Workroom included).  If you have an existing space and a lot of existing furniture and want to know how it all could be put together (seriously, it can be a puzzle sometimes), then try this out.  You'll love playing with the pieces but I'll warn you: this may lead to obsessive furniture moving (guilty as charged). 

We started by gathering our supplies:

grid paper

construction paper

a tape measure

a ruler or architectural scale

scissors

and a pencil  

We then measured the bedroom and all it's contents (furniture), making note of all the windows, doors, the closet, and any other distinguishing features that might be important to locate.  You can see that I indicated where my heating/cooling supply vent was.  I'm pretty sure this was also my first attempt to represent a door swing (go me!).  We My mom chose the scale we were going to draw the plan at.  I handily noted it on the back of the envelope: 1'-0" = 1/2".   Using the grid paper and a ruler we translated the measurements into the 1/2" scale and drew the plan.  We then drew the furniture pieces (using the same 1/2" scale) onto the construction paper, labeled them, and cut them out.  Now we had a scaled room outline and a pile of furniture pieces to move around within it.  I moved my room around often because of this kit.  I kept it in the top drawer of my desk and would pull it out whenever I got bored to see what other arrangements I could come up with.