Hi Subscriber,

I hope you're off to wonderful week!

I'm afraid I haven't done much painting this past week. I've been working on some art of a different kind.

Do you remember a few months ago when I mentioned we were remodeling our kitchen? I think it was in June.

We'd talked about ideas for years, most of which involved moving a wall and adding an island. It didn't seem wise overall because moving the wall would mean losing two closet spaces.

It was something that seemed like we would never do. Remodeling the kitchen, that is. And after twenty years here I thought why bother?

I've cooked plenty of meals here and can keep on doing so. The cupboards were tiny and things were not convenient, but so what?

Then I got an idea one day about putting windows across the north wall because one of the best things about this place is the view we have out the back.

I remember sitting on the hill that is now where our garage is, when we were considering buying this property, and gazing at the view, loving it.

I was ready to just put in windows, and rearrange the current cabinetry, but when I told Duane my idea, he said we should just get new cabinets.

Well, I wasn't going to turn that idea down! After all, he had told me he wanted to stay here till we can't, so why not make it the way we'd like?

We've worked on it since the beginning of June in between going to California and having company here a few times. It's been a lot of work, but WE'RE FINALLY DONE!

Would you mind indulging me in celebrating the finished product with some before and afters?

You might remember the view on the left of the old version. When I took that photo I had already cleared off the shelves, before I thought to take a photo.

The photo on the right is the new version, which I think I showed you before. The difference between the old clutter and the new uncluttered is so much better!

Here, in the left photo, you see the old cabinets on the north wall, albeit we had already begun work. You can see the window hole was cut out from the inside when I remembered to take a pic.

On the right is the new version. We hired a carpenter to add four new windows in all, to the north wall. Three are small windows which I wasn't sure I would like, but they are so cozy I love them.

Each section was done as a phase. We did all the demo ourselves and only did one section at a time so we could replace it with the new.

We ordered the cabinets and put them together, cut, stained and polyurethaned the butcher block countertops. Painted the ceiling and the floor, and installed all the lighting ourselves.

Here's the view looking east and west. It looks so long, which it is, but not unreasonably so.

You can see the floor a little bit. I painted it to look like old wood (it's just subfloor) and polyurethaned it twice. That was a lot of squats!

I might add a small kitchen runner when it gets to be winter. And we still plan to get a new range in stainless steel, but I am too tired of working on it to think about that for awhile.

Here's the whole view! It has so much light!

It's wonderful to be in here cooking - and cleaning! I'm still a little surprised that this is actually our kitchen! I'm very grateful.

And I confess to changing my seat at the table so that I can sit and stare at the kitchen now.

Till next time, I hope you have a wonderful week,

Ginny

P.S. I will have a some of my "regular" art to share next time!