Tales from my kitchen

-
I haven't really turned my back on the garden.  I made the mistake of wandering around in yesterday's sunshine and it clamoured at me about all the things that still need doing.  But before I get out there and try to sort things out a bit I thought you might like to have an update about the kitchen.  If nothing else, seeing how truly vile it used to be might make you feel better about your own house!


This is really as close as I get to a "before" picture, as shown in house and garden magazines.  The main reason for the absence of "befores" is that it was so dingy, mouldy and generally dreadful that I couldn't bring myself to take pictures in it.  So in this picture the horrible eighties cupboards and the marked and stained worktops have come out, but you get the general idea.


Here we are with the ceiling coming down so that Steve, the wonder electrician, could put in the new electrics.


Here is the ceiling, decorating the floor.  We are in July now, in case you are wondering.


New electrics coming and new ceiling, thanks to Roger, the wonder plasterer.


And here we have all the electrics and now the new slate floor is emerging, thanks to Ian the wonder husband.


I love the slate floor.  Now it's getting really exciting.


Ian has built shelves down the wall which the kitchen, in a small extension built in the early 1980s, shares with the old house.


This has not been the easiest of tasks.  As you can see, the old house does not believe in straight lines or right angled corners.


All the more extraordinary that it has ended up looking like this.

We still have no units or worktops or tiles but we do have the sense that it is all about to happen.  And then the workaday, dishwashery, scullery bits of kitchen life will happen in here and the eating and cooking and sitting around the big table will happen in the front kitchen in the old part of the house.

I just can't wait.

Comments

  1. rachel29 October 2011 at 22:53

    Oh, so exciting! And you are 'way ahead of me, so I can look at your progress and make notes.... I was debating whether to have pale or dark cement between the slate tiles, and your photos have helped me to choose! Like yours, there are no straight/level/equidistant/smooth lines or surfaces in this house either; charming, yes, but a joiner's nightmare. Keep us posted, please.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Irene30 October 2011 at 01:19

    That's beyond exciting. That's a labor of love. You must have an awful lot of patience. I wonder how well I would deal with the mess? Your husband is doing a great job. He does deserve the recognition. Good luck on finishing this. It seems that you're more than halfway there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rob-bear30 October 2011 at 03:11

    Awesome developments! It is exciting, indeed. The kind of development that can give new life to a house, and a family.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Linda30 October 2011 at 05:26

    I am thrilled for you!!! It WILL happen!! It IS happening! It took us from October 2010 to Easter 2011 to redo my bathroom. Then we started on the bedroom in May and are still at it! Sometimes it just takes T.I.M.E.

    Love the way it is turning out for you! Beautiful slate and love the WHITE. I know you will appreciate the new electric.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Susan Heather30 October 2011 at 06:36

    It is all coming on so well and will definitely be worth all the effort when finished. Love the slate tiles.

    ReplyDelete
  6. mountainear30 October 2011 at 09:38

    I shall be coming to inspect tomorrow!

    It's looking great - I remember what it was like before too. Ian and your team of trades people are doing a fantastic job...and congratulations to you for being so patient.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chris30 October 2011 at 09:39

    Great to see your lovely kitchen evolve like that Elizabeth. Love that slate floor. Ian's done a fab job on it. Congrats to him from me.

    Looking forward to seeing it done (as you are no doubt lol)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tom Stephenson30 October 2011 at 10:14

    You've beaten Cro at his own game, Moll!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fennie30 October 2011 at 10:45

    It's looking good. Slate floor is perfect - but don't drop anything unless it's an oven glove. Particularly as you have plenty of white to set it off. Too much grey drives nails into the soul. But may I make a plea for a return of your lovely old blog template? I can't get used to this 'new-age' one which reminds me of some work in progress (a kitchen perhaps). (Please tell me to shut up if it's just me getting old!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chris Stovell30 October 2011 at 12:18

    I am breathing a sigh of relief that we're through that... although I haven't posted any photos of our bathroom for the same 'before' reasons as you. It will be worth it - I'm so pleased just to have a tranquil kitchen space again, after all the mess and disruption. No, we couldn't afford to run an Aga - it's a fake, but we're very pleased with it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The bike shed30 October 2011 at 12:56

    Nice slate floor. Be careful about waxing / oiling it though - we did ours and I regretted it, took ages to wear down

    ReplyDelete
  12. Diana Studer30 October 2011 at 13:10

    Fennie - be like me. Click Classic on the menu top left - same old same old we like ;~) We all get to chose our favourite look.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bluestocking Mum30 October 2011 at 15:03

    And I can't wait to see it in the flesh! It looks chaos but, wow, I can already see it in my minds eye. See you tomorrow xx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Helen30 October 2011 at 19:06

    I really cant understand why you dont like the tiles in the top picture!! Its really coming on - do you think it will be finished in time for Christmas?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Pondside31 October 2011 at 00:48

    I love that foor! We have tile floor and they crack easily - slate would be a treat!

    ReplyDelete
  16. MsCaroline31 October 2011 at 12:46

    We were looking at re-doing our floors in slate just before getting word we'd be leaving for Seoul...that(of course) never happened, but I am so enjoying yours! Our first house was built in 1908 and we worked on it for 10 years - nothing at all was plumb, and it was always interesting to see how the angles would work out as your project moved along. I remember the excitement of working on that kind of project, and the wonderful satisfaction when it was finally done....looking forward to seeing it!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pomona31 October 2011 at 12:47

    It's going to be wonderful - but not so much fun to live through, I guess. I hate the upheaval of renovations, but it is so nice to have it all just as you want it in the end!

    Pomona x

    ReplyDelete
  18. Kitty31 October 2011 at 14:08

    You're getting there... dying to see it finished!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Tim31 October 2011 at 21:31

    Great job - the slate floor is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dobby31 October 2011 at 21:33

    Personally I'm not going to visit until it is finished! What kind of sink are you putting in? I can see a nice expensive Belfast sitting in pride of place. It is coming on a treat. You must be so pleased.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Janet/Plantaliscious1 November 2011 at 06:49

    What a wonderful transformation - am so impressed by all that immaculate shelving, I am lousy at fitting even one shelf around an uneven wall. I dream of having a proper old-fashioned scullery to hide all the messy bits of kitchen life away in. Hope yours is ready for Christmas so that you can linger after long lovely meals around the kitchen table without having to stare at the dirty dishes that haven't made it to the dishwasher yet. Fabulous slate floors.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Elizabeth Musgrave1 November 2011 at 22:36

    Thanks so much for your encouragement! Units coming (flat packed) on Friday. Watch this space!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Pigletinapoke2 November 2011 at 00:03

    Wow! You have been very busy. I am thinking of a similar project (minus the mould!) but need to gird my loins first. And find large sums of cash also! Good uck, can't wait to see the finished product x

    ReplyDelete
  24. Marcheline2 November 2011 at 17:32

    We're looking forward to it almost as much as you are! YAY!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Frith5 November 2011 at 01:15

    Oh those are nice shelves. Well done Ian! And I too love the slate floor - very sympathetic with the old flags.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are the best thing and the conversations they produce are the whole purpose of blogging for me. Do tell me what you think!

Popular posts from this blog

Making lined curtains

-
Image
While Ian was away I decided it was time to make the new curtains for the cottage.   I have been putting this off for at least four months, maybe six.  First of all I couldn't find any material I liked at a price I could afford so that was a fine excuse.  Then I read a recommendation for Textile Express  on Annie's blog.  Textile Express has a fab website but when I realised it was only forty minutes away in Oswestry I had to visit.  Wonderful choice, great prices; material purchased.  Then I carried on putting the job off because I was a bit daunted by the fact that two of the curtains are full length ones for doors but there is nothing like knowing you have a few days to yourself to make you feel you can get your teeth into a project. And amazingly, now it is done.  As I have been thinking of nothing else for about a week I thought I would share with you my own advice on how to make lined curtains.  I am not a supremely talented sewer but I have made loads of these over the
Read more

I love November

-
Image
I always used to hate November: greyness, wetness, short days and dank, dark nights.  It felt to me as if the world turned inward and the light left the sky and as the days darkened my energy dropped and so did my mood.  When did my feelings change?  I am not sure.  My mother died in November and my father two years later in December.  I think that these losses combined with my own growing sense of how fast time runs away with you have shifted me towards wanting to make the very most of each day.  I can't afford to discount three or four months of the year.  How many more years are there?  I have no idea but I should make my days count. And lo and behold! It is possible to change the patterns of a lifetime!  It is possible to find things to love in November and to be energised and excited, just as much as in Spring.  Over the last few years I have found lots of ways to feel good in November and for me that seems to require some particular things to shape my day: Going Outside Far a
Read more

This year's tulips

-
Image
I love tulips.  For a while in my gardening life I struggled to create the effects that I wanted until I had the blinding realisation that the problem was that I was not using enough of them.  Isn't it wonderful when the right answer is the exciting answer?  Now I buy in bulk.  I plant new ones in pots, some new ones in the ground and, when I can get my act together, some of the ones which were in last year's pots into the ground too.  This is the  counsel of perfection as usual and doesn't always happen.  In the autumn of 2010 I remembered in time to get quite a lot into the cutting garden.  Last year I lifted all my bulbs, failed to label them, left them to die down and failed to remember that they were hiding in a big pot in the kitchen garden. When I came across them in November when I was planting out my new ones I found that most of them had rotted or been eaten.  Some did go into the cutting garden and into beds in the kitchen garden if they looked to have any signs
Read more