The Measuring Man

The Measuring Man came and measured for the new cabinets - not just the kitchen, but the bathroom vanities and the bar area.  It took about two hours, and he will load it into a CAD program for the designer, and we will sit down and play with options.  The designer is on vacation until the 24th, but that's fine with me; it'll take me that long to change my mind about my selections at least six times.  :-)

He pointed out another good reason to go with laminate countertops - his company will be doing the installation, and if I go with laminate they'll handle that too, while solid surface and granite are handled by other contractors.  Having the same people coordinating all of the installation is a huge plus. When I did the kitchen in the house I lived without a kitchen counter for weeks, and then had to wait again for them to come out to anchor the new dishwasher, because the dishwasher installer was not allowed to drill into granite.   The scale is definitely tipping to the laminate side. And it looks like this. 

He also had some good suggestions for cabinets that would create angles and dimensions in the room, instead of just flat cabinets against the wall.  Bump out the cabinet over the fridge, put a nice big lazy susan cabinet in the corner, and of course I'm already hellbent on my big pantry cabinet.   The cabinets over the sink will be larger, the lighting will be much better, etc.

So, a plan is coming together.  Cabinets will go in first, followed by tearing up the whole place for flooring,  followed by finishing touches like getting rid of the 80s light fixtures, wallpaper, etc. etc.  Some of that I can do myself, but the stuff involving electricity and 16 foot ceilings, I ain't touching. 

It IS a small kitchen.

With original everything.  Note the "top of the line in 1984" range, with its own microwave built-in above. 

And a rockin' 80s wet bar!  You can tell it's a wet bar because it has a teeny weeny sink, and mirrored walls.  No place to put a small wine cooler, or any other actual nifty bar things. The sink is coming out, and I have to put some thought into what I want to do with this space. 

 Onward, to the guest bathroom, with the charming wallpaper, popping at the seams all over.

(Believe me, I saw far worse than this while I was looking, and have seen far worse showing houses.)

And I cannot forget this!  This is a huge fan on a long hanging rod, over the tiny eating area in the kitchen.  It looks a bit like the nose of a vintage prop plane - like the plane crashed nose first through the roof, and the propeller is somehow hanging by a thread over the eating area.  Off-center, of course, because nothing in this place is squared, centered, or in any way normal.  It's all angles and corners and high ceilings, which is visually wonderful and makes it feel really spacious, but it IS a design challenge.

If I'm lucky, Phase One of the makeover will be done by Labor Day Weekend.