we’ve made some good progress on the apartment renovation front. and, in true me fashion, i can’t stop being obsessed with ikea and we’re planning more cabinets for the kitchen.
kirk wrote a bit about what we’ve been up to, and posted some pictures, and i posted some pictures on a great site i found — ikeafans.com. that’s the site that really inspired my latest addition to the kitchen. right now we have an island on the left of the kitchen (as you are facing it) and we had an old wooden microwave cart on the right. the cart is gone. in it’s place we’re putting a two-foot wide cabinet with drawers, and a matching wooden countertop with no overhang in the front (only a matching overhang on the side). the countertop will extend to the wall where the window is, to give us a bit of extra counter space, and a cubby underneath the counter (between the wall and the new cabinet) for a garbage can, etc.
i have to say i’m a complete convert to the drawer method of kitchen cabinets. instead of getting down on your knees and digging around for something that’s gotten shoved to the back of a cabinet, you just pull out a drawer. the ikea drawers are fully extending, so you can see the entire contents of the drawer — so no unutilized space. when kirk said he wanted all drawers, i thought he’d lost his mind, but i went along with it. except for one set of cabinets with shelves at the center of the bar.
i’m really glad i listened.
on saturday we put shelves up at the end of the bar, under the overhang for the countertop. eventually we’ll put a matching pair of shelves on the other side, under the matching overhang for the new cabinets on the right side. we’re putting all the cookbooks on those shelves, so that we can get rid of a big bookcase in the living room. getting rid of that bookcase will free up space for a true uncluttered dining area. and the drawers in the new cabinet will hold all of the contents of the recently departed microwave cart, and more.
as kirk mentioned, we also put a second clothing rod in the closet in the bathroom hallway, and we cleaned up and reorganized quite a bit. the new lighting is ready to go into the hallway — we just need the super, rafael, to give us a bit of help with the wiring. in the bathroom, kirk has finished painting, the new lighting fixture is installed, and there’s just a little bit of last-minute cleanup to do.
on this week’s punch list — finish the hallway lighting, finish painting the trim in the bottom of the hallway wall (i taped yesterday and was ready to go, only to discover that we were out of that color of paint), maybe paint some window trim, maybe hang some blinds.
oh did i mention that the in-laws are coming on saturday? kirk’s parents are making the trek from reading, hence the flurry of activity.
it’s really coming together pretty nicely.