Kitchen, part 4 (or is it 5?)

Its really starting to come together now - both in terms of being useful again as well as in looking really nice.

Here is the new fridge waiting for the new cabinets to be installed beside it ...

Here are the 56 boxes and bags from IKEA after they were delivered and before I sorted them by cabinet. Almost every piece of every cabinet came separately packaged. It has been crazy keeping them all straight.

And here are some shots of the repainted main side of the kitchen now that all the handles have been attached and the first cabinet - the big pantry has been put together and put in place where the fridge used to be. I knew it was going to be a darker shade of gray, but I didn't want to do all the cabinets that dark. I think the multiple shades of gray works ok.

And finally, here are a couple detail shots of some refinements, including a spice rack in the door over the stove, new glass containers for coffee and sugar (placed directly over the coffee maker to things that get used in the same spot together), a new paper towel holder that doesn't scare or cut people with an overly serrated edge, and a divider rack for the cutting boards and cookie sheets to keep things straight.

New Fridge!

It's here and its big and shiny and we love it!

This week-end Miran will move the water hook up across the room so that we can hook up the icemaker and water. That will be exciting.

And now that I know exactly how big it is and how much space is needed around it, I can go to IKEA and order the cabinets - finally!

It also took us awhile to get it cooled because it seems the first outlet we used wasn't powerful enough, but the second worked. We'll have to switch out the outlets later.

Kitchen make-over 3, slow progress

I've been painting for days but it was only today that it started to really look different. I've been being very thorough, so it took a while to do a few coats inside the cabinets, including polyurethane. Today I got the gray on the outsides so it really looks dramatically different. This shot also shows the insides - green on the back walls and white everywhere else. I even painted inside all the drawers. It is very fresh and clean now.

We've had a most wonderful complication that will delay us from finishing this week-end. We are getting a new fridge (thanks Mom and Dad!), but it won't fit where the old one was. So we plan to put it on the empty side and I had to redo the design for the new cabinets as well as make a plan to get the pantry installed where the old fridge was. And this involves demoing the upper cabinets on that side. But we are very excited about the new fridge and the changes as a result. Having the fridge on the other side will be better anyway. In this image below from IKEA's kitchen planner, the fridge will go in the corner on the right (and the countertop will extend over to it).

The fridge has been ordered and will be delivered next Thursday. I'm not even going to order the cabinets until it is installed because I want to be sure my dimensions are all perfect. We are going to wait a little while to add the upper cabinets on the right (new fridge) side of the room to save a little money in the short term.

Everyone is eagerly awaiting the completion of this project because the kitchen and dining room are basically unusable and we are all getting tired of sandwiches and one-pot meals (the stove does work but we are keeping it simple).

Kitchen, Part 2

Yesterday I managed to get the wall all painted green. There is a lot of green now, but remember it will have cabinets in front of it eventually. This is also a nice daytime shot of the widened door.

Today I planned to paint the cabinets, and I worked from 9:30 to 4:30, but never go to the painting part. It took all day to empty everything out, clean inside, remove the hardware, and put wood filler in the handle holes (I'm considering having the handles on the old and new sides match to try to pull the different cabinets together). By the time I did all that, it was too late and I was too tired to open up the paint cans. But everything is ready so tomorrow I can just get up and knock out the cabinet painting.

Here is a shot of the cabinets, ready to be painted, as well as a shot of the contents of my kitchen piled up in my dining and living rooms! In the kitchen shot, you can get a little hint of the future gray cabinets because I forgot to mention I painted the ones around the fridge last night so we could put the fridge back and stop moving it in and out.

And for fun, here is a link back to when we painted the cabinets black in the first place in September 2009 - http://teammakas.blogspot.com/2009/09/kitchen-is-done-sort-of.html

Big Kitchen Changes, Part I

So we've decided to make some improvements to our kitchen to make it work better for four people. We were always short on storage space for food and we were always short on counter space for doing anything. With four adults eating and working in the kitchen it's gotten a bit crazy in our kitchen. Plus, I have some aesthetic concerns with the way we have had pile stuff up on the cabinets along the empty wall. Here is a picture that explains the problem.

So we can't handle redoing the whole kitchen, but we can get a few cabinets and a little more counter space in on that wall. Here's a sketch of what we are planning - a pantry, a microwave shelf with storage above, a horizontal upper cabinet, and one base cabinet. The space between the pantry and the base cabinet is for the trash cans.

The first step in the project was taken care of a few weeks ago when Dad passed through town. We needed to move some electrical outlets so that they would be above, instead of behind, the new cabinets. We also need to remove the ceiling fan (just out of view in the upper left of the problem picture above) because it will be in the way of the new pantry. And we had to remove the baseboard heater that was along that wall because it would be in the way of the cabinets. Here is a blurry picture of Dad working on the wiring.

Yesterday we went on a reconnaissance mission to IKEA to make sure the cabinets I'd picked out online were really fine and to talk with the kitchen people about the process because I know kitchen's work a little different than when you buy other stuff there. All was in order so I decided to make today a paint day and get the wall behind the future cabinets painted and ready to go. Painting over the wall paper proved problematic, and removing the wallpaper turned out to be a huge project involving a lot of sanding.

So I started painting the wall under the existing cabinets to actually feel like I was getting somewhere. I wanted a pale green color and Mommy would be proud because I just mixed greens I had with white paint. Its not quite as light as I wanted so I might have to redo it. I don't seem to have taken a picture that shows the green anyway.

So I was frustrated and Miran asked if I'd like to take a break and I asked if instead he'd like to take out the wall between the living and dining room as the wall was already stripped down. I think I have the greatest husband ever, because he agreed, and spontaneously removed the wall for me. It took about two and half hours. He still has to do all the molding, but I'm going to paint first and that can wait until next week-end.

Kico did not enjoy all the noise from the electric saw and electric sander and spent most of the afternoon downstairs under a table. It was a monsoon outside so we couldn't let him just go out.

Disney World !

Last week Miran and I went to Disney World. My parents generously invited us to join them and Margaret and her family for three action packed days.

Here are lots of pictures of the fun ...

On Safari and making plans in the Animal Kingdom ...

 Some close encounters in the Animal Kingdom ...

Keeping hydrated (it was super hot and super humid and we struggled, especially in the mornings). We are used to similar temperatures in Charlotte, but we aren't used to being outside 12 hours a day!

 In Epcot we met a couple of classic characters ...

 We also played a little soccer with Goofy ...

 In the Magic Kingdom we saw the fireworks, took a jungle cruise, and I got Miran on the tamest roller coaster in the park ...

 Back in Epcot we had an adults evening out to check out the country exhibits, including Morocco, and to have a lovely dinner in the French restaurant.

 In Hollywood studios we did the Great Movie Ride, among a lot of other shows ...

 And the final morning before everyone headed home we had a Birthday breakfast for Dad at the Wilderness Lodge. Happy 71st! (Matt is missing because he was feeling sick that morning).

North Carolina Zoo

A couple of weeks ago Miran, Milada, and I went to the North Carolina Zoo for the afternoon. Its about an hour and a half away in Asheboro. It is a very nice zoo with really nice and spacious enclosures for the animals. Some of the enclosures are so big, its hard to see the animals.

The highlight for me was three cougar kittens playing. They were racing and chasing each other all over the rocks and up and down from a tree. They were playing with apples like balls and really just putting on a show for the crowds. It was hard to get a shot of the action.

There was also a really sweet older Polar Bear who was new to the zoo and still getting acclimated to her enclosure. They are building a huge new place for Polar Bears as well and plan to get more because they really can't survive in the wild anymore and zoos are among their only options. At least thats what the sign said.

And then just a couple of shots of us with various animals.

Milada Update

Based on this blog you can barely tell Milada has been living with us for four months. I really need to post more often.

She is keeping busy with English classes at Central Piedmont Community College (where both Miran and Azra got their AA degrees). The classes are free for residents of Mecklenburg County and seem pretty good. She can go five days a week for a couple hours in the morning. But attendance doesn't really matter, so some mornings she doesn't go depending on how she is feeling.

She has also been knitting, going out for coffee and shopping with Azra, cooking dinner and desserts a couple days a week, and has been very active in our yard. She has been helping Miran with his vegetable garden, but has also been planting flowers and weeding and trimming. Its gotten kind of hot, but she is usually out there in the evening for a hour or so.

Here are some photos of her efforts:

Azra's Graduation!

I am very behind on blogging so prepare for a flurry of messages with pictures to get caught up on the past few months.

First and foremost, last month Azra graduated from UNC Charlotte with a BA in Communication Studies. She didn't want to walk because it cost a lot and she didn't really have any friends graduating, so we just had a low-key family lunch to celebrate the day after the official graduation. She also had a party with her friends at a restaurant one evening.

Here we are having celebratory martinis!