Adding a Pantry

Even though our house was originally built for a family of eight, the size of the kitchen is much smaller than most would expect.  While it was similarly sized to our previous house and we felt right at home with its cozy size, it was missing one thing we liked at our other house -- a pantry.

The fridge in its new home.

Pantry installed with no doors yet.

We decided to make better use of the space that was once a breakfast nook.  We had Randy Buell of R&J Custom Furniture, Cabinets, and Trim make us some new cabinets that would become our new pantry.  He also added a nice wine rack in the space above the refrigerator to close the space in. 

Our new pantry and wine rack.

In the space where the refrigerator originally stood, Randy made us some new base cabinets, a butcher block counter top, and fit in an extension to hanging cabinets that blended in well.  

The new counter top and cupboards being installed.

The new cabinets and butcher block where the refrigerator once stood.

Naturally, a project in an old home is not without its challenges.  It turned out that the walls where the wine rack was to fit were not exactly square and it was a bit too snug.  Luckily, Randy has his belt sander with him and a rubber mallet.  A few runs with the sander and then a series of whacks with the mallet and the wine rack was in place.  

Randy Buell getting the wine rack in place.

A World of Difference: Windows

It can be difficult to preserve the original look and feel of a historic home. Though we want to do as many things as we can to keep our 1902 Victorian looking as historically accurate as we can, we knew that keeping the original windows wasn't going to work out for us. There were so many windows that had broken or missing panes, we didn't see it as an option to keep the original windows. Not to mention that the Wisconsin winter was fast approaching, and we wanted to have as much insulation between the inside and the outside of our house as we could get.

A missing corner piece of one of the old windows.

A crack in one of the old windows.

We gave Window World a call, and Art Lane came over to look at our project. I did a walk-through with him, and we came up with 26 windows that we wanted to have replaced.

Levi and Eric from Window World came to our house over a period of three days to install our new windows.  They removed the old windows, insulated the weight pockets with spray foam, and installed the new windows. They did an amazing job, and we would highly recommend them to anyone who is considering having any windows replaced.

Before: the north side

After: the north side

Most of the windows are white vinyl, but some have an oak finish on the inside to match the surrounding stops and trim. They had many options for us to choose from. We went with the colonial-style grill pattern in the top half of each of the triple-pane, double-hung windows.
Not only does our house look so different now that we don't have any broken windows, we also have the peace of mind knowing that we have a lifetime warranty in case one of the new windows gets broken.

Future blog posts about the windows will bring you on a room-by-room journey with before and after pictures of what the room looked like with the old windows, what it looked like with the new windows, and (hopefully!) what the windows look like now. I'm making all of our curtains with my new sewing machine, and as I get finished, I will post a picture of what the finished product looks like.

Keep checking back to see our progress!