That's Jacked Up

A corner of our kitchen was added after the house was built. The odd thing was that it was a floating corner, and there was no support underneath it. Fast forward fifty years, and now we have a sagging problem.

Look to the right of the scaffolding. See the downward slope?

There's nothing holding this corner up!

This is also the same corner that once had a leaky ceiling. Perhaps this addition wasn't carefully planned out and properly built?

In order to fix this problem, the corner would have to be jacked up from the outside... a quarter of an inch at a time. To prevent our windows from being cracked, they took them out and temporarily filled them in with plywood.

It's working!

The jack is doing its job. That's Curt doing his job. 

We were without windows for a while.

The corner is now where it belongs. The deck has been added, too.

Now that the windows are back in, it's a sign that this project is moving along!

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 New Coat of Paint: The Kitchen

Sometimes, a new paint color or even just a fresh coat of paint can have a dramatic impact on how a room looks.  Take our kitchen, for instance. It used to be this greenish color:

One of the first pictures we took of the house after we bought it.

After getting the ceiling fixed, we wanted to see how much of a challenge it would be to have all of the trim in the same color.  Before we started the ceiling project, we had beautiful maple crown molding up. The rest of the trim in the room, however, was painted over with white latex paint. Knowing that we'd eventually have the windows replaced, we decided to take the white painted trim down from around the windows.  We also took off all of the white baseboards. 

Now, this is what our kitchen looks like:

After painting.

I am excited to have this nice cream color for our walls.  It brings out the warm tones of the maple cabinetry and crown molding. Plus it no longer competes with the slightly different green color of the adjacent dining room.

A corner of the kitchen before painting.

After painting.

We got our paint for the kitchen, my sewing room, and the 2nd floor bathroom at Parker Paint in Green Bay.

Watch for a future blog post on our new window trim! 

Kitchen Appliances "Steel" the Show!

Refrigerators, ranges, dishwashers, and microwaves! Who knew that shopping for new appliances would be so overwhelming?

About two months ago now, we walked out of Classic Maytag on Military Avenue with a feeling of accomplishment.  We had finally decided on what we wanted to have for kitchen appliances. We needed to get a fridge, an electric range, a microwave, and a dishwasher. 

Looking at store ads for Fourth-of-July appliance sales was pretty time-consuming, but we narrowed our search down to three stores; we decided to go to Sears, the Home Depot, and Classic Maytag. 

Sears left us with more questions than answers, because after a while, all of the appliances started to look alike.  It wasn't a wasted trip, however, because by that point we had decided that we definitely wanted to get stainless steel finish on all four pieces.

Home Depot wasn't any help.  Not only were we constantly bombarded by sales associates (Do they work on commission? It sure seemed like it!), but they didn't have as many appliances to look at as their ad led us to believe they had. Not the first time this has happened at this store, but that's another story.

Finally, we walk into the Classic Maytag store located on Military Avenue, and we immediately see the range we want. We decided to go electric, as we no longer had a gas line going to the kitchen. Plus, I get nervous about open flame around towels, wash cloths, oil... I have been known to accidentally start things on fire.

In no time, we had our dishwasher, our microwave, and our fridge picked out.  We placed the order, and in just a few weeks, our appliances were all installed.  I am so happy with the service provided by Bill Schumacher at Classic Maytag.

The Maytag truck is here!

Bill rolling the fridge up the steps.

The refrigerator in its (temporary) home.

The microwave and the range.

The new dishwasher!