Royal T. Home Source
Home Built in 1910
A Division of Vista 15
Duplexed in 1969
Columbus, OH
| KITCHEN REMODEL
This is the lower unit, and my private residence. The upper unit is rented out. 
* Island * Sink Faucet * Ceiling Fan/Light Everything else is Thrift Store • Salvaged • Bargain Outlet. For the third time in my life, I used a trio of colors on kitchen doors and drawer fronts. First was in the '60's when GREEN, YELLOW and ORANGE was the rage. Next was the '80's when I did some remodeling for an ex-boyfriend (silly girl) and combined AQUA, BURGANDY and ORANGE. Now if you're paying attention here, kitchen cabinets typically have even numbered doors and drawers, so the three-color combination does some scary things... These shades, though, are ICE BLUE, BANANA YELLOW and MINT GREEN...and it's like walking into an ice cream parlor. You see in the first picture, the refrigerator, sink and the cabinets around them. The second picture is the stove and the rest of the cabinets, original to the house. The upper doors had been replaced, but never finished. Neither did they all close completely. I fixed all of those, plus replaced 3 drawer fronts that had fallen off. I also added a wicker hanging light over the island, which had been left in the basement by the former tenant. 
This color scheme, as well as the theme, was inspired by a pot holder which is hanging above the stove. You can't really see it, but it is bees, a hive, a checkerboard border with flowers, in shades of blue, yellow and green. The door you see to the left is the basement door, standing open. I keep it like this to prevent my dogs, Hero and Rebel, from going into the front room. I have baby gates across other doorways. They have free reign in the Keeping Room and Kitchen. The swivel bar stool is a $4 Thrift Store find which I uphostered (I can DO that!) in a blue and white pinstripe fabric. The photos on the wall are remnants of my years in Nashville, namely me with Toby Keith, Doug Supernaw, Mark Collie (in the 1st picture) Vern Gosdin, Rodney Crowell and Deborah Allen. (2nd picture) ...excuse me while I namedrop... Costs•••Refrigerator: $299, scratch and dent from ApplianceSmart. Island: $79, floor sample reduced from $129, Home Depot. Sink Faucet: about $25...? Ceiling Fan/Light: $13.88, Wally World. (I bought 4! Have installed 3.) Photo 3 The next photo shows unfinished upper wall and windows There was extensive water damage from pigeons breaking through an outside wall into a closet upstairs. I had repaired the wall pieces from wallboard scraps I had collected. But it also shows the dreary paint color on the window sash, which had engulfed the entire kitchen, sans cabinets, which were partly varnished, partly unfinished plywood, when I moved downstairs. I called it MUD. This being a north facing room, it was extremely depressing. The first thing I did when I moved down was paint the ceiling...a dark yellow...then proceeded with ice blue on the paneling part way up the walls, and white above it. When I first moved in, I knocked out the left window for an Air Conditioner, and built in a basement window which had been removed and left downstairs. This is now all painted white. You also see how close the neighbor's house is. I will be putting a lace curtain against each window with velcro, and then make Roman shades in a blue, yellow, green floral print much like the background you see on this page. Or click on this thumbnail...  The lower half of this photo is described below it. 
Also in the above photo you see the cabinet that was painted dark teal I FOUND down the alley and carried home on the back of my car, trunk open, with it lashed to the hinges. (Not my new car.) The countertopping, which matched the rest of the kitchen, came from another part of my alley. It's butcher block Formica. The ceiling color helps to lift the counter color. The trim hasn't been placed on the counter, except for one piece showing to the left. That piece came off while I was working on the wall and window, so I will wait until last to place it.  Here you see a section between the windows and the corner to the back door. It had paneling there which I painted blue like the rest, then topped it with a shelf and peg board I built. (The little jacket is Hero's, the big jacket is mine.) Handy wicker basket hold my boots. Focal Point As you push the basement door closed and enter the kitchen from the front room foyer your eyes go directly to the back wall...and this cabinet!  First... the theme • Heart • Bunny • Bees • Hive • Honey. You see hearts throughout my home because I am the Queen of Hearts... The bunny is my mascot, and I collect bunnies. They multiply, you know! And the bees and the honey is the kitchen theme as mentioned earlier. I also believe in honey, as a healer and nutritional product second to none. I also lost a beloved 7˝ year old Pom named Honey Pearl Joy Dreym. That's not a frame around the heart basket, it's a door to the bathroom I blocked off and use another door from my bedroom. I don't like a bathroom door coming off a kitchen... and then I built a closet behind this one in the bathroom. The cabinet is another Thrift Store find...$6. It was varnished plywood with two doors on the front...and horrible Contact paper on the shelves. But removing the doors, stripping off the Contact paper, painting it white and fitting it with a collecton of wicker/wood baskets, ties it in with the rest of the kitchen. Some of the baskets had handles I had to saw off. Some were free, salvaged and Thrift Store purchases, mostly under $1. (The items on each side in the photo were only temporary.) I like the casual country effect. I read in a decorator book or magazine it costs $60,000 for the average kitchen remodel! I don't have five hundred into mine! (...not counting my labor.) In addition to the new items mentioned, the only other expenses have been sanding disks, contact cement, wood putty, joint compound and repair tape, and the like. And paint. White: 5 gal. pail, exterior, $46. (on my 2nd pail and painted 3/4 of the outside, as well as walls in the entire upper unit.) Ice Blue: 1 gal. $.97, mixed, wrong color, discounted. (Used on ceiling in bedroom, also.) Dark Yellow: 1 gal. $.97, mixed, wrong color, discounted. (Used on ceiling in upper unit Kitchen, also.) Banana Yellow: 1 qt. $2.98, mixed, wrong color, 1/2 price. Mint Green: 1 qt. $2.98, mixed, wrong color, 1/2 price. Yes, that was 97 cents on those two gallons. I've actually gotten 2 gallons of paint that were 33 1/3 cents each... I LOVE these kinds of bargains! My Kitchen remodel is not complete yet. The water damage had caused a 2 foot hole in the ceiling as well as the wall damage. I had put a camoflage patch on it. I glued heavy-weight poster paper over it and actually painted it with the dark yellow ceiling paint. It made the gaping hole disappear, yet, when finishing the painting in the kitchen, I could not feasibly call it 'done' until I fixed it properly. Yeah, right. I have now chased it all the way past the ceiling fan/light...It caused such a warp in the sheetrock it causes the nails I try to put it up with to pull right through when I release the jack I've had holding it up. I have 2 props I've nailed together, and 2 jacks to prop them on, to jack the ceiling. (one 6 ton, one 20 ton...not your typical feminine aquisitions. But...necessary tools of the trade.) You don't actually see the fan-light in the photos. However, in photo 3 there is a strange looking object toward the ceiling. That is a dangling chime-butterfly box on the light pull chain. It was a gift... They say a good house is never done. While I haven't even finished what I've planned for my kitchen, I've had another thought. You know how 'they' use old ladders in decorating??? Well, I have one and wanted to hang it somewhere in my kitchen and couldn't decide where... maybe it was before I got the cabinet in front of the windows. Here's how I come to the conclusion it should go over that. I ran across some wicker patio lights I bought for $2.50 a set (75% off regular price - I bought 2 sets.)and thought of running them across the top of the windows. I had toyed with the idea of putting a shelf up there...then WALLA! ...use the ladder! So that's it. I will hang the ladder, then drape the little lights through the rungs. Oh, yes... there is one little corner that doesn't show in these pictures. To the left of the refrigerator is a dry sink I bought for $15 that hasn't received it's coat of WHITE paint yet. Above it is an antique medium green painted 2 shelf unit with 2 small drawers with ceramic flowered knobs, that I found in another alley. I am leaving it that shade, as long as it is a complimentary shade of green. And then there is the doorway into the next room. |
