Doug runs marathons. I totally respect people who run, but it bores the world out of me. Unless someone is chasing me with a weapon, or I have a ball in my hands, I’m not really a fan of running. But I’m super proud of him. When he runs marathons, generally, we spend the rest of the day antiquing. Because he doesn’t like to stay still, he likes to move slow, and there is always someplace to sit. It’s perfect! So while we were working on the Jackson Street kitchen, he ran the Nashville Marathon. He wanted to do a destination marathon, and he gave me some choices, and there are some great salvage places in Nashville. Choice made.
I also always carry around measurements of all of my windows, just in case. We went into a place that had a lot of things that weren’t our style, but we still looked around. It’s a red flag for sure when there are no prices on anything. But there was an old trombone in decent shape, and if we can find instruments cheap for my program, we snatch them up. While Doug was getting a price, I saw a stack of stained glass leaning against a wall. I started rifling through, and found a great piece that had all the colors of the Kitchen, and it looked about the right size. I measured it, and it would only be slightly smaller than the middle window in the kitchen. I decided to ask prices, though I wasn’t hopeful. She said, “One Seventy.” The piece was so big, and I was anticipating a big number, so I said, “Wow. A thousand and seventy? That’s too much.” She clarified that it was $170, and so we couldn’t pass it up.
Once home, Doug built a frame to make it fit perfectly in the window. He’s pretty proud of his joinery (because it’s pretty fantastic).
Here it is in place, just needing the frame painted! The view outside this window is just the side of the garage for our neighbors, with all their utility boxes, so it’s actually awesome that we were able to make the view a bit more beautiful.
We bought a new sink and faucet – a really deep single basin sink. It was amazing.
The gorgeous faucet….
The side windows in the kitchen with glass shelves, and my green glassware collection! The light coming through in the morning really makes this look fun and sparkly and bright.
And I made new curtains!
We moved the HVAC under the cabinets into a toe kick. Floors next!!!
And here it is! The final kitchen and details. Not bad for a project that began to change the floor, and ended up as a cheery, lovely, welcoming space!
A thin metal rod inserted through the brackets was a great place for coffee mugs.
The pot rack and cookbook bookshelf… we bought the bookshelf online, but switched out the hardware to match the new hardware on the cabinets, so it matched nicely.
The cabinet extensions turned out so amazing, especially once the dishes were on them.
The breakfast nook – with refinished table, and an herb garden addition on the windowsill.
And the replacement for the ugly floor that started it all! Just a peel-and-stick, but it’s so much better. It was a cost-effective change until we would have been able to afford in-floor heating and tile. But then we just moved. Which is probably the least cost effective way to do anything.
So much better! We didn’t spend a ton on this kitchen, but it was a lot of elbow grease. Creativity goes a long way to making a space more effective, and this ended up being my favorite room in the house before we moved!
