Last MAJOR INTERIOR Project, REALLY!

I know it's been quite a while since anything was published, but I want to say that the LAST MAJOR INTERIOR PROJECT at Foxcroft is well underway: THE KITCHEN.

Every time Lisa has asked when we would do the kitchen, I have answered "Last." This is because nearly every other project required us to track materials in through the back (kitchen) door.

Over spring break we had plasterers come to fix the corner where we had removed the bump out that was Bess' closet from her bedroom. We had removed the closet a mere 10 years ago in June of 2005.

While I will flesh this out and give details about what we've done in the near future, here is a photo montage of the kitchen from when the house was built (1928) through today, in progress:

BLUE PRINTS
Here is the kitchen layout from the blueprints. The back door opens between the half wall of the nook, and a bump out bedroom closet. This would have been extremely narrow. The small area marked "Brooms" was another closet, that opened in the kitchen. The fact that Bess was getting an ELECTRIC REFRIGERATOR rather than an icebox was a big deal, and noted in the plans:

One of the most charming parts of the kitchen plans was the breakfast nook. Bess had found separate images of how she wanted the table and the benches to look, and given them to her designer:

1928 Photos: 

THESE 4 PHOTOS WERE ALL TAKEN SHORTLY AFTER THE HOUSE WAS BUILT.
For ALL PHOTOS below click on the image to see a larger version:

This photo was some time after 1928 and before 1948:

In 1948 the half wall and bench of the nook were removed.
These photos are probably shortly after that:

The next three images show what the kitchen looked like the first time we were in the house on Dec 19, 2003:

The next four photos show removing the broom closet, and the bump out bedroom closet
on June 9, 2005. Read about that here:

They're Here!

We had to put a header over the back door to carry the load of the gable we added upstairs. the first photo below shows that. The second photo shows the  light switches shown on the bump out above that had to be relocated, this would be about a week after the pictures above.

So here is the kitchen after the plasterers came, and I just finished varnishing the floor. There will be more updates to come.

Scr*w the Timetable!

Every time Lisa asks, "When are we going to do the kitchen?" I always answer, "LAST!" because we always come and go through the kitchen door and I want all the other messes finished before we do it!

I came home yesterday from the office to see Lisa grinning like the Cheshire Cat. For the last few days she's been on "vacation" which means she was stripping doors.

"Go in the kitchen." she said. When I walked in I saw this:


Which when I looked closer was this:


If you see the "babyshit brown" color on the table leg, that is what all the woodwork in the kitchen is painted. I am nearly finished repainting the cupboard doors, and will hang the last of them tonight. (Imagine that brown on the outside and signal orange on the inside of the cupboards. Lisa reapainted the insides even before we moved in two years ago) The top of the table was that color too, until yesterday. What you see is how it looks after stripper, but no sanding. It was originally painted, but we'll go ahead and stain and varnish since it looks so good. Now we'll see if we can strip the bench and get as good a results.

So last night after getting the kids to bed and taking the dog for a walk I was inspired to try to take the formica off the counter top and see how the original pine top looked. So I peeled off the edge:


And started peeling off the top:


It wasn't too long and I was down to the plywood that covered the original top:


I got out the cordless drill and a mere 76 screws later had the plywood off:


It looks as though the original was shellacked then varnished and in spots the varnish failed and then of course the shellac would too in short order, so it all got covered up. Lisa started cleaning with hot water and TSP:


Here's the end that's down to bare wood:


And another shot


Maybe this was just an extreme way to clean all the junk off the couter?


Ideally if I can get the entire top off there is a cabinet maker in town that I could take it to and run through his planer to take just the very top edge off and get it looking good. Anyone out there do this? What are suggestions as to what to finish it with? I'd love to hear your ideas.