I don't like to shop, but I love a bargain. Well, let me amend that. I do really enjoy combing through consignment stores and thrift shops looking for incredible bargains but I don't care about shopping for new stuff. Generally speaking contemporary stores are geared to sell you things you don't really need and didn't know you wanted until you saw it arranged on a display table in bright packaging = ooooh pretty. I mean, if you're shopping for a new sofa and you need a new sofa, that's one kind of shopping. But wandering around Wal*Mart or Macy's encourages one to fall victim to the machinations of marketing gurus and advertising hacks. Give me a Salvation Army Thrift Store or a mom and pop antique shop any day. And salvage stores are fun when you have a big project, like a kitchen renovation.
My husband Russ and I are cut from the same cloth in that regard. We both love old, idiosyncratic stuff. We would happily spend hours together driving around from one target bargain destination to another and probably don't do it as often as we'd like. At one point several years ago my husband found a solid set of cabinets at a salvage store for $40 and couldn't pass up the deal. He figured they'd end up in his workshop for storage. Little did we know they were going to end up as part of our kitchen cabinets in our little farmhouse in town.
Before we bought this place I pilfered one of the larger cabinets for an island in our rented lakehouse. For two years we rented a charming cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee. We got reduced rent in exchange for fixing up the place a little bit -- something that suited both Russ and myself. Russ, who is nothing if not handy and creative, fixed up the doors of the old cabinet and placed beadboard around the sides and back and then trimmed out the bottom. A good coat of white paint and viola! I had an island that added much needed countertop in our modest little lake cottage kitchen. I will say this, a little time, paint, and hardware can go along way. Oh yeah, some new flooring too. Another bargain Russ found because the flooring had some minor flaws. The lakehouse kitchen went from this:
To this:
When all was said and done however, at that time we couldn't afford a decent countertop to the island so I had to live with plywood for two years. I kept it covered with seasonal tableclothes and made do. That island moved with us to the new house and it became one end of the massive island that was going to become the focal point of the new kitchen.
Despite all the bargain hunting we did splurge on a few things in our new kitchen, the main thing being a six-burner Imperial gas range that was going to live in the middle of the huge island. I love to cook and I love being in the kitchen and it was extremely important to me to have a kick-ass domestic goddess zone to call my own. Three things I really wanted: a beastly gas range, an electric wall oven, and a slate or soapstone sink. The slate sink was in, now came time for the range.
The island was a project that was months in the making.
My husband Russ and I are cut from the same cloth in that regard. We both love old, idiosyncratic stuff. We would happily spend hours together driving around from one target bargain destination to another and probably don't do it as often as we'd like. At one point several years ago my husband found a solid set of cabinets at a salvage store for $40 and couldn't pass up the deal. He figured they'd end up in his workshop for storage. Little did we know they were going to end up as part of our kitchen cabinets in our little farmhouse in town.
Before we bought this place I pilfered one of the larger cabinets for an island in our rented lakehouse. For two years we rented a charming cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee. We got reduced rent in exchange for fixing up the place a little bit -- something that suited both Russ and myself. Russ, who is nothing if not handy and creative, fixed up the doors of the old cabinet and placed beadboard around the sides and back and then trimmed out the bottom. A good coat of white paint and viola! I had an island that added much needed countertop in our modest little lake cottage kitchen. I will say this, a little time, paint, and hardware can go along way. Oh yeah, some new flooring too. Another bargain Russ found because the flooring had some minor flaws. The lakehouse kitchen went from this:
To this:
When all was said and done however, at that time we couldn't afford a decent countertop to the island so I had to live with plywood for two years. I kept it covered with seasonal tableclothes and made do. That island moved with us to the new house and it became one end of the massive island that was going to become the focal point of the new kitchen.
Despite all the bargain hunting we did splurge on a few things in our new kitchen, the main thing being a six-burner Imperial gas range that was going to live in the middle of the huge island. I love to cook and I love being in the kitchen and it was extremely important to me to have a kick-ass domestic goddess zone to call my own. Three things I really wanted: a beastly gas range, an electric wall oven, and a slate or soapstone sink. The slate sink was in, now came time for the range.
The island was a project that was months in the making.
No comments:
Post a Comment