Bienvenue chez Howard Johnson à Versailles!
“Finalmente!” I know all of you are thinking. Yes, it took me awhile to get my head bent around putting this Big Reveal of the kitchen renovation together, and I apologize. It is, however, very appropriate to post it today, August 13, because it just happens to be the 18th anniversary of my closing on Maison Robaire. I have now officially lived in this condominium longer than I lived in my hometown.
So here we go with some time lapses of the renovation, from each corner of the room.
Southeast corner.
Southwest corner.
Northwest corner, the Cozy Nook.
Northeast corner.
How does it feel a year later? Fantastic! The room feels lighter with all the white and the paler-than-I-originally-intended colors, brighter with all the new can lights, larger with the choice of a narrower refrigerator and its new location next to the stove, and taller with the high cabinets. Gramma’s Cushman Colonial desk fits exactly between the windows and makes the perfect coffee station, just as I’d planned. My Cozy Nook now truly is cozy, especially when I keep from dumping stuff on the chairs. The new ceiling fan pleases me every time I turn it on; it never looks like it’s going to shake its way free of the ceiling.
The big deep sink makes housework easier, but the most enormous improvement has been the dishwasher. For 17 years* I lived here with no dishwasher, so dishwashing took up a lot of my domestic time. Now that glass, china, and silverware can all go in there, I can dispatch with pots and pans and other things in something like ten minutes. I’m no longer settling in for the long haul!
What’s been unexpected? How much I end up using that desk. I imagined it would only be for coffee and a kitchen countertop. Instead, it’s my domestic HQ for all accounting and condo association business, home base for my laptop, and sometimes where I eat. I also didn’t plan on an empty shelf in the cabinet directly over the sink, but it’s a great position for my laptop if there’s something I want to watch while dishwashing.
And, there are some things I need out where I can get to them and not tucked away. It’s great to have the recycling hidden in a cabinet, but I need the trashcan out in the open to toss stuff in without any fuss. Same with my working tote bags. I hang ‘em on the pantry doorknob and not on a hook in the pantry, and that’s OK.
I also didn’t expect to be completely happy with a blank wall. Originally I’d planned to mount the Fiestaware on that wall, but that simply isn’t going to happen. I’m perfectly happy with that blank white space, but I know it will eventually fill with art of some sort.
There’s still a few things that need to be taken care of. The wash machine needs to be anchored to the floor somehow. The two times I’ve tried to use it it’s tried to break out of the house! I need to order a glass top for the desk, not only to preserve the desktop but also so I can display my small collection of Hotel Vendome postcards underneath. I don’t understand why nails in the door sills keep wanting to pop out of the floor. But I’ll get to it all at some point. In the meantime, it is a pleasure to be in the room instead of a necessity. I’m really very happy with it overall.
Big Reveal Part II, when it comes, will look at some of the decorative elements.
*The same amount of time Casper Gutman searched for the Maltese Falcon.