A Kitchen Tour

You may recall that last Autumn I stopped posting here for a couple of months as I was not crafting.  This hiatus was because all of my stash had been packed away for the refurbishment of our kitchen.  This mammoth job was completed just before Christmas (just in time!) but as I have been posting my journal, I had not had time to show you the new room.

I foolishly took few photos before we began, but here is one (above) just after starting ;

and one of Harry and Kev taking up the old floor...that job was a nightmare as we not only removed the kitchen floor, but the utility and downstairs loo, so the flooring is now the same throughout.

So to the finished kitchen...We did keep most of our large electrical items (fridge, cooker and dishwasher) as they matched the new room and were still in good working order. This wine rack that supports the cupboard on top of the fridge freezer has been popular with visitors!

Our wonderful kitchen fitters recommended a reasonably priced granite company, so we fitted worktops, a window sill and the cooker splash-back in granite.  We chose a microwave fitted into cupboards as one of the things that annoyed me about my old kitchen was the lack of worktop space..now we have more room to prepare food,  cook, dish up and unload the shopping.

The gap between the main part of the kitchen and the dining/crafting area is a little narrower than before, but it did allow us to fit in more cupboards.

Most of these are filled with my crafty stash...before, it was all visible making the dining area look really untidy; now there is a space for everything.

 One of the tall cupboards has space for our china set and some larger plates and platters, the rest are filled with crafty stash.

We have retained our old welsh dresser and pine table, both over 25 years old now as we bought them (or they were gifts) early in our marriage.

 I chose a wood-look Amtico style floor to go with the kitchen and our old furniture, it is wonderfully warm underfoot and was beautifully laid by another contact of our kitchen fitter.

Most of the kitchen is neutral in colour, this was a deliberate choice as we can change it up by simply altering accessories and the wallpaper.

I chose a cheery mustard and grey to give a hit of colour to the space, love the wallpaper that Kev chose (from a shortlist given to him by me!!) to go just in the dining area.  It looks especially nice with these daffodils.

...and the inspiration for my choice of colours?  This set of 3 storage pots I had picked up from Aldi a while back.

I will try to post later in the month about how I have organised my crafty stash... it took a while to organise it all, but I can now find most of it!

Electrical Woes

Over the past two days we have been having problems with out electricity supply, cutting out just before you were about to save that vital document, or the TV programme you were watching was coming to a climax.

Yesterday it finally came to a head.  We awoke to no power, and despite trying to reset the RCD under the stairs it kept tripping, so we called in an emergency electrician.  He managed to get power restored to the kitchen, but we (well Kev!) will need to take up the floor in the lounge and dining room so the wiring can be checked and redone. Here are Kev and Harry putting down the floor in the lounge back in 2008... just laughing at my scrapbooking style then!

The floor in the lounge is a hardwood one we put down about 5 years ago, it was costly, so I'm hoping he can lift it without causing too much damage as I'm really fond of it.

Decorating Fever

As ever during the summer holiday, our house becomes a satellite branch of B&Q, Wickes or Homebase...... you choose!

This year, before the holidays began, I rashly decided to decorate Harry's room as he had not had it done (other than a little lick of emulsion) since being a baby.  Then Hannah jumped on the bandwagon and decided her room was far too babyish for a 20 year old.  Finally the main bathroom began to leak, causing damage to the hall undergrowth it, so this also need attention.

The upshot of all this is that we have spent 3 weeks on 3 rooms, Harry's is done, Hannah's is almost done but the bathroom.... that turned out to be a total disaster once the floor was up.....shot pointing at the front of the house let the rain in, a sloping floor meant that any water gravitated to the same point, rotting the joists underneath; all in all a much more difficult job than we (note the use of the royal we there, as Kevin is doing the work) anticipated, involving removing the bathroom suite in total, pointing the front of the house, new joists, a new floor, tanking, retiling, painting, laying a new floor and replacement of the suite.  Needless to say it is still unfinished.

I feel bad that I haven't helped much in the bathroom from hell, but I am up to my eyes in paint instead... so not much crafting going on here sadly.

On the crafting front, keep an eye out for the new DoCrafts Creativity magazine published on the first of September, you might see someone familiar!

A boy page.

I took some photos of harry with his dad working in the garage about a month ago, and made this page at the crop I went to last week.

There were 4 shops (!!!) at the crop, and I managed to pick up some Cosmo Cricket Core'dinations cardstock which was already embossed. A bit of sanding later and I had the perfect background for these photos.

The LO was very loosely based on the first class at the crop, my photos were much bigger than was asked for, and I turned my page through 90 degrees, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I might have a go at the proper page if i get time!

The stitching down the side was done using a new little gadget from WRMK, the Sew easy piercer. I picked this up a couple of weeks ago, and although a lot of people have not found it easy to use, I love it, makes stitching so much quicker and easier. The title letters are all stamped ( Docrafts and American Crafts alphas.)

A very busy week and weekend ahead, with two birthdays in our house, bought extra eggs, sugar and butter today for the inevitabel cake making :)