As Lorena and I are get closer to our move to Washington state, we get more anxious to figure out what we want to do with the old kitchen in the new (to us) house. I thought it would be fun to have some before and after pictures of the work we hope to do. Our plan is to do this in five phases: 1) the kitchen, 2) the covered porch/new roof line, 3) fireplaces and a new floor upstairs, 4) a downstairs apartment with kitchen and laundry and 5) new bathrooms. Of course, we might have the time, resources or energy to do all of this, some other change in personal or world circumstances might dictate other priorities or we could just die in a flaming train, car or airplane wreck (or maybe something not so exotic) so we reserve the right to change or stop the plan.
With all those caveats, we know we need to start with the kitchen. Our friend Mark Prescott has already started putting together some options for us. The pictures below show the kitchen as it is now. The window of which you cannot see much in the first pictures looks out onto a fairly incredible view of Mount Rainier. The window to the left of that looks out onto the front/side yard which is an obvious place for Lorena to grow flowers. We want to take all the appliances and the cabinets from the old kitchen (and the clothes washer and dryer from the laundry room–we have better ones) down to the daylight basement for the apartment down there.
We were thinking we could put the main sink where the stove currently sits with a window above it looking out onto the garden and the stove to the right of that. Then put in a French door to replace the window facing the front/side yard–the porch right there is a great place to put a grilling area. We are still thinking about it and Mark almost always has better ideas than us, but it is getting real now and we are looking forward to getting started.
A sink with a window looking out at the garden, rather than the garage roof is a must! You are going to turn it into a user friendly, visitor welcoming and cozy place. Beware, it may never be empty!
All VERY good points Gena! Did you see we are going to angle the sink from where it is now so it faces toward a point half way between the living room (so you can talk to the people there) and the view of the mountain out the back of the house. Here is an image of (kind of) the best rendering of how we want it when it is done. And OF COURSE we want it to be user friendly! When it is all said and done, we are even going to have three fridges and a freezer. Now all we have to do is get to the point we can afford furniture again! The wall on the left does not extend all the way out in the real house. It stops at the end of the cabinets and that is how you can see into the living room.
That is going to be really nice and so much better than what was there!
Thanks Gena! We are excited. I don’t think it will be done before we get there, but I would LOVE to get you and Bob’s take on it as we move along.
We stopped by this afternoon to meet n greet Mark and/or helper. No one there, house was so clean and tidy you would never know demolition had taken place, except floor and cabinets were gone! Got another red Rhoda blooming, beautiful. Will send a picture next time.
Thanks Gena! This is the second time we have used Mark to do something like this and he was amazing. I am sorry I cannot be there to see him do his thing. Thank you so much for sending the pictures around. Lorena really loves seeing the flowers!