I have loved to cook since I was a young teenager and saw Julia Child on tv, slapping her hindquarters and saying you need to show the butcher where you want a cut. Butcher? that wasn't a concept in the rapidly growing suburban lifestyle. But a seed was planted, I learned how to make a great quiche, and still have the recipe for African Pickled Peaches from a 1960s Gourmet magazine. Living all around the world only opened my eyes and taste buds to all sorts of food and cooking styles. It was wonderful.
Fast forward to 2001 and I am married to my 2nd husband and he says the magic words...Anything I can do to make your cooking easier... And we plunged like fools into renovation. There is a whole Flickr collection of 11 sets about that project.
By this point, dh had built me an island to test out the concept and I finally had a cooktop that could boil water. We also bought and installed some Ikea drawers to see if I really liked having drawers. OMIGOD, did I!!!
I'm here showing how happy I am with the test island and marvy Fisher and Paykel cooktop. Note the little jar of chimichurri sauce on the red formica. Yum!
June/July 2004 the back porch and deck were gone, and then the foundation for the addition was laid.
There was a lot of this kind of examination of the blueprints
to get to this point.
But by fall I was chiseling away at the stone for the new bathroom.
And Christmas 2004 was simple.
By Jan 2005, we were waiting for the soapstone counters.
and on a bitter cold day they arrived.
The final time was over 14 months from breaking ground till the final punchout items.
It tested a new marriage, but we learned pretty well then that we are on the same team, and that our different ways of thinking CAN be complimentary, not combative. We didn't want to make our contractor the enemy either so we had to talk, cry and work our way through want WE wanted vs what I want and what you want, so that we could put a united front in discussions. That was hard because until something came up I know I couldn't always see what I wanted. It was easier to see what I didn't want. (Life lesson for me???)
But this IS my creation and my creative workspace...and I love it.
Want to see other spaces? come on, you know you do!! Then check out Angela at ThreeButtons . She maintains the list of players.
