Let the Restoration Begin

Now that all the mechanics are tip-top and brand-spanking, the kitchen can be put back together. That includes drywall and wallpaper. To that end, here's what's been going on this week....

The new ductwork for the new island range hood...

 The framing in of the plumbing to create new bulkheads...

 The strapping of the ceiling to create a level surface for the drywall...

And four hours of wallpaper stripping later the pros have removed... 6 inches along one 6 foot span... Wow, I'm really happy I'm not doing that job...

And then the drywall - yep, that's the hood duct, and you will note the further 6 hours of wallpaper work by two male strippers with a giant steamer and they've managed about a foot wide and maybe 10 foot span...

New bulkhead (still needs a little drywall underneath)

And the corner where this whole adventure began, ready for tape and mud.

This is the only wallpaper that will remain when it's all done - the kids height marks for the last nine years, and the heights of many of our friends kids too.

Oh, apparently the wallpaper above the door was holding the plaster in place and so now, it's drywall. There's another spot like that above the living room door that I expect will have the same result...

Wallpaperless. Or at least, less wallpaper...

Within a week we could actually be living in this room again. What a concept.

Oh yeah, the bathroom is on it's way too. I'll save that for my next post. You can ogle my pretty flooring sample...
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Missing...

...any knob and tube wiring in our home is now GONE! This is the very last, very lonely knob. Bah!

 ...seven foot long fluorescent tubes...GONE! Phooey! (Really, who would put those in a HOUSE??)

...to be replaced by tube free joists... 

 ... newly wired boxes waiting for new fixtures...

 ...newly wired switches, waiting to be...

 SWITCHED! and ...

...lovely white wires, waiting to connect our...

 ... family "nerve centre"...

... toaster, blender, cuisinart... but not fridge (now on it's very own circuit!)...

... new undercounter light...

... new, safer porch light, and if something does manage to blow...

...we can find it on our FULLY, CORRECTLY LABELLED panel! :woot:woot:

Can you tell, it's very exciting? One more small bit of plumbing and the reconstruction can begin.  Yahoo!

Winklepedia Part 2

First, I started documenting/cataloguing all my Kathie Winkle patterns. Thought it would be neat to see how many different ones I have. I also follow librarygirl's blog livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com and she also collects Kathie Winkle. She recently made an offhand comment about her 200 pieces of KW to which I replied that she "has it bad" as I only have 157 pieces (a number I pulled out of my hat). She then counted and found only about 120 and said I was WORSE and so I had to count... 174. Yikes. There are a few more lying around the house filled with keys, earrings, etc and some in the garden box ready to be put outside (cracked, broken, etc.)

Ah well, here is today's Winklepedia entry:

I start with this lovely plate given to me by my dear friend Jane - right off her table! It does not have the customary Kathie Winkle signature but I'm pretty sure it's hers. If you know otherwise, let me know. Anyway, it is adorable! "Pomella"

 I found this one along with a lidless sugar bowl at the World Famous Gilmour Street Garage Sale. It's called "Lemon Grove". My friend Cathrine (also a Winkle Nut) has a pile of plates like this. This is an odd luncheon size plate (between a sandwich and a dinner).

This is a recent find and only in a creamer so no label at all. But it is the same size and shape as my other winkle creamers and obviously in the Winkle style. I don't know name - can you help?

I have a whole bunch of sugar bowls and only a couple with original lids. This is another one of which I have no other dishes so I don't know the name.

 And some more sugar bowls that I finally found a use for. From left "Lemon Grove",  "Capri" (I also have a platter in Capri", and "San Tropez".

That's all for today.

New kitchen... wiring

Just got the quote for the rewiring of the house - we found the dreaded "Knob and Tube" under the ceiling. Luckily what we didn't see is that much of it has already been replaced. And happily the quote is about one third(!) of what we had initially supposed. Wahoo!

Winkle Twinkle (Part 1)

Just thought I'd start documenting my Kathie Winkle stash. Ok, "stash" makes it sound like I have a few. "Cache" might be more accurate. Or "hoard". (Although the thesaurus gives me "wealth" which I really like). These are just the ones that came out of the dishwasher this afternoon.

I think everyone has this pattern called "Rushtone" - I have about 15 pieces. Important Winkle Trivia: this was the dinner dishes used in the movie "Penelope" which BTW featured the unbearably cute  James McAvoy .

This is a brand new one - I've never seen any in person or online. It's called "Digits"... just kidding but it does look like fingers dontcha think? It's actually called "Cordoba". It even has a couple of paint smudges on the back. Love it.

I have a bunch of these in dinner plates, sandwich plates, cereal bowls, a platter, and a serving bowl. Maybe a sugar bowl too. Can't remember... I like to use them for tacos. It's called "Autumn Glen".

I have lots of this as I documented earlier on this blog (which you have no doubt read, since you are me, the only reader of this blog so far...). It's called "San Tropez". It is slightly different than most as it has some texture (ridges in the bottom and indents around the outside edge) and the plates have more of a curved up edge (good for serving spaghetti or stew). (Shown below are a smallish platter and a serving bowl).

 I adore this pattern. The colours are so delicate and the pattern is lovely. It's called "Carousel". I have a few cereal bowls and these fruit nappies which are used constantly but never for fruit.

I only have one piece of this. It's an odd little saucer - I suspect from a gravy boat perhaps? The pattern is called "Autumn".

And this is my new favourite. Picked up four of these the other day at V.V. for two-bucks-a-piece which is pretty high for me but look how gorgeous they are. The colours! "Corinth". I think I'll name my next child that...

Stay tuned for the next installment coming soon...

New Year, new kitchen... and...electrical and... plumbing and...

Well, as you can see from my new header we have started the new year with a bang - well not really a bang but a drip, drip, drip from the kitchen ceiling. The drywall drooped and then had to be removed along with the plaster and lath that was underneath and the wall and and and... Now we have dealt with all the plumbing from the second floor bathroom including installing a new toilet and a new sink (yeah!) and all new pipes in and out. The removal of the ceiling also revealed some knob and tube wiring so we're waiting for the evaluation of the electrician to see where else it is in the house and then I'm off the the bank for the money... Fortunately insurance will pay for the tearing out of the ceiling and the putting back and decorating. The rest (plumbing and electrical) is up to us. I'm surprised how calm I've been and how optimistic I feel about it. I'm actually looking forward to picking the stuff we need to put the kitchen back together (new light fixtures, a range hood, wallpaper) - maybe because I know someone else will be doing the work! Here are the before and after pictures...

 This corner is actually ok - none of the cabinets will be affected, just a wall by the window and one where the blackboard was.

And this is what it looked like when the plumber pulled down some ceiling with his bare hands.

BEFORE

AFTER

In this picture (below) you can see where they saved a strip of the wallpaper that has all the kids measurements since we moved here...

And this one shows the new plumbing for the upstairs bathroom. Yeah. (You can also see a bit of the knob and tube wiring in this picture.

More to come...