Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Short break from the humdrum








For those of you curious about the kitchen project, here are the b&a pics, as promised. The "before" shows the place denuded of appliances, etc., as we were getting ready for the job when I took the picture, and the "after" shows it lived-in, but I think the difference is still pretty stark and wonderful. I think it looks great, love the look of the granite, the new sink, everything. If you are thinking of having similar work done, go to http://www.ecounters.com/, the website my niece told me about. It's a nationwide clearinghouse for local, small businesses that do just this kind of work. We had an estimate from Sears at $10,000 for this job. The company we chose charged us $3190, including the new double sink and faucet. You can't beat that.

Other than that, I am casting about for inspiration today. I've been preoccupied all morning with the humdrum, completely uninteresting things that have to be done to keep this old plant running. There's always the weather.........

It's in the 80s outside but not humid, so it actually feels coolish (except when you climb into your closed car. I hate it when that happens!). My potted tomato plant, which I had despaired of ever growing any fruit because its blossoms wouldn't set, is now laden down with little green nuggets. I was prepared to relegate my potting experiment to the dustbin, but it turned out the problem was just the temperature. Our spring was too hot for the blossoms to take--they need temps in the 80s (20s C) and we were consistently in the 90s (30s C) for weeks on end. Now that we've had a bit of a chill, my coddled tomato plant is justly rewarding me. The fruit may all still rot or be attacked by something; I won't believe I have actual tomatoes until they are red and in the house, but it looks promising.

I'll wander off now and take up more of the humdrum. Into each life a little humdrum falls.....have a wonderful day yourself!

17 comments:

Mim said...

Ralph
Now that is a marvelous B & A picture.
The granite and the undermount sick are just inspiring as my counter looks about like your before. Glad you can enjoy it some before you move on.
And the folkies today is good.
Humdrum... that is really what life is some days, some weeks.
If nothing else you can stand and gaze at your kitchen counter.....

Ralph said...

Glad you like it, Mim. I hope you have the same luck we did when yoiu get to your own project.

jack/andrews said...

Looks great, Ralph! Well worth the investment for house selling. Of course when the house is actually on the market, you'll have to 'stage' the kitchen. I think that means hiding all your counter-top items in the trunk of your car and replacing them with an inviting bowl of fruit.

Ralph said...

Thanks. Michele. Yeah, we'll have to hide stuff--the garage is going to be very crowded, with a lot of in and out between showings!

Kat said...

Ralph,
Love the new look in the kitchen. The granite remindsme of what's in my kitchen.

When I was having so much work last year, I used a similar site for getting estimates and was able to find great workmen who charged much less. The mason who did my walk and chimney was one of my great finds.

I've had to force myself to do stuff. I have a day on-day off schedule and today was an on day so I polished and did a few other chores. I hated every one of them.

Ralph said...

You're singing my song, about housework, Kat! The only reward is that it looks good afterwards, and even that is fleeting.

Glad you like the counter. We'll be looking for things like ecounters if we need other things done that Steve can't do.

Cuidado said...

Ha, I'm lauging at you Ralph and Kat as I'm happy to be doing housework and being home, having a day off. There are sheets on the line and all is well.

Love your countertop. Sonny just burnt mine.

Ralph said...

Cuidado, **burned** your countertop? You sound as accident-prone as someone else we know! (Even though someone else did it.)

Kat said...

Ralph,
And who might that be?

Ralph said...

Gee, Kat, now who was I thinking about???

Cuidado said...

He then picked up the very hot popcorn pot and sat it on the couch in the den. It had cooled slightly from one place to the other. The boy is in his twenties and runs a good-sized business for God's sake.

Ralph said...

I laughed, but I shouldn't have. I did things that stupid at that age--and older!

Ravel said...

I like it very much!

Anonymous said...

I think it looks great. In our new house we chose 18" tile for counter tops because we hated the scratches left on the granite in the old home. Now we can put hot pots down and not worry. Also if they crack, we have a hundred stored in the garage to replace them. I miss the look of granite, but hated the scars and scratches after 15 years. Z&Me

Ralph said...

That's a good heads up, Z&M, but thank God we won't be here long enough to cry at the scratches.

Peewit said...

we have the same granite but we went with Cherrywood rather than white. Unfortunately we compromised on the size of the oven and whilst I have a great gas reange I only have a small electric oven and grill

Ralph said...

Peewit, we decided against any woodwork in the kitchen when my sister did it and then said, "it's just more furniture I have to keep polished." I decided that as nice as it looks, wood is too much work. That's a plastic laminate on the cupboard doors. Very easy to wipe clean.