Thursday, April 12, 2007

Kitchen Rehab has started, just not the right kitchen







My house has a cute little basement apartment which we rent out to young married couples going to BYU. Unfortunately, the kitchen wasn't cute, and it was becoming really non-functional. 50' s cabinets which were now nearly 60 years old were covered in too many layers of paint, and the doors didn't close, and some of the drawers were nailed shut. Selective ignoring had caused me to leave it pretty much alone since we bought the house. The only thing we had ever done in the kitchen was put in a new floor.






Our tenants just moved out, and we took a look, and realized that we couldn't ignore it any longer. I found a very handy fellow who has a cabinet shop to build new cabinets, and who was willing to help with some other issues, and the demolition began. A messy process.






My first job was taking out a wall between the living room and the kitchen. People just don't live "divided" any more, and that wall always seemed useless. It wasn't a load bearing wall, so out came the reciprocating saw, and the wall was gone a few hours later. My teenage girls didn't appreciate having to haul all the debris to a close dumpster, but it was good for them.






I wish it was the kitchen upstairs, but I can't quite justify it.






Friday, April 06, 2007

Spring has sprung!




The flowering trees are blooming everywhere, and spring has sprung. Provo is a true four season city, and people here love flowering trees. They are everywhere, and this is their season. For about 1 month a year, the landscape is cheered by their pink, white, purple, or other colored blossoms. The forsythia is also in blooming, spreading bright yellow across the visual field. Things look great. Its a season that quickly reminds you how much or little you've accomplished in your yard and flower beds. I'm a bulb lover, so I enjoy seeing the annual parade of colors.




When we put in our sprinkler system, in went a lot of formal flower/plant beds. The back yard is ringed in them. The side yard has them on both sides. And of course, we have them in front. Here's a look from my flower beds right now: