Le Cotage Conversion- Happy Spring!

 This is Spring in Star Valley. On this particular day, it was unusually foggy, which is my favorite. We have had lovely warm sunshine, gently falling snow, rain, and even some strong wind, which is also unusual for the valley (and NOT my favorite!).The cozy cottage is nestled into it's winter blanket. When the snow finally melts we'll have only weeks to get the yard looking as cozy as the house.

 I'm going to show you the current condition of the kitchen, but I warn you, these shots have not been stylized and I'm not hiding all the unfinished business. This is a working kitchen that is also a work-in-progress!

Here is the wall where the hoosier cabinet will sit. It's going to look so cool! That wood cabinet with the micro on it was our rolling island in the old house. The white pantry is one of three that were in the garage when we bought the place.They are just temporary storage until we can get the real pantries in.(And the hoosier!)

 Sooo, I took the time to make drawings and specific notes for my cabinet builder, to make sure that he would know exactly how I want things. Like the open shelves, for instance. Well, the drawings & notes were in the other room buried under a bunch of other papers while he built the two bottom shelves the wrong length. This is a tiny kitchen, that extra six inches is significant!   ( I am a nightmare client ) So, the two bottom shelves will probably go into the laundry room and I haven't had time to oil the top shelf which is why we're not using it yet. I found an over-the-range hood that I liked ~plain black metal with an exposed chute~ but it's $500. So, we got talking and Jake suggested he make one out of wood and just paint it black. I didn't really like that idea and then I remembered that my husband's repertoire of skills also includes metallurgy. Yes, that IS a real word! So, tell me how much you think it costs for just the guts of a hood fan???

Oh, did you notice the butcher-block top? We were going to go with an end-grain style, but do you know how much TIME it takes to cut, sand, glue, clamp, sand, glue, clamp, sand, glue, clamp, and sand again dozens of pieces of maple? 

So, and I quoth, "This is just temporarily permanent."  I gave a lot of thought to those words. That's pretty much an impossibility. It is still beautiful, tho, and serves its purpose! On the left of the fridge, you can see more temporary (not at all permanent) pantries. The big white one was actually the school cabinet. The children like seeing it filled with food instead of school stuff! We will have built-ins all the way from the fridge to the corner; some pantry cabinets, bookshelves, a desk in the corner, and the awesome plan for the t.v!  Also, in the future: a new table & chairs.