Mini-Storage and Kitchen Redux

When we moved to the city, we had to find space for a bunch of our stuff, and fast.  So we resorted to that last redoubt of the desperately over-burdened: the mini-storage facility. 

Is there a more depressing sort of place?  All these aluminum warehouses broken into anonymous un-lit boxes for all the stuff people can't find a use for and yet can't find the heart to throw or give away, manned by staff who do little more than process rental paperwork and throw the occasional yard-sale when someone's bill goes unpaid too long--this is the seamy underbelly of prosperity, right here, and I shudder to know I've participated in it.

But we're out, and our stuff is home and loved again.

Unfortunately, this influx of material possessions meant a bit of clutter for our kitchen.

I'm inclined to torch an object by the second time I've stubbed my toe on it. 

The Wife, fortunately, has a discerning eye and a great deal of patience.  Here's what she came up with:

Still a work in progress, of course, but we can at least get from A to B and, you know, eat in here.

Also this:

Nice, huh?  Plates on a rack, a composting can, his and hers coffeemakers.  And did you notice the aquarium?  Highly recommended and great for the digestion.  That's why you find them in so many Chinese restaurants.

I bet your kitchen doesn't have an aquarium!

I don't usually give a lot of input to these projects, but my first suggestion for phase two will be to remove the price tag from the chest of drawers.

* * *

Now for the cliffhanger: what will become of the living room?

See if you can spot: (1) two televisions, (2) a dog, (3) an antique cage for transporting chickens, (4) a chess-board, (5) an ukulele, and (6) a stuffed pheasant.  Bonus points for spotting another price-tag, and more for spotting another dog.

I don't know where it's all going to go but I promise you it will be marvelous!

Comments

[Rebecca]

You know, I don't think the kitchen is in the same place it was when the house was built... but I could be interpreting the pictures wrong.

All this talk about the inside, but nothing about all the fencing going up. Just an attempt to be a good neighbor?

[Nate]

Yeah, we've moved the kitchen around a bit. This poor house has been through a lot and it wasn't the best-built Cape in the first place. The people we bought it from put fine Italian tile in the bedrooms and left the kitchen and bathrooms with crappy linoleum--go figure. So we decided to make the best of what was here. You know how it is--you do what you can to survive on the Cape.

Trying to be good neighbors with the fence, yeah, and we'll be closing in that side of the yard with some picket fence so we can let the dogs out that side of the house into the back yard. Donna has a master plan for landscaping too. Since we're back we might as well make the place look nice!

When were you in the house? Did you know the builders?

[Rebecca]

I was in the house when the very first owners (a retired couple I think...) lived there. The 'greenhouse' window was added after the house was all complete.

Your kitchen was the den.

The house has been through more residents then I can count (or remember..) Nice to see someone that is remotely interested in cleaning/fixing it up.