Kitchen update...new things

After the accident with the hanging rack last week and me no wanting to put it back up in our kitchen, we had to come up with some storage system for our pans and utensils and we opted for something simple and functional.  These Ikea shelves are usually destined for garages or a workshop but not in out case.  Thanks to the space with have gained here, I even found place for some plates and bowls too, this left me lots of space in the farmhouse dresser to free up space and organize things better.

This was an un-used corner of our kitchen, that was until we last visited our favourite thrift store on Saturday (yes before going to Ikea). We found this old table that we just love so much (60 euros) and that little red cupboard above, I was drawn to it by its colour, looks close to Farrow & Balls Blazer to me but I know it can't be.

I've not organized it really, not yet, but these things take time.  Oh yes the cupboard has been given a good clean, but I'm keeping the colours (inside and out) but I shall change the handle one day.  Not bad for 6 euros!

   Marie Kate bought herself a first ever thrift plate, hand painted too, with her own money, now that's one euro well spent (the photo show more of the speckled bread than the plate, oh yes that bread was oh so good, I found the recipe here, how I love her blog.

The tale of our hanging rack

 Our kitchen looked like this yesterday, perhaps less tidy, but with with most of the things you can see on this above photo.   

 Last night however, one of the rawl plugs holding our ceiling rack in place gave up the fight yesterday evening and gave way, sending the chain on the end of it crashing down and making one hell of a noise.  I was in my bedroom and knew it was that, I'd been worried that one day this rack wasn't going to take the weight.  Luckily, no-one was hurt and nothing was broken, the rack itself held fast, supported by the wall hooks and the last remaining ceiling hook, but still it had to come down and I have no intention of putting back up...Cecile and Cedric, if you haven't bought one yet, you can have ours:)

 

This hole should be easy to fill, but I'm going to have to pop and get some more paint from Farrow and Ball, what a chore....

And I need to rethink our kitchen a little.  I thinking of putting a metal shelf above the stove for the saucepans I use all the time (with hanging space under).  Then cutting our blackboard so it's in-line with the splash back putting at least one long shelf here...Still thinking though, and getting lots of ideas from my favourite blogs like this one for example

Procrastinating less

our problem, wires, concrete and grey

We kind of finished our kitchen in the spring, but were left with a problem of flooring. Mr H had tiled the kitchen in the 70's and only tiled up until his cupboards and under the these there was (is) some concrete screed. Now I don't let the tiles, but we'll have to put up with them for now, besides we don't know if we want some cork flooring in the kitchen or something else.

I had originally wanted to hang some kitchen wall cabinets off the ground in the sitting room, like over on Door 16, then I thought about doing it in the kitchen, however this wasn't possible if we wanted to hide the horrible floor, so we opted for this option, Ikea kitchen cabinets placed on a wooden base. You can still see a little bit of the grey, but it's better, beside we couldn't place it better because none of the walls in this house are straight.

I really wanted to have a space downstairs to regroup the children's school books, for two reasons, firstly so they work downstairs, instead of pretending to work at their desks upstairs and secondly, because our children are lazy and if they forget a text book upstairs, the last thing they want to do, is climb over 40 steps to go and fetch it.

So five cupboards for five children, each with a colour different apart from the end two doors.

This area is working out so well. Alexis and Marie-Kate work happily at the kitchen table, Oliver likes the square table in the other room like Charlotte, and as for Gaby she still prefers the sofa but at least I can see what she's doing. For now we're using post-its to remind me and them what tests (or assignments) they have coming up, this is great for me as I know I have to allow time to check. For example Gaby, has a Latin test today, music tomorrow and Civic Education on Friday. Marie-Kate just a poem left to recite one more time, Alexis has finished everything and lets not even start Oliver's and Charlotte's list.

We bought everything Friday, and finished everything apart from the wooden top for 5pm, just giving us time to get showered and off to see Salomé at the Opera de Paris(Bastille).

What a night...more later

Kitchen Update

the little compotier on the table was my thrift shop find this Sunday

We really thought that we would have got further on with our kitchen renovation this weekend, but sadly that wasn't the case. I think we were far too optimistic and now it seems like we have at least two more weekends of work. I can do some things on my own during the week, like clean and sand down the walls, ceiling, and woodwork, I can also maybe get the ceiling painted before the weekend, however, I can't do the electricity nor the plumbing work needed (two water pipes to cut that run through the kitchen plus a drain pipe for the bidet that was in out bathroom that Mr H had taken out ages ago). I could have maybe started painting (after plastering and screeding a bit all over) but Alain bought the wrong paint for the walls... Instead of buying Dimity in modern emulsion from F&B, he bought eggshell which is for woodwork and not walls. Crazy thing was that it was the sales woman at the shop who insisted on him that eggshell was the right finish for our walls. He's going back there today with a flea in his ear and I wouldn't like to be in the place of who ever he meets in F & B's.

Anyhow, as Alain is off for week for a safety offshore course in Marseille, some things will have to wait. I probably will paint our thrift buffet while all alone dealing with difficult teenagers and helpful younger ones.

We still have enough space for an Ikea cupboard with those doors that pull out just next to our butcher's block.

A bit of a mess, but it's only temporary

Oh yes, that awful double oven was so heavy, we needed a trolley to move it, now we are left with a gapping hole in the wall (I've got that to sort out too) . Maybe a list would be useful.

Need to decide where to put this. Either above stove(stainless steel panel to be placed before above) or above the butcher's block.

Changing the subject, the rain this weekend has certainly revived my flowers which is good cause that's one less thing to think about. I really thought we'd have more rain in l'Ile de France than we used to have in Sanary, but that's not the case up to now, so go figure!

And the sun is back again today too, whilst in Sanary it's raining.