I can now say that after seven years, I have finally reclaimed my kitchen. Rich finally laid the last pieces of flooring, a relatively small job that has brought me so much happiness. For the first time since E was born, we’ve all been able to sit around the table eating our meals together.
After such a long period of neglect, we’ve moved the large wooden table back in and it’s starting to become the hub of the home once again. On Sundays, we can start the day leisurely, eating a cooked breakfast around our table whilst the sun (… when it shines…) pours in through the kitchen windows. I can sit here at the table in the evenings, doing a little freelance work with a cat curled up on my lap, tucked away at the back of the house. At lunch, we busy ourselves making sandwiches or soup whilst the radio babbles in the background, and E sits happily in her highchair, clapping and burbling away. My house is starting to feel like a home again. This room is now a happy place.
Of course, now the flooring has finally been done (good things come to those who wait, right?) and the table and chairs are in, we’re now looking to update the rest of the kitchen. In the 8 or so years since we last decorated, it’s started to look tired and shabby, and there is much to do. When it comes to this little tumbledown house, we can never rest on our laurels!
The first job in hand is to finish the flooring with new skirting, and replace the door into the utility room. We really struggle with light in the afternoons and evenings at the back of the house, so we’ve decided to put in a half glazed door, which will allow light to stream through from the conservatory when the utility room door is shut.
Next, we’ll be looking to convert the cupboard doors – as ever, we’re on a budget so it’s a choice of either sanding down the existing cupboard doors and oiling them, painting them with eggshell, or replacing them completely (unlikely).
One of our biggest wishes would be to insert skylights above the kitchen sink (oh how I wish we had a butler sink…). The pitched roof would be perfect for a couple of Velux windows. I would love to sit at the table and be able to see the sky, and the amount of light that it would let in to the house all day long would make a world of difference. And in summer, we could have insect blinds, like this one, so that we could enjoy fresh air without the perpetual annoyance of buzzing flies – something that’s really bothered us over the past couple of years.
Rich is adamant that he could fit the skylights himself, but as I’ve waited seven years just to get my floor in, it’s fair to say that I’m a little skeptical that I’ll get my dream kitchen just yet 😉 For now, I’m happy that we have matching chairs around a big table that we can all share. I’m happy that doors will be hung where big gaping holes have been, and soon, with a little TLC, this will truly be the heart of our home again.
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