Kitchen Living Room

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Dad's Kitchen Before & After

This is part of a series on my dad's house in Alaska. Read more here. I'll resume 650 square feet posts on my condo when the series is complete.

I sort of did all of the projects at my dad's house all at once; I didn't go room-by-room. My last post was about the arctic entry, and the kitchen is next in the house as far as what room you walk into (sort of...) so, I give you, The Kitchen!

First we have pesky old Mr. Brass making an appearance in the light fixtures. Here's the original fixture on the wall in the kitchen with its original glass shade. I'm pretty sure all of the stuff is builder-grade. Meaning that the builder probably got it in a multi-pack discounted deal.


I tried out a few different kinds of glass shades before I started spray painting with my trusty dusty Oil Rubbed Bronze. I tried this guy first. He was nice and kind of yellowish. But just not quite right.



You can sense the Goldilocks-esque story coming, right? Then I tried this one, which was nice and square. But still not quite it. 



And then I tried this one, which was just right! Just the right shape and just the right amount of frosting. (Mm, cake.) It's frosted all around except a little ring around the edge. 


And if you read my previous post on the arctic entry, you'll also know that I tried a speckled variety of glass shade. But it just let off too much light. And it would be interfering with my Goldilocks story if I put it here. Here's the spray painted light fixture with the proper shade amongst some pictures I framed for my dad:


And more pictures of pictures:


Here's my brother, climbing a dangerous wall:



Some of the items in the kitchen I just could not/did not want to tackle myself. Although we did try. Here my dad and I are trying to disconnect and remove the dishwasher.





Ummm, yeah. So my dad and I managed to disconnect the electricity just fine. But then the water started gushing out of a pipe and we called it quits. Turned out that the little valves under the sink that can be turned to prevent the water from flowing to the dishwasher were a bit broken. So the water just kept flowing out. But we stopped it back up really quick. Then the plumbers came. They had quite a difficult time fitting the new dishwasher into the same space the old one was in (under the kitchen island). My dad had a long conversation with some Interesting employees at Lowe's that seemed to think my dad lived on an island. True story. Wow. Eventually the dishwasher was installed properly. I hid upstairs until it was done. They also installed a new kitchen faucet which was, supposedly, much easier. Here's the old one:



And the new one, ta da! Hiring people to do stuff is fun. Because then its like magic!


Pretty, right? The best part is that now the faucet works better too. My next step was to take these lovely fellas:


And change them out for something more elegant. I was trying to channel something a little more industrial. I picked out a series of fixtures from Lowe's:


allen + roth 12"W Mission Bronze Edison-Style Pendant Light with Clear Shade


You sort of have to use special light bulbs to get the full affect though, so I made sure to pick up some extras. 


Feit Electric 60-Watt ST19 Original Shape Vintage Style Incandescent Light Bulbs



The above links to a 24-pack, but I was able to pick up singles in the store. Here is what the light fixture looks like with the old one over the sink still hanging out in the background:


I love it. What else can I say?! Ready for its close-up. (I think my dad is getting something to eat in this picture.)


And with the snowy, snowy view outside:


Next I moved on to the light over the sink. By the way, that glass shade is heavier than it looks. Way. Heavier. As in like, I'm carefully removing you with one hand and trying to catch you before you go crashing to the floor with my other hand. 


I have weak little t-rex arms.


Here's the fixture as pictured (and linked to) at Lowe's in case you want to install one of your own!


allen + roth 6-7/8"W Mission Bronze Edison-Style Pendant Light with Clear Shade


Here I am with what my Grammie called my "E.T." finger, pointing at the newly installed fixture.


And, because I know you haven't seen enough of it:



And here they are together! Little baby and momma!


Awww. In addition to that work, I also cleaned the fridge. I didn't take pictures, but my dad made me crack up as he explained that he has many, many multiples of everything he likes because he gets to the store and forgets if he's purchased some already or not. I did take a picture of the Comic Shop fridge though! Which I also organized on this trip! So I'll show you that instead.


My last step was organizing, which my Grammie took care of for me. I also picked up a few accessories. They were all red/stainless steel because my dad became obsessed with red at some point during the trip. Here are a few of the things I added:

Red & White Kitchen Towels



Oster Beehive Blender



Oster Red & Black Toaster

KitchenAid Red Teapot

Cuisinart Coffee Maker

And here they are in the kitchen!



Sitka (the dog above) wanted to join in on the fun.



And yep, there's a little stain on the wall above the stove that I didn't get to on this trip. I meant to put up some kind of sheet metal backsplash or at least paint it back to white. But I didn't have time! Next time. Hope you enjoyed the kitchen!

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow. The red is sooo cool. He has quite the pad now. I agree, a metal backsplash may be pretty good for behind the stove. Good job!

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