Early this week we hit a new stage. The What-On-Earth-Have-We-Done-What-Were-We-Thinking Stage. The Stage where I told DH to tell the builder to put it all back the way it was before.
I think it had something to do with seeing my old kitchen being demolished. When the laundry and spare bedroom came down I almost felt a sense of what could be termed elation. They had never been attractive rooms and I had never taken delight in using or cleaning either room.
But the kitchen was different. There were a lot of memories in that room. Meals cooked. Conversations shared. Quiet moments stolen with a cup of tea and the sun pouring in through the windows. Attempts to turn it into a pleasant room that everyone could enjoy.
Yes it had its faults. I clocked up a lot of miles walking from the stove to the pantry and back again. There were serious draughts in winter and for that reason no one wanted to be the one on kitchen duty when it came time to do the dishes. The floor sloped so that any spills always ran down under the refrigerator, making cleaning difficult. The hot water cylinder blew up annually. And did I mention that it was freezing in winter?
But when the builders starting tearing it apart, I started tearing up. Even DH shared some of my feelings.
It probably didn't help that the floorboards were discovered to have borer and/or rot and that our new kitchen still looks like this:
On the other hand, believe it or not, this is an improvement:
It might not look very pretty but that temporary wall replaces what was just a sheet of wallpaper and has made a noticeable difference to the temperature in our living room. Despite the fact that the room felt to be bordering on sub-zero temperatures, The Most Adorable Granddaughters in the World#1-3 were not too cold to show off some skirts and cardigans that I'd made:
And by the time The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 is able to stand at my new kitchen bench and help with baking, and Christmas puddings, and dishes (and if she's anything like Cousin#2 she will insist that Nana wipe the dishes as well as wash them - no taking the lazy way out and letting them drain thank you very much!), all this will be a distant memory.
Well I can always hope.
I think it had something to do with seeing my old kitchen being demolished. When the laundry and spare bedroom came down I almost felt a sense of what could be termed elation. They had never been attractive rooms and I had never taken delight in using or cleaning either room.
But the kitchen was different. There were a lot of memories in that room. Meals cooked. Conversations shared. Quiet moments stolen with a cup of tea and the sun pouring in through the windows. Attempts to turn it into a pleasant room that everyone could enjoy.
Yes it had its faults. I clocked up a lot of miles walking from the stove to the pantry and back again. There were serious draughts in winter and for that reason no one wanted to be the one on kitchen duty when it came time to do the dishes. The floor sloped so that any spills always ran down under the refrigerator, making cleaning difficult. The hot water cylinder blew up annually. And did I mention that it was freezing in winter?
But when the builders starting tearing it apart, I started tearing up. Even DH shared some of my feelings.
It probably didn't help that the floorboards were discovered to have borer and/or rot and that our new kitchen still looks like this:
On the other hand, believe it or not, this is an improvement:
It might not look very pretty but that temporary wall replaces what was just a sheet of wallpaper and has made a noticeable difference to the temperature in our living room. Despite the fact that the room felt to be bordering on sub-zero temperatures, The Most Adorable Granddaughters in the World#1-3 were not too cold to show off some skirts and cardigans that I'd made:
And by the time The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 is able to stand at my new kitchen bench and help with baking, and Christmas puddings, and dishes (and if she's anything like Cousin#2 she will insist that Nana wipe the dishes as well as wash them - no taking the lazy way out and letting them drain thank you very much!), all this will be a distant memory.
Well I can always hope.
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