All change in the will be kitchen….again

As the kitchen comes together ideas that I previously had thought would be wonderful I later found won’t quite work. I’m not a kitchen planner, which means that I don’t know the main issues such as needing to have the oven near a sink. Additionally I’m working with items that I gradually ‘find’ in brocantes, which inevitably means I must be adaptable.

This change isn’t as a result of that though. This change is because I didn’t plan the space needed for the dining area properly. Although I’d measured the space, when I moved furniture into the kitchen it was obvious I couldn’t fit in a larger table and, seemingly, had to settle for a small, round one.

So we would have a small breakfast nook?

We had wanted a convivial atmosphere and the current layout would mean guests and family split up in various groupings, if we kept the current configuration and wanted to eat in the kitchen.

Alternatively if guests came we’d have to move to the formal dining room. That’s fine for me, but my husband – who is the main cook – would be left on his own a good deal of the time when we had people over. This is particularly important for us as we are expats, so this doesn’t just mean for the occasional dinner, but throughout the time guests stay.

At first I was resigned to this, and I continued to make plans for the breakfast nook. I had wanted to put a small buffet to keep crockery in at the side. Unfortunately the irregular shape of the room meant this wasn’t possible either with the table.

Then I realised that the central island could be used as what it is – a buffet – with a dresser on top for extra storage. There could be a central, large table, which could still have electrical outlets in it. It would additionally mean that I could use the wall space for other purposes. A win all round.

Here is the table I managed to get from Le bon coin….

For the buffet/island/buffet I’ve removed the worktop from the kitchen island and I’ll use that on the opposite side where the sink area is. I’ve added a buffet worktop that I had from the cupboard that was too big to use initially in this room when the staircase remained in this corner. It needed to be cut down to size, but I think it looks good.

On the wall I hung this dresser worktop instead of resting it on the base. I want to be able to use this area for the microwave; as there is a plug socket along the back it’s ideal. The space between the buffet and base of the dresser top was too narrow for this with the original rests. So I sawed them off and I’d ordered wood brackets like those used for the bookcase turned wall cupboard, intending to give it a more country feel.

In the meantime though I found this shelving unit in the brocante for 9€. This has been put up and the hooks moved from above the kitchen sink to here, as this will be the coffee/tea area. As a res I didn’t use the brackets.

I’ve put a wood back to disguise the gap between the wall and the buffet base. I just cut it to size and curved, then sanded the edges before staining and sanding it.

Lots more to do if we want to be in by Christmas. I’m working on the corner that will run alongside the oven. It’s nearly finished so I’ll post on that soon.

Laying the Laminate Floor

We’re so happy the floor is finally laid, but I thought that as there are so many tutorials on YouTube I would do a post on the difficulties and pitfalls you might experience. Why? Because throughout the laying process I kept grumbling “they didn’t tell you about this in those videos”.

One of the main reasons for my griping was that they all miss out it hurts. Some mention that your knees will hurt, that’s true, but I don’t just mean your knees. I mean everywhere. Your back, your legs, your bum. The lot. I started laying the floor on the Friday and winced any time I sat down all of the weekend. To put this further into perspective, I’d only finished 1/4 of the floor by then.

In all the videos they had a bare room, but we just weren’t able to do that. The kitchen island couldn’t be moved safely into another room and the damp autumnal weather meant I couldn’t store them outside whilst I worked.

As a result the fact that our heavy kitchen island was in the room dominated the whole project.

Added to that was the uneven walls of the room. There’s not a single straight line, because our house is built following the curve of a route. So the interior walls are all angled, or they have doors or built in cupboards. This all impacted on how we could proceed.

I had thought originally that I would lay the floor across the middle of the room from door to door. However the walls meant a safer course of action was to start running the lengths across the room in the other direction, however this meant the monstrosity of the kitchen island.

One more difficulty to overcome was that I’d moved all the laminate into the kitchen area to become acclimatised. It had been in the room adjacent, but needed to go in there and have all the boxes opened to let the air circulate. So, one more obstacle. Or, more precisely, lots more obstacles.

Because we didn’t have a straight run my dad, who was helping me, and I decided to go against all the recommendations and started to lay them in a staggered pattern. You can see how I left them on the first day…

We’d managed to fit one length under the island to the edge of the tiles I’d laid but the legs of the island meant we couldn’t fit any adjacent to that and moving the island at that point wasn’t an option due to the opened packets of laminate.

So we continued into the corner as much as possible, then as we laid more I had some space to move the laminates onto, creating more space.

At the end of the first day, apart from aching, I was worried we’d created a mess that we couldn’t rectify. If we kept laying boards the necessity to stagger them would mean a need to somehow slip boards in between what amounted to fork like prongs. Tricky.

Then I went in the next day and realised that I’d created sufficient space to start to swing one foot of the island onto the already laid floor and this created space to start lay boards in the space. It was a game changer.

After the weekend I started again; focusing on the corner that will house the dishwasher and sink. I’d tiled this area, thinking there might be future water leakages, and it therefore created an awkward area to work.

With the island moved I could fit in there to do the work and just concentrated on cutting to size here and then along the irregular wall and into the doorway.

Here we are at the end of the second day….

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For the next two days I worked hard in there and eventually managed to finish most of the room. I was then left with those built in cupboards and needed to use a jigsaw to cut out the curved shapes. I didn’t have one. All ours were broken, but I couldn’t continue using the multitool I had been as I needed something easier to handle.

In the end my husband ordered me a Bosch cordless jigsaw. I cannot emphasis what a difference this made. I managed to fir the laminates pretty close to the cupboards (although they couldn’t be too close as there needs to be some give).

The room now looks like this….

I have to do the skirting boards and trim yet, but that’s a job for next week. So too are the two last boards at each doorway. I have temporary boards in there at the moment, but I need to remove the upvc door to do the one leading outside and the other will be replaced.

I’m intending to continue the laminate into the room next door which will eventually be the dining room, but there’s a wall to be removed first and that’s just too much before Christmas. So I’ll relay that final board, which needed to be cut in half to meet the existing floor, and continue straight from there.

I’ve been trying different furniture in there; the larger table I’d intended to have will never work, so I moved this round one in there. The chairs are going to be changed and I’ll update you on that soon.

Upcycling the 1970s, hollow door

The door into the kitchen area is a horrid, hollow 1970s affair. I looked and looked for a salvaged door to put in its place, but the narrow opening made this feel like an impossible find. Then I found a solution on that haven of good ideas, Pinterest.

A little more about the doorway. Our home is a former doctor’s residence. I’ve come to discover that, as a result of the way the health system in France operates I assume, many former doctors homes have the same layout. I know of at least three other British residents who have bought these homes have a similar floor plan. A largish central house with a front door, then a connected area with its own front door. These serve as the office and waiting room of the doctor.

Consequently the doorway to the kitchen area had two days to ensure the privacy of patients. I’ve removed the internal door and I’m left with the exterior one, which runs smoothly along the wall that will be part of the dining area. I wanted to give the interior of the door character, whilst maintaining the flat, exterior side. This is so that when I decorate the dining room I have the option of paneling that can continue over the door itself, blending it into the wall.

The first step was to mark where the door touches the frame. I knew that cladding to the edge would mean it wouldn’t shut, so this gap needed to be taken into account. With the door closed I drew around the frame onto the door…

Then I took the door off its hinges and laid it on the floor. I laid the lengths of wood onto the door to see how many I needed. Just so you know I didn’t use T&G, but shaped plinths. I did this because I wanted the groove look, but not the additional thickness.

When the boards where laid on the door I came up a little short, but rather than cut one of them I realised two quarter rounds made up the difference.

Next I used strong glue to glue the first length along the drawn line, leaving enough of a gap for the 1/4 round. I clamped is in place to make sure it kept its position, then glued on the quarter round so it was snug. I continued the width of the door, then added the 1/4 round. I left it there for an hour.

I rehung the door and added acrylic between the 1/4 rounds and the door.

I’d already removed the handle, so I drilled through the handle hole on the opposite side, with a smallish drill bit. When I had its placement I drilled a large hole for then the kitchen side. Then I added a fingerplate and doorknob.

Next I added a length of wood above the door, and finished it with a moulded piece and a decorative element.

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Due to the depth of the door frame, as a result of the double door, I also added wood into the door frame itself, and trimmed it with quarter rounds. Here it’s is painted. I think it looks quite effective and a lot less than a new door would cost. What do you think?

Open Shelving

The recycled kitchen project is steadily coming along, to the point even my husband was excited enough to search some potential ranges ovens. That’s a big deal. He is not the getting ahead of himself type. Basically the opposite to me 😝.

I’m waiting for the chimney to be swept this week and I can’t smooth the surface of the cement floor prior to that because it’s going to take three days to walk on. I didn’t want to start it last week, the heatwave was just too much. So, as we are currently operating out of a small kitchen, I’ve been moving our excess things onto the shelves.

Prior to doing that I’d been researching how and what to display on the open shelving. Originally I was going to leave all the former bookcases open, but I’ve since added doors, so there aren’t as many of these areas now. This is what I came up with for inspiration.

Whites

There’s a lot of predominantly whites in these displays. They help to keep an area light whilst the shapes themselves add interest.

Naturals and neutrals

To add a little more interest natural tones can be added…

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These look wonderfully classic. However, I don’t have this many whites even with the neutrals mixed in.

One colour display items

Grouping together a single colour gives a sense of calm.

In this one they’ve added secondary tones of yellow. As they’re in the same colour pallet the harmony is maintained.

It’s incredibly stylish, but I don’t have the same colour tone to try this.

Pictures

I just wanted to introduce this as an alternative to just crockery etc. These pictures displayed on the shelves. The ones selected here seem to add a little elegance, no?

Food as colour

To introduce colour into the mix you can utilise your food itself…

Background as colour

Either subtly like this…

…or more pronounced…

…which is more in line with the kitchen I’ve been working on. The second one also introduces colour into the displayed items as well as the background too.

Colour in items

Again the tones are in the same pallet, but the busier patterns gives it a more lively feel along with the sugary feel.

These are a lot stronger…

Pops of colour

Mixture of colours

These definitely give the impression of an evolving room, with pieces built up over the years rather than one that’s been styled. Even though I’m putting this kitchen together, this is probably where I’m headed. After all, all of my items have been selected over the years.

Kitchen so far

I’m about to move onto the kitchen floor, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to update you on the areas that I’ve managed to finish. Nearly all ‘above ground’ is now done, apart from the two lengths of ceiling that I have to leave incomplete because of the electrics that need finishing. So ignore the floor, and let me tell you how I’ve been getting along…

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I posted about this bookcase that I turned into an open, shelving unit. Here it is now with the decorative brackets attached and stained and varnished brown. As I said in my previous post, I’d realised that I was going to struggle finding a buffet unit narrow enough to fit on this wall without it meeting the oven shelf. I’d dreaded moving it as I knew I’d need to strip it again….😫. But I think it looks good here.

The bookcase now cupboard was replaced with this buffet top. It is the partner to a base which I’m going to reduce its width and lace beside the oven. The space directly next to the oven will hold a gas bottle, so only the right side will be a working cupboard. Nevertheless it should give me extra workspace too.

You can see the side cupboards which I can now show you without cropping images to emit the mess behind the open doorway. The area just beyond is a mini vestibule entryway which leads to what was the doctors waiting room. This will be my next project – knocking through to create a long, formal dining room. The doorway is a hollow, 1970s plain door. Not appealing. I’ll be posting about how I developed into this tongue and groove door.

My girls have been sitting at the island already 😊.

I’ve started to add some more decor. I’ll be changing the wreath on the mirror door as the pinks are too bright with the more subdued tones of the other decor. I think these other pieces add a more grown up feel to the pink. The painted milk churn is going to be used to store twigs to start the fire eventually.

Speaking of the fire I’ve spray painted this fireback and basket with high temperature spray paint. I have an appointment next Thursday to clean the chimney.

As well as gingerbread elements in the cupboards I told you in this post how I wanted to develop an aea with this detail. This is where the staircase was, and I finally managed to create a false ceiling here. Above it is a staircase, so no one will need to stand there. I couldn’t add beams, so I just tongue and grooved the area and then glued squares of light, pattern polystyrene tiles. They have a flower pattern, which suits the kitchen stile, and I disguised the tile edges with this trim.

The gingerbread elements are actually all sorts of finials, brackets, decorative furniture legs, a side strut of a bed….just everything really. I hope it works, but I’m trying to disguise the huge cement beams which were there to hold the ceiling up in spite of the staircase opening. As you can see the pendant light will fit where the arch is, and this will rest just above the dining table. I still need to repaint and add more acrylic to fill in the gaps.

The final one I want to show you is the cooker shelf and the tiles. The latter are from Bricocash, which is well worth a visit if you live in France and have one near you. Their considerably less expensive than Bricomarche- I got these tiles for 8€ a 30×30 square. I tried to grout them without letting the grout nestle in their crevices; however, even with a sealant applied prior to the grout it didn’t work. I still like the effect though.

You can see that I’ve tongue and grooved the doorway, but I’m waiting for the last bit of electrics to be done before finishing the final, wall section. I’m going to do more work here, I’m thinking of painting the door. But just changing the door handle gives it less of a upvc look, don’t you think?

Please God the COVID restrictions for travel end soon. My husband’s business is in the tourism industry, so there will be no electrics without his salary. And that’s the least of our worries.

Adding to the side bookcase/cupboard

The bookcases that were in situ when we arrived in our french home have previously been developed with gingerbread features, mantle and a sliding door for one, along with using a wonderful fruit bas relief and an added spice rack for the second. That’s amongst other things. The vast majority have been from recycled material and I feel like they really add something.

I found these cupboard doors in a brocante and I was struck how much they echoed the pattern of the doors from the buffet I’ve since cut down. A later brocante buy of our fireplace has a similar design and, whilst walking home, having dropped my daughters at the village school, I started to think about how they’d suit the kitchen. I’d intended to use them in the hallway, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

When I arrived I measured the width of the doors and found them too wide, so I knew I’d have to narrow them. Even with my circular saw it was tough going, but with that and the hand plane I’d managed to sufficiently reduce them.

Next step was to ensure they didn’t have termites. I’d inspected them in the shop, but in bright light there were some obvious termite holes that I’d missed in one of the corners. They weren’t painted or varnished, so I went ahead and put three coats of termite killer/deterrent on both sides. Then I painted them with several coats; starting with primer and moving onto chalk paint, prior to finishing them with two coats of water based varnish.

I used similar hinges and method of attaching them as I did with the shutters. After I checked they hung properly I took the hinges off of the bookcase/cupboard and painted the latter with a couple more coats of chalk paint. I’d been delaying that whilst I mulled over whether to knock through the wall that will be the pantry, but I’ve decided not to now, so there won’t be a lot of dust from that; hence my going back to painting these cupboards.

I’ve been doing lots in here during my posting absence, and I plan to update you soon. However it feels a lot more like a kitchen in – except there’s no sink.

And no oven.

But definitely, definitely a kitchen.

So the next week or so I plan to do one last coat of paint, sand and varnish throughout then….the floor. Insert daunting music here.

C’est parti!

Cheats for tongue and groove paneling electrical points

The tongue and groove paneling I bought is too thick for me to remove the electrical points and then replace them onto the panels. So what to do?

First off I cut out sections like this…

I didn’t want to cut the wood too close to the socket as I may need to remove the casing to do something with the wiring one day and don’t fancy having to mess up the panel at that time.

You can see I’ve smoothed acrylic around the edges to soften the gap though.

Then I got an inexpensive photo frame and painted it white, glued it in place and added acrylic to cover the gaps….

What do you think? Will it pass?

Kitchen door area – solving the leaky door

I’d love to have a traditional, wood kitchen door but, as with the front door, I have to admit that the upvc is the better option living her in Normandy. Being so close to the U.K. we have similar, rainy weather and it’s often cold. If ours was just a holiday home I’d insist on finding a wood door to replace the one we have. However, and I hate to say it, we have to be practical. So the upvc door stays. Boooo!

Wíth that being said working on the kitchen has allowed me the opportunity to notice the pool of water that inevitably ends up around the door when there’s a heavy downpour. Thank God I wasn’t in a position to go straight ahead with the flooring.

So before I could start with decorating the area I had to ensure it would remain dry. Cue my standing outside, up a step ladder with watering can in hand pouring water over the door to see where the water was coming through. It seemed to be coming through the bottom of the door frame. This gave me three points of entry;

• the holes in the door frame, there for letting the water be released out safely, could be blocked,
• the seals on the door itself could have deteriorated and need replacing,
• the seals around the frame could have deteriorated

Holes in the doorframe

If you have the same problem a good clean of the door may resolve it. This is what the holes look like….

They were filled with gunk, so I was hopeful this would be the cause of the problem. You see, rain water is meant to go through these holes and pass safely out of the bottom of the door. Alas, having spent some time removing debris that could cause a blockage another go with the watering can demonstrated more work needed to be done.

Door seals

Next came an inspection of the door itself. You can see that there has been some sealant that now appears to be braking down. It actually looks like this has been applied post the door’s insertion by hand. I scraped this away and applied some transparent sealant.

If you live in France you might want to know that I applied the one on the left below. However as I was working I kept looking down and could see that the water seemed to be seeping through underneath the door area. So I moved onto using the one on the right to seal between the door and the masonry.

Seals around the door frame

This was coloured grey, perfect for the stonework of our home. I just ran some masking tape in a straight line around the door frame before running a strip of this into the corner prior to smoothing it out with my finger. I just did about 10cms light application and then smoothed as a little went a long way.

I used it along the bottom on the inside too, just to make sure.

A rainstorm after this proved they’re now in working order again – hurrah!

Ive since started to tongue and groove the interior of the door frame. I’ll add a post on that soon.

20 Inspiring Butlers Sink Stands

Butlers sink, apron sink, Belfast sink….whatever you call them, I love them. I’ve always wanted a country kitchen with one in the corner. Locating one in France was a challenge, but I managed to find one here that wasn’t too expensive and it’s been sat there ready for me to get to work. Here’s the look….

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Here some are with lovely skirt fronts…

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Here is the kind of cupboard I’m talking about…

They’re quite expensive in the U.K., and with COVID way beyond our budget. Added to that they don’t appear to be the norm here in France so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find a cupboard that would support it. So I was searching for a solution.

I saw some with a brick support like these..

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But, although practical to carry the heavy weight, I didn’t really like the look for my kitchen. Nevertheless, let’s face it, the main issue is the weight. So when I saw these I thought I’d found my solution….especially as you can see a sewing machine stand working well in the images below.

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So this is why you can see one in my last post on the salvaged dishwasher cupboard; I plan to use this to hold the weight of the butlers sink. It’s also why I’m starting to introduce black, wrought iron elements into the decor. I think it stops the pink central isle from looking too girly too.

Dishwasher Corner with Salvaged Cupboard Part 2

In my last post on making a dishwasher housing unit cupboard out of salvaged wood I told you that the worktop I’d bought wasn’t sufficiently wide enough now that I’d had to add on more depth to the cupboard itself.

In the images you’ll see how this corner of the room is far from squared off. This means that in order to be able to get the dishwasher to sit in there the side of the cupboard needed extending.

I’d left the project overnight whilst I mulled over how I’d overcome the problem and having thought it through a narrow shelf seemed to be a good solution. You can see the images that inspired me to do that here.

I was using the salvaged steps from the staircase I’d removed from the room; which meant cutting them to size, and sanding them down. Then I added a couple of coats of termite treatment, just in case.

When sufficient time had passed I glued the piece that would be flat against the wall first. You’ll see I keep changing glue. I prefer the white glue as it seems to be more robust and dries quicker; however the transparent version feels oilier and seems to take long to dry. The latter needs to be used when there’s a possibility of it being seen though.

Here’s the first block…

Here’s it against the wall. The treatment actually gave it a pretty finish…

The end overhangs a little, but I’m not going to worry about that until I can work out how to approach the sink area.

Next is the end wood; I’ve used the transparent on the bottom and white glue on the side where it will come in contact with the white T&G.

Then for the front piece; transparent throughout, starting with the end that’s going to fit snuggly into the wood along the length of the wall….

…and then some glue on the back for where it’s going to connect with the other side piece…

…this is it in situ…

You can see that I didn’t tile right into the back corner – it’s not going to be seen and I brought those tiles with me on a trip from the UK. They’re Laura Ashley and there’s only a few of them.

The cut out strips in the wood are from where they fitted into the uprights. I wanted to match them to the window area, so I glued some 1cm 1/4 rounds to them.

Next I added a strip of wood along the back wall. This was glued in place and will help hold up the narrow shelf. I made sure it was level with the top of the front shelf with a spirit level. In theory anyway….

Then I cut another piece of salvaged wood to act as a shelf. You’ll see that even though the wood that runs parallel to the back wall is horizontal the gap narrows the further into the corner it goes due to the angle of the two walls. So I used a similar method cutting this as the top of the window encasement – I measured one end, then the other before drawing the line between the two at the appropriate angle.

Having cut the wood I kept having to plane/sand the sides to get it to fit snugly in the gap. Once in I ran some 1/4 round on the edge and well as putting some in the gaps that run along the wood…

The annoying thing is that whilst working on this I must have pushed too hard and made the shelf dip slightly. You don’t notice it on a casual glance, but the tins i plan to put there do dip slightly 🤪.

There were some gaps in the wood because, obviously, I’m not an expert at this – I used tinted wood filler to hide these…

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It doesn’t look very pretty at this moment, but here it is after I’ve sanded and varnished it..

Here’s the finished, as far as I can now anyway, version…

I’ve taken all those sharp edges off with the sander too. Ha! It’s a little dusty from all the woodwork!

I’ve added a curtain which can be pulled back and tucked behind the post when loading the dishwasher. I’ve also added that iron towel holder for tea towels; I think it compliments the iron sewing machine stand. More on that later 😊.