Handy-Dandy Renovations

A few months ago, in the middle of finally giving the back hall and kitchen a facelift, a reliable carpenter named Jessie walked off the job; this after several years of knowing him, trusting his workmanship, admiring his ability to execute ideas JB and I had inside our heads.

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I don't know why Jessie bolted--his partner said it was a mid life crisis--but it left JB and I without a jack-of-all-trades handyman, which to me is the same as forgetting to wear my earrings or wearing two different socks to dinner.

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I've always loved renovations. For a BRIEF (and too too difficult) time JB and I opened a restaurant in my childhood home town. We called it Tomato City for no reason and I described it as a 'slightly upscale American Cafe."

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Tomato City specialized in our version of tapas, which we called 'Piecemeals.' You could combine 3 or 4 appetizers with JB's amazing chili cheese cornbread and your choice of 4 homemade salad dressings and have a blast sharing plates and trying everything. We also had the Ms. Petunia Special, which got you soup, a half a specialty sandwich, a drink, and a homemade cookie. The Ms. Petunia Special was a big hit, even those a good number of guys whispered their way through ordering it. :^)

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Maybe one day I will write more about Tomato City. But this post is about renovations.

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We took over a dump of a restaurant named King Arthur's Buffet. It was awful. We had a very modest budget and with the help of a Jessie-like handyman (carpenter), we managed to turn the place into a cozy cafe that the Boston Globe food critic raved about and so did our customers.

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Tomato City was short lived and JB and I almost killed each other. That is another story too.

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We spent three months tearing down everything except the open kitchen and the hanging lights.

The lights were red enamel with glossy white insides and we spray painted them copper gold.

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We hired a local artist to paint four huge ceiling panels of the sky. She chose to show dawn to dusk. It was awesome.

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JB and I chose the fabric for the home made booths that Bob put together, JB made the curtains, I learned how to price and choose the carpets and flooring and table tops and chairs and dishes and this fantastic computer generated 'wax paper' that looked just like stained glass. All in all, for me, it was the equivalent of a fantastic shopping spree.

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When we were done, we received a zillion compliments that we had transformed the place on a shoestring. It was true: we had.
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So fast forward to today and the tiny kitchen at # 9. This is what Jessie walked out on. Man is it great to have a double oven, but the energy flow is bad because it's a monstrosity. It just doesn't work. Plus there is not enough counter space in the kitchen.

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Last week we found another Jessie. His name is Mike. He is going to work with us to transform the space on another shoestring. Nothing fancy, but it will be more functional and hopefully a bit funkier.
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Knock down the double oven tower, extend the counter and add a new cabinet underneath it, put in a new oven under the stove top, add a island fan unit hanging over the stove....

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and replace a few of the cabinet doors with glass fronts and distressed-looking wood and paint.
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Yesterday JB and I went to Lowe's and starting looking. Tomorrow Mike is coming to talk details.

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And: since a new counter top will be needed where the double oven used to be, and since the present counter top is old and yuk, we are splurging on a new Corian counter. Which is not in our shoestring plans, except that 4 colors are on sale for half price right now.
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JB and I were certain we would choose the brown with small orange and black specks. But it is too dark. 'Mojave' on the right will match the cabinets almost perfectly and that might be pretty bland. But for the savings we're taking our chances. We figure we can always find a way to add color.

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To be continued....meanwhile, I am squealing with non-working supervisor delight. Someone else does all the work and I get to enjoy the results: one of my favorite past times.

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Love

kj