Day 4. Recovery and Reviewing Possibilities

Today was more relaxed than the previous three.  We have a much better idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the kitchen now, and want to carefully reconsider many of the decisions in the "original" design (that is, what, if we had to purchase it all last Wednesday, we would have gotten).  So, we went to Ikea to look at all their showrooms and the specifics of cabinetry and colors and other options. (Issues: hood over the stove? or microwave with built-in fan and a separate vent out of the house?; various cabinet choices; counter-top preferences; 80" vs 88" high pantry cabinets; and which stuffed animal to take home to Girl-Child).  We have a quiet week ahead, so I'll blog later about the whys and wherefores of these new choices, and what our current thinking is on them. (Teaser: some of our ideas we are rather excited about!)

We also went to Home Depot and found the ducting we need for the laundry chute. Now to work out where exactly to put it (within a 20-inch "window" of wall space), and how to position it to enable a door in the kitchen for dish clothes, too (in any case, it will run from 2nd floor to basement laundry).

We went to the Rebuilding Center (which is a huge recycler of building materials -- architectural and fixtures) and Rejuvenation House (which is the same, except they have a 500% markup and specialize in the high end items, mostly reproductions) to look for a new window for the north wall, to replace the existing too-large and very 50's style window (which doesn't reliably open either). We found a few possibilities, but nothing quite right.

After we got home, we spent 3 hours cleaning up the slag heap of wood and cabinetry that we had dropped just outside the side door of the house. By removing nails and screws, we recovered more than 8 six-foot to thirteen-foot long 2x4s, a few of which are old growth fir, which is dense and beautiful.  We'll use those in upcoming building.

And then we collapsed.  I will drive HomoDommi to the airport tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m.

The resident cat at Rebuilding Center, looking much like the building -- made up of parts.