The Great Island Controversy

I hate my kitchen island. It's not the island's fault.  It's just (as we say in Texas) "butt ugly."  (See photo below - if I can attach it) It's square, a junk catcher, has crappy storage, and has 1975 formica which is chipped.  Now once you see this photo, you might say Cindy, what are you complaining about?  Try living with it. 

Back in the day when "This Old House" was on, one of the episodes Paul and I remember vividly was a remodel of a kitchen where the host talked about how islands were inefficient and that a pennisula was a much better use of the space.  

When we first met with Vivienne, we talked about getting rid of the island altogether.  In her wisdom, V came up with a really great idea, an island that retracted into the wall (kind of like a murphy bed)., I have to tell you I was really excited about this until Paul, my dear husband put the kabosh on this by saying, "Cindy the only time it will ever move will be when I clean the kitchen, because no one else will move it but me, and it will stay in the middle of the kitchen the whole time, so what is the point?"  I also forgot to say that in addition to his construction prowess, Paul also had a cleaning business before we got married and I am ashamed to say it  - is a much better house cleaner than I am.

You know, he was probably right but I was crushed because I would have been the only kid on the block with a retractable island.   Back to the drawing board.

Kitchen Designer Part II - The One We Hired

It's hard to find a kitchen designer you like.  It's even harder to find a kitchen designer to just do your design and not want to implement it with their crews etc.   How did I find mine? The internet of course. 

I may have mentioned before that a large part of my DIY partnership with my husband Paul is research.  Having been a paralegal and now an executive assistant, I guess it just runs in my veins.  So after "Al" (see previous post), I hit the computer (figuratively not literally) in order to find someone who could help us.

And find someone I did.  Vivienne.  If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and are planning to remodel your kitchen, email me and I will give you her name.  What struck me about Vivienne (other than the fact she was prompt to answer my email inquiry) is her philosophy on kitchens - that you can have the most beautiful kitchen in the world, but if it is not functional and efficient, you are going to be unhappy and never set foot in it.     

So we set up an appointment.  Paul and I had all our questions ready, to ask for references, to look at her portfolio, but all that went by the wayside when we met Vivienne. We instantly fell "in like" and didn't ask a thing about clients, references, etc. However, I did check her out on the BBB (sorry V, old habits die hard). We were lucky. 

So we talked and talked, we showed her photos of dream kitchens that we'd like to have and what our crazy concept was.  She didn't sneer at us because we are DIYer's.  Most importantly she listened, educated us on different approaches, appliances, ideas, as well as putting up with our crazy dry sense of humor.  We never could get her to drink with us though.   Maybe when we are done, she'll lift a glass with us.   

Enter Kitchen Designer No. 1 and the dreaded "I" store

As I said before you need to know you place in the DIY partnership.  The next important step is checking reviews on people you hire, appliances you buy, etc..  My husband lives and dies by Consumer Reports and the BBB.  I venture further out, I look at all sorts of opinions.  BUT, when I need a handyman, plumber or something to do with the house, I contact my real estate agent Stuart.

I first met Stuart in 2004 when we were in the midst of selling "Death House 2004."   It was not a pretty time in the Havens household.  Brave soul that Stuart was, he ventured in the day I was scraping 20 years of grease off a counter top and eventually sold my parents' townhouse.   So, when we were looking for our house in Dallas, we hired Stuart as our realtor.  AND, if you want a good realtor, leave me your email and I'll send you his way.  He's British with a great sense of humor (he had to have one - considering what he was working with in 2004 and again in 2005, when we looked at 25 houses in one day).

His "concierge list" has helped us find numerous folks to help us out.  So, I thought what the heck, I'll email him and see if he knows a kitchen designer, explaining that Paul and I were looking for someone to just design the kitchen for us.   He did (sort of).    

So this guy, let's just call him Al (because I don't remember his name) contacts me about designing our kitchen. Bear in mind that at this point, I am just gathering information and am not ready to sign on the dotted line.  I don't like pushy people, I run away from salespeople that follow me around.  Let me look and get my bearings and then I will come back.  Al, bless his heart was pushy.

After about 3-4 emails back and forth, I turned him over to Paul.  I decided maybe I was a little prejudiced and I'd let Paul see what he thinks.  So Al comes over and talks to Paul.

Not only was Al pushy, but again bless his heart, he wasn't a true kitchen designer, he didn't have CAD which is the drawing software.   What Al had was a vision about going to a store that lives up north and sells Swedish stuff and using their software to design the kitchen.  Now I don't know whether or not you can mention names of stores in a blog, especially if you don't care for them.    I am NOT a Swedish Modern girl, I am a traditional, eclectic girl.  I have never been to this store, but I have seen their website and it is not for me.  It could be for you.

It's probably a good thing I wasn't there when Al was, since I might have ripped his head off about the Swedish store.

I still trust Stuart with his list though, just not about Al.

Next post, true Kitchen Designer enters the scene.

A man's got to know his limitations (Clint Eastwood)

I am not sure which movie this comes from, but this is my husband's mantra whenever we start a project.  Mine is "know your fabrics, know your colors" from Mermaids.  You know the movie where Cher moves every time she gets ticked off?  If not, go rent it.  But I digress.  We are very fortunate in that Paul my husband can do just about anything in the DIY world (yes Paul you can even if you say you can't), from plumbing, electrical, woodworking, painting, etc., that we save a bundle on labor.  BUT, if he turns to me and says, we need to call the plumber, electrician, tile guy, etc. to make this right, then I listen (however much I complain about the cost).  And it takes a lot for Paul to say that because he is "fiscally conservative."  Take heed folks, the $200.00 you spend on labor now might save you $1,000 in an emergency call at midnight.  

Then there are those DIY reality shows where two people redo their kitchen in a weekend or someone comes up to folks in a hardware store and says  - hey let me redo your house. Trust me, unless they have a bucket load of minnons behind the scenes, it ain't a happening (or if it does, I hate to see what the end product is). So if you watch them, take them with a grain of salt.  I am going to make a plug for one that Paul watches and I do sometimes, which is Holmes on Holmes, a Canadian show.  That one is scary because you are watching someone fix what so called "professionals" did.

The other tip is know what your place is in your DIY relationship.  My husband does all of the building, painting (we learned a long time ago that Cindy does not paint well - or at least well enough to satisfy Paul), etc.  And what is my part, you ask?   I'm the person who holds boards while Paul is running them through a table saw, holds boards while they are being nailed, screwed or glued,  helps unload the stuff from the local hardware store, rents the truck at the local hardware store to bring the stuff home, helps haul stuff to the curb, research on the final "look",  looks for paint colors, style of cabinets, sinks, faucets, hardware, etc.,  goes to the hardware store to get caulk, paint, etc., and most importantly finds the tape measure or other tools.

Before you start a project, know what your strong points are as well as your partner.  That's why we decided to hire a kitchen designer.  More on that in the next post.  

The beginning

DIY, does sound like Die doesn't it?  For the record, I did not come to DIYing naturally.  My parents were not carpenters, floor layers, brick layers, etc.  In fact the most ambitious project my dad and I ever did was to lay parquet tile in my bedroom when I was 20 and it was almost impossible to get the glue off my hands (I think I wore it off).  Like some of you, I married it.  My husband and I have been married almost 24 years and this will be the third house we have redone.  Words to the wise, never redo your kitchen in the first 6 months of your marriage.  I watched my stove sit in my living room for six months (but that is another story).  Our journey begins with our third and last house in Dallas, Texas, a 1979 ranch house which has not been updated since 1979.  Since we have moved there in 2005, we have redone many rooms, but are about to undertake our most ambitious project to date:  the dreaded, ugly kitchen. Come along as we laugh, we sing, we dance, we cry a little, we cry a lot.  I forgot to mention I was a theatre major didn't I?