Our Kitchen: Remodel | Making This Home

Our Favorite Convenience Food : It’s Not What You Think

April 22nd, 2010

Back when our kitchen was looking about like this:

Martin and I started looking for a lot of convenience foods.

We needed something that was quick to make. It couldn’t create a lot of dishes (I was using the bathroom sink), and it couldn’t require a lot of preparation area (I only had the top of our half-sized washing machine to work on). We ripped out the old stovetop, and then we needed to find foods that also didn’t require cooking.

Dear Little Kitchen,

January 12th, 2010

We are so in love with you. We feel like you are our little baby, and in many ways you are. Never you mind that Martha Stewart’s kitchen is twice as big as our entire house. We like you just how you are – all 36 square feet of bubbly, delicious bliss bundled all together in the tiny corner of our living room.

Remember what you looked like when we first met? I was already trying to give you a sunny disposition with my yellow paint the moment I got the okay… and I figured out where to buy paint in Germany.

Staying Encouraged Despite Your Home’s Flaws

October 12th, 2009

By now, you’re probably pretty familiar with our 36 square foot kitchen remodel that we were busy doing last year at this time. (If you aren’t, we’ve got a slew of before and after shots on Our Kitchen Remodel Page.) The kitchen is our pride and joy. But there was a time when the whole project almost went up in smoke.

We were almost finished when our countertops didn’t fit!

How to Sound Smart: Hardwood Floors & Table Saws Edition

July 1st, 2009

How many of you have found yourselves completely hooked to those home remodeling shows on HGTV? And how many of you cringe when the cast slips on the most basic construction vocabulary? (Maybe that second one is just Martin and me, so maybe it really is a good thing we don’t have TV out here in the tire house).

In any case – cringe or no cringe – here are two basic slip ups you’re guaranteed to hear. Feel free to label yourself as an official know-it-all after this post. Just don’t expect HGTV to come knocking, okay?

What’s Your Dream Kitchen?

April 25th, 2009

It’s true what people say: Everything is bigger in the United States.

We sadly kissed our little kitchen in Berlin goodbye:

and replaced it with this big guy in the US:

Problems on the Homefront

April 20th, 2009

Every house has those little trouble spots that make people shake their heads and ask, “What were those architects thinking?” Our house is no different. The crew that designed our house did an awesome job with the 480 square feet they had to work with in our long, skinny house. Sure there were still a few problems that we worked hard to eliminate:

First there was the narrow alcove off the hallway. We turned that into our bike rack (or “our double garage” as we call it) and put a huge drawer under it to store extra blankets and pillows for when guests come.