Home Improvement

There is a carpentry vein that runs in my family. My grandfather was a bona fide carpenter by trade and has a lovely, dusty, cluttered shop behind my grandparent's house. My aunt is the type of woman who sees a table she likes, goes and buys the lumber, then builds and stains the table herself. I mean she lives in the suburbs and has a miter saw in her garage. How awesome is that? I wish I had the space to build things. I've built a printer stand that I used at my old job and of course my swift but otherwise my projects are limited to drilling holes in the wall. Tonight I decided to take some advice and in the process I got to use a hand drill.

A few days ago when I mentioned I wanted to start dyeing a little more seriously I received a very nice comment from Jo from Celtic Memory Yarns. Jo is something of a celebrity in my eyes. Just take one look at her blog and you'll see why. This woman is talented. And besides all that she lives in Ireland which makes her cooler than your average internet knitting celebrity. Anyways, Jo told me to use the space I had and just go for it. As I was making dinner tonight I was mulling over using the space I had and all the while, glancing around my teeny tiny little kitchen. And then it hit me. I could totally arrange some things to give me more work space. Just like that, it was decided.

Here is the newly claimed long work area. This is actually the longest space in my kitchen at a whopping 4' 4".
This space used to house a crock pot, can opener, cookbooks, a drying rack, and the Dustbuster. It now houses my dyeing supplies. The Dustbuster (as you can see) has been mounted to the wall, thus fulfilling my desire to drill things. Plus I added some nails under the cabinets to drape the cord over (as I was wondering through the house asking myself, "Now where did I put my hammer?" I wondered how many single women my age ask themselves that very question each night. I figure not many).

The cookbooks are now in my decorative "window" that opens into my den (sorry there isn't a picture. The risk of catching the pile of dishes in the sink was too great). The drying rack, crock pot, and can opener got moved to the other side of the sink where the microwave used to be. I also moved my George Forman grill over there just to keep the small appliances together.
This is where the George Forman grill used to live, to the left of the stove on the other side of the kitchen (by other side I mean, literally, 2 feet away. My kitchen is claustrophobia inducing). Now this is where my cereal, sugar, and miscellaneous things still needing a permanent home are hanging out. But those are all small things and can be taken care of easily in the next few days.
Here's where I moved the microwave, right between the stove and the fridge (busted drawer included for atmosphere).
I'm pleased with the space I've gained, if nothing else for the fact that I can now actually put a plate on the counter when serving myself dinner. When I dye I won't be able to make anything too ridiculously long but then again, who has the space for that anyways? Plus it's more space than I used to have (about 2 times as much). I'll mix the dye stock in my sun room which is just adjacent to the kitchen and be able to work to my hearts content in a designated area. Pretty good for a nights work.