And We Have a Winner...

Not sure exactly how it will be phrased, but this summer will be something along the lines of the Summer of Kitchen Remodeling, the Summer of Home Improvement, or the Summer of Additional Debt Accumulation.

When I bought my house four years ago, I believed that I would live here for five or six years. When that time came, I planned on selling my house and buying a newer and larger house. I like my house and I love my neighborhood, but it is fairly small. It is only two bedrooms and I have very little storage space because there is no basement. So my spare bedroom is really more of a sewing/storage/junk room. It works okay because I rarely have house guests (and when I do it is easy enough to move things for a brief period) and it is just me and the fur children, so I don't have a great need for a second bedroom at this point in my life. But, of course, I hope that will change one day in the not-too-distant future. When it does, I certainly need to be able to eliminate the other purposes of my second bedroom. That is only going to be done through some massive cleaning and elimination of unnecessary items from my house, and I realize that.

But the other thing I don't particularly like about my house is my kitchen. It's not a bad place. In fact, many people comment on how cute and/or unique it is, particularly when they see it in pictures.

My kitchen still has the original 1950s metal cabinetry, and people will comment on its "retro" style (is it considered "retro" when it's original?). I will admit that, in pictures, it looks kind of cool. But when you look at it close up, you see how well-worn it really is. And, I admit that a very careful paint job might actually do wonders for it.

But aesthetics are not the only issue. If they were, I would deal with them. One issue is the dishwasher. Because people didn't have built in dishwashers in 1956, I have a portable one. I don't mind rolling it across the room to the sink on the occasions when I need to use it, but when it is not in use, it takes up a corner of the room. The other thing is that, due to the lack of counter space, I have my microwave on a separate stand, so that takes up a little more floor space in the relatively small room. Since I don't have a seperate dining area, my kitchen table has to go in the kitchen as well. Before you know it, there's only a path to get from one side to the other.

I know this part will sound silly, too. I want a side-by-side refridgerator that has water and ice in the door. It's ridiculous. But these refriderators are all larger than the one I currently have, which, as you can see, barely fits into the available space.

I actually have to open the freezer door in order to open the left hand cupboard above it. That can't be good.

So there you have it. All the reasons that a larger house would be welcome, despite my status a single person. Well, once I checked the local listings, I knew that a larger house is not in the forseeable future. I knew the real estate market was bad, but I guess I didn't realize how big of shambles it really was in. I paid just a hair over $100,000 for my house four years ago. Today, comparable houses in my area are listing between $80,000 and $85,000. There is no way I can afford to sell my house. So now I have to make it the house I want to live in for the next few years.

On Friday I ordered my new cabinets and countertop. They will arrive in about three weeks. Prior to installation, my dad will be coming up to tear out the old ones. Once the new cabinets are in, the countertop people will come out to make a template, then it will be two to three weeks until that is installed (along with the kitchen sink!). In the meantime, the new floor will be laid (and also into the utility room, which currently has commercial carpeting) and the new appliances will be delivered. Once the countertop and sink are installed, Mom and Dad will return to do the plumbing, hook up the dishwasher and refridgerator water lines and install the microwave over the range. Everything should be completed about the time I go back to school in the fall (or hopefully a little before).

So that's how I found my theme for the summer of 2008.