New Kitchen Shelf-
I came home from the HLCCA conference with lots of new pottery! I collect different kinds of Vintage American dishes and art pottery. My friend came along back to Maine with me on the promise we would go to the August Brimfield and visit Allentown, PA.
When my friend was here visiting he offered to help me build a new shelf for my kitchen. I was in desperate need for more shelving and I have not done much inside so far- so, I jumped at the chance!
We used wood pieces that I had been picking up from junk shops and the RE-Store. I think I have a total of less than 10.00 invested in this shelf. (including the nails!)
Here is what the wall looked like before.
WOW- Im looking at that bare wall thinking “DO SOMETHING!”
Here is another pic of my kitchen. My condo is about 250 square feet.
That is the other side of my Kitchen, as you can see the brick wall is on the left. -
My friend has a wonderful collection of pottery and he has shelves that he had built all over his house. I loved them when I saw them in his house and wanted to take those idea’s and use my style to have a shelf of my own.
Here is the shelf -
We spent about three hours total building this shelf. I am in love with the extra space it gives me in my kitchen! After my friend went home I added some under the counter lights. It was easy for a novice like me to install the lights – I am impressed with the touch pad control they come with. There are three settings for the brightness. The extra light a very welcome addition to the lighting in my house. I also love the way my pottery collection looks under the lights at night.
We also put in some smaller shelves on the side.
Here is a shot of the other side of my kitchen now that I live here -
One remarkable thing about the door frame we used as the front of my shelf is that, the same trim is used in some of the other units in my building! I don’t have that kind of trim in my unit. I love that connection to history.
I think later I will use some darker stain to age the pieces of wood that were not as old as the others. But, for now I am very happy!
Garden in the city!
I bought my first condo and am so excited that I have some places to garden outside.
There are 6 other units in the building and we are lucky enough to live in a brick row of townhouses that were built in 1860. Our house is on the end of the block – and we have a street beside us.
I love living on the street side of a building because it allows for more light. I love bright direct sun and here at Wintercress I have lots and lots of sun!
Today, Im going to talk about my window boxes-
We live in a brick house so, I had to hire a carpenter to drill them to the wall. I had them put up in May and at that time I did not own a power drill. (I have one now!)
He attached the wire boxes I got at a local box store. I chose them because the locally owned plant shops had window boxes available in wood and in a heavy gauge wire. I was afraid wood might rot – and of not following the historic code – I did not want to have the boxes detract from style of my house. Wood seems too casual for my house. The heavy gauge wire boxes were 50.00 each and that was way out of my budget. I chose to buy some simple black wire boxes that were about 20.00 each.
I thought about spray painting them a red color to match the trim on my house – but, because I do not really like the brown coconut filler on the inside I decided to stick to black with the hope that my plants would grow over the sides and hide the look of the boxes.
I chose to fill my boxes to the brim with veggies and flowers. I like things to look full and overgrown. I chose to plant cabbage and peppers along with some traditional hanging flowers that would bloom all summer and grow to hid the coconut filler fast!
The coconut filler might retain more water than other kinds of boxes- I like that allot because, overfilling boxes usually means endless watering. But, not with this filler – it really seems to retain moisture and avoid evaporation.
Here are some pictures of the window boxes that I took this morning (august 10). You can see how full and lush they are- I have enjoyed spices and lettuce from the boxes. I have also enjoyed looking at the lush boxes from the street. Many people have walked by my house while I have been watering them and complemented me. Saying my window boxes transported them to a vacation they had or, made them feel joy.
You know I love that!
My condo-mates have been so nice to me letting me put op the boxes! I asked first and people though they would be a nice thing to try out. I only did two boxes because I wanted to see if I liked having them and if I took care of them through the summer.
Next year I hope to put two more window boxes up.
Give them a try. I think that finding some cute boxes to match the style of your house – getting permission to put them up and looking for some plants you like is the fun part! The “work” part is pretty easy – water once a day. Whats that 3 min a day?
