Jay has yet another respiratory infection, which quite naturally lead to us looking at new floors for our kitchen.
We remodeled our kitchen nearly twenty years ago. More accurately, we’ve been remodeling our kitchen for the last nineteen years. First, we ripped out the old kitchen and put in an island and a new ceiling. I replaced all the handles and knobs three times over the next twelve months. A few years later, we replaced the pocket doors and put in a new cupboard and wine rack. A few years after that, we swapped out a built in microwave cupboard for a spice rack. By then, the laminate counter tops we’d originally installed had worn the pattern off, so we replaced them with granite. You know how it goes: you get a new outfit and realize all your shoes are crap. After we put in the granite, I realized that the few cupboards we had left natural wood looked stupid, so we painted them all white to match the rest. Last year, I finally noticed that the kitchen table I'd finished myself when the kids were little, matched the old cupboards (which are now white) so it looked completely out of place. Easy fix: I stripped it and put a luscious dark stain over the old light color. Now it looks like a brand new, up to the minute fashionably dark farm table. I'm willing to put in the work if the results are worth it. A similar new kitchen set at World Market costs upwards of $1,000.00. A can of stripper and stain cost me $15.00 and three afternoons in the fresh air and sunshine.
For the last couple of years, we’ve been sick of the too white floor we chose in ’98. If you ever design a kitchen, DO NOT choose white flooring. It only looks clean in the minute and a half after you mop it to within an inch of its life. We’re sick of it.
So there we were at Home Depot, looking at the flooring options. We agreed that the gray, drift-woody finishes would look best in our kitchen, which has white cabinets and wainscoting with Caribbean green walls and dark green granite counters. We chose several styles of vinyl and laminate to bring home to look at in the kitchen. Nothing looks the same in your house as it does in the store, so it’s important to get samples. We also found a ceiling fan that would work in that space much better than the one we have.
We had gone there to buy new blinds for our bedroom.
It’s been a few years since I bought the last set of blinds. The new cordless technology is quite impressive! Also, the fact that they come in three different weights: light filtering, room darkening and blackout. We bought a set of room darkening for the window by the closet and two sets of light filtering for the front, since we cover those windows with heavy curtains when we sleep. The curtains also block any drafts in the winter. Even with new windows, when the temps drop below zero and the wind howls over the park across the street, a couple panes of tempered glass is scant protection when we're trying not to freeze to death in our sleep. Heavy curtains help. That’s part of the reason I hadn’t realized how filthy they were. The other part is that I never looked.
Jay looked. He knew better but he did it anyway. He was dusting and vacuuming the bedroom (and people wonder why I adore him?) and he noticed the dust:plastic ratio of the blinds was wildly out of sync. He was going to wash them.
Here’s the thing about blinds: when you can replace them for about $5.00 a set, why would you clean them? Yes, I'll repaint my kitchen cupboards and refinish my own table but I'm not insane.
So, off we went to Home Depot.
Jay wouldn't have noticed the layers of dirt on the blinds if he hadn't dusted, which he only did because we had the vents cleaned and he wants to see if it makes a difference as to how long before the dust builds up again. I’m sure it will make a big difference! Those vents hadn’t been cleaned out in at least fifteen years (I'm pretty sure we had it done once since we moved in 25 years ago but I wouldn't swear to that) and the guys who cleaned them suspected that the main vent hadn’t been cleaned out since the house was built, nearly a hundred years ago. He showed me the chunks of plaster debris they swept out. Yuck!
They took before and after photos of the vents. The good news is that Jimmy Hoffa wasn’t in there. The bad news is that Shelob’s lair was.
Not anymore!
It makes me happy to know all those spiders no longer live in my house.
It also makes me happy to know that Jay won’t be breathing in plaster dust anymore. There’s no way that hasn’t been a contributing factor to his never ending battle with chest colds, coughs and infections.
And the kitchen will look fabulous with a new floor!