A Minimalist's Kitchen Reno

From the Renovation Rule Book:

"Rule 4: The marital argument over whether to choose the ''Calypso Blue'' or the ''Ocean Breeze'' for the kitchen cupboards will rise in intensity according to the degree to which the two colours are indistinguishable."

Join me over the next little (hopefully) while as my husband and I give our kitchen a bit of an update while trying to keep costs to a minimum.

Neither of us had any intention of updating the kitchen, however our two kitchen windows were becoming increasingly problematic. We had the original 1963 "panorama" windows. This is a type of window that was surely designed for the tropics and not for Canadian homes. The window glass doesn't have any type of trim or frame; huge sheets of glass sit in tracks in a cedar frame and slide back and forth.

About a dozen years ago, we hired specialists to analyze our home's energy efficiency. Upon noticing our windows, the first guy called to his co-worker, "Hey, take a look at these windows, you've never seen anything like this before." After a few minutes of chuckling they suggested that unless we were prepared to replace the windows, we could put plastic over them in the winter to minimize our heat loss. And that is exactly what we've done ever since.

This fall we decided it was time to finally replace the two windows. As we pictured the windows we wanted, we decided to let our imagination roam and chose to remove the small piece of wall that separated the two windows and have one long series of windows spanning the full 13 feet.

Old windows and dividing wall removed

About three weeks ago the window installation crew arrived. They removed the two windows and frames. As they began to demolish the wall between the windows they found a three inch metal pipe running the full height of the wall. It was the air vent for the plumbing. There was nothing more they could do that day until we had the pipe removed and re-routed. The installers bought two sheets of plywood and nailed them over the huge gaping hole in our kitchen wall.

The unexpected air vent pipe

 

Interim window treatment is dark and drafty.

 

Two days later the pipe was dealt with and we were ready to go. Now the problem was getting the window people to return my calls and set another installation date. It's been nearly three weeks since the first installation attempt and of course three weeks of living in a very dark, not to mention drafty and cold kitchen. I didn't think there was a less efficient window treatment than our panorama windows, but apparently plywood is even less effective. We're hoping to see the installers here by the end of this week. I'll keep you posted.



Thanks for visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a fun day,

Sandra