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LOVE that! I'm short (5'4") and am always having to drag the stepstool out into the kitchen to get something from an upper cabinet. I might need one of those!
I have two of those! They're perfect! I keep one in my kitchen pantry and one in my walk-in closet. I usually don't even bother to fold them up because I use them multiple times a day to reach things on the top shelves of my pantry/closet. They're small and easy to pull out for other uses---window washing, reaching that difficult cabinet over the fridge, etc.
I'm a shorty with tall cabinets and I have this rolling step stool.
I'm a retired librarian and it's the same one we used in all our libraries. It's very sturdy, and I can push/roll it with my foot when my hands are full.
No matter what the end result is I would have saved the money and not purchased a home I had to immediately start remodeling.
We love buying homes we re-do. We like established neighborhoods, it's fun to watch the house transform, my husband enjoys the work, and it saves us a ton of money. I admit, it can be a pain in the butt, especially during the bath part and most of the kitchen, but we think it is well worth it. This time he built the kitchen cabinets himself and not only are they exactly what I wanted but knowing he made them for me makes them extra special - not to mention, they are much better quality than we would have gotten from any builder.
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No matter what the end result is I would have saved the money and not purchased a home I had to immediately start remodeling.
So dont start on move in. do it over time and make it worth it.
You can get a move in ready/new built but really what exactly is yours? Where is your hard work? sweat? blood? tears? Saying " i want brass in the bathroom " is not the same as ripping out a sink and installing a new one. Sometimes you find yourself doing skills you never thought youd need. Myself, Ive never done a floor but 3 layers of peel n stick, possible asbestos, stuck on like heck glue later....nice wood floors no one knew was there. A builder could have just started there of course if i had just built it but boy tearing up that floor felt good! Standing back saying " I did it!" felt A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!
You keep your new built, ill take my 1920 house with character, history and family ties.
I love the comments so far about the satisfaction of remodeling. My husband and I feel the same way.
For instance - something as simple as the front porch - we painted the front door, replaced the hardware and the light fixtures and numbering, and added the kick plate. We pulled up bushes that were impeding the view of the door and porch, and trimmed trees up. WOW - the difference is amazing! I have people stop me in the grocery store and ask, "Are you the family that moved into the two story on the corner? What you've done with that house is amazing!" "I love the color of the front door. What color is that?" "I hope I don't sound weird, but can I take pictures of your house to show my builder?" "You've taken a pretty house and made it prettier." "I thought you were crazy to tear out those bushes, but now that I see the difference I see why you did it!"
It's very rewarding to pull up to the house and see it as others see it. It feels great for family or friends to come over and the minute we open the door they say, "Wow, I can't believe this is the same house!" I have given neighbors tour after tour as the interior work is being done. We just had a block party and I had to promise to schedule a little get together when the kitchen is done because everyone was so curious about it (I don't mind - I love to entertain).
Most of all, though, it feels great to look around and see our own unique creativity everywhere. The house is such a good house - so well built and so classic in style, and the people who owned it prior to us (we're the third owners) had absolutely no zing to their taste - shag carpet, 90s wallpaper, white walls that kept the gorgeous crown molding from "popping." I know this sounds weird, but the house "feels grateful."
As others have mentioned, it's the sense of personal satisfaction - seeing the rewards of shared labor. It's a great feeling.
How are you building the pantry? Im interested in this part because we dont have one but if i could squeeze one in, i would!
OK, we had one of those stupid corner cabinets. It was where the bit square cabinet is now to the left by the arched doorway.
(Of course, this isn't finished yet.)
Oh, here's a "before" picture:
I DESPISE corner cabinets - you lose all sorts of space in the corners. But I could see why it was like that - because the teeny, stupid little island was right there, so if it had been built out, there would have been no room to walk in there (there was barely room anyway).
Anyway, there will be four doors on the front which is facing us in the first picture. There will be narrow, four inch wide shelves behind both sets of doors. That area is for spices, oils, narrow bottles, etc. Around the corner (can't see inside it from here) there will be two wider doors -one on top and one on the bottom. There will be deep pullouts on the lower half (big serving dishes, tall boxes, big bags of chips, etc). The upper portion of the cabinets will have adjustable shelves for canned goods and that sort of thing. One drawer in between them will be short, for tinfoil, plastic wrap, etc.
Here's the new cabinet, minus shelving and doors:
I will be able to use the cabinets around the stove (where I did have my spices) for glassware, baking dishes, etc.
The new island is going to be really cool! It is a bit narrow because I was so tired of being cramped in that kitchen with a wider island. It's going to have bookshelves at one end for my cookbooks, and deep pullouts on the other end for pots and pans. In the center, there is going to be a pullout for tall, narrow things like cookie sheets, cutting boards, etc.
I think we are going to do a narrow overhang on the bookshelf end (right as we're facing it) for a small stool to slide under.
There is electricity run to it so it will be a great place to put a mixer and to do mixing and chopping. I really like the proximity to the sink, but that we won't have to walk AROUND it to get to the stove.
I like the pantry, its a great idea! We have weird triangle corner cabinets above and next to the sink but there are 2 doors there so if they were rectangle you couldnt open the doors. We had an island too and we took it out and put it in the dining room, it was taking too much room. I like making it skinnier, thats a great idea.
Your pantry and island are a great expansion of the space you had!
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