#3 Epic Move
This is the third instalment of a series of articles. Read the first and second.
When we began planning our home renovation, it was with a pre-pandemic understanding of what money can buy. We decided to delay by a year, in hopes that prices may change. But, as things have not, we were forced to reduce our wants and make a plan that fits our budget as it stands today. Our full list of wants included an addition of 1000 sf above the garage, opening up around the stairs, re-doing the kitchen and bathrooms. We are now building above the garage… period. Everything else has been moved to phase two.
That said, all the other stuff should still be done, in one way or another. So lately, we have been working on the kitchen and dining room ourselves with minimal purchases and using what we have. We call this our “temporary fix”.
Moving at the start of the pandemic forced up to bring some items that we would have otherwise left behind: our kitchen cabinetry and marble slab dining table, for example. Unfortunately, our kitchen in Berlin was triangular (see “Living in the Hackeschen Höfen” post) so we sadly had to dispose of the marble countertops. For the table top, I did plenty of research on how to transport a marble slab safely. I drew a sketch of how to make the box with wedges built inside so that the marble sits diagonally, which reduces the shocks to the slab that cause it to break. During the move I got a glimpse of an impressive looking crate. (We kept our distance from the mask-less movers.) When it was unloaded upon arrival, we tried to look inside, but decided it was too well packed to see anything, so it was securely stored in the garage.
For our temporary (hopefully) kitchen and dining room we will be keeping the configuration as-is. There are bulkheads around the upper-cabinets and the flooring does not run under the original bases. We decided to switch the refrigerator and stove locations as it doesn’t effect the flooring and, did I mention: we brought our stove too. It also required a little gas line work, but that’s part of the final plan, so there is no wasted work done there.
To my surprise and horror, Ikea cabinets are not the same size in North America as they are in Europe, or possibly the rest of the world. Cursed imperial system! (Canada is technically metric, but our big neighbour forces us to play their game.) So with some retrofitting, we are able to use what we have to build a kitchen with a better use of space and which is slightly more pleasing to the eye than the one we had before.
For now the dining room stays a formal dining room with a fresher look. We painted the walls the same creamy white as the trim. Extending the colour up over the crown moulding which brings the feeling of the ceiling height up. We adjusted the hinges on the shutters so that they can open completely, allowing in a ton more light. We switched the lamp for an affordable Noguchi -esk paper shade, and added scones for a warmer light-enveloping room. We reduced some of the furniture and art to the best pieces to create a unified, more minimal, look. And lastly, we replaced the dining table with the infamous marble slab brought over from Berlin, and guess what, it’s broken! It turns out, my crate design was ignored, %$#^@! We’re using it anyway with the hopes of writing a post entitled “how to fix broken marble on a budget”, fingers crossed and stay tuned.
