Presto Kitchen in Real Life
Putting Little Money Where our Mouth is...
You know, it's all fun and games, preaching about a make-shift kitchen, when the whole idea is just theoretical. Go to make that kitchen, and you're talking about an entirely new ball of wax.
This is the dilemma that Misguides Spaces finds itself in, as we tackle a very large remodeling project.
Our new office, slash, living space occupies a former movie theater that was turned into an industrial print shop. It is a sixty-plus year old cement and stucco building. Everything in it is in constant flux as we remodel, especially the kitchen, and the budget makes "Design on a Dime" seem extravagant.
The Ick Factor
The unfortunate thing about making industrial space into usable, people-occupied space is the Ick Factor. The room that eventually became the impromptu kitchen started out with a sink. But it was a film processing sink, that eventually became an ink mixing area. So we pulled the sink out, and proceeded to scrape and scrub about 3/4 of an inch of water soluble, latex-based ink off of the floor.
An Archeological Journey
After removing the ravages of the ink and sink, we located the original Ladies Restroom from the movie theater. The lack of paint in certain areas made it easy to identify where fixtures were before they were so unceremoniously ripped out.
On the back wall, there was a square paper towel holder. Next to that is a long line that demarcates where the stalls were separated from the rest of the room. On the left hand wall there was a wall mounted sink, and above that is two vertical lines about a foot long and 15 inches apart. We think they mark the location of the art modern bathroom vanity lights that were on either side of a mirror.
Bare Bones
After the sink was removed, we tore out some moldy sheet rock and 3/4 inch thick styrofoam (and proceeded to spray down the walls with copious amounts of bleach). This left firing strips on the cement and stucco walls. We used these to recycle some paneling from upstairs, flipping the paneling to its back side for some interesting texture and to hide the tell tale striping.
Next we plumbed in an acrylic laundry sink from a garage sale. We salvaged a small, white metal shelf to use next to the sink for cleaning supplies and a dish drain. Next to that, we re-purposed a boltless shelving unit. It had a manufacture defect, rendering half of the vertical legs useless, and we never got around to returning it. We were able to use all of the shelves for this purpose, instead. Next to that is a strange rolling cart we found in the back, and, last but not least, we used a white wire shelving unit. Because we live in a cold climate, we added a pellet stove to heat our entire office.
Pretty Time
Its, of course the accessories that make the personality of a kitchen. For the walls, we scavenged the miss-mixed paint at the local hardware store, and got an ivory and a blue ("Prussian Prince") for about 5 bucks a can. These colors went nicely with the bait shop green on the original walls still exposed. All the artwork came from garage sales, ranging in price from the free Van Gogh prints to a whopping $6 for the rustic, but original, folk art oil painting (Frankly, the wood frame is worth that much).
We dug through our remnant box and found green vinyl and blue check fabric from previous projects. Careful cutting allowed for covering of unsightly shelving and an ugly black waste water pipe. The garage sale dish drain posed a interesting problem, visa vi, the "draining" part. Our solution was to place it in a nifty green plastic paint tray, purchased from the home improvement store for 75 whole cents.
When we actually started moving kitchen stuff into this space, we quickly realized that one tall shelf would not suffice. After digging around we found a gray industrial shelf that needed a home. It became the pantry, and the white shelf was relocated next to the sink for dishes. Around the actual cooking area, we splurged for a padded sheet of vinyl in a warm cork pattern for $15.
Lastly, for seating, we re-purposed a metal card table and chairs that originally had a home on a Victorian screen porch. It was covered with the floral shower curtain and painted at an earlier time, and coincidentally, it worked for the style of this project. The white, Italian bowl was a fun auction purchase for one buck. Now, we have a pleasant space to cook and eat in while we wait to make a real kitchen, sometime in the future.