Category:

if you were stranded on an island and could only take one celine dion album ...

10/2/2012

... how would you kill yourself?

hahahaha. what a great way to start a discussion about kitchen islands. :[| fu manchu mustachioed man does not approve of my joke. he really likes celine. and "titanic" is his favorite movie.

but no, i need your opinion. you know my kitchen? well, if you don't — this is it:

clearly, i've unpacked some stuff. so it looks like someone lives there now.

what i need is a kitchen island. because i have no counter space.

but i'm trying to pick one. that's where YOU come in.

that cabinet/sink area is 32.5" long. i'm thinking my island should match about that size.

why? so it doesn't sit in front of the fridge as to where i can't open it. or in front of the bathroom (the door is just barely out of the left side of the picture.) as to where i can't go into it.

i also think it should be on wheels. so if it gets in the way i can move it.

i also think it should have a collapsable flap for dining at while seated on barstools.

i have a front-runner in mind, but i'm not going to tell you which one it is.

which one would you choose?

this one's from crate and barrel. they have a delivery service, which is nice.

44.25"w by 20.5"/30.5"d by 36.5"h

$499

this one's from overstock.com. no delivery service, so i'd have to schlep it up the stairs myself. but it's on sale today. so i could always pull that $40 ups trick i did with the air conditioner. (where for just $40 a guy carried all 68 pounds of it from my nearest ups and up my stairs FOR me.)

43"w by 19"/28"d by 36.5"h

$215

this one's from safaviehome.com. there's a safavie home store in my neighborhood. i wonder if i bought it there if they deliver?

31.9"w by ?"/31.9"d by 32.7"h

$395, including stools

target.com this time. so same delivery conundrum.

this one also has an unfinished top so i'd have to seal it with something, possibly mineral oil.

32"w by ?"/32"d by 36"h

$249.99

this one, from jcpenney.com is the most interesting looking one. it's actually a steam-trunk bar with flip out flaps on the sides.

apparently, it's REALLY hard to put together.

and it has the same delivery problems of some of the others.

30"/60"w by 19"d by 41"h

$600

homedepot.com makes an appearance. which has the same delivery question as safavie home — since there's one in my neighborhood.

cool trash bin function in the back. no flip out.

38"w by 20"d by 34"h

$539

have you ever heard of ekitchenislands.com? me neither. but i like the trashcan cabinet. although there's no flip ledge. i'm assuming i'd have to figure out delivery.

35"w by 17.5"d by 35"h

$229.95

last one, from the same place as the above. it also doesn't have the flip out ledge for barstools. but it comes with that marble inset.

43"w by 17.71"w by 35.83"h

$360.99

so, what say you? which one do YOU want to see in the background of all my cooking posts?

and, yes, you can find more on pinterest.

5 Comments

moving in day

9/15/2012

2 Comments

what did i do while guys shoved shit into my new apartment? i guarded the truck.

not from passerby or thieves, but from cops and meter maids.

not sure if you can see it, but there's a "no parking" sign there.

even a sign that proclaims that if you dare to idle over 3 minutes it's a $2000 fine.

one that says "no standing at any time" is being obscured by the truck.

without supervision, i was left with this:

furniture in the wrong rooms. boxes stacked so i couldn't even get to my fridge. my purse. my toilet.

they really wanted to leave because of the truck situation.

and i was overwhelmed. so i let them. crazy sauce.

several hot and sweaty hours later, i had this:

and it's all laid out according to my plan.

BUT. i won't have room for the island. upon lamenting about this, a friend suggested i turn the china cabinet along the wall with the heater and mount the tv to the wall on an arm.

i think i'm going to try that layout today.

the other thing i'm upset about is the chaise to the sofa.

i can't lay on that sofa. i'm a tall girl.

my mom suggested i get an ottoman to put at the end of it, kind of like an extension.

not a bad idea. i think i'll take a look at west elm to see if there's anything that might go well with my existing sofa.

i really wish i could find a way to make the chaise work. any ideas?

i'll cook the winner a chicken dinner. (5 points if you know the reference.)

things i have left to do are finish unpacking, get an island, figure out what to do with the boxes, buy bed lifts, and hire a handyman.

i need him to do a few things: hang my shelves above my sofa, mount my tv to the wall, hang blinds in two windows, and build me a storage ledge over the front door.

again, any suggestions?

i'm going to attempt curtain rods on my own. if that goes well, maybe i'll go for the blinds. but the other stuff involves being able to put weight on things. and i'm not sure i'm up to that ...

2 Comments

spaced planning

9/13/2012

0 Comments

when it comes to space planning in a crazy small space: measure twice, write it down once. because if you're like me, you get home and don't remember what all the measurements corresponded to. i did a lot of "feet or inches?" when i got home.

but, i'm getting ahead of myself. i'm downsizing. not by choice, but my location. i recently took a job in manhattan from north carolina.

and went from this ...

... to this.

how do i plan to have tomorrow's move-in go smoothly? well, i put some skills i failed at and then later retook for a passing grade to work. good work, i hope.

so, here it is: rachel's space planning 101 for small nyc apartments.

you'll need:
a tape measurer
graph paper
a pen or pencil
scissors
a ruler
a camera
patience/wine

frist thing you do is measure all your furniture in the 1200 sq ft lap of luxury that you're leaving. be sure to get the width, length, heighth and depth of every piece, including rugs. and if it has doors or drawers on it, measure with those open as well.

then you find a tiny small apartment to live in. when they hand you the keys, excitedly run over to measure every nook an cranny.

make sure you measure the wall space between windows and how much space a door takes up when open. why? the space between windows is positive space: you can use it — but there are a lot of pieces you can't put in front of a window. the space a door takes up is negative space: you can't use it — the door is using it. (although if it's an interior door, you can always remove it.)

measure the ceiling height, this is important to know when figuring out the btu output rating of the window ac unit you'll need. plus, most storage solutions build UP. since you can't build DOWN into the floor.

look around for odd spaces or spaces you'd normally not use. chances are you'll have to find a way to use them. measure them.

figure out how much space is between the window and the floor. and is there a strange, long 4 inch heating element that runs the length of your room? that affects furniture placement. measure it.

draw a rudimentary skecth of the room with your notes.

and take pictures while you're there for goodness sake. of everything. even if it seems elementary at the time.

then: draw your room to scale.

i did every square equals half a foot. if i did less, the room was too small for me to play with. more, and i'd need bigger sheets of graph paper.

you'll have to figure out your own scale conversion.

remember: you can always tape sheets together.

tip:
i found it helpful to number the feet around the edges for measuring reference.

i also used a ruler. it made me feel more professional.

then you cut yourself out your pieces of furniture to scale, based on your measurements and you're in business.

always remember door clearances and movement allowances. here's where I first landed:

living room

i was ecstatic. i'd found ways to bring a shit ton of my furniture.

then, i remembered i'd wanted to get an island or other counterspace for the kitchen.

remember the kitchen? yeah, tiny.

so, i needed to make sure i had space for this:

island from C&B

if i wanted that island, i'd be giving up the chaise attached to my sofa.

so be it.

i'd even fallen into the same trap in my bedroom. i just turned the wardrobe the other way.

bedroom

so, i threw that bad boy on there.

it looked nice, it looked like it fit.

so i went to bed.

then i woke up in a panic.

of course all that furniture wasn't going to fit. the apartment would be unlivable.

because I had't taken into consideration me.

i need at least two feet to walk, more comfortably three feet.

i'd be crawling over shit with that plan.

so here's where i netted out:

but each and every time i liked a design, i took a pic. i tried scenarios with more furniture than i ended up with and scenarios with less.

but i knew it when i saw it. and we'll see if my multiple games of tetris paid off as guys shove shit into my apartment all day tomorrow.

look for more small space solutions coming soon. 'cause i've been freaking out ;)

0 Comments

if you were stranded on an island and could only take one celine dion album ...

moving in day

spaced planning

Rachel

Archives

One-Off Topics