a peek inside the fishbowl

There’ll be a lot of reno-related posts here for the next while, but as far as I can tell most of you don’t seem to mind. There seem to be an awful lot of curious cats who are following along. I’ve had people stop me in the street to talk to me about what’s going on with the reno! Hilarious.

As some of you know, some of the freelance writing I do is home-related. Just this past year I’ve written home profiles for Our Homes Ottawa, Ottawa Magazine, and Ottawa Citizen’s Style Magazine. These features are more or less the same kind of idea across the board. I am assigned a home to profile and am given the homeowner’s contact info. Arrangements are made for me to meet them at their home for a tour and a chat, and then I write the article. It is one of the highlights of my writing work. It’s fascinating, really, to get to know people in this way. Home design is so utterly personal. Each person is different, each home is unique, everyone has their priorities and wants and needs and dreams and no two are ever the same. I love it.

I’ve written enough of these pieces to be able to spot some trends (I’ll be writing about a few of those later) and to be able to make some general observations. For example: for many women, the kitchen comes at the very top of their priority list.

Why is that? Why do we love kitchens so much? Is it because we spend so much time in our kitchens? Is it because we grew up watching and learning from our own mothers?

The last piece I wrote (I don’t want to scoop myself so I won’t get into detail here) was about a fabulous renovated bungalow. The mom and I joked as she stood tall behind her glorious sparkling quartz countertop. She was standing exactly as if she was the captain at the prow of her ship; ramrod straight, hands on the counter, ready to lead the troops into action.

Every time I interview someone for one of those home profiles they tell me that the kitchen is the heart of their home. Every time. And every time I try to find another way around that cliche while I’m writing the article. It’s cliche because it’s true.

So yes, the kitchen is important. Perhaps it’s because, as moms, providing for our families in this way is deeply ingrained. I know it is for me. To cook means to love. To cook is to give freely of yourself (even though it sure feels like a geeDEE chore sometimes). When you think about it, this way of life goes back to hunter-gatherer times. Who divided up the berries and the freshly-killed meat and made sure the offspring was taken care of? Geez. We are STILL doing that, aren’t we… albeit with better appliances. ;)

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Tuesday night is always meeting night, and it will be for the next 6-8 months.

That’s when Darryl, our construction manager, comes over and we talk about what’s been done that week, and what needs to get done in the upcoming week. I really like this system, because it ensures that we’re all on the same page and that we’re in regular communications.

Last week Darryl brought a custom kitchen builder guy for us to meet. We know very little about him, other than the fact that he came recommended to us. David our architect was there too, so there were five of us at the table. The knowledge bank at the table was awesome (I am not including Mark and I in the knowledge part of course because we are embarrassingly naive about everything) but it felt good knowing these people were on our team and working hard to create good solutions for us. We extended the kitchen a tiny bit to make space for cabinetry. And we talked about the pantry ALONE for 20 minutes; discussing shelving and options and height and door style and spacing between shelves. Oy.

I was asked to show a photo of a kitchen I liked. And so we got out the laptop, fired up my Pinterest boards, and loaded up this kitchen on the screen because it’s one I return to again and again.

I am pretty sure there was an umm and an uh huh heard somewhere around the table, and it quickly became apparent that this particular style of kitchen was over our budget. Why? Because the cabinetry is framed. Look at the photo again, and notice the detail around the bottom cabinetry: the space between the drawers, the exposed hinges. Framed cabinets are study, old skool things. Frameless cabinets (also called European style) have shelves that slide straight in, allow for more storage space, and have a contemporary appearance as a result of the doors meeting each other right at the ends. And they are cheaper. SO, we are going with frameless cabinets that have a classic door style. Make sense?

Really, what I was trying to show the kitchen guy was the cabinet door style, a simple white shaker-style cabinet door and a totally plain drawer door. So this is now closer to the cabinets we’re looking at, although with more traditional drawer and cabinet pulls.

The lesson here is bring your pictures to the table, because it might save you a whole bunch of time and money.

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ETA: Want to follow the reno as it unfolds? You can get updates in a few different ways:

• Follow the home and reno category here on the blog. All the blog posts will end up in that category and I’m trying to number them all as I go.
• Search and follow the #FishbowlReno hashtag on Twitter
• Peek at my growing set of photos on Flickr
• Follow my reno board on Pinterest

Please note that some of the content won’t be in all of these areas. For example, I like to take photos of the products we like while we’re combing Ottawa for the best deals on fixtures/tiles/furnishings. I might tweet out a few but they might not make it to the blog. So if you’re on Twitter and you’re a design nerd/renoholic who’s always looking for inspiration this might be a good option for you. :)