I Should Have Seen It Coming

The Boss got some unexpected, good news at work a few weeks ago. With the little "windfall" that the good news carried, we decided that it was time to finally replace our very messed up floor in the kitchen. About five years ago, for a quick and inexpensive fix, we laid adhesive tiles down over the existing floor. But in those five years, we've had a couple spills (heh, heh!), some leaky faucets, a jammed ice-maker which resulted in a leaking freezer, and lots and lots of regular everyday foot traffic. The kitchen, after all, is smack in the center of the house and bears the brunt of all the wear and tear that our Gang dishes out.

While I had The Boss in "re-do" mode, I suggested that this might be an excellent time to paint the kitchen. We'd planned to do it back in January, but things at work have been very fast-paced and high pressured for The Boss so it just kept sliding to the end of the "Honey Do" list - right down there with replacing that bathroom faucet that drips and drips and drips and drips . . . .  :)

So, this weekend, The Boss began demo'ing the kitchen floor, doing as much prep work as he could do with five kids running all around him at the same time.  While he was demo'ing, my creative wheels started spinning.  By Sunday morning, I was smokin' with ideas. I shared my favorite one with him, and by Sunday night, cabinets had been moved and counter-tops sawed off. (I never would have seen that coming, he's NEVER moved so quickly on a spontaneous change of plans for a home-improvement project!)

Then, when he was done working for the night and we'd finally crashed together on the couch to decompress, he looks over and says, "Are you sure you're going to be okay with moving that pantry into the hallway?" I should have seen it coming. He does that second-guessing thing in the early stages of almost every home project we undertake. In fact, the paint color we finally agreed upon is a direct result of his second-guessing. (In that particular instance, he was right. The light was funky the day we made the original choice.)

I should have seen it coming . . .

AAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!

Why does he do that?! Lay that on me at 10:50 p.m?

So, guess what I spent most of last night and the early morning hours of today doing?

Yup. Re-arranging kitchen cabinets and pantry space in my head. In fact, in one of my crazy, dis-jointed dreams, my friend Comfy Denim was trying to make tea in my kitchen and she couldn't find the tea bags.

I haven't come up with a "GREAT" plan for how to re-arrange things and re-organize my kitchen. But now, you can bet that little else will be on my mind, straining my powers of strategy and analysis. All my energies will be focused toward optimizing efficiency and home management from the hub of our home.

I should have seen it coming. As I wandered around the kitchen Friday and Saturday, I kept wondering what all my GREAT! FANTASTIC! RE-DO ON THE CHEAP! ideas would mean to our daily routine and traffic patterns to move that big red pantry.

I kept coming back to how nicely it fit into the hallway corner. But then I'd wonder how I'd feel about stepping around the corner to get to all my cooking and baking supplies. 

Thinking about how nice and open and welcoming the workspace would feel with the shortened counters and re-arranged/re-purposed cabinets. But wondering how long I'd be able to tolerate the inconvenience of the hugely-altered footprint of the kitchen.

Thinking I can get used to anything eventually, that I am usually good with inconvenience, once it becomes part of my regular routine. But knowing that I have one or two particular Gang members that are really put off by change and worse, by inconvenience.

But the deed is done. The cabinets are moved. The counter has been sawed off. The change is irrevocable. There's no going back. My kitchen re-do is underway. As long as the coffepot remains in a highly central and accessible location, I guess we can get used to anything!

"Before" pics and "Afters" will be posted . . . .