60. That was then, this is now…

April 16, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 21 Comments

Things are looking pretty in the Apple Hill Cottage Kitchen. Amazing, but true. Excitement abounds. We can actually see over the mountain top — we might even be descending through the slippery slope of final details and finish carpentry! This past weekend not only did I do a load of dishes in my new sink, the next evening we did a load of dishes in the newly installed dishwasher. Life is good.

In the last post I promised some pictures. The tarps are still on the floor, protecting its new beauteousness, and some cabinet doors aren’t yet in place. The tile backsplash isn’t in yet, and neither is the stove. That is actually the next project. We are trading stoves and bringing the electric stove to Pittsburgh and taking my much-beloved gas convection oven to Apple Hill. Also I want to preface some of these photos with this: You will see a lot of green. That is because we painted the whole wall to the left of the sink. But once the tile backsplash goes in (small subway tile — American Olean in Biscuit) the only visible green on that side will be above the cabinet.

So for your entertainment, I’m also including some pictures (of the same spaces) that were taken in August of 2011, right after the cottage became ours.

This…

Cabinets and woodwork are Sherwin Williams Steamed Milk semi-gloss

is now this!

Yes, we took out the little room that was the pantry, so half the wall you see in the first photo is now gone.

This…

is now this.

The cabinet at the far left will eventually be put on the wall and used as part of floor to ceiling bookcase for cookbooks, bowls, tins, etc.

This…

is now this.

We had several landmark events this past week, but one of the best was water in the new faucet coming out beautifully into the new sink…
First water from a new faucet
And another was actually installing some cabinets that have been sitting around everywhere since last summer! In fact, here are just some random shots.

That Was Then, This Is Now

Not Just Spray Paint: a DIY Oil Rubbed Bronze Finish

ceiling is painted Sherwin Williams Steamed Milk.

Hardware, $250, from House of Antique Hardware. This also includes the hardware on the built-in cabinet.

And my favorite —

No plumber’s butt here.
No plumber’s gut either!
It’s a good thing too, or he wouldn’t have fit.

59. Road Trip for Soapstone

April 1, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 8 Comments

We spent weeks, months, selecting a kitchen counter top.

I looked online at Countertops 101; I looked at the big box stores; I read articles about all the different materials we could use for our countertop — the pros and cons of each. While I was considering this, Consumer Reports came out with a timely article on what was the best, and I read the article five times. I even took a quiz — what kind of countertop should YOU have in your kitchen?

I’m not sure that this is normal…

Soapstone was my pick early on — I just needed to convince Mr. H. C. of its amazing and beautiful qualities. There’s nothing like a firsthand look at the gorgeous stuff, so last fall we visited Bucks County Soapstone in Perkasie, PA.

Bucks County Soapstone

Everything in their showroom highlights soapstone — even the floor at the entrance is soapstone tile.

Perhaps you would like one of these cute little basin sinks?

Or a wonderful soapstone laundry tub?

Mr. H. C. fell in love. And once we saw their hand crafted sinks we knew we were going to give away our already purchased $30 ivory porcelain sink and buy one of these:

Well, maybe not quite that fancy…but I suggest that a visit here — and a short talk with the owner, Scott Seuren — will convince you of the beauty of a soapstone countertop and sink. Just sayin’…

Road Trip

From the time they received our plans to when it was ready for pickup was three weeks. I had this week off from work, so we planned a road trip across Pennsylvania.

We left Henry looking out the window — six hours in the truck was almost too much for us, let alone Henry, whose vehicular limit seems to be about 60 minutes.

Truthfully, it was a long boring ride across the PA turnpike. The landscape is still brown and ugly from winter and the road went on and on…

We perked up when we landed at our B&B — The Fox and Hound. The innkeepers were perky, the room was nice, and the breakfast was good — all for a hundred bucks — which is about what you would pay for an impersonal, adequate hotel room. We try to stay in B&Bs whenever we can.

Bucks County is beautiful and certainly deserves another trip — or a vacation even — in warmer weather. The little town of New Hope is charming, but by the time we got out on the town on a Tuesday evening, all the little touristy shoppes were closed (which was a good thing for the budget). So we made do with $3 stouts, and burgers and pork tacos at the local brew pub, the Triumph Brewery. Just what truck-weary travelers needed.

The next morning we were at Bucks County Soapstone by 10:15. I wandered around the showroom, snapping photos, and talking to Scott, while Mr. H. C. hung around with the guys in the shop finding out tips for installation and loading the truck.

The guys in the shop built this handy dandy A-frame so we could safely haul our precious cargo.

No road trip is complete without lunch at the local diner, and we found a great one!

The owner made Mr. H. C. a double chocolate milk shake and he was in Milkshake Heaven! With a Delicious Reuben sandwich, he was so full, he left his pickle uneaten. I was astonished. He NEVER leaves a pickle! “There are priorities,” he said. (Long ago when Mr. H. C. was called Mikey, he was also known as the fastest milkshake drinker in the East…)

Aren’t you excited to see photos of the finished product? So are we, but that will have to wait. In the meantime, here are the top ten reasons you would want to buy a soapstone countertop:

Top Ten Reasons to Buy Soapstone

10. It is a naturally occurring material with minimal processing and as little or as much upkeep as you want.

9. Do you want natural gray? Do you want polished black? You can have either. And you can even change your mind.

8. It is very DIY friendly — unlike every other countertop material out there (with the possible exception of tile–but Mr. H.C. said absolutely no tile countertops.)

7. It scratches easily, yes; BUT the scratches can just be sanded out using regular 150 grit sandpaper and a circular motion.

6. It lasts for years and years and years.

5. Most soapstone dealers are smaller, family or individually run places, so you aren’t supporting the Big Box stores. Given this factor, you get personal attention.

4. The stone is heat absorbent — you can set your hot pans right on it; as well as rolling out pastries and kneading bread and generally being a substitute for marble…

3. It is naturally anti-bacterial.

2. There is NO chance of radiation or radon entering your home with soapstone.

1. It is so beautiful!

I promise pictures in the next post…

57. The Crooked Little House

March 26, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 5 Comments

Yes, we’re trying to straighten up a crooked little house — and it’s driving Mr. H. C. bonkers. This is a man who has to have pieces meet within a thirty-second of an inch. And that level bubble? Well it has to be right between those lines, as close to the middle as it can be. Poor guy. Some days he just shakes his head. Some days he wonders aloud why we ever got into this. And some days when the bird clock whistles 5:00, he just goes and quietly gets a glass of wine.
Is it level?
For the record, the nursery rhyme goes like this:

There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile,
He bought a crooked cat who caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a crooked little house.*

black and white checkerboard VCT
Hmm… No mention of a crooked little wife. That’s good, I think. And we’ve found plenty of crooked little mice — all dead — thank goodness. But I was beginning to wonder if the black and white checkerboard tile I had planned was wise on a crooked floor…

If I had a crooked sixpence for every time Mr. H. C. complained about the walls not being level, and the floor not being level, and the doors not being level, I could probably buy a crooked cat. Oh wait, we have one already…
Sleeping cat
This was the weekend that we were putting down the underlayment for the floor. For those of you who don’t speak the lingo, that is 4×8 sheets of thin plywood type stuff that doesn’t bend around crooked walls or over crooked floors. It makes a nice, smooth surface for laying linoleum or tile. Mr. H.C. is a genius at making crooked things look straight, so I wasn’t too worried about how it would look — I was more concerned about his state of mind while the floor was on its way to looking good.

The first piece went down easily; the second was more difficult because it had to have many specific holes cut out for the plumbing. And then, I heard him say, “Wow, this is really pretty square.”

I made him repeat the sentence.

And later, as he was cutting the last piece and I was nailing the others down, he said it again!

Almost 3000 staples went into this underlayment, and my shoulder is feeling the pain… (I really do work sometimes!)

Now, we’re not to the point of throwing out the level, and the rest of the house may still be crooked, but the kitchen is Straight and Square.

And ready for checkerboard tile.

*“There was a Crooked Man” originates from the English Stuart history of King Charles I. The “crooked man” is said to allude to Scottish General Sir Alexander Leslie, who signed a treaty that secured Scotland’s freedom. “The crooked stile” represents the border wedged between England and Scotland. The English and Scots agreement is represented within the line “They all lived together in a crooked little house.” The rhyme refers to the uneasy peace between the two countries. (Source is many websites that all give the same history.)