Answers About DIY
annasbeta replied to your photoset “MY KITCHEN IS READY.”
Dear Sam, what is Barkeeper’s Friend? Is it a commercially sold cleaning agent or home made remedy? If the second, can you/have you posted the recipe? Thanks!
It’s a commercial cleaner. It comes in powder, spray-foam, or liquid versions; it’s supposed to be an all-purpose home cleaner, though I’ve found it isn’t always the best depending on what you’re cleaning. I really like the powdered form, but I bought the liquid form by mistake, and the liquid form isn’t so great for countertops or grease (it leaves a weird residue on the former and doesn’t do much at all on the latter), so it has somewhat languished in my kitchen cupboard.
I figured the worst that would happen is that it wouldn’t work on the under-fridge gunk and I’d have to resort to baking soda or bleach, but if I used the liquid stuff I didn’t like much anyway at least I wouldn’t be wasting something that could be better used elsewhere.
me-ya-ri replied to your photoset “MY KITCHEN IS READY. READY FOR A NEW FRIDGE that does not leak...”
My immediate response to that first picture was "EEEEERRRRGHHHH!" while making a horrified face and wanting to run away. So, um, Good job on fixing it! O.O
That was very much my reaction too :D Along with “Hey, I bet I could try the barkeeper’s friend on this...”
daroos replied to your photoset “MY KITCHEN IS READY.”
good job that was hero's work bro
I felt pretty heroic by the end, NGL. :D
rsfcommonplace replied to your photoset “MY KITCHEN IS READY.”
Better... much better. I hope the new fridge fits in the gap!
Oh, I measured very carefully. MOTHERFUCKER HAD BETTER. Though if it doesn’t that’s really just an excuse to rip out the ugly counter/cabinets surrounding it.
Mind you, I moved Death Fridge to the dining room, and I’m kind of digging having it there? I might put the fridge and microwave in the dining room and put more storage or counter space where the fridge normally goes.
theotherguysride replied to your photo “I decided...”
I actually really like that idea. Maybe another place that a frame wouldn't go amiss? It looks really good as an accent piece.
It’s a thought, the frame thing, but I’m worried I’d bark my shins on it, it’s a somewhat narrow hallway at that point. Maybe I’ll paint a frame around it sometime :D
catlinyemaker replied to your post “Out of pure curiosity...”
Oh, I'd be so tempted to wall off awkward column A entirely, enclosing the small space behind it to create a super-sekkrit passage/cabinet. Access panels left as an exercise for the reader. ;)
i-ddpej replied to your post “Out of pure curiosity...”
Interesting! Personally I probably would have tried to find shelving that would fit behind the column (two sets, one facing TAFKAMW and one facing into the book nook) , just so the space there could be useful for *something*.
If it were further from the wall, I would probably be looking at one of these options, but that’s the awkward thing -- it’s only 20″ from the wall, and an awkward 25″ long, so there’s a dead space in the middle even if you wanted to use the front and back, which looks awkward. It’s difficult to even get a roller in there to paint that side of the column; I could (and probably will) use it for print storage for framed stuff that’s not on my walls, but that’s about it. Not big enough to be a secret passage and not really wide enough to accommodate shelving easily, I’m afraid.
I’ve looked at photos of other units and what they did with it, and the most common response to the column is to put a bookshelf in front of it on the hallway side, and to use the “nook” it helps to create for an entertainment center. I like the former option for the outside, but for the nook, which faces west in my case, putting a TV there isn’t advisable. So I’m turning it into a mini library.
shinyrock6498 replied to your post “Out of pure curiosity...”
On second look, how do you get into the kitchen? Is that a sliding door?
It’s just an open doorway -- it’s not very visible from the plan, but you can see that the wall color changes at one point, where there’s no cabinets, and that’s the doorway (it’s the doorway you see in images of Minty Junior).
That wall, with the doorway in it, is the one I plan to knock out to enlarge the kitchen eventually -- I’ll take the wall out, extend the counter into the dining room a bit to make a breakfast bar, and then install over-island cabinetry for more storage (can’t move the island because the sink’s there). But that’s probably a couple of years at least in the future, so I painted it in the meantime.
rineechan replied to your post “Out of pure curiosity...”
This is super duper awesome! Thank you for taking the time. It also makes a lot of things make a lot more sense (your comments about the awkwardly placed columns, e.g.). But I'm stiiiiil super confused about the placement of the Key-frame-homage-to-Murder-Wall. Or at least I'm very bad at figuring out where you might have stood when taking a picture of it. Either way thanks a lot and CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS AWESOME A FLAT!!! West-n-south facing windows are such a treat!
Oh, that entry way, the photos of the framed red? That’s the bit that’s not quite right in the drafting. In the image you can see the front door enters from the east, straight shot down the hallway to the living room. In the actual floorplan, that I was just too lazy to draft, the front door opens from the north, and then you walk in and make an immediate right turn to proceed down the hallway from the east. So that photo is taken facing east, in the entry vestibule that’s not visible on the groundplan.
I intend to do a more accurate plan eventually (I think the living room is also about 2′ too wide because I left the vestibule off) but I could only take so many measurements when I was there before I owned the place, and I was more concerned with getting the spacing/size of the windows and the location of the freestanding column and the wall column right.
It might be something I do this weekend, depending on how fast painting goes.

















