Small Project

My favorite projects are the ones that I can complete with materials that I already have on hand. It's not often that this happens...I always seem to need something. And on top of the money thing, it's just not convenient to drive all the way to Madison and back just for a few small things (although we do have a hardware store in town that I love as well and hope to someday be able to support more often...)


So the breakfast bar counter top has been making me crazy. Stuff piles up there all the time (mail, especially) and it's a hassle to clear our counter to make room to eat or do laptop stuff. 


Before:

And so I cut and painted a piece of scrap wood and found some anchors and L brackets in the garage and mounted it this afternoon.

After:

Ahhhh. No more chaos. I like it much better now.


I made the shelf really narrow because I didn't want it to take up much space. I have been searching for a good canister for my coffee beans and haven't found one yet, so for now I'm just going to put my beans in a tall and skinny mason jar. I think that will be more fun than a canister, anyway. I like the noise that beans make against glass. It's the little things in life...


So the other reason I wanted the stuff off the counter is because we are going to be replacing it soon with one that is longer and a little more substantial. I'm having a hard time figuring out what I want the function to be, though. Kitchen island on wheels that I can wheel out of the corner? Hmm, that seems like a hassle to me. Plus I already have enough counter space in the kitchen and wouldn't need one to move around. I thought about putting a tall and narrow cabinet and the end of the new counter to act like a leg, but again- I already have a lot of storage in the kitchen and don't need more (lucky, i know!). So Maybe I will just do a counter with a narrow shelf at the end, underneath. But I really have nothing to store there, so that's kind of pointless as well. OKAY, I think I have an idea- maybe I will just have a "leg" almost as wide as the counter, inset a little bit, at the end, with a tea towel bar on it and then have Moonshadow's food and water dish on one side and Clementine's food and water dish on the other side. I think that might be the way to go. Then they'll each get one of these on their side and it will be super cute. Sounds good.

This is what it looks like now and I hate it. I hated it since the minute I saw it when we viewed the house:

So the plan is to get a butcher block counter top that's about 16" longer than the current one and also a pendant light overhead. I can't decide on the pendant light, though. Do I get one small one kind of centered with the corner? Or 3 small ones (that would be too busy...) or 2 small ones (2 would look weird) or one bigger one, centered with the couter top? UGH. OH wait! Maybe I could do a wall mounted swing arm lamp. Like a pharmacy style one. Ack, I don't know- I always pictured a pendant. Any ideas?


Oh and PS- I also want to replace all the hardware in the kitchen and get new lighting throughout, but that won't be happening for awhile yet. Damn that thing called "money".