fredlet

but everything is about a hundred damn bucks or is something I would only use once every 10 years and have nowhere to put… and I don’t want to use those smelly sterno thingies.

This is the essence of what I want (and of course is unavailable):

This is a very good possibility…

but is out of stock at Amazon/Target until a bit late…(yes, I’ll keep looking around)
[ok, found it, but at a no name internet store... we'll see how that works out.]

This is the idea, but is kinda meh:

hmmm…maybe, but probably would take up the whole table:

Oh…and I think this is cute as hell, I really have no use for it:

I’m just sayin’…

Happy birthday to Hawk and Neville Longbottom!

When you find an apartment that you really love, do you start to think about what you could do to the place if you actually owned it?

I do love my apartment. Its got a lot of things both for it and against it (some moving to the other list as the years go by), but I still mostly love it.

In the Pro column, we have:
-hardwood floors – I don’t like wall to wall carpet…ever.
-1920’s cabinetry in the kitchen (well, sometimes this is a con as well) – but I adore the built ins that have actual character. There are no upper cabinets over the sink and the stove, I love that.
- I have 20 bazillion foot ceilings
- French doors in the closet in the Living Room
- Radiator. Its free, its efficient and it dries my clothes in record time.
- A garage space and a parking spot. This is actually a VERY recent development. As of August 1 I get a garage (4 year waiting list you, see) and the parking spot in front of it. That is a key feature to me being able to run to the grocery store at night and not have to worry about having to either: park 7 miles away or take 30 minutes to find a spot to park in this neighborhood.

Cons:
- ants – stupid, zombie, mutant, evil ants.
- its a lot farther from work than it used to be… in fact, since I started this job, I have flip flopped the living and working spots from when I moved to Oakland to be close to my job. Ah me.
- plaster and lathe walls. hanging anything is a nightmare. even little pictures.
- old wiring, I have the lame DSL because the infrastructure just won’t support anything higher.
- Radiator heating… its either arctic or Sahara during the time of year the radiator operates… pick one.
- the narrowest bedroom ever invented
- I am at the bottom end of the drain system in the building, but really, I haven’t seen a lot of problems lately… Tony, the super, is a miracle man.
-the kitchen floor is disgusting… all the time, no exceptions.
You can mop it, but doesn’t do shite. I’m almost tempted to put lino over it. Hmmm.. maybe a floating floor. I’ll get back to you on that.

Since I now have storage, I am going to settle myself in a little more snugly. I can put garage sale tubbies out there of stuff I want to recycle/sell/etc. I also can put items I don’t use as much out of the way… like car care stuff, my emergency supplies, the ice chest and outdoor thingies.
I think I can even get it to the point where I could get a Roomba and have everything up off the floor enough to let the little evil robot run around everywhere (and probably scare the bejeezus out of Bunny) and keep things cleaner without me vacuuming every other day.
I’d love to paint or do something to the walls, and while I wouldn’t mind doing the actual work; the re-painting before I move out eventually is something that makes me tired now, so, forget that.
If I owned the place (I’d definitely do something funky to the walls – beadboard or sponge-y paint stuff perhaps – tiled bathroom walls, etc.), I’d probably add more organize-y stuff in the bathroom where I have to drill into studs to hang them. The kitchen would get a new floor (pergo probably) because that #*&%#&@& saltillo tile is the most horrible thing ever to keep clean (and fugly to boot)… and actually, I’d replace the sink side of the kitchen cabinets, because they aren’t useful and I need a new stove and fridge anyway. The sink needs to be something like a farmhouse sink and putting the fridge in the corner next to the stove and the wall is a pain to get to and makes it work too hard when the oven is on.
Maybe one of those drawer dishwashers as well.
More outlets… natch.
Better windows and a ventilation system in the kitchen for cooking, but mostly I am pretty pleased with this place.

I am going to get a little chest freezer soon. I am sort of bewildered by the fact that I am so set on this purchase. well, not from a practical point of view, but that it seems like such a grown up purchase. Someone said, “but what about a car? that’s a grown up purchase.” Well, sort of, but just about everyone needs a car. True, it is a big purchase, but it isn’t necessarily a forward thinking purchase.) This way I can buy bacon, cornish game hens, tiny turkeys, chicken flats on sale, etc. and have them for when I get the urge to make some crazy meal on short-ish notice (there is defrosting time involved – and speaking of cooking I think Boeuf Bourguignon is the next dish up to bat.).

But really, if money were no object, I’d have the damn place taken care of by EcoLabs to get rid of those damn ants.

The Daily Bun: iBun, originally uploaded by fredlet.

Bunnycat and sock monkey sheet.

kitchen37, originally uploaded by thequietsmirk.

that fridge…oh my.
yummy.

kitchen corner, originally uploaded by robot•jumping•rope.

(from noodling around on Flickr)

kitchen 1924, originally uploaded by Love the 214.

(from noodling around on Flickr)