venting

My poor husband.

My poor, poor husband.

Just when he thinks I’m happy with a room or the changes we’ve made, I want to change it up again or add a new element.  He has yet to snap.

It might be coming soon.

We moved into our house in August 2007 and in May 2008 paid a company lots of money to reface our kitchen cabinets.  I regret this considerably.  Not just because of the money we spent, that we could have done something ourselves that was cheaper and more individual, or that the day after we signed the contract we found out we were pregnant, but that we don’t really feel drawn to them or in love with them like we thought we would.

Sighhhh.

I have the tendancy to want to start making changes to every room immediately after moving in.  I’m very impatient.  So we changed the cabinets and I learned my lesson.  Thanks.  I’m now coming to understand the value of living in a house and getting to know it, slowly making changes and doing things at a pace that doesn’t feel rushed.  I’m learning that there is beauty in the process, not just the end results.  I didn’t get that until a couple years ago.

So here’s what I want to do now.

Well, here’s what the area looks like right now:

That microwave has to be a fire hazard with how low it hangs.  And I’m not a fan of the refrigerator and oven being side-by-side, but with our kitchen setup, there is no other way to do it.  I’d love to rip those cabinets out, have the vent above the oven, and open up that whole area.  It’s a little cramped right now.

We’d probably have to buy a smaller microwave and hide it in a cabinet here (a la Young House Love):

Which shouldn’t be a problem since that’s our plates and bowls storage and we can put most of them on the open shelving since you want to put the most often used items there so they don’t collect dust.  And in our kitchen (like most, I’m assuming) that would be the plates.  Especially those IKEA bowls.  We go through tons of those every day.

It’s completely normal to keep a bag of sidewalk chalk in your kitchen cabinet, right?  

This whole idea is going to happen, I can feel it.  I know Chris is all for taking the cabinets down since he hates them more than I do, but all the work that comes after that might be a little more than he bargained for.  But I’m sure it will be fine.  And if you’re not convinced at how awesome it’s going to be, here’s a few more vent inspiration pictures.

(source)

(source)

And if that didn’t convince you, I don’t care, it’s not your house anyway.