This Old Lair...
yes, cousins, it's another thrilling chapter in the never ending renovation of Stately Sad Old Goth Manor...
Between last weekend and the one just past, I managed to get all three countertops relaminated with the new Formica. It's an interesting change from the maple butcher block pattern that has greeted us every morning, noon and night for the past twenty five years. It's a plain grey surface, that could be described much like the color of the sky on a cold and cloudy winter day, just before it snows, if one was of a poetic bent, with a matte finish and just the slightest texture. It really sets off the colors in the floor, which is a laminate from Germany that looks like weathered blocks of slate. We installed a new sink, a dark slate color composite granite number, nine inches deep, with new fixtures of a dark, oiled bronze finish, in a style much befitting a provincial house of old Europe, but it looks just fine in our old goth country house. Hooking up the plumbing was a little adventure in itself, as those who control such things must have decided to change the size of all the fittings and connecty bits in the fifteen years since I last played at such foolery, so I had to make a few extra trips to the orange hardware store to cobble together all the pieces, but it works, no leaks, so that's good enough for me.
All that's left is to finish up some trim work on the shelf that holds up the over the range microwave/rangehood (see previous chapter), put up a new shelf over the utility counter for all our cookbooks with some hooks to hold all our old and weird cooking utensils, some of which, were it a few hundred years ago, could easily be mistaken for some sort of ritual abortion tools or at least left over mystical things from some alchemist's laboratory... also the trim around the door going into the dining room, which will eventually be graced with a pair of extra tall saloon type doors, set with beveled glass and some sort of interesting sandblasted patterns. But that's for after the holidays.
I think this is the first Thanksgiving or Christmas in years that I haven't been finishing up a major project at the last minute. I don't know what I'll do for the next ten days or so before The Day of The Turkey. Maybe I'll clean and polish the oak floor in the dining room... or maybe not. I'll let you know.
I'm going to go stare at the new kitchen for a while more before I crawl into the coffin for the night.
Be well.

pearls before swine...