Upstairs, Downstairs

With apologies to the British drama series of the same name, Mr. G and I have  been living a very "Upstairs, Downstairs" existence over the past three + months. For the most part I am in the sewing room during the day, or in the kitchen; while he's been sequestered in his basement-level woodworking shop. Unlike the series, he's not down there because he's servant or staff but rather because he's consumed with  cabinet making for our soon-to-be kitchen re-do! It's exciting! The upstairs activities of sewing and cooking have taken an interesting turn as of late. While in the sewing room, and stitching away, I have been watching cooking shows on several streaming networks. Most recently it's been The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. Every once in a while I have to stop and jot down a recipe to make later. As a result, we've been eating well lately! These Wafflemaker Hash Browns proved to be intriguing; I had to give them a try. You might want to download this recipe, we loved it; it's a winner! I'll be posting a few more of the latest tried-and-true recipes in the days to come. 

Current scenes from downstairs, the basement workshop. The cabinetry is all made from solid Hard Maple. He's running out of space down there for all the face frames, drawers, raised panels and piles of materials. This is a big job; it's been much more time consuming than he ever imagined! He has created every panel, every dovetail joint, every drawer and every frame one at a time. Any space that's not populated with lumber is piled high with boxes of drawer slides, hinges, hardware and other supplies. The best representation of the accurate color of these cabinets is in the picture below. Even though the color is off in this collage you can see the enormous amount of work that he's put in downstairs since the first of this year. All of these will receive a clear finish coat before moving upstairs in the next few months for the big reveal!

This photo of our laundry room reveals the true, over-all color and look, it served as the audition space for what we thought we'd like in the kitchen. It's so much lighter and brighter than what we had; we loved the change and voted to move on with it! We are updating our countertops (as shown above), light fixtures and all of the appliances as well, it's time for a whole new look! But, since it's going to be the same old people living here, I'm trying to 'up' my game with what's set on the table come mealtime, it's the least I can contribute. 😉

Wish me luck!

Life is Good!