We have this 8×9′ pantry that’s been completely gutted for about three years. I’ve gotta say, it’s served us very well this way as storage for our tools while we renovated the kitchen.

But the time has come for adios storage and hola pantry. It’s very exciting, to say the least.

So today we actually sat down and calculated the plans. We’ve been brainstorming ideas forever—things like lots of cupboards, a small sink and, best of all, room for the washer and dryer, which currently are in the basement.

Brainstorming is the easy part.

The hard part is the actual putting pencil to paper, the making of detailed plans. This is especially true for us since we’re not always the best of communicators. I have so many great visions in my head but lack the technical terminology to express them.

“Can this cupboard go like this. And then jut out like that?”

Sometimes that just doesn’t cut it.

But here’s what we’ve got going so far:

We’re big on re-purposing. We saved this fir tongue-and-groove when we added on to our exterior front porch and needed to redo the ceiling. The wood takes a little cleaning but we’ve already used some of it for our sunporch ceiling and it’s stunning.

Cleaned, cut and ready to use as wainscoting in the pantry.

We have so much finished wood in the kitchen, we originally planned to paint the pantry cupboards and wainscoting for a bit of contrast. But look how pretty it is. It’s a sin to cover wood this beautiful!

Plans obviously are made for changing.

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I’ve been doing some painting lately. Just the mention of this puts my husband into eye rolls because he knows paint and me equal stress.

Stress for him, that is.

Here’s the problem: I’m a graphic designer and I work with color every day. My awareness of it is quite defined (my husband would say anal-retentive, with an emphasis on the anal).

But color on the limited environment of paper or a computer screen is an entirely different theory than color on the wall.

Color on a wall is affected by light, both natural and artificial. It’s affected by space and size. It’s also affected by colors of the ceiling, woodwork, furniture, and accessories. And then there’s the warm and cool issue. Like, did you know for beige alone, there are categorically three different shades?

Need I go on? And on, and on?

Well anyway, having all this color knowledge, yet not enough to understand paint, makes me a bit of a monster. I painted our living room one color last weekend. I repainted it another color this weekend. And I would probably repaint it still another color next weekend, except I’m tired and out of paint money.

However, with all this painting, I have come up with some helpful hints to pass along.

The first two are the products pictured above—the Cut ‘N Trim Cup and the Premium XL Tight Spots 2″ Angle Short Handle Brush. I bought the cup at Menards and the brush at Sherwin-Williams, and I spent less than $10 for both of them. (No one’s paying me to say this either.)

I cannot describe how much easier and quicker these two little items make cut-in painting around the trim. This is important, because not only do I get a little over-anal about color choice, I do about application as well (meaning I’m a very slow painter).

Lastly, and most importantly, is Maria Killam’s Colour Me Happy blog. Maria is a designer and color expert. Her blog is an absolute dream—beautiful photography, generous advice, and it’s all-around fun to read. When she offers her color expert workshop here in the Midwest, I plan to be the first to register.

Not only will I be even more colorfully defined as a graphic designer, I’ll be painting my walls only once!

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Well, we still have to sand the floor and put down the quarter-round molding. And then there’s the pantry, which right now is completely gutted.

But, overall, the kitchen’s almost done!

Me: I was thinking we should put a few angles in our cabinetry.
Husband: No, that can’t be done.
Me: Well, what if we just do it this way…
Husband: (very deep sigh) Alright…

I confess, I sometimes take advantage of his willingness to please. Just a little.

Red is my favorite! We took our frig into an auto body shop and asked them to paint it to match our red electric can opener. The hardest part was hauling it back home without chipping the paint.

My husband’s a talented man. Anything I ask him to make or fix, he can do. He custom-crafted all the cabinetry from oak trees felled in a 1998 windstorm.

The countertops are concrete—my husband made these too. He’s got horror stories about doing this first one around the sink. But each one he did got better and easier. They’re pretty slick.

My father-in-law made the barstools. I enjoy sitting here while I watch my husband cook.

This room used to be a walk-in closet and sunporch. We combined them into a breakfast nook, which I still like to consider a sunporch.

My father-in-law made this table for us. The bistro chairs are bouncy—it’s fun eating here!

One of my many favorite features: the sunporch ceiling. This wood was taken from our front porch when we redid it years ago. It was painted white so we stripped it and put it in here. It’s stunning, not because of anything we did. It’s fir, and it’s just very pretty wood.

The beam is an old, hand-hewn from one of our barns.

This is the corner where the old sink hung on the wall. That’s the pantry door (still awaiting refinishing). The pantry will now be a real pantry, plus laundry room.

Construction site manager: Clyde. He’s such a camera hound.

Here’s a buffet with concrete countertop. The black area will be a pass-thru into the dining room. Next to it is a chimney, which previously was plastered over. Don’t you just love the contrasting textures between the brick and wood?

Yes, I know I need to do something about those dining room window treatments. I’m really having a problem with that huge triptych of a window. Suggestions?

Dovetails – the man is no sluff.

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I have to admit, my husband and I usually base our house renovation decisions on budget, artistry or simple nostalgia. But living green is all the rage these days and, for the sake of appearing hip, I’m going to write about us using yellow to be green.

Southern Yellow Pine, that is.

Recently my husband dismantled our “lovely” pantry (said with great facetiousness). This was the 8×9′ room we used as our kitchen for 20 years. The cabinetry was limited. And it was falling apart. But much it was constructed with clear Southern Yellow Pine, a strong, glorious wood that, believe me, you won’t find in your neighborhood Home Depot or Menards stores.

At one time, forests of  Southern Yellow Pine were prolific all along the southeastern coasts of North America. Also known as Longleaf Pine, this resinous wood was used by 19th century craftsmen for everything from furniture, flooring, woodwork and cabinetry, to the actual building construction.

Of course, we over-harvested and under-replenished. Why do we always do that?

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the Longleaf Pine was “a once-abundant tree which has reduced in area of occupancy from 24 million ha to 1.6 million ha in 1985″ (from 59 million acres to 3.95 million acres). Thankfully, organizations such as the Longleaf Alliance are striving to restore such forests.

Nowadays, Southern Yellow Pine is a valuable treasure and we certainly don’t want to throw any out. That’s not how my husband does things anyway. Instead, he stripped the wood of it’s painted finish and used it as side and back pieces for our new kitchen cabinets.

We’re being green and we’re saving money. Best of all, we’re saving one more bit of our house’s heritage.

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When it came to cooking, I used to hate chopping.

That’s changed lately for several reasons. First off, our new kitchen’s got me out of the cramped pantry where I used to do such seemingly tedious prep work. Secondly, my mother-in-law gave be a great set of Chicago Cutlery knives so I’m no longer sawing at food with worn, dull blades. And lastly, we’ve had a recent addition to our kitchen.

Isn’t it awesome?

It’s a butcher block—a beefy chunk that, if it could speak, would surely say in a raw, meaty voice, “Call me Solly.”

Years ago, as we formulated our kitchen renovation plan, we knew we wanted some kind of island. We held off, however, until the cabinetry was in just to be sure there was enough room. Once we determined there was, we then began tossing around ideas of what the island should be (meaning what did I want my husband to build).

Then my sister showed us her kitchen. I. was. smitten. Okay, I even wanted to copy her. Isn’t that what sisters do?

As owners of Butterfi LLC, my sister and her partner mastermind and market delicious, fiber-enhanced dairy products. They do this from their California kitchen, assisted by a beautiful, old butcher block. If a butcher block would help me cook as good as they do, then I wanted one of them thar things too!

Start, then, my 12-month Ebay search for a used, preferably antique butcher block.

Let me tell you, they’re a bit pricey. At least, for me.

When one’s husband has a ready supply of both wood and talent, as does mine, it makes sense to weigh the cost-effectiveness of purchasing something or having it built. As a result, my specifications for a butcher block were pretty clear cut: functional, low enough cost and close enough locale.

Last week, Solly showed up only 80 miles south in Mundelein, Ill., just down the road from Krystyna’s Polish Deli, where my husband had to stop for blood sausage (gag).

Let me describe this lovely hunk of a butcher block: It’s legs are a stocky 3 1/2″ inches in diameter. The block is 30x24x14 inches. What’s most interesting is the block is constructed of end grain maple pieces dovetailed together.

It obviously had been used in a real butcher shop because, well, to put it mildly, there were telltale stains everywhere. The surface was also a bit spongy. But that’s why butcher blocks are made as thick as they are: for resurfacing. Which is exactly what my husband did (who, inconsequently, is built very much like Solly).

So, my husband spent a couple hours power sanding. And I spent another hour scrubbing and bleaching (I’m a little strange that way when it comes to things of questionable origin and upon which I plan to place my food).

Now we have this great, solid butcher block sitting in the middle of our kitchen. The size is perfect for the space. It’s handy for setting things on as we move about the work zone. And, as I love to tell my dinner guests, it’s perfect for chopping raw pork and chicken.

Just kidding…

Anyway, chopping has now become my favorite part of cooking.

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