Kitchen window

groundhog day 021
Originally uploaded by woodsrun

This is the window sill above my kitchen sink. In both of the houses we lived in in Rockford there were windows above the kitchen sink. The house in RI, where I lived for almost 10 years, had a wall in front of the sink--so you'd stare at the wall while you washed the dishes or got food ready.

Jamie and I agreed that it was really important to have a nice view out a window above the kitchen sink. There's a double window. If I decide to conserve energy (and money) I cover the windows with plastic, but that means I have to take everything off of the windowsill. I guess I like having something to look at up close as well as outside because most winters I don't cover the window. Being lazy is another reason I don't do it. The window sill is cherry Jamie was very proud of that. I could care less.

Nearly all of the wood in my house (and there's an incredible amount of it: every room except one bathroom and a hall has a wood floor) was sawn by Jamie at the sawmill we used to own. One bedroom of the 3 has "boughten" wood", very pretty spruce. The house is like a Wood Hall of Fame: red oak in the kitchen, hard maple in the living room and downstairs bedroom, ash in the library, cedar in the downstairs bathroom, ash stairs with cherry railings, wide pine planks in the upstairs living room and master bedroom. Whew! I got really sick of wood floors, but Jamie had been setting the wood aside for a long time, and it was what he wanted. He didn't take into account that the wood had been air dried, not kiln dried, so most of it shrank once it warmed up indoors. There are big gaps between all the maple and oak boards--the country look, I guess. It's kind of cool, though because the gaps get bigger and smaller with the change of seasons.

My least favorite is the hard maple--there's not really any grain and it should be stained to be a prettier color--sort of a bland blonde now. Lin helped me paint the living room floor gray. What a huge project! Move all the furniture, paint the floor, hope it doesn't rain because some of the furniture was on the deck, paint a second coat, put the furniture back. Lin helps me with big projects like that. I don't know what I'd do without her help.