Stephanie and I looked at this house and considered buying it, but it didn’t meet the criteria on our needs and wants list. It’s a really interesting 1920’s bungalow, divided into two units. We considered buying it and knocking the halves together, but it was too much work.
The Birmingham News discovers in its archives dozens of old, previously unpublished photographs from the black civil rights movement. Very cool. Check out the pictures of the freedom riders, and also see the protests at Birmingham high schools when black students enrolled. This is the kind of stuff that people need to see to understand exactly how bad things really were.
We’ve spent our three-day weekend painting the kitchen, so I’ve been away from the internets. There’s still a lot of touch-up work to do, but the bulk of the work is finished. My kitchen was pretty fugly before, so the new paint is a serious improvement. The cabinets had been painted a dark green color, and the walls and ceiling and trim were a dingy off-white that always looked dirty even after everything was scrubbed and clean.
Now the cabinets and ceiling and trim work are bright white, and the walls are “spring squash” which is a bright yellow-orange color that looks really sunny and happy. I’m really pleased with how it’s come out; the room looks much bigger and cleaner. There are still some other improvements I’d like to do; I want to mount a light under the cabinets so I can see my food while I’m preparing it. (As Lisa did in her kitchen) and I want to replace the overhead light with the clean, simple, unobtrusive ceiling fan I bought ages ago. I also want to replace the backsplash behind the stove with a clean aluminum panel. The ones that want to get the best paint can have a peek here to get a great finish.
Also, my friend Kathy came over and cut out the extra pipes that ran up the wall in the corner to the now non-existent kitchen that used to be upstairs. I’ll still have to repair the drywall in the corner, but that’s a future project.
The kitchen really needs to be completely ripped out and done over. The floor is bad, there’s very little cabinet or counter space, and the sink is in a really poor spot. The drywall in the whole room needs a makeover. But none of that is realistic right now, so the simple improvements will at least make a grungy room tolerable and cheery.
Cool, a new big thing for me to photograph: Giant basketball shoes being placed around Indianapolis.
Update – I caught a photo of one of these; will have them up soon.
