On Kitchens and Camping!

It's hard to believe that we are already nearing the end of June. That is half the year gone!

It seems just a couple of days ago that we were signing for our new kitchen and I was thinking: 8 weeks!  That's a lifetime away! (I've never been any good at waiting for things...)

Well the time flew past, in about a week the builder comes to start ripping out the old kitchen (and a few other bits of the house that we don't like).  Then we have a week of the plasterers, plumbers and electricians working to get the room ready for the new kitchen to be fitted at the end of the week.

I say almost as there are still a couple of things that need to happen before we have the kitchen of our dreams.  The first is the new work top.  It can't be fitted until the new units are in and everything has settled as it's stone and can't be cut on site.  Then the kitchen shop will come in and remeasure everything to ensure that it fits perfectly.  Thankfully we are going to get a temporary worktop until the new one is cut and fitted!

And of course the colour of the kitchen :)  When the builder has finished everything is going to be plaster coloured - not really what we are after...  So we went paint sample picking yesterday.  40 minutes going through every single colour in the DIY store picking the ones we liked (and joking about some really nasty colours) and then leaving with a handbag full of sample sheets to take over to the kitchen shop and compare against the sample worktop and cupboard blocks.

We knew what colours we needed - something neutral to match the other walls as the downstairs of the house is open plan, and something to match the grey of the counter top and the white of the cabinets.  Both of us were thinking of an off white to smooth the colour transition of the counter to the cupboards.  We had also got some sample for when we repaint the bedroom and just for a laugh I threw it in. Wow!  It worked perfectly!  And what's more Mrs Stace thought the same thing!  So there is going to be come colour in the new room, art-deco style!  Now, the shapes of art-deco have never really appealed to me - at least not for interiors, but the colours I love! I'm now even more exited about getting everything finished and looking good.

The camping? That is how we are going to be cooking for the week whilst we have no oven or hob (or sink, or water downstairs!) We brought a griddle pan for the Weber BBQ in the garden so that we can grill food, or make pan dishes, and have we a duel burner camping stove in the attic that we can use making rice or noodles.  All in the great outdoors, well back garden anyway :) And it couldn't have happened at a better time!  June in Holland is a wonderful month of sun, low winds and outdoor eating!

Well it should be... However, today I cancelled my run as it's tipping it down with rain and the outlook for the next week is not much better.  Thunderstorms, strong winds and a subtle lack of sun do not give me a positive outlook cooking in the open air!