Upstairs Kitchen... Officially Retired!

I never thought I'd see the day but I'm finally using the downstairs kitchen! There's still some minor work to be finished but I'm moved in and it's in daily use now. The upstairs kitchen is pretty well cleaned out now and I've already removed the upper cabinets. I'll spend the next month slowly trashing the cabinets, counters, etc and getting rid of the fridge/stove. Just to show you the style that somebody thought was better than chestnut woodwork and real craftsmanship... groovy man! Eek... someone had enough sense to paint over it at some point.

Meanwhile it's outage season again and I already worked 25 days in a row (10 hr days) so the house has taken a bkac seat for a bit. Here's a taste of what I'm talking about when I refer to "outage season"... taking apart big turbines, wiring, controls work, rebuilding valves, etc, etc.... basically 6 months of maintenance work crammed into a few weeks before everyone wants to turn their heat or AC and demand for electricity is high. Here's our #8 steam turbine apart. This unit will make 450 megawatts of electricity.... 1 MW will power about 750 homes!

I have done a few things though. First I found an original Scott Paper towel holder from I guess the 20s-30s. Scott Paper was just down the street in Chester making this a neat item to have in my retro kitchen. I sandblasted and gave it a fresh coat of paint... it's now ready for another 50 yrs of use!

Another neat find was a 1940s Cosco step stool. A must have in a old kitchen... especially one with high cabinets. The steps fold under the seat of course. I was going to go with an older wood style version till I found this... and at $25 I couldn't resist. This will be sandblasted and receive a fresh coat of paint soon too. Not sure what colors I want to use yet.

Finally I whipped up a few birdhouses and feeder for a birthday present. I think I may have to make a few for myself too! They turned out pretty good.