Chasing Lightning Bugs Studio Blog

i love my old kitchen. 11 1/2 years ago we restored our 150 year old house. and although most renovations include, or even revolve around, the kitchen, i loved the 1940's feeling that our kitchen exuded. gray formica countertops and backsplash, with lovely grooved aluminum trim all along the edges. deep porcelain sink with porcelain drain board, although it was worn down to the iron in some spots. an abundance of wooden cabinets with several coats of white paint and sleek aluminum handles. i couldn't demo this classic 50+ year old kitchen. so i had the cabinets painted red with a yellow interior, and added a red & gray linoleum tiled floor that worked so perfectly i sometimes forget it wasn't original.over the years i've tried to make it work in a way that fits with our more modern lifestyle. i loved it visually, but i needed to make it practical. i used a lovely '50s kitchen table for a couple of years. it didn't work. then i had a tile-topped table on casters that i used as an island and extra work space. i removed some of the cabinet doors years ago to fit larger pots and jars of food on the shelves. and brought in a credenza and baker's rack for more storage. but it just became more crowded and cluttered and even less organized.so when i saw a tool bench at costco a few weeks ago, the plans i'd spent a decade making for my kitchen, slipped neatly into place. i bought two of the tool chests immediately......costco has broken my heart in the past. i knew better than to wait. we were leaving in 2 days for jamaica, but i managed with the help of friends, my husband and my parents, to get 1000 pounds of stainless steel and maple into the kitchen. and then we left for jamaica. when i was dreading leaving the sunny beaches of jamaica and returning to the snow and arctic air of canada, i would remember my kitchen project waiting for me at home and the cold didn't seem so bad.

and now it's complete. with the added bonus of a lovely little breakfast table for perching with a morning coffee.

and i checked......our costco is sold out of the benches.