HOW CHERYL FOUND HER " NICHE "

Good morning everyone - we have a guest host  here today - a lot of you may know her from previous posts she did for Danni at Silo Hill Farm - links below.
Cheryl is not a blogger - even though Danni and I have been bugging her to start one!

Everyone - meet Cheryl !
( Okay - take it away lady ! ) 

CHERYL IN WISCONSIN:  Desperately Emulating Suzan

Hello, this is Cheryl in Wisconsin.  Some of you may know me from my comments on this blog, or from my guest posts at Silo Hill Farm - guest post

A quick background:  I was introduced to Suzan and Simply Vintageous back in September of 2012 when she posted to a linky party on The Ironstone Nest, a Wisconsin blogger that I have met (one down, 700 to go).  I was intrigued and have been coming back here nearly every day since.  Suzan inspires me, even when I don’t want her to, because I have a lot of projects and, hey, I keep getting more for the list…     I’m not complaining.

Case in point:  After she posted about her white bedroom and the photos that inspired her to do that, my bedroom is now all shades of white or neutral:

That is not unusual, until you consider where mine started:

Same vantage point of same room.  Very black to very light.  Same cat, different angle.  

Cat is still black.

Along came Suzan’s kitchen renovation at her new house.

As a stroke of genius, she constructed a microwave bumpout,  HERE  or niche, if you are a suave Canadian.

The wheels in my brain began to turn.

Then Danni at SILO HILL FARM shared photos of her kitchen renovation.  The microwave:

That did it.      I neeeeeeeeed one of those.  My microwave was on top of my refrigerator to keep my countertops clear(er).  One of my shorter friends referred to it as The Great Microwave in the Sky.  It was difficult to keep clean, and difficult to use efficiently. 

Yes, that is the top of a door frame on the right, to give you some reference to altitude.

The problem lied in the fact that my house is one and a half million years old and if I start knocking holes in the wall, something may give - and not in a good way.  One day it struck me…  I have an old ‘previously-exterior’ window that offered a view into a back porch, a room that was not an original part of the house’s structure.  Years ago I placed a shutter in that window to block the sight of the usually messy back porch / craft room, and the window became a non-entity to me, just part of the hooouuuse.

This is not an actual ‘before’ picture.  This is a ‘during’ photo that I took as an afterthought.  It also gives some idea of where the television used to be, taking up valuable counter real estate.

Duh, lady!

The feeling came upon me like a tidal wave.  

Step one:  take down shutter and remove window.  I have watched Nicole Curtis on the DIY network remove windows from other million-year-old houses a dozen times, to replace the glass.  Seems easy… wasn’t.   But it is done, with nary a shard of broken glass.  I’m just going to sum the entire construction process up very quickly:

~NOTHING could be preplanned, it was all a seat-of-the-pants operation.  We couldn’t measure for any materials until they were about to be placed.

~My nephew and his carpentry aptitude proved invaluable. 

~Sanding makes a huge mess. 

And the result:

Why did I not think of this option ten years ago?

I’m happy, everyone that has to hear about it is happy, my shorter friend that couldn’t previously reach the microwave is happy.  There is an electrical outlet on the back side so my cords don’t need to be entirely visible.  I am a happy kitchen camper.

The refrigerator has lightened its load, and the sheep took over the summit.

As you can see, I do not carefully stage for my blog photos!

So…

Thank you for the idear, my dear.

♥_________________________________________________♥

No actually Cheryl - it's I who thank YOU - 

What a fun post - and I'm honored to have

you here !!!

Have a wonderful weekend one and all 

Find your " niche "

Much love,