Trailer Kitchen

Trailer Kitchen Before and After

When I first saw the kitchen I loved it.  It was closed off from the living area (so no one has to look at my messy kitchen but me.)   U-shaped kitchens that are out of the traffic pattern are so easy to work in.  The only problem is the refrigerator is across the 'hall'.  (Hey, that's better than one house I had with a galley kitchen with doors at both ends and walls all the way around.  The refrigerator really was out in the hall!)  The cabinets have space over them, though not much since it's only a trailer, after all.  But every bit of storage/decorating space is a good thing.  And was on my 'list'.  The realtor was surprised I liked the kitchen, because that's the part everyone else didn't like.  Goes to show I'm not the average bear.  ;-)

Between the stove and sink, on that little 'L' is more drawer space than I have now.  The major problem is that the base cabinets had no shelves.  The heat vent runs under them, so that's a good reason, right??   We used a 1"x12" shelf we took off the wall and built a second shelf in the base cabinets on the left.  Made a lot of difference!

There is a nice shelf on the left on the counter, but it's really out of place.

The yellow was a bit brighter than my usual yellow.  The one everytime I paint a kitchen with --- I move!  So I wasn't going to use that color this time!  However, if you look close at the walls you will notice that the masonite has a huge chip in it.  So at least that would have to be dealt with.  Speaking of masonite... it has had a gold crackle finish.  Remember those of a few years ago. Speaking of old decor in this 1966 top-of-the-line trailer - the hardware is copper, my current favorite metal.

I tried just adding a light over the sink.  (To be quite honest, Paul did that.)  The curtain helped a little, but as you can see, it looks too long.

Hmmmm...  Not working for me.  (notice the cow picture over the toaster oven?  That used to be an electric fan vent.)  Took off the doors and painted the cabinets a willow green.  Don't recall the actual name of the color.  Sorry.  For the doors, I debated painting them the same color or a few shades lighter.  See door on counter.  Still debating what to do with the walls.

Maybe a two-tone gold stripe ala Friendly's Ice Cream Shoppe?  I had some of that from another project.  (I'll post pics of that project later, and link here.)

I decided to think about it a bit, and painted the doors.  Well, the upper doors.  By the time I finished with those, I was pooped!  So now I have to debate what to do with the bottom, as well as what to do with the walls. 

Just work and inspiration will come.  Or God will remind you of something cool you saw at the local thrift shop and the stuff you have stashed in your house.  I opted for stashed brown corduroy wall paper on the walls.  I like it!  And the curtains - they were once a sofa cover that I couldn't convince myself to buy.  When I thought about them as curtains, there waas the hope they would still be available.  As you can see, they were!  Thanks Lord!  In this picture the curtains are just stapled to the frame, but now they're on cafe rods.  The thing about curtains is that I can change them with the seasons or my mood.  Always a good decorating scheme!

The canister set I picked up at a yard sale a year or two ago.  (I tend toward collecting canister sets, even though they're usually not holding food staples.)  The lamp in the corner was on sale at Lowe's (did I say I love Lowe's??) after Christmas for $3.  The sign was painted by a friend of mine as a test of her lettering skills.  She gave it to me for a housewarming present.  Nice friend, huh?  Thanks Robin!

 

The masonite around the sink area above the window was in pretty good shape, so I left it alone.  The best thing about the window is the trim I've been waiting for an excuse to buy for years (like, since 1996!!) 

And here is the kitchen now.   The pine shelf is moved across to the other counter and sits over the toaster oven.

I like it.  Some day we may get another sink, but it's not a big deal.  Some day we may even get new base cabinets, but that will be quite a projects, due to the heat vent.  Not to worry.  It works.  

Finding the pieces to make it work was another Watchin' God project!  He's good like that!  Thanks Lord!