Friday 16 November 2012

Twice in One Day!

That's Right! Another Blog Post!

 
Chaos in the Frugaldom kitchen continues. It isn't an easy job for two individuals with little or no previous DIY skills to rip out a kitchen sink and replace it. For a start, we have minimal tools with which to work and barely an ounce of strength between us - despite my affection for cakes, biscuits and almost all things carbohydrate.
You may mock, you may laugh, you may point at the puddles on the floor and the drips running down the pipes, but the old sink is now out and the new bendy attachment things screwed onto the water pipes, which we did remember to switch off before dismantling the sink. See? I now have a lovely sink unit on my patio!
 
Looking at it from this angle, the old sink and worktop isn't in all that bad a condition. In fact, despite the rusted clips, bumps and bashes and leaky tap,  I'm going to find it a nice, frugal, new home. I have just the place for it - or will have in the future!
 
So far, I haven't dared to voice my thoughts on where the old sink might be going, because I haven't divulged my secret wish to renovate the old chicken house into a garden room, complete with bird hide! Yes... I can see a few eyebrows raising at that announcement. :)
 
So here we are, mid afternoon on a Friday with no sink in the kitchen, but the new sink unit built and awaiting fitting once we've had a coffee. (If you do decide to DIY on the whole kitchen front, don't forget to fill the kettle before switching off and draining the water pipes.)
 
The next part should be fun... attempting to cut spaces in the back of the unit so it sits flush against the wall and allows all the pipework to be hidden.
 
But while doing the above, or rather observing it being done, I shall be immersed in thoughts of small miracles aiding and abeiting garden fairies to magically transfor the ancient chicken house into a pretty, frugaler-friendly garden room of joy, complete with sink for rinsing the home grown produce before bringing it indoors for prepping and storing.
 
Why do I just know that few others are going to appreciate my vision or share my enthusiasm for operation shed-rescue among the trees, by the stream at the bottom of our garden?
 

8 comments:

  1. Oh dear. I did have to laugh. But only because it's ALL so familiar. Dripping pipes, wet floors, dodgy deliveries.

    I just found you from Sue..

    Hold on to your sense of humour. It helps!

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  2. Thanks for popping over for a visit, rusty duck. :) Taking things seriously, fortunately, isn't something I do very often, so everything is going swimmingly, so to speak. LOL But I still haven't mentioned putting the old sink into the chicken house.

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  3. I am a fan of your shed-rescue idea!!!! (My husband wouldn't either)...I am also a fan of un-fitted kitchens! OLd pine and oak furniture can be bought pretty cheaply- I think it would look great in your kitchen!

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  4. Lynda, I now have all the 'stuff' to fill my kitchen - 5 new flatpack units and the rest salvaged, rescued via charity shops or repurposed from what I already had. In fact, I can't even fit the table and chairs in now, so I'm going to have to create a sitting/dining room combo, when the time comes to start in another room. :)

    I have great plan for the chicken hut conversion but those are best ket under my hat until next summer. :)

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  5. do you know we have to special order a sink with a draining board here in Canada. Double sinks, or sink and a half sink are common, but draining boards are few and far between. We have a plastic dish drainer similar to this: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/VehicleAccessories/RVAccessories/PRD~0408343P/Mini+Dish+Drainer.jsp?locale=en

    Gill in Canada

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  6. Hey, a sink away from the house for rinsing veggies is a great idea. We have one at the side of our well, but bizarrely, the tap above the sink comes from the mains! It's great for rinsing off wellies, tools, as well as veggies.

    In France, many people set up 'summer kitchens' which are often in barns and outhouses, complete with fridges and sinks etc.

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  7. I have an old Belfast sink outdoors by the stand pipe tap for rinsing off veggies, the plughole drains straight into a bucket which I then use to water the veggie patch.

    I can honestly say it's the best idea I have ever had.

    I am green with envy at the thought of your 'posh' sink and drainer in the old chicken house though. Maybe one day my sink will move indoors.

    In the meantime.....we may have found our 'forever' home, we've just got to go and view it and get the finanaces sorted out!!

    Sue xx

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  8. Sue, what exciting news - the prospect of your forever home!

    Don't get too excited about the sink in the chicken hut, there's no water down there other than the stream, so it would be a case of buckets and hoping the water's safe. LOL

    We do have an outside tap by the back door and a friend has promised me an old Belfast sink just as soon as they can get around to moving it. Like you, I'll use a bucket beneath it, as there's no drainage beneath the tap.

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