Flood in the kitchen

Our dishwasher broke, it leaked most of the washing water on the kitchen floor. New washers are very energy and water efficient but our old one was not (it was 30 years old!) and so we had a real flood in the kitchen. Also bad thing is that we have a parquet in that room and you know what happens to parquet when it gets wet, it starts to bubble. I did dry the floor with bathing towels right after the dishwasher had leaked and I assumed that a good drying with a fan would be enough and there would not leave any damage. Next day my dad came to help with removing the old washer and while here he came to the conclusion that the floor will not dry nicely and since he is not a person to waste time he started to rip off some strips from the parquet. We had some parquet left over from some previous renovation and next day my dad and A put the new old pieces of parquet on the floor.

So now we have a new floor. There is bit of a colour difference between the "new" parquet and the old, but I'm fine with that. I have for quite some time planned to do some bigger renovation to the kitchen, so there is no point changing the whole floor now. But that wont happen any time soon. And besides the floor was not that perfect before either, so this colour difference is not a big deal. Next we need to buy a new dishwasher. Oh and put the moldings back.

Old new kitchen table

Like mentioned here we got rid of our kitchen table to make room for a new one or actually an old one. The table is not exactly antique but old anyway. It is my sister's table, but she does not have room for it at the moment so we are keeping it for her. The style of the table is not something I normally like. I'm more of a fan of modern or mid century furniture, but yet I like this old table. Perhaps it is because it's on loan, I do not need to keep it forever or because it is about the only decorative furniture in our home and therefore it's not overwhelming. Or maybe it's because my sister has recovered the chair cushions with modern fabric. 

I'm happy to keep the table for her. This table is way better than the one we used to have. I also like that this is rectangular in shape, the old one wasted a lot of floor space. We also decided to have the other table against the wall, before we had the table in front of the window. Now there is much more space between the table and the sink. On the picture below is the old table and how it was placed.

Before and after: True minimalism

We used to have a dining table in our kitchen, but we sold it. The kitchen feels so big, fresh and open to new which makes me feel good. I've been sitting on the floor of the kitchen and just admiring the openness. 

But really, that is not how it's going to stay. We are not true minimalists. We are getting a table. My sister is moving together with her boyfriend and she has a very nice old table and chairs which do not fit into their apartment at the moment. So we have agreed to store the table until they do have space for it. And therefore we sold the old kitchen table which was nothing fancy and my sister's table is much nicer. The table we had sold much faster than we thought and now for a while we are going without a table. We do have a dining table in the living room, although it is bit of a hassle to transport all the food and tableware there all the time. Anyway I have found it quite nice still to have the kitchen so empty, it feels refreshing. Now we also had the opportunity clean the floor and the radiator thoroughly.

Another knitted dish rag

I started this new dish rag on the same trip to a spa as I did finish the previous dish rag. But the travel time to the spa was too short and I did not finish the second rag. Then two evenings ago I was watching Rambo (?!) from television and finished the second rag and finished the coil of yarn too. 

I tried to knit the rag when Likka was awake too, but the yarn turned out to be a fun toy.

Knitted dish rag

We went to a spa this weekend. I wont show you any pictures of that trip, but I will show what I made during that trip. The spa is approx two hour drive from our home and time spent in a car should not go to waste. I often knit while traveling (unless I'm driving of course). I did not have any knit work under way so I had to come up with something to make in matter of minutes just before we left. 

I had bamboo yarn at home and decided to make a dish rag. Exciting, right? To make a dish rag I was inspired by Hupsistarallaa and the pattern was inspired by Piipadoo. The pattern is not exactly what Piipadoo had used in their pillow, I just had a vague memory about the pattern and did my own version.

Separated side curtains

I sewed curtains for Likka's room, which she does not yet have. Perhaps not the visest thing to do. Before she gets her own room I might change my mind about the style of the room or we might even move (well, that is very unlikely).

We visited Alvar Aalto house in Helsinki over a year ago. There in the office quarters of Alvar Aalto house was a curtain between two rooms from Siena fabric. I fell in love with that fabric right there, but it took me quite a while to decide where to use that fabric.

Lately I have been thinking about Likka's future room, I like to ponder on future projects, which of some I never even start, but this one we will sure start although not very soon. At least so far our sleeping arrangement feels good and I'm in no hurry moving Likka to her own room or more accurately me and A will move out of Likka's room.

But I already have an image in my head of Likka's future room and the curtains made of Siena fabric are included in that image. So since I had time and inspiration I bought the fabric and sewed the curtains. Now since we already have curtains in the room that will be Likka's room and I like those curtains there for now I hung the other curtain to the office where we had no curtains and the other to the kitchen were we had a curtain, but a really dull one. I hope I don't change my mind later about the curtains, the fabric was not cheap.

PS. If you have been very perceptive you have already seen the curtain here

Candy cane cable

The kitchen corner where we have the coffee maker, toaster and the electronic water heater has always looked really bad because of all the cables that are needed for the appliances. I have tried to hide the cables with not much success. Since hiding didn't clearly work, decorating should do a better job.

Sometime ago I saw a cable tuned with electric tape on some blog and later I have seen tuned cables everywhere in the blog world. Such a cool idea, I wish I knew who started this.

So inspired by all the blogs and the coming holiday season I pimped one of the cables candy cane red. I love it and amazingly I'm not annoyed by any of the cables now.

Working on some details

When Benita at Chez Larsson posted this, I knew I had to cover up the old paint that shows under the molding in the kitchen. I was really lazy when I painted the wall and did not remove the moldings, but instead I taped the edge and that was not the prettiest way to do it. Ofcourse the old greenblue paint shows from between the wall and the molding and it just looked bad.

Not the wisest idea not to do everything well on the first time, since doing things in smaller segments takes more time than as a whole, but none the less things get done that way too. It really did not take long to remove the molding, paint underneath it and screw the molding back. I'm really pleased I finally did this.

(And apparently I had not removed the molding even when I painted the wall greenish blue.)

The season of cleaning the fridge

This most likely does not apply to all latitudes, but now is the best season to clean the fridge. The temperature outside is about the same as it is in a fridge, which means it's so easy to empty the frigde and just take everything outside and then you are in no hurry with the cleaning. Like for instance you might run into delays like lets say you have a baby and in the middle of your cleaning project she desides it's not the time now to put all the things back to the frigde but in two hours it is. When a delay like that happens you are really glad you put all the food outside.

The season of cleaning the freezer comes bit later.

Dustpan and a brush

For years I have been thinking of getting some sort of solution for the crum removal in the kitchen. I did want to get a hand held vacuum there but I've not heard good reviews on their batteries. Also their price is quite high, especially if their battery wont stay in shape more than a year. I did also consider swivel sweeper, but because that also works with a battery I guess it also has the same problem as the vacuum. So a more traditional dustpan and a brush was the only solution I could come up with. Why I did not want to get a dustpan and a brush in the first place is because I think it's difficult to pour the crums and dirt into the bin from the dustpan. Especially from a dustpan with a long handle. Also the dustpan is usually so wide that the crums do not pour in a contained manner. I find this most difficult when the trash bin is already quite full, which it often is. Does anyone else have similar issues? Or am I the only one?

Well anyway I desided to get a dustpan and a brush. Then I had to find a set that would not cost a fortune and that would still be nice looking. Most are just made of plastic and are truly ugly and I want to have the dustpan and the brush on sight all the time, because if I hide it in a cabinet I will forget to use it.

Finally I found a set from Granit that wasn't too expensive and it looks good. The brushes are the only thing that are from plastic, but I can live with that. And no this is not a paid add. Just needed a dustpan and a brush and bought one.

And yes our kitchen floor is that patchy. And has dirt spots, mopping once a year clearly isn't enough.

Coffee cups - gone

The decluttering I desided start and wrote about in the yapping about stuff - post is going slow, S-L-O-W.

Without the post from Christina over at Little Victorian and specially her post about simplifying their kitchen, I would not have decluttered even as little as I have now. Christina, you are an inspiration for me!

I was able to get rid off eight coffee cups with saucers and one creamer. I love the empty space on the second shelf. (I was trying to get rid off the two black coffee cups too, but I was not given permission to do that.)

Two things I've bought using the kid as an excuse

Odd thing is that before I have never been that interested in children or their stuff, but ever since we did agree to one day to try to have a kid I have thought about buying two things when the plans of a kid become more real.

One of those items is the Iittala mug Mymble's mother. This purchase is really for me, just used the kid as an excuse to get that mug. I always thought that when I will be a mom I will use that mug. I know, it makes no sense. Especially as I was just explaining this Monday that we are drowning in stuff.
 

Also I have always loved the Bo boo print from Marimekko. I used to use a sheet very similar to the Bo boo design when I was a kid (which I by the way still have and am planning to make one thing from it). When I was visiting the Marimekko factory sale months ago I bought the Bo boo dish set. I know the kid could eat from any other dish we have, but I still wanted to get these. There is no sense in this purchase either. It's just something I had imagined the kid to use, when ever we would have one. Most likely the kid will eventually drop the bowl or plate on the floor and then the horribly expensive Bo boo dish will get shattered. But never mind that. 

Anyway these items had been a part of the when-we-will-have-a-kid dream and I guess I had to get them to make the dream come real so to say.

Stockholm souvenir

Sorry to have skipped two days of regular posting. When I wrote about the new schedule I never meant to skip two posts in a row. I meant to skip one here other there. But this and last week have been really busy at work and I have been home earliest at seven, and even though I love to write my blog it's still the lowest priority compared to all other things.

Ok so the souvenirs from Stockholm. Although calling them souvenirs might be bit wrong since our plan when we visited Stockholm was to shop and not to get just souvenirs but design and home goods. I know it might sound a bit weird getting home goods from Sweden, but they do have just bit different stuff there and shops we don't have. For instance in Sweden they have binders that have a beautiful fabric spine and the form is also a bit different. I really fell for the binders when I saw those on Benita's blog. I already have a few of those binders in the office but now I bought from Åhlens two slimmer versions to company the old ones (for anyone in Finland thinking of buying those too notice that the punching standard is different to Finnish, so you also need to get a puncher from Sweden). From Granit I bought the white wrapping paper. That is a bit odd purchase, it's just wrapping paper, but I have not seen one in white in Finland. The cards are from Ljunggrens Pappershandel. I did not actually need anything from there but it was such a beautifull shop I couln't leave empty handed.

For the kitchen I got two cling foil holders from Muji, one for cling foil and other for aluminium foil. I felt a bit dumb getting those. Not like the packages the foils come in are not usable, but these are so much nicer looking and the foils do cut better using those sturdier containers. The napkins are from Svenskt Tenn. For some odd reason I wanted to get something from there, but most things were really expensive and too difficult to transport to Finland, so I ended up getting napkins. The Dala horse cookie cutter I got from a small store in the old town, I'm afraid I do not remember what the store was called. What I think was the best purchase was the rag and the rag holder.

Those were most likely the cheapest things I bought. The holder was attached to the wall by a double sided tape. The holder has cut outs in black rubber insert where the rag can be pushed in.

We used to keep the rag folded on top of the faucet, but it was on the way and especially when the rag was dry and hard it kept droppin down from the faucet. Now it's out of the way but easily accessible. The rag and the rag holder are both from DesignTorget.

Håll Stockholm rent och vårt kök också.

(Keep Stockholm clean and our kitcher also)

Cleaning a faucet with vinegar

Our kitchen faucet leaks just very very little from the joints where the spout is attached in. It only leaks when the water is running end even then so little that I have not bothered to call a plumber. We also don't have a habit of wiping the kitchen sink and the faucet dry so lime will eventually collect in the small nooks on the faucet. And the result looks horrid. Sorry to show the faucet in all it's ickyness, there is even crums and some other spots. But no worries, it's really easy to clean.

To clean it one only needs white vinegar and paper towels. A sheet of paper towel needs to be wet with white vinegar and the sheet is rolled over the areas that need cleaning. It's important to have the paper touching the surface, so it can be lightly pressed to it. The paper holds quite well on place without bonding it on anyway. As many sheets of wet paper is added on the surface as needed to cover all the icky areas. I covered the faucet with a plastic bag too, just so there would not be such a horrible smell in the kitchen.

Then let it sit. Went to watch TV or something for an hour or two. Then when I remembered I returned to the kitchen and removed the plastic bag and the papers. The lime was fully loosened by then and I just brushed it away. I didn't have to do any scrubbing, the lime came off so easily. Then I rinced and this time even dried the faucet. It took about 5 minutes without the waiting time to clean the faucet and there is no hard work, but yet the result is so good. No need to buy those horrible products that say to remove lime, vinegar works wonders if you just let it work.