Another Kitchen Remodel Update

Stage 2 update collage

If you haven’t been keeping up you can go to these posts to see what I’ve been up to:

  1. Beginning of kitchen remodel
  2. DIY Concrete counter tops
  3. Stage 2- Removing a wall
  4. Stage 2- Update

I spent a large amount of my Saturday and Sunday completing some of the parts of the remodel I was most excited about. The new pantry was painted (though the shelves still aren’t stained as it’s been too cold to do so far). The best part is the over the fridge storage I built for all of my important kitchen bits.

I had most of my pans stuffed in a single cabinet next to the stove, my baking stone and cast iron skillet in the buffet in another room and the cutting boards stashed on top of my pot rack. It was a mess. I could hardly find anything and getting the stone and skillet were a hassle. No more! They are within reach of us tall people, in the kitchen and beautifully displayed. Of course, some of them aren’t exactly beautiful….that blue cutting board. Still, I am in LOVE!

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Since I built, I was obviously able to customize the different heights and widths. It is spectacular! I even had room left over for my huge serving trays.

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Allow me to back up though. The first thing I did, after taping, puttying and floating the new walls was add the 2×4 frame the new storage would sit on.

Then I painted, with help.

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A very happy helper indeed!

Then I measured and cut the top shelf out.

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And painted some more.

The pantry is 70% complete. I still have to make doors. We are also putting a wooden fronting on the side of the wall and the front of the 2×4’s. Also, I have to stain those shelves!

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I love it already! Of course doors are needed as not all our food is that…photogenic.

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Have to build a door for the top shelf storage as well. It’s quite hideous at the moment. Terribly functional though!

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I also primed and texture the part of the new wall that faces in toward our formal living room. The walls are different sizes. The original interior walls of our house were made with 1 x 3’s. I used 2 x 4’s. Still, it works. I have the wall primed and ready for a decision on color. I’m hesitant as there is another wall in the formal living room that is going to be removed so I suppose I should just wait and paint the whole thing at once.

The fridge is almost ready to be moved. The water is the only hang up. I’m building a new sink and faucet for the 1/2 bath as shrinking the wall made the old sink too large. Once those are done and installed I’ll be able to turn the water on and thus have the fridge connected to water for the ice maker. May not be a big deal to some but I’m fairly certain my husband and children could not live without ice.

 

 

What really works to control houseplant pests?

Debunking Houseplant Pest Control Myths

That is the question I’ve been mulling as I suffer through pest after pest on my indoor plants. I believe I have spider mites. I know I have aphids, white flies and fungus gnats. Actually, at this point it’s more of a question of what I DO NOT have on my plants. This is so discouraging as my jasmine plant has finally bloomed, and I believe that to be what attracted the aphids. They are fully encompassing my jasmine flowers.

This just won’t do, so I started treating. I happened to have a 3-in-one organic pest spray on hand from previous years. So naturally I used that first. It knocked some of the bugs off but it didn’t kill a single one.

Organic Spray

Organic Spray is seen here, dripping off my plant. The jasmine flowers are completely covered in bugs

Next I went out to the chicken run and grabbed some Diatomaceous Earth (DE). If you’ve heard of DE before than you know that people proclaim DE to cure absolutely any pest infestation. This dirt has received so many amazing accolades in the organic/homesteading/permaculture community that I had visions of the bugs flopping over dead on contact. So what actually happened? Well I covered my plants in dust is all. It didn’t have any impact on the pests. Well, I shouldn’t say that exactly. The impact it had on pests is that they’ve moved from on top of the leaf, where the dust is, to under the leaf, where it is not.

DE covered plants

Next up is the old rubbing alcohol, soap, water wash. This I figured had to work as you are physically removing the bugs. It does work, you do remove them. However it is incredibly time consuming and you have to continue doing it.

Cleaning off the DE

I’m brushing the DE off my plants here.

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Wiping the bugs off.

Neem oil is supposed to repel the creepy crawlies so I set about locating and acquiring that next. It has been applied to my jasmine plant and I will let you know if there is any real impact on the pests in my home as this was done very recently and I have nothing to report yet.

Neem oil

Ok. I admit. This was for photo purposes only. I put the Neem oil in water and sprayed in on the plants.

Sevin dust is a last ditch effort for me. I’m not even sure it will work as I used it on my peppercorn plant last winter and it almost killed the plant. If Neem oil and Sevin dust fail me I’ll simply have to throw my plants out to get rid of the nasty bugs. I’d really rather not kill my plants.