First, I had to locate a replacement fridge that would fit in the existing hole specifically one that was the right width and depth. I had more freedom with height because the Sub Zero was so tall with the vent on top, most refrigerators aren’t that tall. I found what I needed in this fridge,

This fridge got great reviews and it didn’t break the bank even though it was counter depth. After shopping around and considering shipping costs, I found that Sears had the best price (by a small margin). I ordered it online and had it delivered to my local Sears store because fortunately I have a regular crew at work here with a truck and some muscle to pick the appliances up and deliver them to my house.

After ordering the fridge and knowing the dimensions, I met with my cabinet guy Bradie at Quality Cabinet Company, to discuss building a cabinet to fill the void that the Sub Zero vent left over the new fridge. He had to make an exact copy of the door design of the existing cabinets. I took several pictures of the upper cabinet doors, emailed them to Bradie and he got to work.

This is what we started with, here’s the old girl hard at work.

A closer shot of the vent on top.

The crew wrestled this very heavy and very tall Sub Zero out of the space but not without a little drama. They accidentally pulled the unusually short water line to the ice maker free and water starting squirting everywhere and fast –so we knew our water line had great pressure.

The installers from Quality Cabinet Company arrived and got to work placing the cabinet in the existing hole. The installation took much longer than I anticipated because the guys had to adjust the cabinet and the trim around the cabinet several times, adding thin pieces of filler and sanding here and there to get the perfect fit.

But by that afternoon the cabinet was in and it was time to move the fridge in the house and push it in to it’s new spot. It glides right in and I’m ready to celebrate but then Joseph says “Miss Sarah, we’ve got a problem”. We realized quickly that the doors wouldn’t open 90 degrees. After some minor adjustment the door still wasn’t opening and we couldn’t get the drawers open. The baseboard was impeding the doors from opening wide enough so the crisper drawers could in turn pull out.

So let’s cut the baseboard.

And we did and the door opened a bit more but not enough to get the drawers all the way out. So we had to cut it some more and that finally did the trick. After a a days work this is what we ended up with,

It really looks like it was always there and the cabinets are a perfect match.

And we actually have ice and filtered water dispensed right from the fridge, big time!

Oh and if you haven’t fallen in to the eye candy abyss that is Houzz, what in the heck are you waiting for?

While Apartment A (downstairs) of the Grout Cottage is getting the finishing touches, Apartment B (upstairs) is getting new frame work and a new layout.

It doesn’t look like much now but this is the current state of Apartment B after demo is complete and re-framing is well underway,

This is what the living area looks like now,

The future site of the bathroom and kitchen,

And those bedrooms now have real closets with average size doors.

So we’re getting there, you have to get through the important structural stuff to get to the fun stuff.

The house was difficult to photograph because it was so chopped up, meaning there were lots of hallways and corridors and even more interior and exterior doors. On my first walk through it felt like a maze.

Fun Facts about Joel’s Crossing:

• built in 1900
• farmhouse architecture
• 6+ acres, entirely fenced
• beautiful trees and shrubs on property
• 5000 square feet
• 3+ bedrooms, 4 baths
• upgraded wiring & plumbing in late 1990s
• dated 1970s kitchen
• large addition to house

Before going out I picked up on the Scandinavian influence in the furnishings in the home. I thought the owner was either European or had traveled to Europe often. It looked like a mash up of Swedish country house and Southern farmhouse. I saw some Finnish design books on the shelves.

Before you see the images, let me clarify something that will help you understand the layout of the house before looking at the pictures, the orange and yellow walls are not part of separate structures. The extensive great room addition is painted a different color on each side.

Let’s get started, in real time it was almost a two hour experience.

Original part of house here with wood lap siding.

This is a newer addition with brick exterior. This is the entrance where we first went in. There are 12 exterior doors…no I’m not kidding.

one of several big snowball bushes on the property,

beautiful screened porch off den (the room with the loft ladder coming up), classic farmhouse porch

You can see the connection here between the addition of the huge great room and the original house, the great room is the orange portion

A better view of the exterior of the great room addition,

 a shot of part of the beautiful property,

One of two of the structures on the property. They don’t really have any value and would take a LOT of money to bring back to life. So much that they should probably be taken down.

closer view of the old cabin,

This is the interior of the great room I’ve been mentioning, the owners decided to frame in the indoor swimming pool. It has a little mini-kitchen in the back. You could have a reception for a small wedding here in this room no problem.

small eating area in the great room,

This little room is a sitting area off the master bedroom. Custom brick fireplace and french doors that lead on to a small patio.

This is a small den with a loft and beams overhead, on the other side of that ladder is the small kitchen. This room has built-ins on either side of a fireplace. This area is ripe for a kitchen and open dining combination.

Small kitchen that appears to be untouched since the 1970s. This is a total do over.

One of the bedrooms on the lower level in the original footprint of the house.

And now we go to a child’s wonderland in the upstairs of the house. It could also be a great space for your adult guests too.

Almost every bit of the attic was finished off. It is a series of long rooms, window seats and little nooks. The whole space is relatively bright with windows and skylights.

To the right of this image, the homeowner used an antique salvaged door for the bathroom and another smaller antique door for the linen closet.

A sitting area upstairs, you can also see the stairs that lead up to this space. The stairwell is enclosed and winding, it would need to be moved and enlarged which would make the upstairs and downstairs spaces connect much better.

So that’s it. What do you think, is it unique or just funky in a bad way?

Beginning at the early stages of planning the kitchen for the Grout Cottage project I knew I wanted to do gray lower cabinets and white upper cabinets. These were the images I often referenced.

But before those finish decisions are made I needed to layout the kitchen and with the help of my cabinet maker, Quality Cabinet Company we got it done.

I tried to turn the corner with the cabinets and build the fridge in next to the window but we just couldn’t make it work. This was the kitchen in Apartment A after it was all primed.

Although we have a small pantry, we were really only working with the back wall of cabinets.  The appliances and a double sink took up most of the counter space there so we needed an island for both counter space and additional cabinet and drawer storage. We needed a functional island and I think we got just that. I doodled those goofy bin pulls on there. The end caps and the other side of the island have shaker panels much like the dark grey island in the inspirational photo above.

Of course I would love to do a quartz countertop that mimics carrera marble but this is an apartment and I needed to remain mindful of costs. First, I priced out granite tiles with custom bullnose at my local tile showroom and found that by the time I paid for the material and labor I was pretty close to a solid surface granite. So I opted for Level 1 granite, a nice River White slab.

Initially I had my heart set on a brick floor in a herringbone pattern. I priced out the thin brick pavers for indoor application and it wasn’t outlandish but again adding the labor in was outside of the budget so I decided on some affordable 12×12 tiles in a neutral cream hue from Lowe’s with light grey grout to pick up the grey lower cabinets. For a bit of interest I asked the installer to lay the tiles in a brick pattern so it doesn’t look so much like a 12×12 grid. I always make a point to use TEC Power Grout especially in apartments/rentals because it’s stain resistant and you don’t have to seal the grout, trying to keep the grout looking fresher longer.

I really like Pottery Barn’s classic pendant collection and I like the price point and I thought it would be fitting to use the Edison bulb because of the age of the house. I wanted a bit of an industrial look and for a while I bounced back and forth between the white shade and a silver shade but finally purchased two of the Easton pendants to mount over the island. I chose the bronze cord as shown in the picture for some contrast in the white kitchen.

Because its a rental we can’t exactly install a Rohl bridge faucet so I opted for something a little unique, the Portland faucet at a great price from Overstock. Rounding out the details are classic bin pulls and knobs from Lowe’s and stainless appliances.

In the kitchen window above the sink was some stained glass in a 1980s replacement window that may or may not have been original to the house. Whether or not it was original it had been there with the house for many years so we decided to preserve it. After some discussion about creative ways to mount it to look as if it was part of the window, we decided the best/easiest thing to do was to re-frame it and suspend it in front of the top half of the window on a small chain.

Stay tuned…the painters are there today doing their final touch up. The downstairs apartment is about a week away from being photo ready.

Just a warning, you might find yourself a little bored by this house, it doesn’t need a complete overhaul and its far from old. But this is a kind of house that we need to consider, a place that only requires a little paint and a countertop. I’m typing this after I just finished soaking up the water under the kitchen sink because the faucet decided to begin leaking on a Saturday morning. So there’s a little perspective.

Fun Facts about East McKenzie house:

• Built in 1997
• 3 bedrooms, 3 baths + big room upstairs w/kitchenette
• 3000-3500 sq ft
• tiny lot with little grass
• 2 car garage
• on corner of busy thoroughfare
• attic space and room for expansion goes for days
• good school district

Let’s take a look,

side entrance

looking toward dining room,

Breakfast nook, good storage and nice look with the buffet style cabinetry. The light fixtures are hideous.

large living area with bonus space behind the fireplace that leads on to small concrete patio,

big laundry room that could be pimped

this is all the upstairs is and it feels like an office space in the late 90s. I was pretty dissapoointed that this was all there was up there.

So the conclusion is we’re moving on from this property but man its a super deal. It would be a great executive home or golf retreat. As a side note and in case you’re following along, 2 of 3 properties that I toured are now under contract.

On the next tour we go back out to the country.