the 828 julia street project (part 2)

caterer by day, kitchen gutter by night . . .

well, it’s been almost a month since my last post.  here is an update on the project.  it is definitely not a restaurant yet, so for now it will remain the 828 julia street project.  after an initial meeting with our contractor, Mitch and I started gutting the entire kitchen.  there was an immediate trip to wal-mart for respirators and crow bars.  we both still have day jobs- fortunately, so the work was done at night.  we began gutting the kitchen and revealed surprises here and there.  first of all there was an old brick chimney behind a hot water heater closet.  this being an old house, the walls were solid wood.  so we removed lots of wood piece by piece, and as we removed it lots of old insulation fell and had to constantly be swept up and bagged.  the house at that time still did not have central heat and air, so you can only imagine how miserable the heat was with the masks on.  as we removed some wood around the old windows, the weights fell to the floor.  we also gutted almost all of the existing cabinets and broom closet.  so what we have now is a “clean slate” or “tabla rasa” if you will in which to design this kitchen.  we also gutted the bathroom and found some interesting things there- the worst being that the floor was in horrible condition and also a supporting beam was broken.  have y’all ever seen that old movie with shelly long “the money pit?”  hmmmmm . . .  

mitch gutting bathroom

chimney in kitchen

kitchen

next, the central air and heat was put in. ahhhhhhhh.  that changed things a little.  it is actually a pretty fun place to work already because of the music system in place.  there are speakers in every room apparently because it used to be a dental office among other things.  granted the speakers are all connected to an old eight track player, but the tuner/receiver works.  now that i had a clean slate in my kitchen- equipment needed to be purchased so that we could design the room.  dad and i and francie and luke and snoozer went on a spree to west monroe and monroe.  we started out at trenton st. appliance and later went to j russell.  of course, i have been pricing equipment for months, so i had been comparing for awhile and pretty much knew what i wanted.  would you belive that i am most excited about my three compartment sink?  it is 7.5′ long and i swear you could bathe six babies in there at one time!  i even had a dream about that sink a couple of nights ago.  sick, i know.  it will all end soon after i have to wash dishes in it.  we also purchased my 6 burner gas oven, display refigerator and freezer, and hand sink there.  i got my ice maker used from trenton st.  my double convection wall oven, microwave,  and dishwasher from key millwork.  then the other half of my freezer and trim kit from sear’s.  the most expensive item in the kitchen is the hood which i purchased from norred fire systems.  i am going to try to make that my favorite thing in the kitchen, but it will be hard.

the 828 julia street project . . .

there are lots of codes to follow and that has been a learning process and hopefully we will get it right the “first time.”  but i bet that almost never happens!  i have tried to not alter the old characterstics of the house, but that has been almost impossible.  some of the old windows and doors that i fell in love with are leaving because of code.  my contractor always apologizes when he has to break that kind of news, but it needs to be done right.  for now it seems, that mitch and i are pretty much done with our nighttime constructions jobs.  my last job was removing one of the newer walls that was sheetrock.  hunter and i had a pretty large time karate chopping the wall.  he, motivated by teen angst and me motivated by how much money i’m spending.  ha.

am i cooking in the midst of all this?  you bet.  somebody’s got a note to pay and all new utility bills that i am not used to paying.  i have a catering job tommorrow and am still stocking the casseroles.  so come on by to 1111 cotton street which is now becoming a project due to neglect!! 

bye y’all.

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