Core Bamboo’s handcrafted vases. Droolworthy.

Forget doing the dishes

No sink means no dish washing. Unless you want to clean them in the tub – most dishes have a tough time fitting under a bathroom faucet.

Better scrape ‘em, though – the last bit of magic you want to add to the adventure is a backed up tub.

Biocompostables to the rescue

Take advantage of the down time when you’re camping in your own house & work on those composting skeeyuls.

World Centric makes biocompostable plates, bowls, cups & utensils. Here’s what they’re made of:

“Our plant fiber based products are now made from sugarcane (bagasse) and wheatstraw fiber.  Bagasse is the sugarcane fiber remaining after extraction of juice from sugarcane and the wheatstraw is the remaining plant material after the wheat grain and chaff have been extracted. “

So ix-nay on the athtub-bay. Use these, & throw them on the compost pile along with normal biodegradable scraps.

Welcome!

Steve Hong has started up an Ikea delivery service in the Raleigh area called NC Modern Furniture.  Perfect for folks who need Ikea products but don’t have time or desire to make the 5 hour round trip to Charlotte!

They make the run every 2 weeks & have a handy reminder on their landing page of when you must have your order placed for the next run.   Order by October 7 to get your goodies on their next trip.

They have a wide coverage area including Apex, Hillsborough and Wendell. And they’re also on twitter: @ncmodfurniture.

Business with meaning

There’s another aspect of Steve’s business which deserves highlighting: he is working with the Triangle’s refugee community to help them establish & rebuild their lives after being driven out of their native homeland in Bhutan.

“Our Nepalese employees appreciate the chance to put in an honest day’s work, assembling furniture while also piecing together new lives among us.”

Need assembly?

If you are less than skilled at assembling things (which all Ikea furniture requires), you can also use NC Modern Furniture’s very reasonable assembly services.

I met with Steve this morning, & think NC Modern Furniture will be a  complimentary enterprise to the Ikea kitchen services we provide here at EcoMod.

I’m happily sending non-kitchen related orders his way, & hope that all you Ikea lovers out there will jump in & help Steve’s business thrive for all of us!

Namaste,  Steve.

Scope

This project was a simple footprint replacement with a fridge relocation. We shortened & skinnied up the peninsula to allow for landing spots on both sides of the range and more clearance for an unavoidable high traffic room.

Clients were wonderful to work with – they had a second kitchen in their downstairs apartment, so not too inconvenienced by the project. He also had a great eye for color & had a blast picking out the yellow beehive pendant at the peninsula and the blue flooring.

I had doubts about the flooring but it all came together really well & totally fits their house & lifestyle!

Before

Note the wall cab door hanging precariously. Those babies were MDF, huge and heavy. A serious hazard when they fell with no warning.  Also, splinters galore from the old parquet flooring. Ow.

Packed counters, no landing spot to right of range next to fridge.

After

Notes:

• Fridge in new location w/ storage above
• Ample landing space on both sides of the range
• Microwave is wall mounted
• More storage = more counter space
• Peninsula open underneath to leave clear space for return air vent
• Tall pantry unit (no pantry before)
• Linear dimension subway tile (2″x8″ as opposed to more prevalent size of 3″x6″) was a great choice for the mid-century modern house!!

Specs:

• Ikea cabinets
• Ikea microwave & range hood (Whirlpool made)
• Silestone quartz countertops – Silver Nube
• Marmoleum interlocking tile flooring – Whispering Blue
• Dal Tile Modern Dimensions 2″ x 8″ Arctic White subway tile

Anecdotes

This house was in the middle of Winston Salem, NC, and we had 2 bird incidents while working there.  A huge red tail hawk landed on a branch in the backyard & just hung out for a good 20minutes about 30 feet from us.  The other was a misguided sparrow that came in to the kitchen through the open garage. She/he flapped around inside awhile until we could direct her back out with a couple of brooms!

I also lost my keys for the first time ever in my life at this project, which was 2 hours from our Raleigh base.  Ended up getting towed to the dealer (yay for AAA!) where they made me a new car key & I was at least able to get home!