Last night I went to the open house event to view the proposed layout for an urban garden here in Raleigh. There’s a nice 1 acre vacant lot that gets great sun exposure, & is central to several residential neighborhoods. The goal is to transform it into a vibrant  oasis of edible gardening in the middle of the city.

The best part about it: it’s managed. One of the hardest things to do with a volunteer community farm is maintaining it through growing seasons. People lose interest, they get busy – especially during summer months, & as with any volunteer effort, a handful of people end up doing all the work.

Having a management team handle the awareness & outreach as well as the inner workings & offerings takes a huge burden off the volunteer efforts. Kudos to the recognition that management is key.

Check out their FAQ page for all the deets on the awesome folks setting this thing up, including

• Non-profit status
• Volunteer help opportunities (digging, harvesting, working with kids, culinary expertise, awareness)
• Produce type & sale
• Location

I’m looking forward to seeing what this acre will look like in July!

One of our clients had a small nook adjacent to their kitchen. It became a kid zone so they could keep an eye on the little ones while they made dinner & cleaned up. We built a window seat that had 2 30″ wide drawers in the base cavity for storage, and a nice thick cushion on top for a reading niche for mom.

The other day they sent me this pic of said drawers in use.

How freaking cute is that?

When I first met with these folks, they said, “We don’t want our kitchen to look like it needs a wagon wheel table!” Understood. So we blew out the soffits, moved the fridge & shut down Miss Kitty’s saloon.

Before	After

Deets:

• cabinets: Ikea
• flooring: existing
• countertop: granite
• backsplash: 3×6 glass subway tile
• design: EcoMod

I’ll forego the 1000 words. Behold.

Before	After

And a few more detail shots:

• cabinets: Ikea Abstrakt high gloss white, Nexus brown/black
• flooring: APC Cork
• countertops: quartz
• design: Eco-modernism!

Working with these folks was a total joy. They have now dethroned the previous favorite clients.

Right.  But while you’re drinking yours  - we’re going to make ours.  Our own vanilla extract. For vanilla extract to be classified as pure, it must be a mixture of 35% alcohol and 13.35 ounces of vanilla bean per gallon. We don’t really need a gallon, though. But we also don’t want to spend $8 for two ounces of the stuff from Greedy Corporation Inc.

The Cheap Gardener and Cocktail Hacker each did some homework on it. Depending on how we crunch the numbers (and I do not love math, by the way), it comes to about 8 beans per cup of alcohol.

DIY Vanilla Extract, baby.

• Vodka? Check.
• Vanilla beans? Check. (There are a gazillion types. Happy deciding!)
• Jar? Check.

Slice vanilla beans length wise, & then into 2″ strips. Drop them in the bottle, let ‘em swim for about 8 weeks. Shake the bottle about once a week, and keep it in a cool dry place. In March we’ll have our first batch of our very own vanilla extract.

And we can top it off as we use it, & it becomes a never ending supply. One of our favorite crepe filling recipes is ricotta cheese flavored with

• vanilla extract,
• orange peel,
• dash of sugar &
• diced cucumbers. Nom.

Or, we could sacrifice a couple of beans for a Vanilla Cloud cocktail.

To 2012. Cheers.

Really. And 2011 has been our best year yet: 16 kitchens! By comparison, in a very informal survey of my kitchen design peers, the typical annual project load is roughly 6-8 kitchens – 10 in a very busy year.

No wonder I haven’t been posting regularly to the blog. Or tweeting. But I have been designing & installing kitchens for a lot of people. Hands on, direct service. Which takes time & focus. & my clients really appreciate it. In fact, here’s a note one of them sent us!

What else?

Our other milestones this year include:

• We filed our Provisional Patent for our own modular cabinet system design, which includes a service plug-in. So all the things that annoy us about some products we currently design with can be improved by our own proprietary solutions. We’re hoping to hit the market with them in late 2012. Let us know if you’d like to be a beta tester.
• We cracked 6 figures in revenue. Might not sound like much, but we’re either doubling or tripling with each successive year. In the worst economy ever – nationally and globally.
• Remote design/installations this year included Burlington VT, Austin TX,  Winston Salem NC, and several R2L (remote-to-local) projects for folks moving to our area from NYC  NY,  Nashville TN, and Boston MA.
• We were interviewed by Leah Thayer for her Innovations column in Daily5Remodel.
• We participated in a focus group for product lines by ThinkGlass.

We’re looking forward to 2012. Join us!

Double bowl sinks should never have been invented. They’re a waste of material & useless for washing things like cookie sheets, roasting pans, & your longest, pointiest knives.

Steve Justrich points out that if you need a second bowl, use a tub! You can also use fitted strainers for air drying hand washed things, and a fitted cutting board across it for additional worksurface real estate.

A deeper than normal one (9″+) and an offset drain hole toward the back round out the perfect sink.

“You have built a wonderful business using your unique talent while overcoming endless obstacles. We are so grateful for that as we celebrate Thanksgiving in our new space. :) cheers to Beckers!!”

THAT. Is why I’m in business. Awesome clients, fun puzzle solving, and design!

I really like this bathmat idea from Monica Ewing. It’s smart, simple, grippy, and warm. It also give me ideas for other applications – like a scratchmat for our cats. [via houzz]