Hanging out in the kitchen...

I'm not sure when it started, but I've had this thing about pot racks for a while now. Perhaps it was the house we didn't buy when we moved to Spokane, the bungalow on Shoshone Place between Cannon Hill Park and the Japanese Garden at Manito. If location-location-location indeed constitutes the answer to all real estate questions, then that house was the ultimate. A tree-lined, brick paved street between two of Spokane's signature parks. Hardwood floors and french doors into an office off of the main room. What's not to like?

Well, OK, there was the fact that the house had a 10x15 foot front yard, and no back yard at all... not exactly optimum for a family with large dogs. And then there was the asbestos siding... but how big a deal is a little asbestos removal? Oh, sure, the house had no storage at all, shared a tiny driveway with a neighbor, featured a one and a half car garage, and needed all of its electrical infrastructure replaced. And we would have spent every bit of our cash just getting into it. Picky, picky.

The kitchen, however, was attractive. I remember it having a tiled floor, vaulted ceiling and a copper pot rack over the stove. I'm not sure what type of stove it was. I was too busy looking up at the pot rack.

Wisely, we didn't finalize the purchase of the house on Shoshone. Despite the nostalgia evidenced above, we really haven't looked back, and have no regrets. Our home, with its lovely yard, fruit trees and vines, and garden space fits us very nicely. It even has adequate storage for all the stuff our kids never moved out. It feels "like us", and even more so as we continue the process of remaking it one room at a time.

Last night I finally got my pot rack. Our remodeled kitchen is still small. As neighbor Ron says, the wall stretchers didn't work. And given the fact that our ceilings are anything but vaulted, the nice, large pot rack of my dreams would have occasioned a spike in emergency room visits. I need more low hanging metal like, well, like another hole in the head.

So a nice, stainless steel bar hanger is what works. It went up last night, and provided me easy access to the oatmeal pan this morning. Easy access matters at 5 in the morning. I know it's silly, but I'm really quite thrilled to have it.

Now, how about french doors for the laundry area?