Inexpensive Storage

Last week you saw the completion of my new bathroom. I was so excited, I didn't know which to use first - the toilet or the tub. Well, nature took care of that decision for me. On my first night back, I used the wood stove to heat four big pots of water. What a luxurious feeling to sit back and have a hot soak.

The next thing was to put together the bargain pantry I found at Walmart. It was originally $89, but on sale for just $49. It's made of MDF (medium-density fiberboard), but it's quite sturdy. And it came in a white finish that is perfect for my new room.

While I was in town with Mom, Wayne put it together for me. You may wonder why I'm putting a pantry in the bathroom. First, in a small home you use the space you have wisely. Second, it will be the coolest room and that's the best spot to store my canning.

Up on top, Wayne has space for his model Coast Guard Cutter that has been displaced because of our kitchen remodel. I think it looks good here, giving a spot of colour against the light walls. What do you think? -- Margy

Up the Lake Appliance Delivery

In 2008, I shared a post about my kitchen. Since we purchased our cabin home from our good friend John in 2001, we haven't changed much inside. But this year we've undertaken several improvement projects. Last week you read about the completion of our bathroom and side porch. Now we've moved on to the kitchen.

Our kitchen remodel is much less involved, but the results are still going to be dramatic. We decided to leave our kitchen counter and shelves the way they are. We love the simplicity. So the first step was replacing our propane appliances. John picked up our new refrigerator and stove at Rona.

John's friend Ernie loaned us his converted boat barge (normally used to transport quads on the lake) to haul our new appliances up to the cabin. When you live in a water access only location, you have to be a bit inventive. John backed down the boat ramp and the quad ramps dropped from the barge right onto the tailgate of his truck. That made the transfer of the heavy appliances a lot easier.

When they got to the cabin, the barge backed up to the deck. The ramps reached all the way to the top deck, making the off load just as easy. When the installation was done, the process reversed to remove our old appliances. But don't worry. They are going to a good home. John is taking them down to his new cabin. Bro is hoping we left a few doggie treats inside for him. -- Margy

Premier 30" Freestanding Propane Range

During our kitchen renovation, we purchased new appliances at Rona here in Powell River. Andy was very helpful as I was making my decisions and our good friend John took care of the installation. Since we are off the grid, I needed propane appliances.

The range is a 30" Premier freestanding model. It comes in several colours, but at Rona the only choice was white on white. But that's what I wanted anyway. It brightens up the kitchen and matches my white counters. This model operates on either natural gas or propane. It's 3 inches wider than my old range, but fits fine at the end of the counter. And because it dropped into same spot as the old range, all of the propane lines were in place ready for John to hook up.

There are four burners. I cook with the front two, keeping the back ones to store my boiled lake drinking water. Each side has a small pilot for easy lighting. We had to light our old burners with a lighter. It's a habit hard to break.

I love the oven. It's 25" wide with two racks and lots of room. There are special settings for propane, but I found it still runs hotter than the dial. I keep my trusty oven thermometre inside to make sure I don't overcook it.

There's a pull-out broiler. This is also where the oven pilot is located.

We don't know how much propane the pilots will take. While we are at the cabin, we leave them running. But when we leave for a long time, the range has a master cutoff valve under the top. It's fairly easy to reach, but we'll have to be sure to light all three pilots when we return and restart the propane.

I love my (oops our) new range. One of the first things I did was can spiced apples. It was so nice to have the larger cooking surface for my canning pots. I know Wayne (he cooks dinner) and I will get lots of good use out of our new range. It was money well spent. -- Margy

Search for a Propane Refrigerator

Our search for a new propane stove was fairly inexpensive and easy because houses sometimes use gas. Refrigerators are a whole different animal. Home refrigerators are almost exclusively electric.

Propane refrigerators are most often found in small sizes for trailers and RVs. When John built our cabin, he got this used 8 cubic foot model out of an old trailer. It served us well for over ten years, but we yearned for more space in both the freezer and fridge.

We looked online and in several stores, but the RV models are too small. They also aren't finished on the outside because they are designed to fit into a modular unit. At Rona here in Powell River, they carry Unique brand propane refrigerators. They are made in Ontario, Canada, but are distributed throughout North America. It's a home-style refrigerator, but runs on propane. And we could get it in a 13 cubic foot model (they go all the way up to a massive 18).

Because it is larger than the space under the stairs, we changed the location to the end of the sink, a good spot for kitchen use. It's also a good place because we (John actually) had to install a new propane line from our tanks on the other side of the wall.

Look at all that space in the freezer, fridge and doors. It fills up fast, but there's plenty of room for frozen meats and fresh foods.

Our Unique refrigerator lives up to its name. Propane refrigerators work a little different than electric ones. I don't profess to understand the process, but electric models use a gas called tetrafluoroethane, a motor, a compressor and coils to contain the gas/liquid cooling process.

A propane refrigerator has a few more steps including a propane flame powered generator to create ammonia gas, a separator, a condenser, an evaporator (where the cooling occurs), and an absorber. It's a closed, continuous-cycle system as long as the propane is burning.

Here you can see the condenser fins that are part of the cooling process at the back of our top refrigerator shelf.

Propane consumption for our 13 cubic foot model is 1.4 pounds per day at maximum cooling. We have ours set lower. Where we live, a pound costs $1.00. We are still in the process of calculating our actual consumption. We have three 40 pound tanks, so we can run our refrigerator full time (and stove and lights) for over a month without going back to town for refills.

Because burning propane indoors might cause carbon monoxide emissions, the refrigerator must either be vented to the outside or have a monitoring device installed. We opted for the monitoring device. We just have to be careful that the 9 volt battery inside is charged. Otherwise, the propane will be shut off and that would be a bad thing!

If you are in the market for a home-style propane refrigerator take a look. As they say:
It's not just a fridge.
It's Unique! -- Margy

Kitchen Magician

John is like a magician at everything he does. I let him know what I need and he makes it happen like magic. Our kitchen storage counter and shelf are two examples. As a part of our kitchen remodel we decided to get rid of our dining table (which we never used for eating) and replace it with a storage unit (which is what we really needed).

I drew a design with the dimensions and gave it to John. A week later, Wayne and I picked it up at John's house. Under our new outdoor porch out of the rain, we got it painted with two coats of semi-gloss white to protect the surface and to blend into our existing kitchen colour scheme. The wide open area on the side was designed to stack cases of pop and other large items.

The long floating shelf under the window holds our electronic devices including cell phones and satellite radio. The tall, deep shelves hold my large canning and water heating pots. I calculated the distance between the counter top and floating shelf to hold my cookbooks. And of course, it wouldn't be our kitchen without a telescope would it? Thanks John. You've worked your magic again! -- Margy

Let There Be Light

When we remodeled to add our new bathroom, we lost the window in the guest bedroom. It has always been the darkest room in the cabin. That's because the window faced north where our massive granite wall is located. So we asked John to cut us a new window facing west while he had all his tools handy.

First, the interior paneling had to come down. That was fine with me because moisture stained the bottom. Then he removed the insulation and reworked the moulding which provides support for the floor of the upstairs loft.

John used the studs to size the width. My wood storage shelf, which would go underneath, determined the height. A few cuts and I sort of had a window. Once John got the frame completed, he took measurements to Rona and ordered a custom window.

In the meantime, he put the exterior wall back up to keep out bugs and critters. We replaced the interior paneling with primered pine sheets like the bathroom and painted with matching mould resistant semi-gloss off-white paint. That helped to brighten up the room. Here you can see the new window on the left during our cabin painting project.

Now we get a lot more light in the guest bedroom, the adjacent bathroom, and even out into the living room area. And a west facing window gives us light later in the day when we need it most.

Thanks John for making our home an even nicer place to live. Come back on Thursday for a full tour of the remodeled room. -- Margy

A New Coat

In Coastal BC, cabin maintenance and upkeep is very important. The wet climate encourages wood structures to mould and rot in quick order. Our cabin is of wood frame construction with sheets of exterior pre-primed 4'X8' plywood siding. The cabin was painted with Wedgewood blue solid finish exterior stain and then repainted by us in 2007 using the original scheme.

We are about a year early (every five years is a good schedule), but with the new construction we thought a "new coat" all around would be a good idea. And this time we decided to make a change. Wayne and I picked a warm tan to go with our hunter green trim and blue metal roof.

While I'm in Bellingham, Wayne has started on the lower walls. It takes three coats to cover the old blue, but it is well worth it. (I guess that is easy for me to say.) Doesn't the new colour look nice against our high rock wall? But what colour do you think Wayne will pick for the propane shed? He likes bright ones.

Wayne'll wait for me to return later in September to do the high ladder work under the peaks. At least I'll be able to feel I helped a bit. -- Margy