The Little Things (House Project Post) Plus *Bricky Kitchen Warning*

I had last Friday off. For Nevada Day, the day on which Nevada was made a state. Sometimes working for the university isn't so bad! Free weekday, though, of course equals Project Day!This is the celebrated BBQ nook of yore. It faces the fridge. It is built into the backside of the fireplace and has a little door underneath for your propane tank to live in. Am I the only one who thinks this sounds unsafe for indoors? Maybe, but it's MY kitchen, so functional space, here we come!
Our buddy Paul is a talented guy (not to mention a badass metal drummer). He kindly covered all my cinderblock with plywood and caulked it all nice and tidy. Then I got to wait around and be antsy while the caulk dried before I could paint it and hang the shelf.
End result? Nice useful storage (and yes, those are all my cookbooks. I love to look at 'em but I never use them so I have a hard time hanging on to tons of them. I always want more though). There is power here (another reason why the BBQ idea seems sketchy) so I can plug in my toaster so now it is basically the toaster nook. The mixer gets used rarely but will fit nowhere else in my entire kitchen so here it stays. It is great, I got it from a friend-of-a-friend who broke it and didn't want to bother calling Kitchenaid to get it fixed. So $80 later I have a fully working awesome mixer that would normally cost a LOT more than that. And for how much I use it, I am glad I didn't pay full price. And the big blue bowls is actually a stack of great big ceramic serving bowls so it is great to get them out of the way of everything else.

All in all, a very satisfying little project. I theoretically could have done the plywood bits myself but it would have taken a LOT longer and would not look nearly as tidy. So I can justify a little outlay for mister Paul's time and skill. That's one thing in my kitchen I don't have to hate anymore!