The Kitchen

[journey11]

Jetsons...that was the first thing that came to my mind too.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

We have a mud room between our back door and the kitchen. Sometimes the dirty shoes, boots, Crocks, and whatever are piled up in there. But if you've been mucking out the barn(s) your muck boots had better stay outside or the wrath of Momma will descend upon you!!! We almost never wear shoes indoors but soft, warm, cozy slippers are popular around here in the winter. Our front door hardly ever gets used. We can usually tell right away that its a door-to-door salesperson (we really never get them out here in the boonies) or someone trying to tell you their religion is better than yours (we did have one of those a few months ago).

 

[so lucky]

Well, I do have chicken and garden shoes, which stay in the basement.
DH has been making noises about getting a Roomba, feeling that would keep the floors constantly clean. I think he is just not wanting to vacuum anymore. If I receive a Roomba for a Christmas present, I will not be thrilled. Neither will Penny, I bet.

 

[digitS']

There are different standards. I used to insist that a mop was generally inadequate for cleaning a floor. If we want to see what I mean, get down on your hands and knees and clean it, just one time. However, cleaning it one time (a fortnight ) wasn't up to DW's standards. I'm not gonna go in after her with my bucket and towel and she, thankfully, isn't setting a schedule for my household chores. So, she sweeps and mops and we both vacuum. And Hey! I cleaned the oven this morning !

Anyway, this comes close to the floor plan for our little house. No, I'm not about to move a Jetson pod into the house ... nor anything similar.

I'm not quite sure how to explain how it is different but imagine that the kitchen was moved and replaces the 3rd bedroom. Most of the fixtures were moved to be against that outside wall.

It was similar to this plan years ago. The later change only makes remodeling now more difficult.

Everything could actually go out the back door the way this floor plan shows it. Even the interior walls could be taken out. Everything entirely new could come back in that backdoor.

I just bet that 80% of all remodels involve this area of a home. Further, I bet 99% of all remodeling costs are here, in these rooms. The planning that would make the job simpler would make it cheaper. I'd also wager, it would make it quicker and less disruptive. Unfortunately, someone moved the kitchen decades ago.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I always used to wash the floors on my knees (wearing knee pads ) with a bucket, scrub brush and mop rag. But when my knees were very achy after one such cleaning my husband insisted I use a mop and be upright. How thoughtful of him, right? But his knees are probably in worse shape than mine after doing tile for 45 years.

Steve's right about the difference in clean though. I think there's no comparison between hand washing and mopping. But I don't get that close to the floor most of the time anyway, so it's easier to suppress the ick factor now.

 

[so lucky]

Normally it doesn't bother me, but since we have two crawling grandbabies, I am a little more conscious of what is on the floor. Oh well, in a few months they will be walking......

 

[Smart Red]

That's the main redo whenever we purchase a new house or apartment building. I swear, my mother got more use out of DH when we first married then I did. She got new kitchen and bathrooms in every apartment and house she had thanks to DH's building abilities.

As for moving the kitchen, we've done that, too. Once DH declared, "You can do anything with plastic pipe," (PVC) and he has lived to regret that statement many times since.

 

[Smart Red]

I always used to wash the floors on my knees (wearing knee pads ) with a bucket, scrub brush and mop rag. But when my knees were very achy after one such cleaning my husband insisted I use a mop and be upright. How thoughtful of him, right? But his knees are probably in worse shape than mine after doing tile for 45 years.

Steve's right about the difference in clean though. I think there's no comparison between hand washing and mopping. But I don't get that close to the floor most of the time anyway, so it's easier to suppress the ick factor now.

That's why I LOVE my steamer! I usually do a sweep, swiffer-type wipe, and pass again with the steam cleaner. Figure a clean mop head means a clean floor by that time. Of course, the steamer is more of a "once a week" clean or as a really, really, really needed clean up.

 

[Smart Red]

And you are both right. There was a time when I thought mopping the floor always meant hands and knees. I've gotten a lot Smart-er since then.

 

[thistlebloom]

I still think my floors were cleaner when I crawl-mopped, but they are clean enough to pass muster with a good thorough sweep and steam.

Years ago I bought a commercial floor dust mop with a swivel head. It's a great boon to sweeping as you can slide it under couches and chairs and fridge and stove and collect all those elusive dust bunnies that lurk in hard to reach places.