A couple of weeks ago, I nonchalantly tacked onto the end of a post that we just passed the three-year anniversary of living in Blake Hill House. Three years! I asked you, our readers, what you wanted to see here on the blog. We received several answers in the comments section of that article and on social media. I will do my best to accommodate those requests in the coming weeks.

On Facebook, one of our readers was interested in before-and-after shots. I think that’s a good place to start. Now that we have three years of solid work under our belts, we have a good set of before-and-after-and-after photos. Several of the first projects have evolved. Also, experience has made me a better photographer, and it is time to update some of the photos on this site.

Exhibit A:

In addition to before-and-afters, there are some areas in BHH that we have not even shared at all yet. So, each week, all summer, I will post photos of the rarely-seen rooms as well as before-and-after pics. To kick off this series of posts, I present…

The Breakfast Nook

Surprise! BHH has a breakfast nook. Actually, BHH has a weird enclosed porch that we are transforming into a breakfast nook. The little room is behind the arrow in the photo below.

It was likely a covered, but not enclosed, delivery porch before the fancy window was added.

Over the past three years, pictures of the interior of the nook have popped up on the blog from time to time. The nook got a brief mention during the first pre-kitchen renovation post.

Initially, we thought that we would tear out the wall between the laundry room and the proposed nook. That would make the laundry room smaller and the nook larger. We discussed that as Phase II in the kitchen post.  However, now that we have a shiny new kitchen, neither Andy nor I are feeling the tug to complete Phase II. Instead, we just want to finish the space as-is and move on with our lives.

Here is the view from the kitchen.

Measuring at around 4.5′ X 10′, it is not a large area, but what a view!

Presently, it is green because everything in this house was green before we started restoring and renovating. The plan is to paint the windows, walls, and ceiling so that the room will coordinate with the kitchen. In keeping with porch folklore of yore, the ceiling will be light blue. Everything else is to be determined.

Because the nook is long and narrow, it will only accommodate something very slim like a bar-style table. Also, there is no electricity in the room, but we may be able to add a hanging light that plugs in. Honestly, since this room will be seasonal, we can probably get away without worrying about additional lighting at all. To use the breakfast nook in the winter, we would have to add insulation and custom storm windows. I am already formulating a plan.

 

I do not know when we will start to work on the breakfast nook, but I would love to make it happen sooner vs. later. We will just have to see how these next few weeks fall into place since we already have quite a bit of work in progress.

PS: Although I only post on the blog once or twice per week, If you find yourself wanting more, I post daily photos and stories on Instagram.  There you will get real-time updates about what we are working on every day. Instagram also serves as our scrapbook, and I get a little more personal about how we live in BHH and what makes us tick. (Spoiler alert: I run long distances for fun.) Feel free to give us a follow.