Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Everything's up to date in Kansas City

We arrived in Kansas City Saturday evening and checked in to the Residence Inn out near the airport. Since then we've been making numerous trips over to Fort Leavenworth to work on getting things set up on that end. We signed for our house on Tuesday, and our household goods were delivered today (with a minimum of damage, so yay for that!). We're spending one more night at the hotel though, as we figured--rightly so, it turned out--that the house would be in no condition for sleeping in tonight.

The house is amazing, but it is a challenge. I saw a picture in the housing office of a house on our street that was built in 1901, so I assume ours is of similar vintage. Old homes have a lot of character but also a lot of quirks. In our case, I'm having trouble reconciling a disturbing lack of space with such a huge house. Things are chopped up funny though. Our kitchen is not a bad size, but it has next to no cabinet space. Meanwhile I have a reception hall that I could probably play badminton in. Why???

The kitchen is haunting me. It feels like a puzzle, and if I just wrack my brain hard enough, I will suddenly remember a bank of cabinets I have somehow overlooked. Not yet though. Basically the kitchen in Knox had 22 cabinets and 17 drawers. Whoops, no, 24 cabinets--I had forgotten the ones over the fridge. Here are pictures of the Leavenworth kitchen that a friend of mine took when the previous occupants were still living there:





How am I supposed to make 24 cabinets and 17 drawers worth of stuff fit in there? Looks like I have some more downsizing to do!

The animals came through the move just fine and seem to be quite at home at the Residence Inn. Mr. Stinky's blossom unfortunately has given up the ghost. I think he is getting ready to try again though, so maybe this will be the one?

We are checking out of the hotel in the morning and moving into the house. We have exactly 2 days to do whatever it is we are going to do before we leave for our 2-week odyssey of vacation and taking Mike to college. Never a dull moment!

6 comments:

Mom said...

Is there room for a free-standing island with storage cabinets below?

Anonymous said...

If the house was built about 1801, there probably wasn't a kitchen in it due to fire concerns. Sometime since, a room was selected to serve the purpose and the detached kitchen torn down.

Looking forward to seeing you all next week.

Love, Grandma

Ivy said...

So you only have those 8 cabinets and 4 drawers? Goodness. Well I'd go the island route too if you have the room or put low cabinets along that wall at the window if you don't have to have a table in the kitchen. Good luck.

Bonnie said...

Grandma, can't wait to see you, too!

Mom and Ivy, I started to answer this in a comment, but I think it needs a whole new post with more pictures. Keep the good ideas coming!

Anonymous said...

We just moved into Ft. Leavenworth this summer as well. You can go to the Post Museum and get records on your historic home.
Ours was built in 1903 (Pope Avenue) and the Museum had the first residents through @ 1930 on a list with resources to find others.
Keith and Jennifer

Bonnie said...

Keith and Jennifer, that is a GREAT idea! Thanks for the tip. Hope we get to meet in person!