Forty-three inches, that's what I have to work with for my sink and the cabinets around it. So, I think the double Domsjo sink from IKEA isn't going to work in my kitchen. I thought I'd just post how I think I have to buy the single, but then I Googled Domsjo sink. Yikes. Look what they say on GardenWeb--it rests on cabinets on both sides. I thought I'd use butcher block countertops, but I don't know if I have much room for counters on both sides. So much to learn.

Has anyone used this sink with a non-IKEA cabinet? IKEA-hacker has a few ideas.

I'm not stalling about the kitchen, I swear. There's a contractor coming over on Thursday from the local hardware store to look at the ceiling. In the meantime, I'm spending my tax refund on IKEA rugs. Like this Tarnby (don't the product names there crack you up?). Oh, and I lied about it in my last post. It's jute, not sisal. Emma apparently likes both.

You like in the bedroom? Want me to play switchy and see how the look in the living room? I'll clean it up later today and show you...

When I was about fifteen, I decided that I needed to do stomach exercises--this was before I became an aerobics instructor at Elaine Powers, the first woman of fitness, and had to wear Powercise t-shirts and flesh-colored tights. I must have spent hours in my bedroom on the yellow shag rug doing crunches and other torturous lift and twist moves. The rug had seen better days then, but you should see it now. It's still there, and I swear you can see the imprint of my knees from when I did my fire-hydrant leg lifts.

You'd think I'd have had enough of shag, but look what I went and did at IKEA today: I bought a white shag rug for the bedroom--the Vitten they call it. White I call it. Maybe the smell of it will trigger my somatic memory and make me do some situps.

What do you think? I can't decide, but might work better in the living room. We'll see.

As you know, I've been thinking about the color yellow. Not sure what stroke of luck sent me this Google add for "Yelo", but I clicked on it and look at this--it's fast, sleep massage therapy for the urban-ed out. So Blade Runner... but I'd try it out. Has anyone else?

I know I'm in love with Emerson of An Apple a Day right now, but I can't help it. She's my soul sister when it comes to the kitchen and these amazing terrariums.

See, the cats don't just make it impossible for me to buy a sofa, keep my apartment clean, sleep, or leave the country, they also take my breath away. Well, that's hyperbolic--but they do eat any green plants I bring into the joint, then barf them up on the floor. I've considered introducing the little buggers to cacti, but maybe a terrarium is a better idea.

One or two or ten, just like these.

Has anyone else encountered this person, this film on Facebook? This movie? Home is the movie. This guy should get a prize for his guerrilla marketing.

I know I can't have a new sofa because my cats are still alive and scratching, but I kind of love this one from our Julianne Moore cover story from the May issue...

It's the Rochelle from Crate and Barrel. I'm thinking once I get Emerson to help me finish the kitchen, I'll paint the living room white with the Ferm feather wallpaper as an accent wall, and do the Thomas Paul feather rug on the floor to freak everyone out.

Help, I'm getting design bulimia.

Emerson claims we can hand sand this floor with a little handheld sander. Is that nuts? I mean, is she nuts?

Look at what Amy of An Apple a Day did in two weeks flat. Her floor used to be covered in tiles just like mine. Should I try that at home?

I've been looking at vintage appliances again... Don't tell Isaac, but I'm thinking of making him take me to pick up this vintage Tappan stove that's for free on Craigslist. Of course, the thermal couple (Wikipedia that, my friends, but don't say I didn't warn you) needs to be replaced.

In any case, since the floor and ceiling need to be redone before I can start carting broken appliances into the house, feel free to snatch it up and let me know how it goes, so I can hate you until I remember that the world is made of abundance and there's enough to go around.

Growing up, we had two refrigerators in the kitchen, a freezer in the basement filled with fudgcicles and my brother's unfinsihed taxidermy projects, plus another commercial freezer filled with meat from our steer named Whimpy. Whimpy burgers mostly. (And you all wonder why I can't make a decision.)

How did we end up with two refrigerators? For a long time we had an avocado green fridge with chrome detailing that my mother let me clean with a toothpick. Then everyone around us started getting those ones that served crushed ice and cold water from the front like this one I found on copyranter (be forewarned that there are curse words if you follow this link):

One day, my famously impulsive father decided to buy one of the fancy ones with the water and the crushed ice. In it came and down it went, right next to the old one. They sat there, side by side for years. My mother will take issue with this--no doubt it was probably only a few months. But I remember that burst of energy followed by inertia; and I practice it myself.

Except watch me finish my kitchen in a month flat. Think I can do it?

Ought not the egg, sunny side up, be the inspiration for every kitchen? Germi and Kate F both use a pale yellow, but when I first bought paint ages ago, I instinctually bought a gallon of a bright yellow like the one you see in the Chicago kitchen I visited this weekend.

I'm a little nervous I'll feel like I live in a Van Gogh painting if I go with such a bright color, but boy oh boy did this color make me happy. Or maybe it was the company...

We all know and love The Germinatrix's gardening. But did you know she is also secretly cooking in one of the cutest kitchens we've ever seen. How could you not be happy in this place. She knows how much I want her refrigerator, but I don't think I can have it until I find a place where I feel a little more settled (read, buy a house).

Still, there's much to learn from the way she's put together this room, wouldn't you say?

Ages ago, when I was considering the double IKEA apron sink, Kate of Kate F, Girl Reporter fame, sent me some pictures of her kitchen that incorporates that sink. Look at this. I think this is basically what I want my kitchen to look like. Except I want white appliances, I think. Or maybe some fun color.

So start here. Components are coming next. I need to find:

2 hanging light fixtures
a butcher block top table from IKEA that will stand in for counter space
sink with under counter storage
refrigerator
stove

It ain't often that a major publication speaks to my contrarian ears, but it's as if the New York Times called me on my cellie last week. They did a story about a scrappy girl like me who renovated her kitchen 
for about $10K.

They also did a story about greendemolitions, a company that recycles luxury kitchen appliances and the like from all the new condo buildings in the city. I might be able to score some light fixtures there.

Look how I'm going to be cooking for the next little while. Fools rush in. And I'm a fool. No design, no plan, just a torn up kitchen and an apartment full of kitchenware, including six(!) cutting boards.

The to do list so far. Tell me if I'm forgetting anything.

electrical work:

overhead lighting -- convert to two lights? no fan?
over sink, under cabinet lighting
convert two to three-pronged outlet where new fridge will go

appliances:

small refrigerator to fit in nook of built ins
sink -- farm/apron sink? freestanding with built in drain?
stove -- since i'm at all this might as well

floor:

sand and paint or cover in linoleum?

furniture:

freestanding, butcher-block top IKEA thing
table to eat at
something to surround the sink

walls:

paint with backsplash?

to repair:

strip and repaint cabinets
pull off old molding and replace above cabinets and picture molding

I love it when my natural toothepaste--my favorite brand, by the way--matches the bathroom.

Yeah, so I've been emptying out the kitchen like mad this weekend in preparation for the big renovation (which rhyme is not lost on me). Boy do I got a lot of junk. And I think I mightta brought a little more into the house this weekend. What do you think of these vintage mod art things? I think they're sort of genius, but I'm not sure I need them. What say ye?

Have I mentioned that the ceilings in my apartment are peeling? It's maddening, really. Here's what the kitchen looks like. No patch and repair job, this. Apparently I need the whole ceiling rehung. It's lath and plaster right now, but I think I need to have drywall hung. Which scares me to no end--I mean, isn't it heavy? How do they get it up there? I'm off to the local Almac Hardware store (718-434-1736), which just got kudos from New York Magazine to find out what to do. If you know of anyone who can do this for me in Brooklyn, leave a comment!

Jeez. Meg over at ThreadBanger has been trying to get my attention for about a hundred years, but she sent a link to her adorable DIY videos when I was down at the interactive portion of SXSW without an internet connection, so her email got shoved to the bottom of my inbox and I forgot about it. At long last, I got to watch a a few of these. They're super cute, full of clever ideas and a dog that deserves to be in the dogs of domino hall of fame.

Isaac and I started to pull up the kitchen floor yesterday. I highly recommend it if you're feeling even the slightest bit pissed off at someone. So far, I think the wood looks good enough to sand down and paint--has anyone seen this sort of black tar paper beneath tiles before?

I also emptied out the big tall cabinet. It was like an excavation. At the bottom of about five layers of plastic bags, I found a paper bag someone gave me a housewarming present in. Sad and sweet.

David says these, uh, super cheap, cherry blossom boots need to be in bedroom. Maybe we ought to do a cherry blossom outfit to room...

I was watching my friend and neighbor's cat this week. I'd never been into her apartment before. Turns out I like her apartment layout better. And her kitchen looks huuuuuge, though its' the same size as mine if you count the tiles on the floor. I think it looks so big partly because refrigerator is tucked into the corner to the right as you walk in. Also the doors have been taken off her kitchen cabinets. Should I do that? Does that open up the place or does it just create a whole new place for me to share my mess with my guests?

I've upset a few people with my little April Fool's Prank who either a) don't want me to leave New York, or b) want me closer to Chicago. In other words, I'm in the doghouse, but so is Snoopy. See Apartment Therapy's Snoopy doghouse tour, which reminds me of the Dogs of Domino slide show, which makes me think of the doghouse again, which makes me think I need to get back to renovating my kitchen... Yeah.

Last night I finally made the plunge and signed the papers to sell the dear old scrappy pad. I'm headed to Chicago, where I hear the thrifting is ridiculously better than it is in Brooklyn.

Wish me well...find out more and see pictures of the new place by clicking the link below.