May 2017 Kitchenette, shelving and wi-fi

At the end of April and into May 2017, I was figuring out how to create a kitchen space on the cheap. We have IKEA cabinets in our main house, with many lower drawers, so I sourced a MALM dresser second hand to store pots & pans. I debated doing a concrete parging finish for a countertop but the drying times put me off (still rainy season here!) as well as limited availability in my area of the supplies. A walnut countertop made of the same wood as our ceiling would have looked great, but was outside my skill set. But...I can cut plywood! So in the end I took inspiration from this lovely cottage, which stuck a thick edge on furniture grade plywood, painted it with black chalkboard paint (which I already owned) and sealed it up. All easily within my skill set :)

I thought the grey wood finish of the MALM would look OK, but it was both busy and identifiably IKEA. Ages ago I had purchased some Ebay cup handles for another project but they remained unused...I think I paid $4 for all 6. I removed the MALM handles, filled in the holes, painted the whole thing with chalk paint in the wall colour (I just mixed calcium carbonate with the latex I already had), sealed it with flat/matte polyurethane I got at a discount hardware store on our last road trip to Maine, and installed the cup handles.

I also sourced a second hand bar fridge, but it was sad and yellowed. To the rescue: Rustoleum appliance spray paint in bright white to give it new life. Reviews online suggest that's the only brand to trust.

The LED lights are *very* warm. 

Owning a giant, old barn with nearly unlimited supply of barnboard has advantages; I used the same flat poly to seal some boards for the open kitchen shelving. I debated ordering shelf brackets from Old Quebec Hardware but the brackets were already outside my price range AND needed to be shipped. I turned to Kijiji classifieds of course, where I found sizeable, real brass Lee Valley brackets for $10 each. They were in another town, but a friend was visiting and she offered to pick them up on my behalf. The dishware, cutlery, cast iron frying pan and pots were also second hand purchases.

One of the last big expenses, and unknowns, was how to get internet at the Tiny House. I phoned the internet company asking about signal boosters and after considerable confusion, was disappointed to know they had no options except to create a second account entirely. At $90/month, that was not going to happen. Instead we have another option but I'm unsure how it will perform over time. 

We shall see!