Fall/Winter projects - Outside kitchen & workshop

It has been a rough winter in Kentucky with record cold, ice and snow. We spent almost 3 days without power in the last ice storm. Yesterday, March 2nd was the 2 year anniversary of the West Liberty tornado. Instead of a tornado this year, we are having another ice/sleet/snow storm. Right now the snow is coming down hard with huge beautiful flakes and we have at least 4 inches on the ground with several more hours of snowfall to go. Despite the weather this year, we have stayed busy with our continual improvements of this place.

We have been working on finishing the outdoor kitchen/workshop that is the other side of the greenhouse. Over the fall we poured the concrete floor and framed it in. Over the winter, on the few warm days we have had, we put the metal roof on, installed 2 of the windows, installed a sliding door, installed a woodstove for heat and emergency cooking, built a workbench and closet, stained some boards different colors and attached them to the inside wall, and hung an old wagon wheel as a chandelier. We are not finished with it yet, we still have one more window to put in when it is warm enough to do it and some electric to run. We are also going to incorporate solar energy to power some lights and as a backup source of power or to run a few low demand items. There will be an outside bar installed under the awning at the outside two windows which will open all the way up and serve as a nice bar area for summer gatherings. For the most part, the difficult parts are finished and we love it! It is a multipurpose area where we can work on crafts and projects, clean and can veggies in the summer, store our chicken eggs in the outside frig and have an outdoor gathering place to hang out with friends and family in the warmer months of the year.

Many of the materials we used are getting their second life instead of becoming items in a la

ndfill somewhere and we saved ourselves some money by using them. The old wood stove was in the house when we bought it. It is not very efficient and the blower is kinda loud but it works great for this small area and makes it a functional area to work on things when it is cold out. We installed some old salvaged rusted metal roof sheeting to protect the walls behind the stove from the heat. I found the old wagon wheel at the peddlers mall for $30. We had some old rusty but sturdy chain and used that to hang it. Then I wrapped some energy efficient warm white LED lights on it to make it a chandelier. It's cool and one of a kind! I plan to add some more decorations to the wheel in the future such as some antlers and maybe some greenery. The windows are salvage that I obtained from a contractor doing a local remodel and are the same I used for the greenhouse. The counter-tops are old chemistry lab counters that I salvaged before they were on their way to the landfill. We bought the door at the peddlers mall for $10! It is solid wood and had no pre-drilled holes. I have always wanted a sliding barn door and since the area is not really big, a sliding door for this area works great and allows us more space on the inside. We can open all the windows and the door and have an outdoor kitchen workshop when the weather is nice and still be able to fully lock the area up when we need to. My favorite piece is the cast iron sink centered in the wall. We bought it from someone on craigslist at an unbelievable price. The people obviously did not know its worth. It took us a couple of years to acquire all these items. It takes patience to find good deals or salvage items but I believe it is part of the fun and planning that goes into it all. It will also make good conversations when we have visitors over to sip a cold one at the bar this summer.