Feb 18, 2024 3 min read

Menards now has umlauts.

Shave pink bunnies and comparatively design custom cabinetry!

Would you like an MSU Broad Museum snow globe?

Yesterday's pick-over party was lots of fun, chiefly because I got to visit with neighbors I don't often see in winter. And you know what turned out to be the most popular items? The Corelle dishes. Everybody in my generation knows them as unbreakable.

Now that people have taken what they wanted, I'll take the remaining books to the library's "Friendshop" (which sells used books to fundraise for the library) and the prior owners' guy will come clean out the rest of the stuff we don't need.

Naturally, seeing what someone else left behind has had me noticing in my own house what I would surely leave behind. Chief among those items is the MSU Broad Museum snow globe, shown above. I can't remember who brought that to our house as a gag gift, and I can't figure out why I still have it. It has to be the worst iteration of the snow globe art form ever created.

If you'd like it, just send me your address and postage, ha ha. I've also got an unstable lamp with a hand-painted shade with color that's run from a ceiling leak, four boxes of research files from my Ph.D. dissertation, and two wool dresses too itchy to wear. (Maybe I need to move?)

Anyway, back to 615. There's a dead spot in the kitchen – a corner near the entrance to the dining room that obviously needs some cabinetry.

The "dead corner" as shown from the living room entry, looking toward the dining room. The prior owners had a heavy wood cabinet here, as shown.

Lisa the Design Genius recommended IKEA, as their design tool is so easy, but I got to thinking I might be able to achieve the same thing via Menards at a lower price and with way less driving.

Menards has been my go-to place for various home improvement projects. All I have to do is try to stop my head from singing their jingle – "Save big money at Menards!" – because in my head, it's always with the words my son's friend used to sub-in when they were little: "Shave pink bunnies at Menards!"

So, I drove over to Menards in South Lansing today, and what did I discover? I mean, besides the fact that I still end up singing about shaving pink bunnies? Umlauts! Yep. Menards now features Klëarvūe cabinets which you can design with their ŪCRËATË tool. I'm not making this up. Apparently Menards has decided we all want Swedish kitchen cabinets.

When I'm fried from my normal work, I'm planning to see what I can design with IKEA versus Menards, what each costs, and what quality we're talking. Stay tuned for the results of my comparison.

Here's another look at the corner we're talking about. A new set of matched cabinetry here will provide more space and tie the corner to the rest of the kitchen.

My plan is to come up with a new set of cabinets for the dead corner that will match the existing cabinets, because I'll paint them all the same green. This will provide more storage and make the kitchen feel all tied together, as the breakfast nook will get a darker shade of same, plus some complimentary bench cushions. I think it's going to make the kitchen sing.