Its been sometime since I last posted anything. Last year turned out to be very busy for me. First my youngest had surgery the end of April and while I was taking care of her I learned I would be bringing my Mother back to my house to take care of her for the next seven months. She passed Thanksgiving eve after giving the dementia a good fight. I can't begin to tell anyone about the Angels that work for Hospice! Without their support and guidance, I'm not sure I could have made it. But then we have to remember, nothing will be put on us that we cannot handle.
Not much of anything was accomplished in my kitchen last year. Mom couldn't stand loud noise, so ripping out the old counters and cabinets was out of the question. So all I could do was gather everything and wait for the renovation to start again. At least I could go to the garage and look at things and let my imagination run wild.
Every time I had the chance, I searched and gathered my ideals for my farmhouse kitchen while staying true to the history of the house. I think I came up with most of the elements. Here we go!
Warning lots of Pictures!
So now when you enter my little kitchen and it is little, from my old salvaged hotel kitchen door...
This is what you will see.
We really tried to follow the blueprint of the room as we found traces of it during demolition of the other renovations. Remember this was a sleeping porch when the house was built, the kitchen was detached from the house. We rebuilt the wall going into the hall, placed the doors in there original location to the butlers pantry and hall. All the bead board is original to the house, we used what we found in the attic. We did leave a few of the 40 or 50's renovation additions like the scallop edge over the sink, then mimicked it again over the open cabinet by the stove.
I wanted this space to look as if newer layers had been added to older construction, so I painted and distressed one row of cabinets. This gave a little rustic feel with all the white bead board cabinets. I like the contrast of the painted distressed, the clean white and the brick.
Old houses did not have granite and I do try to be as much of a purest as I can. This house I feel safe in saying had wooden counters (what few counters if any it may have had) since the kitchen was detached. So we used oak for the counter tops. Again I did not want the usual counter so we ran the wood vertical rather than horizontal. This section has a cutting board built into it, since it is next to the sink, great working area.
A little rope molding to the edge.
One of my favorite plates, yes I know you have seen it before but I'm big on using what I have.
My little salt pig gets a workout everyday.
And yes I still use my roosters and chickens!
A new/old cast iron sink in white. Much smaller than the stainless one that was here. The other sink had three bowls, this one has two but they are much deeper than the other one. Plus it was FREE, and who doesn't like free when you clean it up and it looks brand new. I'm sure glad that other lady didn't like it.
Not a good picture, not sure what time of day would be the best time to snap a good one.
So for farm house style we have wooden counters, bead board on the walls, an old cast iron sink...
oh and new cabinet doors with antique glass knobs.
Just for fun, the sink cabinets got a cast iron gate latch and black wooden knobs.
And the floor still has it black worn stain on it
And I don't think any farmhouse would be complete without a big ole farm table that looks as though it's been used way to much. Then how about adding an old church bench.
And last but not least a little midnight snack spot. A built in breadbox and cutting board that mimics the range hood.
We still have work to do, new fronts on the drawers, maybe a new faucet for the sink and I want to do a tin ceiling. But a little rest and play time for now, because it takes allot of work and time to get from this...
To this..
So I hope to see you soon.
Life is getting back to normal around here, so I hope my creative juices start flowing again and I start participating in parties every week.
Until next time..
