If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Kitchen Before and After

When I walked into this house, the first thing I realized I liked was the kitchen.  I love to cook and this is a kitchen for cooking.  There is plenty of cabinet space, counter space, and room to move around.  Yet, everything seems right at hand.  I love the distressed-over-time finish of the cabinets.  I love all the windows letting in light.  I love the fireplace.  I just love it!

I must admit that at first I was a little bit overwhelmed with all that Waverly fruit on the walls, though!


Whew!  That was a lot of fruit! 

As you can see in the photo below, it is a cheerful, butter-yellow color now.  (except for a small area behind the fridge - maybe some day I'll get some help moving it out and get that painted, too) I tried to match a color that is in some of the rocks of the fireplace.  I've never been a yellow person before but it just seemed to fit in here.



I guess if I ever change something it will be the greenish tint of the counter tops and update the ceiling fans to ones which have several light bulbs.  I'm thinking something like a dark granite might look nice but there are so many other things I'd like to do elsewhere first.  Over the stove is a Land-O-Lakes butter tin tray.  It has hung in every kitchen I've ever had as an adult.  I think I got it with a couple of box tops and a couple of dollars about thirty years ago.  The other things hanging between the cabinets and counter top are cross-stitched pieces and a print given to me as gifts by family members.  The chopping block in the foreground on the left was crafted by former students in a cabinet making class.  The red chairs were a purchase at a second hand store and came with a simple table that is in the basement in my sewing room.  All that is missing from the photo which always paints a sleepy smile on my Sunday morning face is my sweet breakfast cook stirring up something tasty and fattening like bacon, eggs, and biscuits with a side of gravy.  Yum... the smell of coffee tickling my nose...what a luxurious life I get to lead sometimes.  I love Sunday mornings!

Here is the dining end.  Again, all that fruit!  There was also a still life fruit print on the wall when I first walked into that room.  Wow, that sure is lots of fruit!


This shot does show up the wall of windows and the French doors which let in loads of light and help me to feel like the outside is inside sometimes.  In warm weather we sometimes leave the doors flung open and the kitchen and deck just seamlessly become one room.  That makes for a large dance floor for my partner and me to dance around on.  It also makes lots of room for folks to stand around and talk and munch and sip.  Below is the after shot. 



Hanging on the wall are some beautiful Spode plates that I picked up here and there.  I don't think I've paid over five dollars for any piece of my blue and white except maybe a couple of them.  I got the china cabinet at the same second hand antique mall in Franklin where I got the red chairs.  It has a couple of scratches on it that the former owners put in it but I love the warm wood color of it and it holds lots of china and sparkly crystal and serving pieces.  I fell in love with the curtain print when I visited the house of a friend's mother-in-law.  She had this print of flower bulbs blooming in blue and white pots in her sun room.  I fell in love with it because of the pots but I also like the blooms and the colors.  I lined them with some fabric that Mom and I had made balloon shades for a sliding glass door in the first house I ever owned.  Yes, I'm a saver and recycler and fabric is one of those things I stick back and reuse if I really like the print or the colors.  One never knows when it will perk up something else someday.  The table and strait backed chairs belonged to some distant relative of Mike's.  His mother bought them for him and his family years ago.  They used them a while and sold them or gave them away.  Then, his mother saw them at somebody else's sale and bought them again when Mike and his crew needed them.  So, they have a good story.  I love the table but the chairs are ultra uncomfortable to sit in because they are so straight.  They are unique and sturdy and interesting but just not comfortable for long sits or lingering and chatting.  So, someday maybe I'll make new seat covers and use them in bedrooms as extra chairs for folks to drape their clothes on or to sit in and put on shoes.  We have three different kinds of chairs in this kitchen and I don't really like any of them.  So, one of my goals is to find ten to twelve chairs that are inexpensive, comfortable, and similar.  I'm dreaming of a wide rush seat and curved back - something that looks French-Country-ish.

I just realized that I don't have a photo of the fireplace and my Granny Cabinet.  So, more kitchen 'after' pictures will have to come later.


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