The Kitchen, Revealed and Back In Business!

I am probably as tired of writing kitchen as you are of reading that word.

But it's done.  Or, near enough.  There's always something;

a bit of molding to be reattached,

a small triangle of wallpaper to be patched,

and those inevitable holidays that make you realize that no matter how hard you try,
you are going to make mistakes.
Which is all right; mistakes mean you've done something, and that it can be fixed.

But here are our pictures, taken this afternoon.  

I meant to glamorize the kitchen by taking the oddball magnets off the fridge, moving the dish detergent under the sink . . . but this is a working kitchen, and I'd taken the pictures before I remembered to stage the room.

We started out 2-1/2 years ago with this, the kitchen as it was when we bought the house:

Last year, I saw this picture in a design book:

I liked the look of this kitchen -- sort of a casually formal look, a look that might be at home in an old country house.

I knew I couldn't copy this kitchen, but it was my jumping-off point,

and it gave me the courage to put up a black and white toile wallpaper!

I never intended to make our kitchen period correct.

Our kitchen is in the newer half of That Old House, and no one would want to work

in an authentic kitchen of the 1880s.  But I hope we've achieved a warm and old-fashioned look.

It's not chic or cutting edge.  But then, neither am I.

Okay.  On to the pictures.

 Spot the doggy?  Lower right hand corner.  I didn't realize he was there.

 The kitchen opens to the sunroom.

 Oops.  A basket of clean cotton blankets waiting to go upstairs to the guest rooms.

 Oops again; a piece of oak molding left standing up in the far corner, near our coat hooks.

 Looking into the kitchen from the butler's pantry.

Another oops -- molding on left side of stove area needs to be re-attached.

 Taken from the area of the old oak table in the sunroom.

 

There's still decorating to do.  Curtains to sew.  Plates and a clock to hang.

Some order to be brought from the chaos on parts of the counter.

And that counter needs an oiling!

The soapstone counter, the cooktop, and the big sink were done just exactly a year ago;

days before Thanksgiving.

The rest of the kitchen was paint, wallpaper, our own sweat equity, and a bottle of Advil.

Some details . . . .

You can click once, and then again, to make any picture really big.

And it's back to cleaning and counting linen for me.

Actually, I need to hit up WalMart for plate hangers and giant safety pins.

Giant safety pins?

Oh yes.  Stay tuned! -- Cass

Linking today to:

Mary at Little Red House -- Mosaic Monday. Click here!

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch -- Metamorphosis Monday.  Click here!

Cielo at The House In The Roses -- Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  Click here!