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Wow... I do agree... kitchens should be used! A house should be used! It's not a museum. I didn't know the "pantry kitchen" was becoming a thing.
People don't like their guests to see the mess from cooking. I know a few people who have these and I was really surprised when they told me.
You know what else seems to be coming back into style? The living room. I recently read an article about people who say they want an area where they can entertain guests, without having to worry about family messes and stuff. A separate area. A greeting room. I'm like....You mean a formal living room? LOL
I remember friends who had rooms like that in their houses, that one one ever went in. I often suspect that in houses I see that are all HGTVd out. Now some are staged that way for showings of course, they're intentionally perfect then, but some I think people live like that. I look at shelves with artfully arranged books that all match and say "no one has ever read these books... they're props".
I remember an Erma Bombeck line too... talking about her mother's things after she passed away... They had a hutch full of China no one had ever seen before! "We never had anyone over who was good enough for the good China" she said... to which the pastor would reply... "You had good China?"
You know what I really cannot understand? The pantry kitchen. UGH. I cannot believe someone creates a pantry kitchen because they are afraid to dirty the main kitchen. WTH?!
While I love her kitchen and the attention to detail, I cannot get behind the idea that the kitchen is nothing but a show pony. Read about 3/4's of the way down where she discusses the use of a "pantry kitchen" so she and her children can make toast, cook, etc without dirtying her main kitchen. She has a sink, refrigerator, dishwasher,microwave, etc in her large pantry.
The funny part about that 'pantry kitchen' at this house? It's staged with artfully arranged fake matching bowls and plates, that no one actually uses too. Where is the "real" kitchen?
The funny part about that 'pantry kitchen' at this house? It's staged with artfully arranged fake matching bowls and plates, that no one actually uses too. Where is the "real" kitchen?
People don't like their guests to see the mess from cooking. I know a few people who have these and I was really surprised when they told me.
You know what else seems to be coming back into style? The living room. I recently read an article about people who say they want an area where they can entertain guests, without having to worry about family messes and stuff. A separate area. A greeting room. I'm like....You mean a formal living room? LOL
We were over at a couple’s (very good friends) rather grand and formal all original ‘70s ranch home last night and were delighted to experience the house both formally and informally, old school style - it was a rare blast from the past style of entertaining.
We started with drinks in the huge eat-in kitchen while they finished up with home made-pizzas for the kids who were hanging out (behind mostly closed doors) in the family room next door. The kids came in later for a quick visit with us and to make for themselves brownies while a couple of us picked up some Chinese takeout from down the hill. We ate in the very formal dining room amongst its original bird motif wallpaper, intricate crown moldings and grand chandelier behind closed doors away from the kitchen and family room and finished up with aperitifs in the huge formal living room in front of the fire with its massive double doors closed off from the grand hallways between all the rooms.
I was reminded of how much I enjoy entertaining and being entertained in this manner, where people actually use all of their rooms, “formal” or not. With each having its own sense of style and function and where others in the house can be in their own space and activity not having to share in all the sights, sounds and smells emanating from one open area as almost all new houses are designed and remodeled into today.
Even as our 91 y.o house is but a third the size of our friend’s grand home it also retains that formal layout that I love with archways, a foyer and a kitchen Butler’s door separating the living room, dining room and kitchen from each other. We don’t have kids but dinner parties in our house also naturally move between those defined areas through the evening and even day to day all rooms are lived in.
Meanwhile the flippers in this neighborhood are hard at work determined to rip out every last interior wall and original details in once charming houses ala “Property Brothers”. This 103 y.o. house we toured yesterday just down the street was once beautiful with warm, narrow strip oak floors, a formal dining room, small study and nearly original kitchen, now it’s just Blechhh! Forever circa 2016 HGTV style.
We were over at a couple’s (very good friends) rather grand and formal all original ‘70s ranch home last night and were delighted to experience the house both formally and informally, old school style - it was a rare blast from the past style of entertaining.
We started with drinks in the huge eat-in kitchen while they finished up with home made-pizzas for the kids who were hanging out (behind mostly closed doors) in the family room next door. The kids came in later for a quick visit with us and to make for themselves brownies while a couple of us picked up some Chinese takeout from down the hill. We ate in the very formal dining room amongst its original bird motif wallpaper, intricate crown moldings and grand chandelier behind closed doors away from the kitchen and family room and finished up with aperitifs in the huge formal living room in front of the fire with its massive double doors closed off from the grand hallways between all the rooms.
I was reminded of how much I enjoy entertaining and being entertained in this manner, where people actually use all of their rooms, “formal” or not. With each having its own sense of style and function and where others in the house can be in their own space and activity not having to share in all the sights, sounds and smells emanating from one open area as almost all new houses are designed and remodeled into today.
Even as our 91 y.o house is but a third the size of our friend’s grand home it also retains that formal layout that I love with archways, a foyer and a kitchen Butler’s door separating the living room, dining room and kitchen from each other. We don’t have kids but dinner parties in our house also naturally move between those defined areas through the evening and even day to day all rooms are lived in.
Meanwhile the flippers in this neighborhood are hard at work determined to rip out every last interior wall and original details in once charming houses ala “Property Brothers”. This 103 y.o. house we toured yesterday just down the street was once beautiful with warm, narrow strip oak floors, a formal dining room, small study and nearly original kitchen, now it’s just Blechhh! Forever circa 2016 HGTV style.
Wonderful post. I could not agree more. Original bird motif wallpaper?! Swoon. I love personal style.
My husband and I have been looking for a cottage in Maine. EVERY.DARN.HOUSE that has been "updated" has removed all of the charm in favor of "open" floorplans. They don't even make sense. These are 100 year old coastal homes with traditional floorplans that have been ruined. Awkward rooms with odd furniture placements.
I love open floor plans. I love center hall colonials. I love Victorian style homes. etc. What I do not love is a house that is re-muddled and changed in a way that makes a lot of the space awkward and unusable.
I am jealous of your 91 year old home. It must be lovely!
I loved her choices. Particularly impressed that she decided to redo and KEEP the kitchen cabinets. I would like to see that more often... IMHO, an original kitchen, if functional, is part of the bones of the house that should grow old with it if possible, not get ripped out because the color is now 'out of style'.
And.. btw... I saw no ads. I must be doing something right with ad blockers!
I definitely agree about keeping kitchen cabinets! People go on and on about wanting "charm" in a house, but what they don't realize is cabinets that are "out of style" today will soon have that "vintage charm" if they just let the house age a little more and let them be.
That is one of the only "before and afters" I've seen that actually looks better after. Usually they just rip out every wall that isn't load bearing and slather everything in white paint.
I love that this cozy old house wasn't devoid of all of its character by ripping out walls and "modernizing" it. I also love that all of these updates and improvements could be made room-by-room without a crew of people in your house. Well, except for the bathroom, maybe. I don't think I could do all the tiling on my own.
Lately everything is about these HUGE whole-home renovations. I miss the days where a renovation could just be a room. Most of us aren't doing these massive renovations, just trying to make our homes work for us with smaller improvements.
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