Quote:
Originally Posted by JanND
Sheena...I don't have pics, so I won't be able to post on here, at least not right now....I'll have to figure that out. But, I would suggest the shutters I have run across many times are at garage sales, or if you are in an area large enough to have those resale home stores where people buy used architecture pieces I'd try there for shutters. Or a Menard's...Home Depot type store. You want real wood. And, use the ones in your son's room...get him drapes. Just need the right width, and if your window are the same size go for it.
See I think your canister set is perfect period piece. Use your salt crock type bowls, or whatever odds and ends please your eye. I have a couple of glass door cabinets...so I put odds and ends in those...my tongue and groove is some sort of old paneling...but I can live w/ it...I have no idea if the walls are decent under there...this is a very old house, and I'm not risking pulling things off the walls. LOL
On my walls I use whatever odd little hangings I like. Right now I have a little plate that has prisms dangling from one edge, looks hand painted...I sort of go for quirky things. Love the old timey but functional things. I like a nice large throw rug in my kitchen...Mine is because I have some funky looking fake wood floors over real wood floors...We are hoping to redo the kitchen next summer, new dishwasher, repaint cabinets etc. Your copper pulls are awesome...people are spending a fortune replacing the others for copper....mine are some fake looking shiny gold...but the styles are right so they are staying...Money and time you know. Anyway...I've always been a little different in my decor sort of bohemian..yet traditional if you get my meaning.
|
I am too.I can't be ultra serious about it. It's always a little funky
I was thinking about every thing that you wrote. I HAVE an old house. Part of it's history was that the original kitchen, which I am guessing was pretty bare bones - a white farm house sink, a free standing stove, a white refrigerator and linoleum floors.
I imagine that the floors would have been covered with the linoleum that I've found in pristine condition in the walk in closets and in the eves. Some of it is floral, and some is kitcheny - sort of Art Deco ish - grey speckled background with a blue geometric line design around the edges.
I imagine that the scraps from the Kitchen were used to line the closets and eaves.
As far a the cabinets go, they are homey and sturdy. No they are not original. Sometime after World War II, the home owner wanted cabinets a counter top and a dishwasher.
I want these things too!
My kitchen can not be a museum - it actually needs to be functional. So like the 50s housewife who installed the maple cabs with the copper pulls and that oh-so-modern Formica backsplash, I need a bit more than the 1926 housewife - or cook, for whom the kitchen was originally designed.
Why spend money to buy some imitation "Craftsman" cabinets - a designers interpretation of Craftsman - when I HAVE a kitchen that is organic to the house?
I have noticed that many craftsman homes that were left relatively untouched have one up grade - a post war kitchen. Because that era was really the beginning of the functional kitchen as we know it.
I am also fortunate that there is a very generous pantry - so additional cabinets are not needed. There is also an original built in spice rack! All done in very shiny dark oak.
Decided to keep the cabinets and replace the counter top - which is a generic 80s white or almond.
I want to explore the idea of butcher block. I'm also thinking of laminate with aluminum trim, which wan most likely what was there when the kitchen was first renovated.
I think keeping this kitchen which is organic to the house, and not attempting some pseudo arts and crafts renovation it the right thing to do. I don't need more space. I'd just be ripping out the kitchen because it seems these days that's what people do when they buy old houses these days.
Also, I don't think it's inconsistent to blend 1920s 30s 40s and 50s style. It's normal.
And the difference between the renovation that was done on my house in around oh...1956 or so, is back then they did not gut the whole kitchen, tear out the subway tiles - which must have looked dated to them then, and they didn't rip out the 1920s spice rack or change the door of the pantry to something more "modern".
Renovations then were some how less ruthless and more inclusive. I like that.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
