Monday, March 16, 2009

Glimpses of a Farmhouse Kitchen

Coffee grinders, food scales, canning jars, baskets and all manner of tin signs....I just can't resist the graphics, the logos, and the cheerful pictures on these old signs! I love anything old: enamelware is a favorite, too.

Old farmhouses weren't built with "the wife's" convenience, or storage in mind. You just have to come up with your own ways of keeping necessities! (When we moved in there was one small closet upstairs, and one downstairs, tucked under the stairway!)



Some favorite potholders in a basket.



Chickens are the main characters in this kitchen...for now.


A favorite batter bowl and some old cannisters.



An old pie safe that has become a food pantry and a home for a lot of my nesting bowls. Years ago, we rescued the old wooden telephone as a box, and had the insides restored and of course the outside. If it were hooked into an old system, it is in working order and you could talk into the mouthpiece and hear on the earpiece. But, for now, it's just hanging around, and once in awhile, someone will give it a crank and make the old phone rrrinnggg! (And, I've bumped my head on it a million times, when I've stood up from scrubbing the floor, as it's at the end of the kitchen!)


My husband's little granny used this most of her married life. We brought it home from Alabama one time in the back of the minivan and stuffed our luggage inside so we could bring it, our clothes and the kids home. We were thrilled to get it, a wonderful heirloom. Lem refinished it, and it now holds most of my cookbooks. It's a great piece, and a comforting one, perfectly sized to fit in the odd corner with an outlet that will work with a microwave.


The bottom of the icebox lifts, the drain pan sat underneath, you'd have to lift the bottom panel to take the "melted ice" out and dump it.


Made some curtains and valances over the weekend for the windows in the kitchen. Soon, they will come down as the whole kitchen will (finally!) be demolished to make way for a new and modern farmhouse kitchen! (Modern=dishwasher, icemaker, more than two outlets, more cabinet space and the microwave mounted over the stove, a vent hood, all features I don't have now.)


The old clock shelf with a few of my favorite things...and I do miss Mayberry!


And some favorite dishtowels, hangin' on an old-style rack.


A favorite potholder, bought it at an estate sale for next to nothing, but it makes me happy with all its ripply goodness.


And, let's see what's cookin? More happiness! Outside, there's walleye on the grill along with potato packets, and then on the stove we've got last summer's "peaches and cream" corn-on-the-cob boilin' in the pot....MMMMmmmmm! We vacuum-sealed a bunch of it late last summer and does it ever taste GOOD on a winter day!


Afternoon sunshine brightening up the bananas!



And the other new pair of curtains I made the other night!



This ancient fixture has hung over the kitchen table for probably thousands of meals now.


Perhaps I'll have a metamorphosis to show you one day soon, of our NEW farmhouse kitchen. We're planning to start it in June sometime. This one is vintage 1920's and it just doesn't work for me, there are many days that I just growl and stomp my feet at the annoyances, and believe me, there are MANY. For instance, if you're using something like a crock pot or the electric pancake griddle, you can't use anything else that has to plug in-- like an electric frying pan or a toaster--so many breakfast preparations have been interrupted by me calling out; "Go flip the breaker!"


Old fruit crates


But, I'm thankful for it, a welcoming and homey place to be, a big, eat-in country kitchen with a large table. One where I've fed the little one in the highchair, then worked on cooking and chores as he sat on the floor and played with my tin measuring spoons and metal mixing bowls, danced with my husband while the kids peeked around the corner and giggled, trained puppies, coaxed them from underneath the big table, chased cats away, mopped on my hands and knees, measured out medicine for sick babies and for us, fried pancakes, baked cinnamon rolls, heard bacon sizzle, listened as the wind howled outside the window, sat with my family and visited, folded laundry, read the newspaper, played games, snapped pictures, carved pumpkins, baked with the kids, frosted hundreds of sugar cookies, sang happy birthday, eaten pie, canned lots of vegetables and on some chilly fall nights packaged up venison, cried, laughed, stirred, rolled, and cut, served, cleaned up, listened to my kids in their sweet, childish conversations as they stood at the sink doing the dishes.

There's a certain feeling of sentimentality as we face the approaching remodel, and a certain sense of dread, because when you being demolishing something like this; you never know what's comin'! This room was an addition onto an addition (!!!) and then we added onto IT. We're not sure what we're going to find, and we have to take everything right down to the studs. For one thing, the well sits under the floor somewhere. There's a greatly slanting but very nice-looking maple floor...we hope to keep it but may not be able to! It will be an adventure, and a long one, I'm sure. But, after nearly 100 years of service, it's time to go. But I'll be sure and keep some room to put the old icebox back in, hopefully the old pie safe, and keep it looking like an old farmhouse.


9 comments:

The Raggedy Girl said...

I think I would be sad too with so many wonderful memories but the new kitchen will be beautiful, of that I am sure.

Happy Monday ❤❤❤
from Roberta Anne

Eclectic Chic Style said...

Oooh, I love your kitchen just the way it is. I love how comfy cozy inviting it is. I bet your friends adore sitting in your kitchen sharing a cup of coffee and conversation with you. Have a wonderful Monday.
♥ Teresa

Donna said...

I Love the Chickens!!! Great photos sweetie!!hughugs

FarmHouse Style said...

The new valances and curtains are too cute. I don't blame you for wanting to make sure and leave room for the old ice box. It is a beautiful piece.

Remodeling can be quite a task, we remodeled the kitchen and bath when we first moved in here. It was work, but we are so grateful that we did.

Rhonda

Valerie said...

Thank you for that wonderful tour around your kitchen. While it is going to be "painful" tearing off the "addition to the addition" I have no doubt in my mind that you are going to create a fabuloulsy vintage remodel!

My favorite part of the tour...seeing dinner cooking. My father's parents owned a cottage from the time he was 5 until about the time I left for college. I spent many wonderful Michigan summers vacationing at their place which had no warm running water (we would boil on the stove to take "sponge" baths and "wash" our hair in the lake. My father would catch walleye and my mother would buy Michigan sweet corn (nothing better in the world!) at the corner stand and we would feast like kings!

Anonymous said...

I am in love with your blog! I LOVE it! I don't yet have my own, I am thinking of creating one! I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and dream of living in the country!

We too have a mini dachshund, and I love the music!

Sue said...

Joni,
What a wonderful tour of your kitchen! I feel like I have been in it a hundred times. It feels so cozy. Yes, it will be hard to live through a re-model, but you are SO LUCKY to be getting one! Can't wait to see the process and the finished product.

And oh my goodness...doesn't that corn look scrumptous! Love your decorating style, too!

Anonymous said...

But, I'm thankful for it, a welcoming and homey place to be, a big, eat-in country kitchen with a large table. One where I've fed the little one in the highchair, then worked on cooking and chores as he sat on the floor and played with my tin measuring spoons and metal mixing bowls, danced with my husband while the kids peeked around the corner and giggled, trained puppies, coaxed them from underneath the big table, chased cats away, mopped on my hands and knees, measured out medicine for sick babies and for us, fried pancakes, baked cinnamon rolls, heard bacon sizzle, listened as the wind howled outside the window, sat with my family and visited, folded laundry, read the newspaper, played games, snapped pictures, carved pumpkins, baked with the kids, frosted hundreds of sugar cookies, sang happy birthday, eaten pie, canned lots of vegetables and on some chilly fall nights packaged up venison, cried, laughed, stirred, rolled, and cut, served, cleaned up, listened to my kids in their sweet, childish conversations as they stood at the sink doing the dishes.

And isn't that what life is about? All of those things!

Rue said...

Hi Joni :)

I love the memories you shared of your kitchen and we hope to have them in this one. Are you sure you want to give it up? Oh and if you have one of those wonderful 1920s sinks and you're not going to use it.... I know just the person to send it to ;)

off to read more...
xo,
rue