Furnishing & Accessorizing That White Farmhouse Kitchen

The best part of renovating our kitchen was finding and arranging furniture in it, organizing the cupboards and shelves, and decorating the walls.  I still have some boxes in the attic to sort through that are filled with items from our house in the South that I haven't used since we moved nearly eleven years ago.  But for the most part, I am finished moving things into our new kitchen for the time being.  I'm intentionally leaving the tops of the cupboards bare and saving room in the cabinets for future items that I pick up through the years.  Throughout this post, I'm sharing what I've done with our white farmhouse kitchen so far.

I love wooden benches, and I love window seats.  After rearranging the layout of the kitchen slightly, there was plenty of space along this wall, so I decided to create a sunny sitting area here under this window on the east side of our house.  I went to a local antique mall and looked at dozens of benches.  Some of them were extremely rustic, and others were rather ornate.  When I found this oak bench made of reclaimed wood with its imperfections on top, I knew it was the one.  Once I brought it home, I realized how closely it matches the stain on our floor and the kitchen table.  I now sit here and browse through magazines while I'm letting things simmer on the stove for dinner.

This corner of the kitchen has been an eyesore for years.  It started out with a cheap computer table here that was cluttered and full of electrical cords, paper, a printer, office supplies, etc.  After moving our "office" to the landing upstairs, it harbored a small Christmas tree for about six weeks every winter.  The rest of the time it was vacant except for a stray chair waiting to be used when we had guests for dinner.  Our old house had a built-in hutch in the dining room, and I filled it with china plates, glass bowls and cake stands, wine glasses and holiday items.  When we left that house, I really had nowhere to put many of those things, so they remained boxed up in the attic.  I've spent the past two years searching for a china cabinet or corner hutch for this room.  My husband spotted this one with the built-in wine rack at the Amish Furniture Connection in a nearby town.  At first I wasn't sure that it would fit with our other existing kitchen furniture.  Then I feared it would be too big for this corner.  I considered paying the business to make it look distressed, but then I figured that after a few years with our family, it will become distressed enough naturally.  I finally agreed to buy it when nothing else suited me, and that wine rack was very enticing.  Once the movers set it in the corner, I knew that I made the right choice.  It really adds a lot to this kitchen, I think.  And now my new plaid dinnerware from Home Goods has a home, as well as all that stuff boxed up in my attic. 

It was my goal to not allow the kitchen to get cluttered again.  While there is still a lot of essential stuff in sight on the shelves and countertops, it's an improvement compared to what these open shelves looked like before (see last post.)

I filled those canisters that I found at Home Goods, and I used old Mason jars to store unpopped popcorn and salt.  I may do the same with other items like baking powder, cocoa powder, and quinoa since we have dozens (maybe hundreds) of Mason jars filling our basement.  I'd rather see those on the kitchen shelves than various open bags tied shut with twist ties.

At the antique mall, I also found this handmade wood cutting board that hangs nicely on the outside of the shelves next to the sink.  I needed another cutting board since my last wooden one got thrown away after using it to cut up a bunch of strong onions from our garden.  I tried all kinds of methods to get rid of the odor to no avail.  Every time you walked into our kitchen, you could smell old onions until I got rid of it.  I'll remember to use the glass cutting boards for pungent foods from here on out.

As you can see, this cabinet isn't yet full, and although there is a bit more stuff on the counter than I'd like, it's definitely an improvement.  I'm using a wire egg basket to store miscellaneous items that we use often, and that white ceramic crock I bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond is coming in handy for holding the kitchen utensils that I use the most frequently.  That freed up our junk drawer quite a bit.

Finally, I hung a few pictures on the walls.  I really want this room to be bright and simple, so there isn't a lot of decorating going on...by choice.  I decided to leave the tops of the shelves and cabinets bare and to not hang any curtains or valances over the five windows in this room.  The above print I picked up at the same antique mall, but the rest of the walls hold only a few items, all of which I had before.

I do believe this concludes my month-long posting on our kitchen renovation, and I think I am officially finished getting that room back in order.  Our youngest daughter told me this morning, "Mommy, I think you are too anxious about this kitchen and us messing it up."  I had to admit she was right.  A lot of living goes on in this house, and I must relax and stop following people into our kitchen to ensure they don't put a hot cup on the countertop or spill milk on the floor or crack a cup in the cast iron sink.  No one but me has washed a single dish in this house in nearly a month because I've been too afraid someone will "ruin my new kitchen."  Mind you, they're not complaining about the break from dishwashing, but my husband is rolling his eyes at me and sighing when I greet him at the door to remind him to take off his shoes before he takes another step into my new, beautiful kitchen.

I really don't know how these decorating bloggers with their Pinterest-perfect kitchens survive without a medicine cabinet full of Xanax.  

Ending on that note, I wish you all a terrific Super Bowl weekend!

Our Farmhouse Kitchen Facelift

 

 Our 1886 farmhouse kitchen has undergone a renovation.  No walls were torn down; no addition was constructed; and no cabinets were replaced.  But to me, it looks and feels like I have a brand new kitchen.  

 

 If you recall, this is what our kitchen looked like a week after Christmas.

 

 Four days later after we moved everything out, the kitchen looked like this.

 

Here we are on day three of the renovation with painting well underway.

 

 Week two began with the white pine floors being sanded and broken boards replaced.

 

By the end of week two the floor was nearly finished.

 

As we entered week three, finishing touches were made, the new white cast iron sink was installed, and the floor received a second coat of polyurethane finish.

 

When everything was finished after two and a half weeks, our contractor and his assistant were kind enough to move the appliances and furniture back into the kitchen for us.  I was too afraid of marking up the walls and floor, not to mention that what took us three hours to move, they did in twenty minutes.

 

So this was before...

 

 ...and this was on the last day when they were finishing up.

 

Before...

 

...After (I love that this sink is twice as deep as the old one.)

 

Before...

 

...After 

 

A month ago, our very lived-in kitchen looked like this.

 

But today it looks like this.

 

Then...

 

...And Now.  I lowered the leaf in the table so there is much more space in this room.

 

Earlier this month...

 ...and at the end of this month.

This facelift was the best thing I've ever had done.  It is everything I envisioned, and this construction business was superb.  They took my list of what I dreamed of and made it a reality.  I wasn't sure how these old pine floor boards would look once they were stripped and sanded, but they're beautiful now---even with their lasting imperfections.  I'm not sure they'll make it through another refinishing project though.  Once the countertops were sanded, we opted for no stain or varnish, but we're coating them with oil instead so they are safe for placing food on.  Our contractor purchased the paint, stain, and satin polyurethane finish from Sherwin Williams.  The Kohler sink we bought at Home Depot.

I love this room so much that I often sit on that bench in front of the window and read a book or blog at the kitchen table.  It's become my favorite and brightest room of our house, even on these gray, cloudy days of winter.

  Now if only I could relax and not fret that my husband and children are going to destroy it every time they walk through.

Little Things

This evening's post is a random list of little things going on here this week.

1. We got a surprise a few days ago when our goat Feta gave birth to twins: Fontina and Manchego.  After losing two of our older goats in the past month, these babies were such a pleasant surprise.

2. We've been picking up our grandson and hanging with him one day each week.  He is definitely a bright spot in our gray winter days.

3. We had more ice and snow here this week, which gave the kiddos another 2 hr. delay.  As you can see, the snow hit the upper mountain ridges while the valleys got the ice.

4. I realize I'm coming late to the game here, but my husband got a trial Amazon Prime membership, which means Downton Abbey is available to us for free.  Oh my gosh, I can't believe we went all these years without watching this.  It is now the favorite evening drama show of every big person in this house.

5. After coughs, fevers, and sore throats last week, we have now moved on to a stomach virus.  So far two of our little ones have been camped out on the loveseat next to "the Bucket."  Yuck.

6. This actually feels like a big thing because the carpenters finished our kitchen renovation yesterday!  I'll post no more pictures of this though until the new Amish-made corner hutch has been delivered, and I've put everything back together again.  But I am so happy with this fresh, bright room.

7. I'm sure you noticed that my blog has a slightly different look.  I wanted to make more room for the pictures, and there will be plenty more of those coming next week!  I hope this change is easier for you readers to view and not quite as "busy."  I'd love to hear what you think.

10 Dinners at Home With No Kitchen: What We've Really Been Eating

It is Day 10 here of having no kitchen while the renovations continue.  Two weeks ago I had noble plans of coming up with creative dinners for the family using only the crockpot, microwave, and indoor grill.  I thought I'd compose a fantastic, helpful blog post full of simple recipes that others could use if their families were also without a kitchen for some period of time.  Our family brainstormed ideas, and I created a memo in my phone of dinner ideas, along with a list of ingredients I would need.  The reality is that I've only made two of those meals.

In all fairness to me, I couldn't have known that over these ten days I would have sick children home from school and Church a total of four days.  Nor that my husband would be home from work with an injured foot for two days.  Or that in this period of time the children would have one early dismissal, one snow day, and one 2-hour delay due to ice. Plus there was the holiday yesterday when everyone was home that I did know would occur.  Oh, and I couldn't have predicted that I would end up with a killer sinus headache that no OTC meds could touch that lasted for two whole days.  Tending to everyone's needs while squeezing through the mounds of stuff stashed in the dining room trying to find where I put the cough drops, pain relievers, herbal teas, cold medicines, ice packs, etc. proved to be a part-time job.  I soon realized that the hearty beef stews, burgers and veggies done on the George Foreman grill, and pulled pork sandwiches with freshly chopped tossed salads were not going to happen.  Sigh...

Instead, this is what we've actually been eating for dinner for the past ten days.  This includes what we're having tonight.  Other than a scheduled dinner out this Thursday due to a track meet we have to attend, I have no clue what we'll be eating during the remainder of the renovation.  I will say that my crockpot has gotten a lot of use due to the discovery of these Reynolds Slow Cooker liners that a friend told me about.  If it weren't for these, the crockpot would be packed away in the basement somewhere until I have my kitchen back.

Day 1: Frozen burritos and pizza bites heated in microwave (the only frozen dinners eaten so far)

Day 2: Takeout from Pizza Hut only because the pizzas were 50% off that day, and our daughter had a coupon for a free personal pan pizza

Day 3: 3 large cans of beef barley soup warmed in the crockpot and cold cut sandwiches

Day 4: Tacos with grass-fed ground beef browned in microwave with chips and salsa and queso

Day 5: My homemade crab dip, artisan cheese with crackers, baked potatoes (microwaved) with leftover taco meat, & canned baked beans heated in microwave

Day 6: Deli roast beef & cheese sandwiches on kaiser buns, potato chips, & pickle spears for the kiddos.  Hubby & I attended a cocktail party and ate there.

Day 7: 3 large cans of chicken noodle soup in crockpot & crackers.  This was a lean night and my refrigerator was getting bare, but I was 2 pounds lighter the next morning!

Day 8: Grilled bacon wrapped pork loin that Hubby froze weeks ago, potatoes done on the grill out back, green beans steamed in microwave

Day 9: Meatball subs from frozen mini meatballs cooked with jarred spaghetti sauce heated in crockpot, raw veggie platter

Day 10: Deli creamy potato/bacon soup in crockpot, bakery croissants

This was Day 8: Barbecued bacon wrapped pork tenderloin and potatoes that Hubby created himself and put on the patio grill surrounded by snow.  It was, by far, the best dinner we'd eaten in a week even if it was a coronary event just waiting to happen.

What I have realized over the past ten days is just how much of my kitchen I take for granted.  With absolutely no counter space for preparing food right now, it is very difficult to make anything from scratch.  With no cupboard space, all my food ingredients are packed up in boxes and bags or crammed on shelves in the basement.  With no sink in which to wash dishes and cutting boards and knives, it's nearly impossible to rinse, peel, pare, and slice fruits and vegetables.  And of course, with no stove or oven, I am relegated to using only the microwave, crockpot, or grill.  Or we eat things raw.  I have to totally rethink what I should buy at the grocery store, and I'm finding that to be way more challenging than I'd originally thought.

So, instead of publishing a post full of recipes for wonderful "kitchenless" dinners for your families, I humbly post what we're really eating for dinner during this temporary sabbatical from cooking.  I am still welcoming any simple meal ideas from you Dear Readers.  I think we've probably got another ten days or so before we are back in our farmhouse kitchen.

Anyone?

Creating a New Normal During Our Reno

While there is a snow/ice storm occurring outside that seems significantly worse than what was forecasted, I'm waiting inside for Hubby to safely bring home the children from their early dismissal from school.  I've got nervous energy from the stress of roads being closed, worry for all the families and buses out there driving their kiddos home, and too much coffee this morning, so I decided to blog to get my mind off my concerns for awhile.  

We finally managed to get absolutely everything except the wood/coal stove out of our kitchen on Sunday.  It looks like an empty house that's on the real estate market.  Well, it did before the contractor's crew began working on it yesterday morning.  Now I keep the doors to the kitchen closed and try to stay out of their way all day.  We do take a peek at night though to see the magic they have worked.  The day we cleared the last of everything out and wiped down the last of the cobwebs and dust (and there was an awful lot of both), our 7 year-old daughter put on her most beautiful princess dress, broke out the classical music, and danced her little heart out in the middle of that big, empty kitchen floor.  It was her own personal ballroom until her brothers came running in, loving the way their voices echoed in there.  Once the work began, however, all children have been banned from the kitchen, as well as all animals.

We have decided to look at this temporary change in our lives as an adventure as our big family lives without a kitchen, which happens to be the largest room in this house.  Everything that we would absolutely need, and everything that I was afraid might break, got placed in our dining room/multi-purpose room.  That room already had much going on in it: instrumental practice, homework, Internet browsing, game playing, video watching, and roughhousing.  Now the kitchen table and refrigerator are in there, along with much, much more.  

We look like we are hoarders now.  Every inch of space in that room is filled with boxes and bags of stuff that had been located in the drawers, cupboards, and counter tops of our kitchen.  We're having to come up with creative dinners that only require a microwave, toaster, or crockpot.  I'm still working on that.  Any dishwashing that needs to be done has to happen in one of the bathroom sinks, so there's a lot of paper plate use, I'm afraid.  Yesterday morning was the first school and work morning that the kitchen was off limits, and it was rather chaotic.  My husband couldn't find what he needed for work; our middle school son forgot his PE uniform; people were tripping over each other in that very cluttered space; and our youngest dropped and spilled half a quart of juice.  It was a mess.  But we are adjusting, and I'm happy to report that this morning went much smoother.

But I do tend to forget that we have the stove and dry sink stashed in the hallway, and I run into it nearly every time I round the corner with a full basket of laundry on my way down to the basement, which is where the washing machine is located in this old house (another thing I'd like to change.)  The past few days have really reinforced how much I never want to move again. If simply packing up the contents of one room to temporarily move into the next was a lot of work, I can't imagine having to pack up and move everything we've accumulated over the past ten years and moving it hundreds of miles away.  Been there and done that and hope to never have to do it again.  I'm grateful that this temporary situation is minor and of our choosing, and is leading to something we're all excited about (well, mostly I'm the excited one.)

I have every confidence that in a couple more days, we will have all adjusted to our new surroundings and be as relaxed and well-adapted as this guy---whose only issue seems to be that he has to eat in the hallway now instead of the kitchen.

And what do you know?  I see that the snow has stopped just as I come to the end of this post.  Have a great week, All.

Here We Go: Starting Our Kitchen Renovation

 

Did you know that there is a difference between a remodel and a renovation?  I wasn't sure which one we are having done, so I started doing some research.  To me, renovation sounds a lot more extensive.  I picture tearing down walls and adding on and completely changing the layout of a room or house.  Apparently, I was wrong.  That's what it means to remodel.  To renovate means to update or restore.  It covers things like staining floors, making repairs, changing light fixtures, painting or refacing cabinets---that kind of stuff.  Redecorating is to put up some new window treatments, hang some new pictures, and toss some new throw pillows on the couch.  We are definitely having a renovation here.

 

These wide pine plank floors that cover the entire main floor of our house were laid in the mid-eighties when this century-old farmhouse went under a major restoration project.  They were in fairly good condition when we moved in ten years ago, but our large family really lives in a house.  I mean we really, really live in a house, and we wear it out.  In the eighties, the owners changed the main entrance to the very front of the kitchen when they put in a new pebbled driveway and walkway that led to a big covered front porch that leads into the kitchen.  The back door of the kitchen leads out to the patio, pool, and down to the greenhouse and barn.  That means that nearly all of our foot traffic comes and goes through the kitchen.  That side entrance that opens into the foyer between the living room and dining room hardly ever gets used.  This has meant a lot of wear and tear on our kitchen floor.  The pine is beautiful, but it has splintered and split and lost its finish, so that was our main priority this year.

 

However, once we decided to not tackle the floors ourselves, but instead hire out, I figured we might as well get some other things taken care of as well.  The colors in this house were early American when we moved in.  I love colonial style houses, but the mustard-colored walls, forest green cabinets, and dark burgundy doors and trim make this large kitchen so dark.  I used to spend my whole day in this room preparing all of our food from scratch, plus canning, freezing, and dehydrating the foods we grew ourselves.  This is still the room we spend a good portion of our days in.  When friends and family come to visit, the kitchen is where we tend to congregate.  Homework is often done here.  Card games are played at this table.  This room is where everyone finds their birthday presents when they wake up in the morning.  It's in front of this black stove that the children warm themselves and drink cocoa after sledding.  And of course, this is where all the food is prepared and consumed daily.  To sum up, this room is where most of our living is being done, and it needs to be brighter.  So we're having every inch of it repainted a much lighter color.

 

Additionally, there are some repairs that need to be made to the floor, the ceiling, and the backsplash.  We're also having a white cast iron sink put in and the wood countertops refinished.  I was hoping for some new cabinet doors so that visitors can't see everything on my shelves, but that will have to wait.  I think it will motivate me to throw out some old stuff and organize what we have.  And there's a new piece of furniture I've been waiting for to place in the one corner of this room that I can't wait to own.

This renovation project starts next Monday, and I snapped all of these photos yesterday morning.  Everything in that room has to be taken out and put in our dining room, the hallway, our bedroom, the basement, and probably every other nook and cranny where I can find a space.  It feels like a monumental task, but at least that room is going to get a thorough cleaning that it hasn't had in ten years.  And I know that a month from now, that room is going to look like a brand new kitchen.

Now I should get to work.  I've taken down all the Christmas decorations that I usually leave up until after the Epiphany, and I'm going to start boxing up the things we really don't use very often.  I am definitely not looking forward to pulling the stove and refrigerator out of there and seeing what all lies behind.  Not to mention what a household of seven is going to do without a kitchen for several weeks, but I'll save that for another post.