Evolution of The Kitchen

The above picture is The current state of my kitchen. We have lived in this home for eight years. I loved just about everything in this house except the kitchen. The builder's wife (they lived here the first 5 years of this home) painted the kitchen a muted plum color with tan Formica counter tops, white appliances and cheap thermofoil cabinet doors. She was not a cook and kitchens didn't matter much to her. Here is what it looked like right after we moved in (below).

So here we were (back in 2002), spending all of our money just to buy this house...what to do that didn't cost $$ ? So first I painted the back-splash to look like tile (below).

Okay, that helped blend the plum wall paint with the beige counter tops. Moving on...out with the shinny brass knobs, so I hand painted 33 unfinished wooden knobs in 33 different designs and put them on all the doors and drawers. (above and below).

Okay, so that cheered up the kitchen a bit more. On to a theme, how about grapes...remember this was in 2002. So I painted grape vines under the bar and on the walls. Plus I made new window treatments. (Below)

Okay, now I am beginning to laugh at this transformation. I have not looked at these pictures in a long time so doing this evolution for you has brought back these memories.  Moving on...After two years like this, hubby comes home and says, "Get rid of this plum color, it's depressing". In comes red wall color from Sherwin Williams called "Madder Root". It's a deep rich red color by Martha Stewart Signature Series that they had at the time. (below)

Notice the improvement? Brighter, happier? Yea! I even made new window treatments and a matching stool.

close up of curtains

I didn't use a pattern, just made it up as I went.

Found this stool at an antique mall. Painted the base white and made the top.

I added black and white check to the stool for interest.

 Then in 2005, "Country Decorating Ideas" magazine called and wanted to feature my home in their magazine. They sent out a couple of photographers that took pictures of my home for two days! Now that's a story I should tell in a later post. Here is one of the pictures they took in the magazine that FINALLY made it to print in 2007! (below)

Still the beige Formica counter tops. I had added the butcher block in the middle of the kitchen though. Then we decide to put in new counter tops. We selected a speckled black Quartz, and a black quartz sink all because I love black and white and we already had light colored marble floors. (below)

That was a huge improvement. My sister called after seeing the magazine article and said bluntly that some of the pictures were boring because I didn't have enough color near the floor, etc. So she shopped online and found rooster rugs for the dining room area (I'll show that in another post) and the kitchen under the butcher block that matched the wall color exactly. I had painted the bar stools to coordinate but you can see them on this post here. (rug below)

Moving on...we then purchased stainless steel appliances. The doors above the refrigerator would not open with the new frig. Enter my young and cute handy dandy handyman. He removed the doors and added cubbyholes for wine storage. (below)

Before

After

Problem solved. Lastly, we have recently had new cabinet doors and drawers retro fitted with new white painted maple, new soft close hardware, and pull-out inserts inside  the cabinets. Basically all new cabinets except for the boxes. (below)

Old cabinet doors with new hardware and a peak in the dining area.

New cabinet doors and drawers.

Then yet another problem. Under the bar, the wood panels are recessed in the routering area. The new cabinet doors have molding on top. Enter again, young and cute handy dandy handyman. He added trim to cover the recessed routering and an antique corbel from eBay. I painted what he fixed. (below)

After

Handyman's solution.

I also painted the legs on the butcher block from white to black. (below)

I'm done...for now! Oh yea, if anyone wonders what that is hanging above the butcher block, this is an antique turret top...it's hanging upside down. We found it in Kansas on a trip last Oct. when visiting my son. We love to collect old architectural finds then find ways to display them. Terry

UPDATE: In January 2013, I totally revamped the look of this kitchen and dining area. To see more on this go HERE.

Linking up to: 

Dana's Strut Your Stuff Saturday 
May House Par-tay! @ Cheap Crafty Mama
Gina's Transformation Thursday 
Stephanie Lynn's Sunday Showcase Party 
Kim's B & A Best of 2010 Party 
Gina's Transformation Thursday 
Evolution Party 

Flat Bed Trolley

I was asked to paint a flat bed trolley for a client. He was going to use it as a coffee table and told me that I could paint anything I wanted on it. So after a bit of contemplation, I decided to paint the four seasons (with using Warren Kimble as my inspiration). I really like how he paints in a primitive way. What was delivered to me was very dirty and ruff. I took this picture after cleaning it and using a belt sander on it to smooth it for painting as much as possible.

Here is the finished project of the four seasons.

The Front I painted a checkerboard and used hammered spray paint for the metal parts.

Other side read, "And A Time To Every Purpose Under The Heaven"

The side reads, "To Every Thing, There Is A Season"

Linking up to Cassie's Power of Paint Wednesday
Linking up to Kelli's ReStored It Wednesday
 Stephanie Lynn's Sunday Showcase Party 

MacKenzie Childs Inspiration #3

I see these everywhere. On blogs of kitchens and in magazines of kitchens. It's like people are in love with them and it's something they can afford in the MacKenzie Childs product line. They retail for $88!

Well as a lover of EVERYTHING MacKenzie Childs, I love this teapot! So I started with this aluminum teapot that I found for $1. This photo was taken after I had primed it.

I painted it using the MC teapot as inspiration and this is what the end product came out to look like...

I had another larger old teapot that I paid $2 at auction. I painted it as well and gave it to my sister.

No, these can't be really used for heating water, but they look good on your stove or in the kitchen! And at a much cheaper price! Terry
 Linking up to Stephanie Lynn's Sunday Showcase Party

1870's Cabinet Saved

BEFORE

THIS has history. Hubby and I rescued this out of his grandma's basement. She said that it belonged to her husband's grandparents. That would be my hubby's grandfather's grandfather. She said that they were married in 1883 and were given used furniture to furnish their first home. This had a desk under it at one time, but when the family moved 'in-town' from the farm, they put this (with the desk under it) in the dirt floor garage and it slowly rotted away. Hubby's grandmother rescued the top and put it in her basement, thinking that she would someday refinish it. The bottom left glass is the only original glass that was saved. Hubby said that he remembers as a boy shooting pool in the basement and trying to hit the glass with a ball! Boys!!  On with the story. We asked if we could have this piece to restore in some way and she was all for that. When hubby and I went to carry it out, the bottom had rotted from her wet basement. Sounds all gross but I knew it could be neat and loved the family history. Hubby's grandmother dated this piece to 1870 and she knows her antiques. It is made from walnut on the sides, what looks like wood house siding on the back placed vertically and ruff pine shelves.

It had two layers of contact paper on the inside and the last layer was newspaper. I saved some of it, typed it into Google and it pulled up the date of Dec. 1910 from the newspaper. I cleaned it all up, passed it on to the hubby to construct a new bottom. He then passed it back to me for painting. It was just too ruff to refinish. So I painted it white and put a stain on that to age it.  We saved, cleaned and reused all the original hardware. I decoupaged the ruff shelves using a reproduction 1926 Sears and Roebuck catalog.  We replaced the three panes of glass that were broken and put it on a dresser in our guest bedroom and I just put fun stuff in it.

In the Timewell Museum area, without legs.

UNTIL we decided that it was needed in our basement where we have the Timewell, IL history museum. This is the tiny town where my hubby grew up and where this cabinet began it's life.  So down it went to house all the small Timewell advertising and memorabilia. But we thought it looked a little odd sitting on the floor.  So out to the odds-and-ends pile to see what we could do about that. We found four legs from an old stool. They were beefy and could work, so I painted them to match the cabinet and hubby attached them. Here is what it looks like now and grandma couldn't be more pleased. Enjoy

In the Timewell museum area with legs.

Adorable Child's Chair + Table

Before (second chair)

I purchased this chair at an antique store. Actually I didn't get a picture of this chair before I painted it, the unpainted one you see here is a second chair that I picked up for $5 at a garage sale. However, it is almost the exact chair as the one that I painted. (Second one awaits paint...a good winter project). Here is the one I painted.
I had some stain meant to be mixed with a color. I had never painted with stain, so I mixed it with acrylic paint and wanted a look on the seat that was see through like a stain is. It was more difficult to paint with because the drying time was long and I was used to acrylic paints drying fast and my project moving along quickly. If you click on the pictures, they will enlarge and you can see what I mean of being able to see through the paint/stain on the seat and still see some of the wood tone below.

I quit using the stain for the legs and rungs, it is just acrylic paint. It's a sturdy chair and all kids that come to my home love to sit in it. I'm still mulling over in my head the design for the second chair.

As I was looking for pictures in my files of this chair, I ran across this table that I painted. I found it at a local thrift store. It was an old oak kitchen table. I cut the legs down and made it coffee table height. It had been painted brown, so I stripped it and painted the upper legs and skirting. It looked cute with the chair and was well used by a child that I babysat for three years. I was never worried about anyone 'hurting' this table with feet, toys, etc.  I sold this table when we remodeled our living room. Enjoy

 

Found A Santa Boot!

I stopped by the local thrift store today and found this for $2. I never feel bad about paying for anything there because the money goes to Christian missions. As I peeled the price off when I got home, there was the original store price of $14.99!

Don't you just like the antique quality about this? I did. Off to the basement to see what I can make with this. A Christmas tree...check, extra greenery...check, styrofoam...check, moss...check, white ball thingy's...check and lastly, wine bottle stocking hat...check. I put all those together and came up with this.  Total cost, the $2...I had all the rest just boxed in the basement. Terry     I'm linking up to Gina's Transformation Thursday     

MacKenzie Childs Inspiration #2

Again, I am a lover of everything MacKenzie Childs! EVERYTHING! And this is my MacKenzie Childs Inspiration #2 (I have many more to show you).

I loved the MC table top design and how truly unique it was. However the cost of this table is $5,200!  I had this antique table to use for this design that I paid $20 for at a garage sale. Here is how it started off after I painted it white...

This is not a dining table but more of a petite coffee table. Back in the era when this was 'new' it would have been taller and known as a hall table or side table. Sometime over it's life, someone had cut it down into what is now this lower coffee table height. I began painting it and this is my version of the inspiration piece. Sadly, again I had no space in my home for it and sold it on eBay.

Parties I joined:
Piece of Work Wednesday @  Primitive & Proper