So Long For Now Mrs. Kitchen

Hello everyone!

As you might figure out from this post's title it's time to pack up the ol' tool bag and head to another room. Of course the powder room is at the top of the list - it's my primary January project.

However, the next big room project has been determined and intel is being gathered for the invasion. We are hoping that this will take place in mid January or the beginning of February.

With this in mind the following will be the last post with the kitchen as the primary subject. Keep in mind though there are still projects that need to be done in there - a couple doors, the floor, cabinets, etc. I will post about those as they get done.

As promised, this is the post giving you a tour of the kitchen in it's 'as finished as it's going to get' state. For brevity I will give little commentary and will just let the photos do the talking (yea...right!).

Two of the doorways missing doors.

From this view you should be able to tell I have a 'thing' for rich wood and warm walls as well as brass & copper.










The aquatic food mold collection.

SWMBO really doesn't like all my copper stuff, but you know...there sure are a lot of bunnies in this room as you will see!










One of the corner doohickeys. There is a little chunk missing that needs to be dealt with though.













Hope you all like this view!! You have no idea how hard it was to get it.

I must have as taken at least two dozen photos to get this one. With all the windows, light, and fancy settings on the camera it took time to find the proper mix.

In the lower right corner you can see the inspector that issued the 'Certificate of Habitability'.

Where else would you expect a sign like this?!

I wish the colors would of shown up better though.



I threw this in so you could all see just how dark the room typically gets when trying to take a picture.













SWMBO has a thing for rabbits.
















I do love my copper & brass!!

Keep in mind, this is just 'part' of the collection.

We have a family friend that walked in the back door and said "whoa!" when he saw this set-up. He said the pot rack was the first thing you saw when walking in the back door.

Another view.












This reminds me... SWMBO thinks I throw in too many 'redundant' type pictures. I like pictures - hopefully you all do as well! Besides - it's my blog and I'll do what I like with it!!

This is the pig platter.

Do you remember the hole that use to be here?

There is an interesting story behind this platter. It belonged to a very close friend of ours by the name of Kathy Nail. This platter, as well as a ton of English antiques, had been bequeathed to us back in the late 80's.

Kathy loved Egypt to the point that she traveled there about four times a year. She always told us that one day she would go and not come back. With that in mind she designated all sorts of goodies to be given to us if this, or her untimely death, should occur.

Unfortunately Kathy's neighborhood took a direct hit from a massive tornado in 1991 that destroyed all the homes around her's but left her's intact. However, all the windows were blown out and virtually everything sucked out. The pig platter is one of the precious few items to survive.

Go here and here and you can see the tornado it the destruction it caused. We were allowed into the area as part of her 'family' to help clean up.

BTW - I walked home from work that day and the sucker passed in front of me by no more than a mile.

On a sad note - Kathy did leave one day and we never saw her again. We have tried to contact her, even going through her family, but as it appears Kathy has fallen off the face of the earth. We have no idea where she is or if she is even alive.

Let's get back to something more pleasant.

One of the re-done lights. This one is above the triangular prep area.















Another one of those pictures that took a long time to get!








Hopefully this time next year there will be new, custom built, cabinets here!





When the lights come on - BAM!! - candle glow effect!! Cool eh?

This is one reason I wanted this yellowish color.


This color is going to be the one to anchor all the rooms together.

Eventually a new cabinet will be located here as well.

For now I'm storing some dry ingredients and clay pots.


Okay, here is one of those pictures SWMBO considers 'redundant'.

Honestly, I'm a nosy person and I know you all are as well, the more I can get my face in there to 'look around' the better.

To me, the kitchen is my art studio/laboratory and this is where I keep certain dry chemicals.

Three of the jars up there are VERY expensive if you can find them (you know, like $30+ for a jar). We found them here in the house!! Lucky for us the person who broke in and stole all the items the night before we took possession missed these.

Hey,the smaller bottle to the left, the one that looks kind of like a Genie bottle, contains McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal. If you have never tried it - GET SOME!! You will never go back to regular oatmeal after eating this.

Tools of the trade.












A modest collection of liquid chemicals.

These are the main oils and vinegars I use to create, the others have been stored till later.

Remember these two?

The important thing, however, is the window pull. They all installed nicely and work well.



What can I say...

I'm an old romantic, a Francophile and an Escargot-A-Holic...




...with a love of Italian things as well.









A little fuzzy but still looks good.










Yes - the cabinet is still unfinished.

I know I said I would try to have it done by December 1st, but prepping for Christmas got in the way. More on that latter.

Did you notice the cherry pitter attached to the cabinet? SWMBO has wanted one of these for a long time. This one came from our friends Bill & Karen.

Here's that whole 'candle effect' again! This time those special bulbs on the wall sconces did it.














Just a few of the odd items hanging around. The top item is an antique egg separator. Under it is a vintage wall match safe.

The funny looking thing on the bottom isn't some sort of weird bread paddle...but it IS a paddle!






Tacky - maybe.

Morbid - possibly.

This is indeed a fanny warmer. This specific one was owned by SWMBO's parents. Her father, the one who made it, is an engineer. Notice how perfectly the holes are laid out?

Not sure why she insisted on this sucker being placed here, but she did.


More of the cabinet (yes - I know it's a dresser, but the old cabinets were more like this than our modern ones) with some of my family antiques (the mirror, bowl and lamp) around.

See the gray thing under it(?) - that's Brutus' bed.







Dig the 'treats' containers. And yes - they are full.

Somewhere around here is one for kids.



Brutus just loves this spot.











Back door to the utility porch.
















'THE' picture...

















Okay...maybe I do get a bit redundant...

You know, the old style is just a lot more classy looking.












One of the sconces.

We still have not found the 'right' candle covers yet.













Like I said - Francophile!!

















More of our 'junk'.

The kitchen is FINALLY beginning to feel like 'home' again.













'Le cochon noble'.

This is by far my favorite clay pot cooker. I purchased it from an elderly German couple who had been given this as a wedding gift right before WWII and they had never used it.

I had to go through an internet friend living in Germany to handle the money and shipping.

I'm thinking about trying out the toaster.


More pots!!

Gee...perhaps I should clean them. I hate to mess up the patina though.











Doorway to the foyer.

Another door that's missing. Guess I should hang it.













One of SWMBO's rabbits.

This one looks a lot better now that we repainted the eyes. Originally the irises were a funky brownish/blaze orange and made the thing look really creepy and psychotic.

You will notice some of the mop-board molding is missing. It's in storage. We have not yet decided what we want to do with the built-in cabinet and until we do these parts will remain stored in a safe place.

And here is the reason why we have yet to make up our minds about the cabinet...the original one looks great!

Originally we decided to just make it look nice and usable until it was to be rebuilt to match the new cabinets. However, so many people have commented on how nice it looks we just aren't sure what to do now.

The hinges and pulls are all original to the cabinet as far as we know.

A broad view of the items we're storing in it.
















I thought some of you more 'nosy' people might like a better look at what's all in there.

Some of the items are family heirlooms, some are antiques, some were found in the house ans some given to us by friends (such as Kathy N. and Bill & Karen).

The thing hanging in the center is a bunny chocolate mold; but look to the left of it, the thing with the wooden handle - do you see it?

That's one viscous meet mallet/tenderizer from a butcher shop. Looks very Medieval doesn't it?

Just more of the same...

See the glass container to the extreme left? The one with the black lid?

Take a close look...

...yup(!!), escargot shells!!
















These dishes are special. They are not the first set of fancy dishes we've bought, those would be 100+ year old set of fine china we bought as our wedding gift to each other (remember the platter that flew off the wall(?), it came from that set). These are the first set of fancy, usable, dishes we bought.

More cookbooks. Most are originals but two are reproductions and YES, I do use them.

See that little mustard crock? It mostly contains antique utensils. One of those, a fork (extreme left), came from the Café de Paris. It is silver and has a scarab as the motif on the end of the handle. All indications is that it was made around 1904 - 1914 by the Smith Silver Co.

If ANYONE out there might have more information about this fork - PLEASE let me know.

We really like this old tea pot. It is a family heirloom that belonged to our friend Bill. We're not sure how old it is but it has to be from the first quarter of the 20th century at least.

HEY!! Here is a better view of the hinges and pulls.

The plating on the hinges is called 'Bavarian Finish'; if I remember that correctly. Guess I ought to double check on that.

More food molds plus three escargot dishes (you don't NEED shells to cook them).














This last picture really doesn't have anything to do with the kitchen other than it was taken in it.

SWMBO loves Orchids and she bought some a few weeks ago. I was playing with the settings on the camera and snapped this one.

Not sure what it is about the picture, but it seems to have some sort of 'artsy-fartsy' aura about it and I thought some of you would like it.

I do think the picture does a good job of highlighting the wall color. It also shows how the two types of wood took the same stain color and made it it's own.

Well, I guess that's about it - the tour is now over.

It's time now to head to the next room and start the pre-restoration preparations.

It has been a wild and bumpy road working on the kitchen and I hope I entertained you as well as showed you a few tips-n-tricks to help you out.

Let me know if you want a better picture of something you might have seen, or I forgot to get a picture of.

As always, if you have any tips, tricks or questions just let me know.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry