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You are here: Home / Archives for kitchen island

When A Stove That Isn’t Even Here Yet Upends Everthing

August 6, 2017 at 10:03 am by Claudia

I am so friggin’ tired this morning! Too much going on, horrendous humidity (which broke, thank goodness, overnight) and a day spent in the beautiful Berkshires where we really didn’t have time to acknowledge that beauty because we were frantically driving from one antique shop to another trying to find a substitute for the island. By the time we got home around 7:30, we were exhausted. Don pulled a dinner together and we watched “Singin’ in the Rain.”

The first shop we went to ended up having the most possibilities, but no matter what we looked at, it was basically a table and not the right height for an island. After endless measuring, chatting with Shirley, who ran the shop and everyone else who worked there, we were dehydrated, tired, and in my case, overwhelmed and in mourning for my island, which I know darned well is too big and had to go. We tried every other shop before coming back to the first shop. Finally, we acknowledged that whatever we bought would be a place marker until we found the right substitute. Whatever we eventually find will be much shorter in length and much less of a presence in the room because Don is loving the room to walk around and do what he has to do when making dinner. He’s a big guy and he needs space. We  need space.

Sigh.

We ended up buying a small primitive table because I loved the original blue paint. We figure it can go into storage if we find something better or maybe there will be another place for it in the house or in the mudroom we’d like to add someday.

And the wood bread board I got earlier in the summer fits on top. The Vernors crate is there for the moment, but I have a feeling I’ll move it somewhere else. It’s taking up too much real estate. Where that is, I don’t know, as every corner in this little cottage is taken up by something or other. Love our cottage but sometimes we yearn for more space.

We also got this vintage crate with the great graphics because it has a hinged lid and I’m going to store the dishtowels and linens inside. Today I have to clear out one of our cupboards so that I can reconfigure where we store our pots and pans and baking dishes. And I have to paint the trim on the window. And work on Act 4 of Midsummer.

I also got this because I love vintage graphics and display items.

We might hang it above the vintage stove as a container for spices, sort of like this (courtesy of Don):

Or it might go elsewhere. A lot depends on the stove and how it looks here in the kitchen. As Shirley, who must feel relieved not to have to have any more long indecisive conversations with us on the ‘island’ that isn’t really an island, said – we should wait until the stove arrives to see what we want or don’t want. She’s right.

Gosh, this stove has upended everything here at the cottage!

We bought one other item, but it’s impossible to get a good picture of it this morning, so I’ll work on that later in the day.

Change is always hard for me and there are a lot of changes happening around here right now. And I leave in four days for five weeks away from home. It’s all too much for me at the moment, which is why Don and I sat on the porch this morning and cuddled on the glider while I cried a little. That helped.

Happy Sunday.

 

 

Filed Under: antiques, kitchen, kitchen island 39 Comments

Yellow and The Island

August 5, 2017 at 8:53 am by Claudia

Yesterday was a long day; full of painting, and incredibly humid at the same time. I didn’t take a shower until 7 pm! Everything is done on that wall except for the trim around the window, which I’ll do this weekend.

We really like the yellow, which changes as the day goes on. On this dark and rainy morning, it looks like this:

But it’s actually lighter than this – a buttercream yellow. It makes us happy. Now the big question is whether we do it on all the walls or just this one? We’re going to wait on that decision. Actually, we have no choice. I have much to do, we have much to do, including looking for a smaller kitchen island. I’ll have more photos soon.

Yes, I know. Everyone loves that island, including me. It has been an incredible boon to us with storage and an additional counter surface. But it’s huge. Mammoth. 68 inches long, 38 inches high. It will block part of the view of the stove. The stove is deeper than the one we have, which means we’d have to move the island closer to where the refrigerator is, and that would make getting around the kitchen even more difficult.

This one isn’t easy for me. I’m already in mourning. But we want to see  our vintage stove, which will be and should be the star of the kitchen. With the old island in here, I’d never be able to get a full-on photo of it. We’re rethinking the storage of kitchen items. What to pitch and what to keep. And I am leaving in 5 days! A bit overwhelming, but this darn gorgeous and large vintage stove has made us rethink everything!

The island, pretty as it is, has chipped paint most of the time. It’s so big that it makes it difficult to clean around it. Time to move on. Sigh. Don came up with the idea of using it on the porch as a potting bench/storage unit and it looks pretty good there. We’re trying that out.

A photo of us from the other night. We were out to dinner, trying to take a selfie (we’re woefully inept at that) and collapsed into giggles. It was a celebratory dinner, but that’s all I can say at this moment. More soon.

It’s blurry, but it makes me smile a lot.

We’re off to do some antiquing/treasure hunting in the Berkshires.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: kitchen, kitchen island, vintage stove 42 Comments

The Fair

June 3, 2017 at 9:01 am by Claudia

Yesterday’s visit to the Country Living Fair was efficient, to say the least. I know from past experience that it’s best to get there before the 10 am opening. I arrived about 45 minutes or so before the gates opened, bought my ticket, and then I scrolled through Instagram on my phone while waiting.

(Why didn’t I get the entire truck in this photo??)

I am also pretty familiar by now with who is there and where their booths are. Of course, there are changes every year, but the majority of the vendors come back every year. By this point, I know exactly where I want to start. There are a lot  of exhibitors, by the way.

I didn’t take very many pictures. I was ‘on the move’ and wanted to get in and out within a couple of hours.

Anyway, once the gates were opened, I walked to my favorite starting point and took it from there. I ran into the Editor, Rachel Hardage Barrett, who I met a few years back. She was buying a vintage oil painting of a ship. Beautiful.

I was scouting vintage garden items. There were a lot of them but, as I find true with most items at the Fair, the prices were just too high. This is a big event, the vendors have a ready-made audience, and they price accordingly. That isn’t a criticism, as much as it’s a fact. I know there is a lot involved with selling anywhere; travel, setup, all the expenses that go into buying and selling, and prices are marked up accordingly.

So, nothing on the garden front. However, I did buy a gardening hat and it’s the best one I’ve ever seen – fits beautifully, and it’s a pale aqua to boot.

The Fair gets really crowded, especially on the weekend. That’s why I go early. But it got crowded very quickly yesterday, which makes visiting vendors more difficult. It’s increasingly hard to walk down the aisles or maneuver into a specific booth. That’s why I was out of there in two hours. It just isn’t my thing to be in a crowd for any length of time in which I can hardly move and have to maneuver around people who are blocking aisles. I get impatient and it tires me out.

I visited one booth where two ladies sell vintage items. They have an Airstream that they use for travel and they set it up right beside their booth. They also had a mini-Airstream that was a cooler!

It was here that I discovered my big find of the day. I wasn’t even looking for it, which makes it all the more delightful.

Back story: I’ve been pricing a made-to-order butcher block top for the kitchen island. Ever since Don put a hot pot on the top, promptly removing the paint, we’ve been thinking about what to do about the surface. Yes, I could have repainted it, but the cream colored paint always chips and it’s hard to keep clean. Don thought tile would be a good idea, which I immediately nixed as we have tile countertops in the kitchen and my dream is to get rid of them someday. A butcher block top that fits the dimensions of the island would run from about $390 to well over $400, unless I got one from IKEA, but then I’d have to find someone who could cut it to fit and the whole thing made my head spin. I almost ordered the least expensive top several times, but something made me hold off.

Then I saw this vintage bread board. It’s old and weathered and quite large. Eyeballing it, I was pretty sure it would work. I knew it wouldn’t cover the entire island but that, to me, would make it all the more striking. After hemming and hawing, I bit the bullet and bought it. It was $85.00. One of the ladies told me that she has some vintage boards at home and she uses olive oil on them.

This is the way it looked when I bought it – I took this picture as I was on my way to the car and texted it to Don. Already gorgeous at this point.

When I got home, I cleaned and disinfected it. Then I grabbed the olive oil. Two coats later, this is what we have:

The color of the board changes with the light, so I’ll probably post another photo soon.

Sigh. I really love it. Don does, too. (And it nicely covers up the evidence of Don’s ‘hot pot episode.’)

And $85 instead of $400? Much better!

The only other thing I purchased was this tin; cake tin? bread tin? It’s incredibly rusty, inside and out, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but I’m drawn to that shade of green and to the hand painted and chippy flowers. Oh, and that glass knob, as well.

If you haven’t been to the Fair and you get the opportunity, you should go. It’s an experience: lots of interesting vendors, workshops, speakers and it’s on a gorgeous site at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. Country Living does a bang-up job – it’s lovely.

I bought this bouquet from a local farmer via my favorite natural food store. Peonies, allium, foxglove – how could it get any better?

Ah, the sun just came out. Since Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be filled with rain, I’m going to enjoy my gardens and the birds and the porch today.

Edited to add: What the heck? Now it’s going to rain a bit this morning. That wasn’t on the weather forecast when I got up this morning!

Happy Saturday.

 

 

Filed Under: Country Living, country living fair, kitchen, kitchen island, vintage 60 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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