My plan to work on Act 4 yesterday was shelved when I decided I would rather get everything organized in the kitchen, finish painting the trim and get all the crap off the table. I’m not a person who can leave a mess behind. Some people have no problem with that, but I’m someone who cleans and straightens up before I leave town. I did assign Don the bathroom; heaven knows when he’ll take care of that. Most likely, when he knows I’m two hours away and headed home on my day off. Same with washing the sheets. I will wash them before I leave and I think I can rest assured that he’ll leave them as is until absolutely necessary.
Not the best picture as it’s dark and rainy today, so I had to take it with the lights on so the yellow looks darker than it is, but you get the idea. Still have to re-mount the roman blinds and hang a few things here and there.
Anyway – all done! For now. We’ve decided that we want to paint the entire kitchen yellow, which isn’t as overwhelming as it sounds because we have lots of windows and trim and all the cupboards and a door that will be painted ivory white. And the ivory white I’m using is lighter and brighter than the current paint color. That’s just fine with me as I’ve never liked the paint color in this house, which is the same in every room, save the two bathrooms which I painted not long after we moved in. This house was flipped and I am absolutely sure that the flipper had every wall sprayed in this same blah color – not white, not beige, but somewhere in between. In a flat finish. When was it ever wise to paint a kitchen in oil-based paint in a flat finish?
We’re coming up on 12 years in this house and I’m finally getting around to painting the kitchen, which I’ve been threatening to do for years. I doubt I would have started painting, knowing me, but then we fell in love with the vintage stove.
And I’ll do anything for that stove.
The process will take a long time. I’m going to do it a section at a time and I’m headed off to Hartford for five weeks, so there’s that.
Again: dark, rainy, the floors look darker than they are but here’s the table. I find I’m really liking it. Don tells me he had no trouble cooking last night and the pots and pans and baking supplies are in another cupboard now that is much closer to the stove. The crate under the table holds miscellaneous items, including dish towels, some rarely used utensils, etc. I think it will work. Eventually, we’re going to replace that microwave with a smaller one in white. (I’ve never liked this one, but it came with the house, so we accepted it.) I’ve also never liked the black stove and the black dishwasher. The dishwasher doesn’t work. It’s never worked. Right now, we’re storing supposedly essential kitchen items in there. But we never use them. So they’re getting tossed and we’re getting a new dishwasher. In white. None of this will happen immediately, but with the paint, the new dishwasher and the vintage stove coming, we’ll have a mini makeover.
Oh, and I hate the tiled countertops.
You can see how the yellow changes depending on the light, the time of day and whether I have to resort to turning on the overhead pot lights.
The other item I purchased on Saturday was not a need, but I fell in love with it, so it came home with us. It’s almost impossible to take a good picture in the den because there are windows on three walls and it tends to stay dark in there until late in the day.
This table. Fell in love with the shape, the paint color – everything. I had no idea where it would go but this seemed like the right place and Don agreed. Excuse the laptop cord, but hey, this is real life. This is also pretty accurate in terms of the color. I had to close the blinds to get it that way.
And for those of you who asked, here’s the former island on the porch. I haven’t really done anything with it yet. No time.
It does look pretty there.
As you will see, it’s facing the entrance to the porch.
I have to find some place for the bench that was there – it’s currently shoved over to the left.
What do you think?
To sum up: Photos, but none of them very good. But there you go. It is what it is.
Okay. Acts 4 and 5 today and then Tuesday and Wednesday are for shopping and laundry and packing.
Happy Monday.
Oh, Claudia! I would kill for your old center island! I’ve been looking for one just like that to put my TV on in the living room. I used to watch the sitcom Friends and Monica had a dresser (or buffet) in the living room with something on it, not sure it was a TV, but I fell in love with the idea of having a buffet like yours for my flat screen because I absolutely adore the legs and lines of it. I just haven’t found one around here at a decent price, but still looking. Will it be safe on the porch in the weather? Anyway, just wanted to say hi from OKC and again how much I adore your blog. Happy Monday!
I got mine at an auction. Make sure you keep an eye on your local auctions. Thanks, Brooke!
that yellow looks very pretty and will help show off that great new-old stove coming your way (not that it needs that help) and the other white appliances yet to follow. such a happy color!
wish i could help you with the painting … one of my favorite things to do!
the (temporary?) table as an island looks great. love the chippy blue paint and that your old bread-board fits perfectly on top.
and that new table!!! love its style, heft and color. great choice!!!
one addition or change begets others, doesn’t it? enjoy! and best wishes on getting everything done for hartford.
kathy in iowa
I thought it was temporary, but it may stay, Kathy.
Thanks!
and your old island looks great on the porch, too! think how many gardening supplies can fit in those drawers and how many plants can sit pretty on top!
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy!
Our kitchen is also yellow with blue countertop that my husband put in before he got stationed in South Korea. I am with you about tiled countertops. IMHO tiles belong in the bathrooms or on the floor. Oh!! WOW!!!!The rain is coming down. Just got in from grocery shopping. I love what you are doing. Your home comes across happy.
I yearn for the day I can replace that countertop, Trina! Thanks so much!
I’m a huge fan of tile counters in both a vintage kitchen and modern kitchen (I’ve had both, in ‘way too many houses, and actually have never NOT had a tile kitchen counter in my entire adult life in two U.S. states until my current house which has some sort of composite material I detest and can’t wait to rip out), so I’m just curious; what don’t you like about tile in the kitchen? I know some people get sick of cleaning grout…again, just curious, if you don’t mind me asking!
I am never much of a fan with certain blue tones in a kitchen, like aqua which is often popular (I feel the color conflicts with food), but one of the most beautiful kitchens I ever saw was in a SoCalif sea cottage from the early 1920s, which featured (original) vivid turquoise-blue counters in the kitchen. You can’t recreate that hue today; they used different glazes and a lot of the ‘formulas’ were lost over time. (The turquoise-blue may have had cobalt as an ingredient which is now banned.) There was a big push in the early 2000s (Los Angeles environs) to plead with homeowners, when renovating, to leave tile the heck alone in the beautiful (small and large) homes or apartments of the early 1900s. So much was still lost, not just at that time but but also in years previous…and vintage tile is often really hard to remove intact, so you have to have a lot of patience (and people in past years just didn’t care; they wanted trends and ‘modern’)…but true vintage Calif tile today is now worth a bloody fortune here. We had so many ceramic tile and pottery factories in SoCalif in the early 20th century (very brief, only from about 1915 to 1930 for most), it’s as much our heritage as Roseville is to Ohio. (Calif culture. Although outsiders think we have none!)
I totally miss my faithful, durable [original to its 1929-30 updates if not original to the actual 1922-23 construction], forest-green, kitchen-tile counters in my own beloved Calif cottage. For years now, more years than I can count, I’ve collected random hand-painted tile squares (most are Calif vintage but also from Mexico, Italy, etc.) with the hope of making a really cool (for the kitchen) backsplash.
To me, tile tells a story. I am a tile nut.
These tiles are NOT like the tiles you see in California homes. Believe me. I lived in an apartment in San Diego with gorgeous tile work. These counters are not that. They’re not old. They have no style. There is nothing that needs to be preserved. They were put in in 2001 when the house was flipped and they are an ugly brown color with grout that never gets clean. If it was lovely green tile with black edging like in my San Diego kitchen it would stay. There is nothing about the glaze that says anything but randomly new and boring.
It seems like they didn’t flip with much attention to ‘era-appropriate’ although you wouldn’t know, thanks to your vintage decor/thoughtful eye. I’ve loved your little sewing nook at the top of the stairs. And your cottage’s exterior wasn’t changed, right? Just the vinyl siding?
What I’ve had to remember is that other eras/other homeowners WANTED what was new and shiny and modern; they got tired of their old stuff and they wanted convenience. 50s & 60s, people were on the move, prospering; lots of new innovations for homes in the more-prosperous years. Just look at all the old ads from Frigidaire, GE, Sylvania, etc. The early 60s were all about the jet age…not antiques.
OMG, they flipped a Craftsman in my town and I nearly puked when I saw the granite counters and everything else that spoke 2017 and not 1917; criminal. We also toured a small Tudor from 1929, original parquet floors in good condition, interior arches between open rooms, French doors onto a balcony with original hardware, but, I still cringe, after that good stuff just mentioned, half of the original diamond-paned windows were replaced by what they must have figured for ‘view’ windows (huge expanses of zero-interest glass where smaller windows are more on order for this type of house design); a 1970s kitchen remodel (gag, like was I just transported to another planet?); an all-glass shower and other bathroom ‘usuals’ that looked like they could be in a minimalist’s industrial, chrome & steel & glass (cold, gray, neutral, boring) loft instead of a vintage “English” cottage that’s supposed to be warm and charming and cozy. Just makes you wonder what’s on someone’s mind; like, did they do their research, even for sale purposes? Like trying to get oil & water to mix! I probably sound like a judgmental snob but it doesn’t take big brains to fact-find on how to conscientiously bring an old house into modern-day living; you can build a bridge without bombing it to rubble.
Okay, I get it. There’s tile, and then there’s…tile.
What’s your plan/dream? What kind of counter will you go for once you replace the tile one(s)? I’m interested because I’m so close to embarking on the same project; maybe. Kind of now in a quandary about it. I’ve seen granite kitchen counters in my neighborhood of 1950s tract homes and it looks so ugly and out of place; back in the day, we had formica and that wasn’t so great either although Mom always taught us to take really good care of it, like ‘use a cutting board!’ Our formica countertops were bright emerald and the other model in the neighborhood got sunshine yellow counters. (Actually, Mom and Dad kept them for almost 40 years. And there were two elderly ladies, original homeowners, who moved about five years ago and they STILL had those happy-yellow counters after ALL the decades. I always loved their kitchen; they were homebakers and from-scratch cooks, did a lot of preserving and canning. Their kitchen was so inviting with time-worn mixing bowls, gingham curtains ruffling in the open windows; tantalizing aromas. I wanted them as grandmas.)
I’ve talked to three young women (all are working wives, two are moms) in their 20s and early-30s who’ve moved into my neighborhood in the past two years as first-time homeowners and they’re entirely NOT into vintage (they grimace [with unmasked horror] over the thought of my 1955 pink bathtub). It really becomes a dilemma as to how to proceed, if at all; if I care about a future homebuyer for my own place…do I sell it as-is (soon), no further remodeling, and let somebody overhaul it to their 2018 desire? Do instead SOME amount of ‘modern’ remodeling for that young buyer who wants nothing but granite, etc/etc. Or stay and make it mine (no granite!), to heck with resale value, blend some sentimental old with new; age in the old familiar house in the old familiar neighborhood in the old familiar town. Gotta decide pretty soon…we’ll assess at year’s end. And, I tell ya, I’ll be glad to finally make a decision, then stick with it!
And I’m always reminded that I’m lucky to have a choice when I know too many other people who don’t have a home of their own and want one…and deserve one.
Oh, I see you already answered my question; you’d be up for Corian or butcher block counters. I don’t know anything about Corian but I do know people who love their butcher block counters. The butcher block would definitely suit your kitchen, wood being so timeless. I have a cousin whose kitchen counters are cherry wood but you have to be really careful with chopping whereas I think with butcher block, it’s obviously designed for chopping, slicing…
We’ll have to see what we come up with, Vicki!
I love to see houses where the owners have honored the style and period of the homes. Nothing makes me sadder than to see a period home/apartment completely gutted and redone in some modern style.
I think your old island looks lovely on the front porch…but I, too, worry about weathering. Yes…the yellow will look great in all of your kitchen…more work, yes…but I think it’ll be worth it. And that new table is perfect…right where it is…isn’t that your newer Pier 1 chair? Goes so well together. Enjoy your day! ;)
Oh it will definitely get weathered. I’ll do all I can to cover it in bad weather and throughout the winter, but yes, it will be exposed to the weather.
Lowes, and probably also Home Depot, sell really cheap canvas paint drop cloths. We bought three or for of them and cover our porch furniture with them during the winter months. Just an FYI to keep the wet winter weather weather off the island on the porch. xox It really does look cute on the porch!
We have some tarps on hand already that we’ll probably use, but it’s good to remember about drop cloths, as well. Drop cloths have a bit more heft to them so they might be a better idea.
Dark and rainy here to Claudia…things are looking good at MHC!…the yellow kitchen looks cheerful to me in spite of the rain!…That sweet round side table looks to be in an older shade of green that my Mother loved…she liked to wallpaper and then do her trim and cupboards in colors…Green was her favorite color…
Yes, it’s a really pretty shade of green, Nancy.
I really do love the yellow in your kitchen. The new round table is so pretty. I love it when I find the perfect piece and make it work!! I love the old island and it does look pretty on the porch. You will figure it all out, after Hartford!! Its open house at Tiger’s school today so we will find out his new 1st grade teacher! How this little one is growing. Hugs!
Very exciting time for Tiger!
Your “old” island looks very elegant on your porch. Like wow. But aren’t you afraid of the weather? Or is it on the northern exposure or something – where it’s unlikely to pelted with anything? I really like your kitchen yellow. Very warm & welcoming. Hopefully you’ll be home this Fall long enough to finish up your painting in the kitchen. It’d be nice to have it done before the snow flies, as it were. And then you really WILL have a mini-makeover. I like your current cabinets a lot [personally I think ALL kitchens should have white cabinetry, but that’s just me]. I wouldn’t want to change anything else in the kitchen except maybe get a nice solid surface countertop. Not granite though. My middle sister did her kitchen about 12 years ago – gutted the kitchen & added a big pantry – & her contractor actually advised against granite or quartz at that time. Must be sealed, very heavy, very pricey. She ultimately went with a solid surface [Corian I think] & LOVES it. Much less expensive but very pretty & easier to maintain. Apparently many scratches/stains can be rubbed out etc. Who knew? Anyway, you’ll have a new look in your kitchen & who doesn’t like that? That vintage range that’s coming was MEANT for a cottagey kitchen like yours. Have a good Monday. ⭐️
Of course I’m afraid of the weather! No other place to put it. It’s covered with a tarp right now as it’s raining. I will cover it completely in the winter, so we have thought about it and we already have a plan. I would have Corian or butcher block counters. More likely butcher block, but who knows if I’ll ever get it done!
Love reading about your dones and to dos for your cottage. Would a layer of exterior paint help protect the island on the porch? Another paint job…
Yeah and I do not want to paint the island again!
That yellow is pretty. My sister wants to paint our kitchen yellow. I love that island on the porch. It is gorgeous. You sure are a busy lady. Every thing will get done in time.
Marilyn
I finished my work on the text and now I need to shop and pack, etc. I’ll be good to go on Thursday.
I love all your new purchases! Love the old island on the porch, too! Your home is looking good!
Thank you, Dottie!
The yellow paint looks great in your kitchen…love your new island and the table, as well. Your kitchen is going to look amazing with the new stove. I had Brian read your posts last night about the stove…he is in love with it! He knew the name. Hmm…maybe one is in our future someday? ;-)
Wouldn’t that be wonderful??? (Good idea to show it to Brian, Melanie!)
Hi there Claudia,
It seems as if the stove,like an incredible centerpiece is going to pull everything (that you are carefully crafting and putting in place) together and create a wonderfully cosy ambience. It is pretty exciting and great to follow along. It must be hard to have to leave in the midst of it but all the better for your return.
Take good care and all the best with your preparations for Hartford.
It is hard, but Don will organize everything and hopefully I can swing some time away from rehearsals when the stove arrives.)