Wednesday, February 13, 2008

This Old Kitchen

The first time we toured our old house, the kitchen was such a mess. The make shift counters were falling apart, the drawers were hanging in different directions. The old farm sink had been a beauty in its day but had started to rust through in places where the enamel had chipped off. The whole thing was a big mess. Actually the whole house was a mess. Dark paneling on every wall plus dark curtains left hanging on windows just added to the cave-like quality. Depressing!

I remember that day clearly. We had a friend who was here from Hungary and brought him with us to see the house. He walked around with his camera snapping the whole time. He would look around, snap a picture, then look at me shaking his head and say, "Oh, Hope!" On to another room...snap a picture..shake his head, then, "Oh, Hope!" That's all he ever said during the tour. The lady who owned the house and had lived here was there with us, so I would whisper to him, "It's okay, I can make it nice, you'll see!" He was here just long enough to help us slap some paint over the dark paneling, rip down the dark curtains and move in, all within a couple of weeks. He was amazed at the change in such a short time.

I wish I could share some of the before pictures but I got a virus on my computer and lost them all. You can't really appreciate all that we've done here without that evidence. So just trust me when I tell you...it's come a long way, baby! We began by tearing out the counters and old sink. We were working with a budget of...ZERO, ZILCH, NADA!! DH was about to be sent to Atlanta for RR training and we had to rush just to get moved in before he had to leave. A friend of ours was having some remodeling done on his kitchen including new cabinets. So I called and asked him what he was doing with his old cabinets and he said they were in the yard ready to be hauled away! We told him to hang onto them and we'd be right there. So we got some lower cabinets and a stainless double sink for free! We kept the original upper cabinets which were painted with white, flat ceiling paint! We installed the new/old free ones which were wood color and with our trusty Lowe's credit card we got a new counter top. We lived with the two-toned cabinets for months then finally got around to deciding on a paint color. We added new brushed nickel hardware to help to match up the upper and lower cabinets.

kitchen 2

It's hard to get a good overall picture but you get the idea. You can see the upper cabinets that reach all the way to the top of the 9 foot ceiling! I'm 5' 2" tall so all the shelves are useless to me except the first one, plus there are only 2 sets of cabinets. Most old houses had none so I guess I'm lucky to get that many!

kitchen3

kitchen 4

The double windows over the sink are very high too as you can see. They do let in lots of light but I can't look out!! We do have a long window on the side though. We added a bead board backsplash and painted that. There was plastic over that part before to keep out the cold!!

Then there's the big white elephant, otherwise know as a refrigerator! We would like to figure a way to disguise it but since it's a necessity so we deal with it! There is a doorway coming into the room from the laundry/mudroom and another doorway on the other side of the white elephant going into the dining room.

kitchen 1

You can see the corner of my stove in the third picture. It was just sitting there all by itself with no cabinets, range hood or anything. We recently bought one of the over-the-stove combination microwave and vent. We had a small upper cabinet left over that we weren't able to use so we put that over the microwave. We haven't finished that area yet so I'll show pictures later when we do. We also want to do different flooring later on.

We have lived in our old home over 3 years now and each room is still a work in progress. I'll try to do a room by room as we finish projects.

17 comments:

A Romantic Porch said...

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story of seeing "HOPE" in the despair. Your kitchen sounds a lot like mine. We're working on that! Have a wonderful day, Hope!

Karen H. said...

Good Morning Hope,
Ohmygosh, move over, I'm moving in on your kitchen. LOL. I so love the colors of everything in it. Take the fridge out and I'll set up my bed there. LOL. Put the fridge in the mudroom and just let me lay there and drool over everything. LOL. It is so beautiful Hope. Yall have done a wonderful job on it. And, you sure can't beat anything that's free. "THANK YOU" for sharing your kitchen with us. The house that we lost was built in 1950. It still had the original cabinets in it and they were wood and was up to the ceiling as well. It still had an old one-sink from cast iron, I guess you could say. I do miss it sometimes, but we had done outgrown it. It only had one closet in the whole house. The people we had bought it from had remodeled it some. It still had all the original wood framing around the windows and doors. Now, yall hurry on up and mozy on out of my new kitchen here. LOL. Just having a little fun with you there. Take care my friend and have a great day. May God Bless You and Yours.

Love & Hugs,
Karen H.

Prairie Gothic said...

That a homey happy comfortable looking place. I love it!

Betty said...

You know what, Hope? I absolutely love your kitchen. It is beautiful, and I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it. You did a good job of describing what it looked like when you first bought the house, so I say you and Dave did a wonderful job on your kitchen. I'm sure the rest of your home will just as good once you complete the makeover. I can't wait to see pictures. How did you know my favorite color is green?

About my header. You inquired as to what kind of birds these are. Count me in as a "dummy" as I have no idea. This is a picture I have in my living room. I made a picture of it leaving the frame out and bingo, I have a new header, which I like very much.

Ruey said...

Hi Hope~
Your kitchen is ADORABLE!!I can visualize what it must have looked like before,because your explaination was good.It's always amazing to me what a little elbow grease and paint can do.Such a cozy and loved kitchen..what time is cofee on? I'll be there!!!
xxxooo Ruth

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

That is beautiful! I love the dark green with red accents... and the up-to-date-but-still-farm-kitchen feel to it. Thanks for showing us!

Anonymous said...

Oh Hope, that is a lovely kitchen!

We remodeled a home in Ky and it was in really bad shape, when I first saw it I wanted to cry. We had a contractor at the time walking through it with us and he told us he had seen sicker dogs get well and that helped...some....

You did a great job!

Anonymous said...

Hope!!! Im BACK. yee haw im so excited. God I was nuts and missed you all so much.I love your kitchen. OMG i would love to get in there and cook some ole southern food. It looks so warm and welcoming. I look at it and smeel fresh bread ohhh so nice.

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

Your kitchen looks great! I love the dark green cabinets! You sure worked your magic there!

I would like to invite you to come to my cupcake party! I'll have two Valentine posts.

Katherine

Carole Burant said...

Dearest Hope,

With my kitchen being done in greens, red and white, you just knew I would love your kitchen:-) Isn't it amazing what we can do with a house with little money...believe me, when we bought this house 31 years ago it was falling apart and the decorating left a lot to be desired. I love being able to transform a room...as you've seen with my computer room! lol You've done an amazing job with your kitchen and I can appreciate all the hard work that's gotten into it. xoxo

j said...

Well the "Oh Hope" head shake, has gone to "OH HOPE!" and a vigorous nod! Has the Hungarian friend seen pics of the after? Surely he has. We have similar tastes Hope. I like the country/collectible look too. Our house is about 8 years old so it is hard sometimes to instill character. You, with the bonus of age (the house honey) have got built in character! I'm as green as your cabinets! Jen

Brandy said...

This just sounds so familiar, weren't we talking about this yesterday? Bad news though, youth Sunday has been postponed until next Sunday. It is going to be a busy day because we have youth Sunday that morning and then an appointment at Browders church that night. I think Ronnie is going to try to come next Sunday instead of this Sunday. I hope you will be able to make it and hang out for a little while at least!

Talk..to..Grams said...

Hi Hope. Guess what My girls were able to hook up a key board to the wii and now I can type more then one letter at a time! Really it was pointing something like a remote and picking out one letter at a time!! It was very hard... I just loved your kitchen and the way you have made it so beautiful! Wow! This must have been a lot of work!! Love and Hugs Grams

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Hope, I love your kitchen! It is so warm and inviting! The color of the cabinets is GREAT!! You have done a wonderful job. I love remodeling older homes...It gives you such a sense of pride when the home comes back to life.
Penny

Unknown said...

I enjoyed visiting your blog and your kitchen is very pretty. Have a wonderful day. Lisa

Nora Lee said...

Hope thank you so much for giving us a tour of your kitchen! There are so many things I like about it that I don't want to take up space listing each one. But I did want to comment on the red water 'pump' you have at your sink. When I used to visit my grandmother in Narrows, VA growing up she had one (not inside but outside) that I remember getting water from. I thought it was so neat not to have running water in the house. Except for at night when I didn't want to make the trip to the outhouse...of course that was where the chamber pot came it but that is another story!

You and your husband have done a wonderful job!

Sandra

Peggy said...

I just love your kitchen! I have the same pump that I want to somehow attach to my sink and use instead of the faucet but have to wait till we figure out how. The package from Pea is awesome! I love her chocolates and have to hide them from william if I want any. LOL