Latest Projects

 

The finishing touch in the kitchen was finally installed. It's our old butcherblock that we've had for over 40 years. We think it might be about 130 years old by now.

It's really been around; it was obviously used in a butcher shop because of the wear pattern, then it went to our little 1926 bungalow, then our 1927 Tudor style house, then in storage for a long while, then in our re-creation of an English cottage, then out to a friends hangar, then finally here.

I've missed it and it certainly is nice to have it back again.

Hubby has made this cool drawer dividers for the knives

and the silverware.

And we built this decorative fence by the new driveway. We will plant roses in the fence and fill in with lavender and other perennials, and some herbs. One of our neighbors mentioned clipping rosemary from our plant at our old house across the street. She felt bereft when the new owners tore it out, so rosemary was the first thing I planted.

We've also finished the family room which will be our daughter's apartment.  She chose this lovely green (Behr New Artichoke) for the walls and light gray tile that looks like wood grain for the floor.

The Finished Kitchen

The kitchen is finally finished, big Bertha is installed and functional, and we are cooking in style!

It has been so long, I almost don't know how to handle all the cleanliness and convenience!

You might notice the hole where the dishwasher will go and some of you might think that's not so convenient, but we've been washing dishes by hand for 5 years so we're used to it. Eventually we will get a dishwasher.

I posted that first photo on my Vintage Stove group on Facebook and got over 700 likes! One of the members asked for a video of the entire space, so I did that too. Here's the link:

The finished kitchen/laundry/breakfast room.

Finished Kitchen/Laundry/Breakfast Room

Kitchens

The first kitchen I remember well, and in which I made my first attempts at cooking, was my mothers kitchen with its Wedgewood stove. The stove had four burners, a griddle, one oven, and a broiler; similar to the first photo. Next to it hung Reverware copper-bottomed pans like nearly every other kitchen in that era.

By 1974 I was married and we bought a little 1928 bungalow. It came with this vintage gas stove. I don't remember the brand, but it had a room heater on the right and I loved it. Handyman built a hood over it with a rail to hang our Revereware Bicentennial Copper pots and pans.

That's when we acquired this antique meat block. It weighs a ton and we've hauled it from house to house over the years because we just love it and could never part with it.

We painted the kitchen bright blue and put up yellow and blue wallpaper. We hadn't yet gotten into heavy duty remodeling, so we decorated to match the existing tile.

We also got this Hoosier cabinet and displayed our vintage tins on it.

I loved that funky little kitchen.

Here's what we looked like back then. We were just kids - maybe 23 and 25 in this photo.

In 1980 we moved to a nicer house, but the kitchen was smaller. We sold the Hoosier cabinet, but managed to squeeze the meat block in.

We still had yellow wallpaper and tile to deal with, but check out that yellow rotary phone!

Then we moved onto a 35' sailboat and had a really tiny kitchen. Only 6' of counter top, a 24" wide propane stove, a tiny sink, and an old fashioned ice box.

And then our kitchen got even smaller! Our next boat had maybe 5' of countertop, but 4' of that was the refrigerator, so you had to keep 2' of that clear to access the top loading frige. Again, we had a nice 24" wide propane stove; in my opinion, the best boat stove available.

After our boating adventures we bought another house and remodeled that kitchen with a modern 36" gas stove, trash compactor, dishwasher, etc. It was very nice!

In 1990 style, we chose all brass hardware and faucets, a modern Viking gas range, black granite countertops, and white cabinets, but we added a quaint booth seating arrangement.

Then we bought our "forever" house. Close to good schools, large tree shaded lot in a great neighborhood, but...

the house was a dump. And the kitchen was a cook's nightmare: electric stove, rusty metal cabinets, formica countertops, poor lighting, wimpy exhaust fan.

I lived with that kitchen for nine years while we remodeled every other part of the house.

Finally in 2005 we did the kitchen. And it was fabulous! The whole house was English style so I designed a "fireplace" to house the gas stove. The sides of the fireplace had little cupboards for spices and it had great lighting and a commercial exhaust fan on the roof.

We hid the refrigerator and dishwasher behind cabinets doors, and there was plenty of space to display dishes and teapots. When the kids were at home we kept the table in the middle of the room, but after they flew the coop, we moved it to a wall, and put our beloved meatblock in the middle.

Right of stove

Left of stove

This was my favorite kitchen ever and we had so many fun parties that revolved around cooking with friends. Our kitchen was always the hub of all the action!

And then we moved onto a sailboat again and went cruising. For four years I cooked here; in the most perfectly designed galley ever.

Such a tiny kitchen, but safe and easy for cooking underway because it was so narrow. I could safely wedge myself in on either tack, the stove gimbled itself to stay level, I could access the fridge and freezer without clearing the counters, and everything was right there! I cooked three meals a day there, many of them prepared underway, for four years.

And now we're back on land again, remodeling another kitchen!

The kitchen looked like this when we bought the house. There had been a fire and the kitchen was stripped out, but the sink was under a window that originally looked out onto a breezeway.

The stove and frige were on the opposite wall, and there was a tiny breakfast area under this bay window in the other end of the room. Groceries had to come through the garage, then through the breezeway/family room, and finally into the kitchen.

After drawing the whole house and evaluating the floor plan and traffic flow, we decided to change the bay window to a door, use the kitchen as a breakfast room/entry, and move the kitchen to a den next door.

That not only gave us a larger kitchen, but convenient access to the driveway and an airy, light-filled breakfast room. More rearranging turned the patio room (next to the new kitchen) into the dining room, and the old dining room into an office.

So now this corner looks like this.

And this corner looks like this.

Our old gas range will sit under that huge exhaust hood. The stove restoration is almost done. We should be cooking on it any day now.

Laundry Room Details

Daltile Ocean Blue wall tile

Askö washer and dryer

Cabinets by my husband

Codicer Arte Black floor tile 

Door to garden and pool

August 2020 Garden Report

August was perking right along for us here beneath the oaks with all the usual things happening:

Double Delight 

Rose's blooming.

Great Horned Owl 

Birds visiting.

Early Girl

Vegetables coming in from the garden.

Squirrelfoot Fern

And watering, watering, watering.

Then this started happening.

It's called sudden limb drop and it happens on really hot, still days when the oak trees take up more water than they can release from their leaves. The moisture overwhelms the cells' integrity and branches crack and fall. The weight of the acorns probably contributes too. Last year we had almost no acorns and this years the trees are loaded. (No limbs fell last year.) That's a snow shovel scooping up acorns in the photo below.

I have seen quite a few fall. First you hear a cracking noise, then you hear the branch ripping through the tree as it falls, then finally the crunch as it hits the ground, or a thump if it hits someone's roof. So far we've had at least nine limbs fall in our little circle of 70 homes. None in our yard, but three from the tree in the middle of the street, which we've cleaned up.

In fact, we've also cleaned up three limbs for various neighbors. Not only do we get a little firewood, but yesterday we got ice cream out of the deal too! This neighbor actually drove to Baskin Robbins then delivered three pints of ice cream to us as a Thank You gift. I love our neighbors.

Along with the hot weather we've had a few thunderstorms which have sparked wildfires. So now we have an eerie orange color to the light, and ash and smoke everywhere. August is proving to be rather annoying in the garden.

Countertops Are Done

Last week our countertops were installed. They are Absolute Black, 3mm, with a plain edge. Just like we installed in 2005 at our last house.

We also ordered granite for the corner cabinet counters. We immediately set the uppers and installed the faux leaded glass in the doors so we could use the cabinets.

You may remember how I made these glass panels with actual lead strips, but they are simply adhered to the glass and burnished with a plastic tool.

So while the Handyman finishes the upper cabinets for the kitchen, I'm finishing the painting of the crown molding and trim in the breakfast nook. And touching up all the little scrapes and gouges from the cabinet and countertop installation.

Next comes the exhaust hood, upper cabinets, and backsplash tile. Then, finally, the stove. We've been cooking on a camp stove since May of 2019, and it's really getting old.

We might actually have a real kitchen soon - stay tuned!

July Garden Report

Normally the heat of summer is not considered prime transplanting time. But I'm a rebel, so while it's predicted to be 104 degrees today, I'm transplanting azaleas and ferns.

I've found that if they're moved to a shady area, watered twice a day, and given plenty of mulch, it can work.

Whatever you do, don't do this! I've found several with buried pots in my garden. No wonder some of the azaleas failed to thrive.

Yesterday I moved two azaleas and lots of maidenhair ferns. I eventually got tired of fiddling with the darn ferns and ended up throwing lots of them away. I feel a little bad about that because normal people would love to have maidenhair ferns, but they're like a weeds here, so I need to get over that.

I'm removing the ferns because I'm hacking my way through the azalea beds to create a parterre garden. The plan is to have brick walkways between the azaleas, ferns, rhododendrons, and camellias, with perhaps a fountain or birdbath as a focal point.

With all my watering and lots of decomposing roots in the garden, mushrooms are popping up everywhere: some real, some fake. Here are some real ones. The first ones are so tiny! I think they're called Coprinellus disseminatus, or Fairy Bonnets.

We got a new driveway recently and I finally tackled the uneven grass next to it. I had to dig out a lump, and fill in a dip. I've come to the conclusion that this yard will never be "level", but if I can smooth out the irregularities a bit, I'll be happy.