My French Country Kitchen

"Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses."

Apparently I never got that memo.

Our main bathroom is the size of a closet and I've shown you as much

as I care to of the upscaled outhouse in the basement.  To top it all off,

this is how our kitchen looked (below) when we moved in.

All the amenities a girl could ever want.   :@

*Painted Z Brick backsplash.

*Fluorescent box lighting.

*Vinyl remnant flooring.

*Portable dishwasher shoved into a space where a cabinet was yanked out.

*2 layers of wallpaper applied with glue.

*Old and dated 1960's maple cabinets falling off their hinges.

*Cracked and chipped wood look countertops.

And the unexpected .......

*Leaky steam baseboard heater section no longer manufactured

 requiring us to buy all new cast iron model.  Cha ching!

*100,000 staples (used on the plywood subfloor) that we were unable to remove from the original wood floors we had planned to refinish.  Cha ching!!!

We all know the 3 rules to follow when purchasing a home.

You're probably thinking location, location, location right?

Well, of course that thought was in the back of our minds, but we had a different

set of priorities when we needed to find a house immediately.

Old, cheap, and available.

Yup, just like an old hooker, our house had all three.

This innocent looking light fixture was the beginning of the minor face lift

I planned for the kitchen.  Paint the existing cabinets.  Refinish the original wood floors.

Install an inexpensive countertop.  Done.  Easy as that.

Here's where we encountered our first big stumbling block.

  The wood floors we had planned to refinish weren't salvageable.  At this point, everything

 came out.  The floors were leveled properly and new subfloor installed. 

 New baseboard heaters were installed and painted. After much deliberation,

 I chose an Italian porcelain floor tile laid in a random looking hopscotch pattern. 

Then most of the old cabinets were reinstalled.  Two new stock cabinets with drawers

replaced the portable dishwasher.  I am the dishwasher now. 

 But don't feel sorry for me.

  I actually like to wash dishes! 

The cabinet above the stove was also replaced with a smaller version to

make way for a microwave range hood.  We have very limited counter space, so getting

the microwave up and out of the way was essential.  Since we have so few linear feet of

countertop, we splurged on a quartz countertop with a travertine tile backsplash

 and topped it all with a decorative stone bullnose tile.

Hinges that fit the profile of our old cabinet doors were no longer available, so I removed the antique brass finish of the existing hinges with my patina solution used to blacken solder lines on stained glass windows.  The knobs and handles were purchased online through Van Dyke's Restorers.  We painted the cabinets with Benjamin Moore Water Borne Impervo in a color called Simply Irresistible.

 * I highly recommend this paint.

The photo above shows how the original kitchen was equipped in our 1921 house.  A small cabinet like those pictured, a stove, a sink, and a built-in ironing board. 
No refrigerator!

The icebox was located near the back door where it was convenient for the ice to be delivered.  I've filled that space (above) with a 1940's cupboard I use to store kitchen towels and miscellaneous items I don't have room for in the kitchen.  The cupboard is placed on top of a platform which creates a cubby to stash our shoes near the back door. 

             There was a pantry where the refrigerator is now.  The door was removed to accommodate this modern appliance.  You've seen the pantry cabinet that we updated with chalkboard panels and faux crown molding.  It's located in the spot that originally housed the built-in ironing board, so I've moved my vintage green iron to that spot as a nod to the past.

The sconce light isn't actually hard-wired, since the metal laundry chute is behind that wall.
It's just hangin' out there looking cute.  I covered the shade (and the one on the countertop lamp) with leftover checked fabric from the valances and edged it with black gimp trim.

We replaced the appliances with bisque models to make the small space appear
 more streamlined.  The dining room is off to the left.

The soffit houses utilities, so it couldn't be removed.  I filled the space with one of my many tole trays and souvenir plates that I spray painted and embellished with our return address stamp.  That was before I knew about The Graphic Fairy magic.

I made the valances from toile I bought at Walmart. 

The checked fabric is from JoAnn fabrics.

I stitched up the chair pads out of a houndstooth check fabric, also from JoAnn's.

The counter height chairs were $35 clearance models from Target that I painted black.

The farmhouse table was made from a Matthew Burak kit.  I was able to choose

 all the dimensions of the table and add my own top which is an inexpensive

 beechwood countertop purchased from IKEA ( only $60 for an 8 foot length).

  I stained it a dark walnut color and sealed it with high gloss, quick-dry polyurethane. 

 I even had wood left over for 2 big cutting boards!

The table does double duty as additional workspace when needed

 and it's the most popular place to sit in our house.

Rounding out the space is the medicine cabinet I turned into a display cabinet for my ironstone pitchers and a place to hang decorative towels.  The clock has been on this wall since the day we moved into the house just over eight years ago.

So there it is.
My French Country kitchen.

The one and only room in our house that is
finished!

Or is it?

Thanks for joining me today.
Vickie





Joining the parties at:
The Farmhouse Porch Cowgirl Up
Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Friday
Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday
Ivy and Elephants What's It Wednesday
Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special