First year kitchen projects
While waiting for our household goods to arrive, we bought our refrigerator and a microwave for over the stove.
That summer I sewed French Country sunny floral window treatments for the kitchen and family room.
Love this new island for prepared food landings and even for cutting out fabric for sewing…despite it being squeezy next to the table.
But without it I felt at a loss for a landing zone for all the completed food preps and such.
Sixth year kitchen projects
Since we envisioned a pergola over the back courtyard with grapevines growing over it, I pursued a grapevine theme in the main living space.
I hung a grapevine heart for over the fireplace and placed grapevines with grapevine baskets on top of the kitchen cabinetry.
Finding a grapevine themed tapestry, I sewed a cushion cover for the window seat.
Upgrading our simple builder-grade stove, we bought a ceramic stovetop/convection oven that I fell in love cooking with!
After painting the walls a creamy yellow in the kitchen and the rest of the main floor, we painted our kitchen cabinets white, onto which we affixed new black wrought iron French Country hardware.
Wow! The space looked happy, fresh, and much enlarged!
The drawer panel under the sink, usually a false front, now practically functions as a storage for brillo pads, etc.
After finding a sage green tapestry with French Country bistros, I created a new window treatment for the kitchen, which hung by brass rings from a brass rod.
Seventh Year Kitchen Upgrade
For the kitchen I chose the look of black granite.
We also placed a French Country limestone backsplash.
I really love the addition of beadboard inside the cabinet doors.
We also got a new chandelier, a peek of which is in the photo, above the brand new table island, which hugely improved the seating/work space.
Under my new perwinkle blue mixer, to coordinate with the bluebonnets in my kitchen, is shelving for my cookbook collection!
Not shown in the photo is the new limestone tile floor a few days after the previous update.
Eighth year kitchen upgrades
Really love the space to spread out now while preparing historic foods for our Becoming History presentations.
A peak at our new faucet and dripping grapevines on top of the cabinetry, now edged at the top with moulding.
Also we took out the window seat (boo hoo) to have installed a double French doors (wow!)…which really enlarged the space!
Those needed new window treatments which I cleverly sewed after much research. The fabric is an 18th century print from Waverly.
They suspend from curtain rods supported by magnets.
I’m in love with this lovelier and more practical kitchen than the bare bones one provided by the cookie cutter builder.
We kept the footprint, allowing for cheaper upgrades. No plumbing meant less time and less money invested.
We creatively worked with what we had to do as many things on our own as possible.
Nevertheless, I’m so thankful we started with a roof over our heads, securely built, and basically a clean slate for us to create our unique style with a fresh slate.
