A Modern Vintage 1700's Farm House, Part 1 :: The Kitchen

Last month, Miss S (my college girl) and I drove to Roxboro, NC, and we got to stay
in our friend Becky's charming old farm house for three whole days!

When we turned off the main highway and drove up her 3-acre long gravel driveway
(you know, the kind where the grass grows between where the tires meet the ground?)
the first thing we noticed is her beautiful wraparound porch and welcoming blue front door.

Her dogs shuffled out to meet us, their bodies wagging in rhythm with their tails.

And when Becky rushed out to greet us with her elated smile and open arms,
we knew that instant that we was going to have a relaxing, fun weekend.

I should have taken a picture that afternoon while we were driving up the driveway.
But, I didn't, so I stole these outside pictures from her FaceBook albums!

This is last Winter.

The original home, built in the late 1700's, consisted of one room, and the kitchen

was in another building, separate from the main house.

Disclaimer: They bought this home with remodeling in mind, so here and there, 

you can see their supplies waiting to be used in projects to be finished or started, just like my house.

(I added that for Becky, who, like most of us when there are areas in our home that are undone, 

kept apologizing for the project areas. I don't even see them! I only see hope and love.)

This is Becky's home this past Spring. With new porch rails.

In the 1800's the main house was connected to the kitchen with more rooms.

Her kitchen is the original one made in the late 1700's.

In the picture below, the main house was the left side of the house.

Her husband, Rob, is a builder, architect, plumber, craftsman, electrician, and carpenter,

and he (with Becky's help) has raised and leveled floors, dug out an enormous basement,

made an in-ground pool, added several bathrooms, taken out walls and ceilings, 

added new wiring, plumbing, flooring. (Lucky girl!)

Her home is an ever-evolving, labor-of-love work-in-progress 

and Miss S and I loved every inch of it!

Today, Becky is sharing her kitchen with us.

The next post will be some other spaces in her home that Miss S and I adored.

What I love the most about Becky's kitchen is that it is functional!

The open cabinets keep everything handy!

Her flooring is the original crooked, wonky, knobby pine that she just painted over in a pale gray.

She finds her ironstone at estate sales and thrift stores.

I love her "pantry" below!

In the side file pockets, she keeps coupons and stuff related to baking and cooking.

Original fireplace! 300 years old!

Ikea pendant lighting.

I gave her the chalkboard pitcher art for her birthday.

It came from Hobby Lobby.

And Becky, who knows me well, took me to her favorite downtown thrift store.

I bought some steak knives, and she bought the china below.

Becky uses the broiler/baking oven often to keep the heat out of the kitchen in the summer.

The picture is of her grandson, Evan, and her rescued pug, Lucy.

I love Lucy.

A sweet love note from her hubby of 25 years!

Through the doorway is her entrance hall.

Her backsplash wall was in sad shape before Rob installed the real wood wainscoting,

not the fake wallpaper I have.

Miss S in the reflection of the mirror.

Rob brought the yellow roses home for Becky that day. 

No special reason, except that he loves her.

Rob built the island with a lower counter, and Becky found the set of chairs in a dumpster!

My kind of gal!

She gave her sink faucet a makeover. It used to look like this, bronze.

Now it looks like this. Brushed nickel spray paint, y'all!

She madeover the counters, too. They had been covered in contact paper.

(See Rob in the picture all the way to the left? He is a most-excellent pizza chef!)

She peeled the contact paper off. Primed the counters.

Then started marbling with whites and grays with a sponge.

Tada!

Everything got painted. Paint covers a multitude of sins, you know.

Or in my case, makeup covers a multitude of sins.

So, concludes the kitchen tour.

Wasn't that fun?

Scones and tea, anyone?

Thank you, Rob, Becky, Evan, and Lucy for the memories.

(And the pictures.)

..
I am over at Sarah's place: Modern Country Style, for a Kitchen Favourites Party!

Good Home Making Seal of Approval :: Ikea Cookware

After 20+ years of home making, I might know a bit about it.

I also know that all y'all know a bit (perhaps more than I do) about it, too!

But, together we can learn from one another.

This is the first of a series (not necessarily, and in fact, not really, in order) of posts

that I will be having here at goodbye, house. Hello, Home!

I am always open to trying new and better ways of doing things.

Cooking efficiently is one of them.

So, today, I welcome a new guest to the program:

Good Home Making!

My very first guest is my very own sister, Stephenie, from San Antonio, TX!

After some frustration and disgust with a set of Earth Pans that I bought 

(the non-stick feature lasted about a month and they are hard to get clean on the outside),

I asked Stephenie, who has pans from Ikea, how she liked them.

I suppose we must be related, because, instead of a thumbs up or a thumbs down, 

she emailed me back with the following verbose analysis and report, 

and it was too good and thorough NOT to share with y'all.

Say "HEY" to my cutsie baby-sister, Stephenie!

Take it away, girl!

" IKEA offers a wide, almost too wide, selection of cookware and bake ware.

The first caveat to consider is that each piece you buy comes with a user guide. This paperwork will indicate whether the piece can or should be washed in the dishwasher. It will also give tips on how to keep the cookware looking and functioning well for years to come. 

For instance, if you’re using one of the non-stick pans to heat water for boiling pasta, you should wait until the end of the heating process so that the salt will not make unsightly stains on the interior of the pan. 

I’ve put the salt in the water at the beginning of the process for years and have not had any ill effects.

You should pay special attention to these guidelines if the pan is coated with Teflon. Each pan is stamped on the bottom with IKEA’s international symbols for acceptable use practices: stovetop, oven, dishwasher, hand wash, etc. When the paperwork is long lost, if you have memorized the symbols, you will know what’s going on.

With that said, these are the pieces I have in my kitchen and how they have worked for me. In each instance, I have been happier with each piece than I was with a similar piece from Le Creuset. Of course, there’s the added benefit of stainless complementing any kitchen and you don’t have to fear that Le Creuset will discontinue the color you’ve purchased.

11” 365+ (non-stick) FRYING PAN.

No lid is included with this piece. I usually use a splatter screen if I’m going to be frying anything like schnitzel or chicken parmesan. This is a great all-around pan for scrambled eggs and browning sausages or hot dogs. Not really big enough for a batch of Hamburger Helper. I don’t think you’re supposed to put it in the dishwasher, but I do and have not seen any ill effects. I chose this particular piece, and the set it comes in (below) due to the thick bottom, which in my experience resists warping after repeated heatings.

365+ (non-stick) SAUCE PANS (that came with this set).

See comments on the non-stick 11” skillet above. The sauce pans are not non-stick. 

The small 1 qt. sauce pan, the one with a straight handle, is good for gravies and other thickening sauces, as long as they are closely monitored. 

The medium sauce pan, 3 qt., is good for a batch of beans or reheating a can of spaghetti sauce. Not quite enough room to boil macaroni for macaroni and cheese. 

The large sauce pan, 5 qt., has been pressed into service in my home to brown beef for spaghetti sauce (and then add the spaghetti sauce) and to boil the macaroni to make the aforementioned macaroni and cheese. The pans have sturdy, thick bottoms which resist warping from repeated heatings.

365+ (non-stick) CASSEROLE WITH LID.

My favorite pan! 16 x 10 x 6. Non-stick interior with a glass lid. You can use it to cook on the stovetop or in the oven. This pan has been used to make everything from beanie weenies and pot luck-size scrambled eggs, to chicken and rice casserole and Rice Krispies treats. The lid is handy so that you can travel with the pan. Instructions say hand wash only, but I’ve put it in the dishwasher. 

Shh. Don’t tell anybody!

365+ (stainless steel) POT WITH LID.

I bought this 3 qt. pan for its non-stick properties after I purchased the above-mentioned non-coated set of pans. Thick, sturdy bottom. Handwash only. Oven-safe.

365+ (stainless steel) SAUCEPAN WITH LID.

Thick, sturdy bottom. I bought this 1 qt. non-stick sauce pan to complement the uncoated saucepan above. I use the uncoated saucepan for such things as browning butter, but I use the non-stick pan for baking projects which use a lot of sugar.

In summary, I have been very happy with the quality of the pans. I am not kind to my kitchen equipment and this has taken all I can dish out and come back for more. I am very please for the price. I bought this to replace my wedding set which was finally put to rest after 10 years and I have not been disappointed. It would have easily been four times the cost to replace all my household pans with T-Fal, Circulon, or some designer chef’s pans.

 IKEA never disappoints!"

Thank you, Stephenie!

Okay, I couldn't resist adding this 15 year old picture of Stephenie and me on Christmas morning at my apartment. As I recall, we got up super early, and were in our pajamas till right before the guests arrived that afternoon. We were pretending to be exhausted in this shot, I think.
What I find most amusing, however, is that I actually had my nightgown on inside out the whole time!
Do you remember this day, seestro?

I love my sister!

I decided that Good Home Making should be a linky party where you showcase ways you have 

made the making of your home more creative, simple, enjoyable, and blessed.

Will pick a day of the week and let you know!

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So, I Organized my Refrigerator :: A Conversation Starter

Call me crazy.
Call me a nut.
OCD.
Weird.

Maybe you'll never visit my blog again?

Why?
Because I organized my refrigerator.

And why not organize it?

Isn't a refrigerator but a cold cabinet?

A large, chilly container?
A cooled closet?
A contemporary cellar?

It all started when a blogger friend of mine, Erin, mailed me something,
cause she offered to, cause we don't use chemicals in our house to clean things anymore.

This post is not a Shaklee promo, by the way, I just NEED to tell you, 

that I mixed the concentrate with water, put in in a spray bottle just like the instructions said,

and I opened up my fridge.

Not too bad, right?

How about the door?

(Ignore the Corona beers on the bottom shelf- they've been there for a year, I think.)

I took everything out of the fridge.

Every last morsel.

Then, I stood back and took a gander at the nekked inside of our fridge.
Like, ew!

Because it was a lovely, rainy, and cold day,
I took all the drawers and shelves out, toted 'em up to our Master Bath garden tub
 I sprayed them all with the Basic H-2.
I waited 10 minutes or so and Y'ALL aren't going to believe this,
since I thought I was gonna have to use the sander on the bottom shelf,
but all I did was rinse everything off in hot water and it was CLEAN!!
I dried all the pieces and put them back into place.
Beautiful!
I really like this Basic-H2 stuff!

Earlier this week, I found these lovelies at Wal-Mart.
The 3 large handled baskets were $2.50 each.
The 3 small handled baskets were $2.00 each.
And the 4 packs of storage trays were $1.17 each.
I also went grocery shopping.

I chose these bins
so I could group the food into categories,
see the food more easily,
and slide the bins around on the shelves when I am looking for something 
that has been lost in the abyss that is called the back of my refrigerator.

Below: bread-making supplies, dairy items, Chick-Fil-A catsup? and sushi ginger slices, PB & J.

The drawer got categorized, too.
Cheese, tomato paste and wasabi (I make sushi!), and more cheese.

I end up throwing a lot of food away because it gets stuck at the back.

And I forget about it.

Do you?

I started Weight Watchers a month and a 1/2 ago (need to lose 17 pounds, I have 11.5 to go!)
and I need the power foods right up front,
so I am not tempted to go to the pantry and get chocolate.
The handled bins are great- I just take them out and set them on the counter,
get what I need, and slide it back on the shelf.

We do not eat a lot of meat, so we usually do have this much produce on hand.
About twice a week we eat fish or chicken with our veggies.

What's also nice about the bins is that they keep the refrigerator cleaner.
If something gets leaky, it stays in the bin, and I rinse the bin out.

So, call me crazy.

Call me a nut.

OCD.

Weird.

Maybe you'll never visit my blog again?

Why?

Because I organized my refrigerator.

I'll have you know: I stopped short of labeling the bins.

See, I'm not so crazy!

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