The Kitchen

Welcome to my kitchen!

I do not entertain in my kitchen, it doesn't even have a table. When we first moved here we had one, and somehow all five of us fit around it. But, no matter how hard I think about it, I cannot remember how!

THGGM found the wallpaper at the flea market for $1.oo a roll.

The white cabinet and the white dresser were thrift store finds that he painted.

The old wooden cabinet he found outside at an antique mall. I thought he would paint it white also, but he likes the 'old' look of it.

I use it like a shadow box and move things around in there all the time. Presently it is a hodge-podge of old stuff that I like.

Boy do these cupboards ever need a scrubbin'!

THGGM painstakingly painted them two summer's ago.

This kind of paint (which smelled awful!) nicely covered the dark wood cabinets which I could no longer get clean.

These wipe up great. Trust me.
I really like my new flat top electric stove! Sometimes, I even use it.

My everyday dishes are Yorktown. I still like them! The added benefit to still liking them as that a lot of people have stopped liking them, and I am picking it up for very cheap!

I actually have four creamers.
To the right of the bread box is the refrigerator. It's a side by side with a water and ice dispenser. I can't get back far enough to get a picture of all of it. THGGM bought it when we moved in. Now, it seems SO big!

It has a picnic basket on top which holds cereal boxes. And, it has an old black lunch pail. I just cannot stand to see a refrigerator without one, as that is where my dad's sat when I was a kid.

Hmmm. I never noticed before how odd the tiles look. They need some sprucing up!

(blogspot is causing me much grief in this post and the next. sorry.)

Bathroom Views

I found the white shelf at the thrift store for $5.oo. I didn't buy it right away. I thought about it, and went back for it the next day. By then it was down to $3.00. I got it home, and couldn't find a place to put it! So, today, I hit on the idea to tuck it into a corner in the bathroom.














This is the mirror that used to hang in the dining room at THGGM's grandparent's house long ago.

I cannot use mirrors that hang over counters, as I am nearly blind without my glasses.

This mirror is always covered with nose prints from me.

Not that you wanted to know this.
I moved most of my cobalt blue stuff to the back porch/laundry room were the rest of the cobalt blue now resides.

So, I found a few more of my pastel planters to add to the mix.

We're sort of stuck with a blue theme, as the sink is blue.

Blue is my favorite color, so I'm okay with that.




THGGM found these three prints in an antique mall in Lake Odessa a few years ago. He bought them right off the wall of their bathroom.

The curtain rod branch was a prop for a sermon illustration from a few years ago.

You know me, can't stand to throw away good stuff. I'd actually thought we'd burn it, but it does make a nice rod. Which I believe is what it was. Moses' rod.

It's now not only holding up the crewel embroidery 'valance', but is holding the white shelf in place.

"Baby" Stuff

I'm crazy about stuff that says "Baby" on it.

Who would have thought?

I found the spoon some time ago.

Today while thrift shopping with my sister, I found the silver baby cup.

It's really worn, but I think it is great. It was 99 cents.

My Shaker Tassels

Obviously, I have a fondness for Dutch stuff.
The Dutch shakers are my favorites! The pair hangs from a cabinet in my kitchen, and the single blue one hangs on my back porch/laundry room, which also houses my cobalt blue collection.



This green and lavendar shaker is part of a pair, which hang together on a metal shelf in my living room. What, you don't see the other one?

Well, they had gotten dusty, so I vacuumed them!

I lost the fringe on one of them.

This pair is only about the size of my thumb. I think they are charming!
I don't know anybody who likes this yellow head.

Except for me.

I think she is wonderful!

I'd love to find her a 'man'.

I recently saw a pair of these in a local antique mall, but they were brightly colored and expensive!

Mine was not.
This one hangs on another cabinet in my kitchen. The doors are both usually open, so I don't really see it much.

This one has a chip in it, but it's on the other side.

I would really like to find some dog shakers, and I'm always on the look out for more Dutch shakers.

They are really easy to make. The only hard part is threading the thin wire through the shaker holes and out the bottom.

Try it sometime!

My Second Favorite ME Magazine

I must admit to loving ALL of the February/March Home Companion magazines. I'm crazy about the annual tour of art studios!


In this issue, I was also crazy about the tassels made from salt and pepper shakers.

They are SO cute!

My Aunt drew my attention to them, and we both set out to make some.

I do believe that since this issue appeared, truly vintage salt and pepper shakers have become harder to find!
I really like these dog shakers, especially the one on the right that looks like a Westie!

I haven't been able to find ANY dog shakers, and I have been looking for almost five years now.

Although, that hardly seems like a hardship, when you think about it.

Another of My Favorite Things

I love these things!

I wish I knew what they're called.

Poor Decore

My dining room needs help.

It's turning into a mish-mash of poor-decore.

I love the Goodwill table which has two very big leaves.

I'm happy that the six matching chairs were free (THGGM wants to paint them black).

It bugs me that I can't ever seem to figure out a way to center everything in this room.
Like the light fixture and the stuff on the far wall.

I'm trying to find something to unify the room, which also holds a port-a-crib and a baby seat - which I find particularly charming!

I want a more forties vintage-y look. THGGM likes a more formal look.

I want the milky whites of stoneware and the pinkish roses of old china.

He wants the dining room chairs painted black and their seats covered with fabric.

But, he is out of town this week, so I have to work fast!

Carl Larsson Thrift Store Find

Found this charming Carl Larsson print at the thrift store this morning.

THGGM thinks we might have a better frame for it around here somewhere.

I'm thinking it will look nice in our bedroom, which is painted a similiar color to her dress.

And, long ago, we had a little girl with long blonde hair who lived with us!

Happy Birthday, USA!

I found this for under a dollar at the thrift
store last week.

I wasn't ever 'in to' country painting.

But I really like this!

My Bedroom, Circa 1977

This was my bedroom, 29 years ago.

I'm just not 'in to' brown dotted swiss curtains anymore, but other than that I still like it!

And, I still have a lot of it!

The rocker was my graduation gift from my parents and it is in my bedroom now.

The ivory crochet afgan was a gift from my sister. I just put it away for the summer a few days ago.

The brown dresser I bought from my parents when they moved, and THGGM spray painted it white. It is presently on our back porch.

I still have the sock monkey too. THGGM got it for me at a craft sale, when he was just TBFGGM.

I AM surprised to see a plant hanging in the window. I'm no good with plants.

Such Beauty!

I find this hotpad to be such a thing of beauty!

Possibly because I crochet and know that HOURS of work went into this small item.

THGGM's grandmother made it, or maybe it was her sister.

She had a dearly loved sister who lived in California. They both sewed and crocheted and made stuff to send to each other.

I like it so much I've put it under glass.

These two sister's also made Barbie Doll clothes and sent them to each other.

Daughter had a large box full of some of the strangest looking Barbie clothes imaginable. Not a thing in it was to her liking, she who was NOT into Barbies.

So, once while cleaning her room, she threw them all away.

I also thought them hideous, at the time. But they were profoundly vintage, and I think by now, if I still had them, I'd have vintagely dressed Barbies sitting all over my house, holding small things and sitting stiff-legged on book shelves while dressed in bits of old silk, satin and textured polyester.

String Can

I really like this string can.

I have a 'thing' for silhouettes.

And it nicely holds a ball of crochet cotton.

Someday I hope to have a lovely array of old sewing stuff nicely displayed in my sewing cocrner.

Canvas Painting

I love old canvas paintings like this.

Especialy this one, as it is a painting of my grandpa, my mom's dad, painted by a friend of his when he was young. Before he married grandma and had three lovely daughters.

Marble Collection

This is my small marble collection.

They are resting on a glass flower frog.

I have two.

In the past they were both full.

Seems I've lost a few marbles over the years.

Plants Stand Where I, in the Past, Would Sit

Wicker chairs that have passed their prime make wonderful plant stands!

The two chairs in the front yard are flea market finds that have seen better days. THGGM put them in the front yard, but I feared someone would attempt to sit in them, and find them no longer worthy of that!



The child's wicker rocker was used by THGGM when he was a little boy.

It also makes a great plant stand, until Baby Boy is old enough to rock in it, anyway.

In My Own Little Corner, In My Own Little Room

This is one of my favorite pictures.

It hangs above my sewing table.

So what that I have never yet sown anything at my sewing table.

I will.

Someday.

I think.

It's a nice dream, anyway.

And it gives me a place to keep all of the stuff I intend to sew with someday.

"The Open Window"

This picture hangs between the two windows in our bedroom.

It also came from THGGM's grandmother.

We received a lot of stuff from her, as the phrase was...

"Give it to Judy, she likes that junk!"

I am not complaining!

I DO like it.

I didn't at first, but it has grown on me.

I want to know what she is thinking.

Decorating in Pumpkin and Wood

This is us in the fall of 1978.

Now that the color of our clothing matches the color of our bedroom, I feel happy about displaying this picture again.

I miss those boots! Not the itchy wool pants.

I do remember that the picture was taken on October 1st, THGGM's 20th birthday.

It was 80 degrees.

We were SO hot!

Thingies

I enjoy collecting small plaques like these three.

I have them in Dutch themes, with verses, with quotes, and then these.

For awhile I was finding them all over.

They are becoming harder to find.

I'd search for them on ebay, but I don't know what they are called!




1930's Plaque Thingies?

Hmmm.

Blue Hearts

I found these cobalt blue hearts while antique shopping.

Someday, they will hang somewhere on my back porch window.

I'm looking forward to Someday...

When IS that again?

For Extra Pep

About thirty years ago, THGGM's grandmother gave me this Orphan Annie Ovaltine 'shaker'.

I have had the hardest time liking it, due to it's extreme contrast of color.

Where DOES one put something that is aqua and orange?

I've gotten over my fear of weird color combinations (somewhat) and it sits in a place of honor in my primary color kitchen.

Again, I LOVE the picture.

And, we have a family story involving those two words 'Orphan Annie' which can make THGGM totally dissolve in fits of laughter. I didn't find it funny at all, so it isn't a 'you had to be there' sort of story, because I WAS there, and I still didn't find it funny. But it sure does make HIM laugh.

What would a family be without those kind of stories???

What it reminds me of, is my favorite Orphan Annie quote:

"Beneath the surface of today lies yesterday."

Baking Powder Tins

I'm crazy about old graphics.

I especially love this one, found on an old Watkins tin at the antique store this weekend.

It sits well next to my Royal Baking Powder tin.

That one came from a friend who saw it and thought of me! It belonged to her husband's grandmother, she rescued it just as it was about to be thrown away.

Remember, You Can Never Have too Many Dutch Kids

This little Dutch girl I found at a thrift store.

She was glued to a slice of wood with the bark still attached, some sort of souvenir.

She stood next to a tiny thermometer.

I freed her.

She seems happy now, standing atop a Droste tin.