My sweet kitchen - home tour begins here

Smitten -- yes, when we first walked into this 150 year old farm house -- we were smitten.  Granted, we had to use a little bit of imagination to see what it could be for us --
but I never imagined anything quite so sweet. 
I still often pinch myself to think I get to start & end my day here.

So, let's take a little tour, shall we....this will be the first of many posts in the next months showing you the rooms of this wonderful house...so grab a cup of coffee.  The house is well over 3000 square feet -- written in the history of Augusta as the "large brick house built by Joseph Strader for his wife".  We should actually begin our tour with the side porch - a three season beauty -- but I will save that for a warmer day.

We enter the house from one of three exterior doors - through that large side porch into the kitchen.  The kitchen is one of two rooms that would have been the Summer Kitchen.  Most of the cooking would have actually taken place in the second room -- which is now our laundry/utility room (through a door to the left of this window) -- but that will wait for another day's tour.  There is also a second floor room above the entire Summer Kitchen which we have yet to open & restore (it is our understanding that in times past, hired hands slept in that room). 

This chair is one of many favorite spots for our inside cats,

Shawnee & McCoy. 

It has a wonderful view of the apple orchard.

When the house was reassessed recently, the appraiser was certain that we would have ripped out the original kitchen and redid it all with all the current rave.  Not so.  If this kitchen has worked for over 150 years, why can't it work for the two of us?  Sure it has minimal counter space -- but for that we added a round table right in the middle --- a free find from my good friend, Sarah.  Let me digress for a moment with that story...as we were moving, I mentioned that I was looking for a pedestal table for the kitchen, within days, Sarah & her son Kevin appeared at our old house in Sun Prairie with a table -- they had just found it along the curb in Madison.  Kismet.  We painted it yellow with a blue top!

What shall I point out in this picture...

you can see the original sink -- love it!

The sunflower above was made by my almost 23 year old when he was in 2nd grade

  love it

Little shelves for my little things - love them!

And there's that table - love it! 

With painted chairs - read about them in an earlier post,  "Have a Seat Post" - love them!

Here is my color inspiration:

a charming vintage rug that lays in front of the sink.

Now we turn toward the original cupboard...the chippy green paint on the cupboard doors was found when I removed wallpaper -- that was after we had painted the kitchen the very same green.  Kismet.

The stained glass panel at the top was a Hixton Antique Mall $20 find --

we had it framed by a craftsman from our Amish community. 

Fit perfectly -- and is back lit at night.

The mirror over the stove is from Dave's childhood home.

I have also learned that with all my "smalls" (kind name for stuff) --

I need to leave some "restful" wall space for the eye to take a break.

I removed two cupboard doors for open shelving...here is a close up.

Amazing what wallpaper and my beloved double stick tape can do!

Penguins awaiting Valentine's Day!  And this fab jar I found at a thrift sale.

Next part of the kitchen is where I write this blog from...indeed we have a study upstairs -- but alas, with dial-up internet access (yes, you read that right -- it is what it is in the country)  --- this is our phone line.  No way we could figure out a logical, clean way to get a phone line to our second floor study through a double brick wall almost a foot wide (that has left many a contractor both spell bound & confounded).

Through the door on the left is our dining room and then living room and then den/t.v. room ---

a walk through the door and then sharp left would also take you upstairs.

Several noteworthy items in the above picture:

Vintage green hamper next to stove now holds our trash & recycling.

Wicker table with computer was bought at auction -- it has a glass top --

I added yellow striped wallpaper from the dining room &

vintage postcards under the glass.

Large picture on the fridge is a "Bird's eye" photo of our farm.

Next stop -- back to the door we entered from. 

The large cupboard is noted in a prior post: "Hardworking Cupboard - Vintage with a Purpose #5 Post"

This cupboard is our pantry.

The little white dresser holds all those items you might need as you leave the house: 

lunch bag, purse, sunscreen.  On top is a place for Dave to put his coins, papers...

On the wall is a chalk board with current projects and a key holder.

The door leads to our side porch.

And there it is -- my sweet kitchen. 

Even the cats find happiness here.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour...hmmm, which room will be next?