My Americana Kitchen ~ Part Two

My Americana kitchen.

I painted this little Americana Folk Art Bunny way back in the mid 80's when I use to teach decorative folk art painting. I taught how to paint this bunny at one of my classes for beginning students.

Yesterday I shared photos of the kitchen in my Texas home, and today I am sharing the kitchen nook in my present California home.

But... it doesn't look like this anymore. 

This was how it looked when we first moved in and before I tweaked the decor. Those red chairs are back in the dining room and the blue chairs (from yesterdays post) are back here in the kitchen nook area. 

The chandelier will most likely get painted when I redo the furniture in the near future. I am thinking about white, just for the wood  part. 

This is the top on the hutch.

Those little yellow cats are symbolic of my big cat named Norton. He was found in the shipyards of Norfork, Va. when he was a little tiny kitten and was so dirty and oily that he was thought to be a black cat .

He traveled all the way from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast of Washington State. All that way in the backseat of my daughter's car... along with her sailor husband, a toddler and a baby. 

His next move was down the Pacific Coast to Northern California in a mini van. He squeezed in with three dogs, another cat, a very elderly grandma, two grand kids, a grown daughter and of course me. 

The Mr. had already moved a month or so before and the boys flew. That was a preview of how our three cross country moves would be like over the next 12 years.

The coyotes got Norton one month later... right off our front porch. No one had warned me about coyotes. I sure miss that cat. He lived seven happy years. The other animals all lived to be over 14-17 years old.

Okay... back to the kitchen. 

This little (inexpensive) hutch was purchased online as a display for the shop I had in Texas. (I have two of them.) I will be painting one of them black to coordinate with the table and chairs that will also be painted black. I am thinking of replacing the back of it with some beadboard paneling painted white.

The Shaker pie safe cabinets (from yesterday's post) are actually sitting on each side of the hutch at the present time. 

As soon as I paint the table, chairs, hutch and pie safes, I will take more pictures to share  with you. I am pretty sure I will be going with black as I have two tall skinny chicken pictures framed in black that go above the pie safes.

Well thanks for letting be share my kitchen(s) today and yesterday. If you missed the Texas kitchen yesterday be sure to take a peek. It showed more of the Americana dishes and painted furniture pieces.

I am joining these parties:
Tabletop Tuesday
Sunny Simple Sunday

xoxo

Bunny Jean

 

My Americana Kitchen ~ Part One

It’s time to bring out my Americana Dishes. 

Those three little tins were found at the Goodwill. They were already painted that color and all I did was print out and add the number tags. The little drums are Christmas ornaments from my twin boys when they were just little guys.

These blue glasses were a gift (over two years ago) from Marigene from In The Middle Of Nowhere. 
It was my first bloggy gift and I was SO surprised!

Thanks again Marigene!

These were my everyday dishes for many years. They are Susan Winget from 1994. The napkins were from Sears and I still have the matching seat pads.

This covered pie dish was added in 2006 and was found at Tuesday Morning. Printed all around the bottom plate is  

“As American As Apple Pie”.

My Former Texas Kitchen

This is what the kitchen looked like back in 2008. I loved those Waverly curtains… and so did the new owners so I left them. The wall paper was from Big Lots and was actually quite nice. It was a name brand that had been discontinued. But for that particular house in Texas it was perfect. 

Red and white ticking stripes on the bottom and small navy stars on a mottled beige background on the top half.  
Yes... I even liked the border! 

Also, that little highchair in the corner is a real antique from the 1900's.  It was found in an old barn on a ranch in the Gold Country Hills of California.

The chandelier was something I bought when I worked at Ethan Allen in Northern California. The color band were perfect with that kitchen.

The dining set was an unfinished set from 1982. We first stained it a very dark, almost espresso to match the cabinets in the Washington State home. In 1985 I painted the set blue. 

I also broke the ‘wood law’ of mankind and painted the kitchen cabinets the same blue. They had round cherry stained knobs and it all looked very Shaker like. 

The Mr. even made little cubbies under the top cabinets. Then I got even more daring and insisted on  the same cherry stain for…

Wood countertops and a wood floor!

Back then everyone told me just wasn’t done. Not back in the 80’s. So I settled for wood look Formica counters but I did get wood floors… to the dismay of all my neighbors.  

Funny how they all loved it once it was done.

This is still the Texas kitchen from 2008. You can see The Mr. hadn’t let me paint the cabinets in this home. I did have plans to paint the island blue, but we moved.

The blue cabinet is actually two Shaker pie safes that I had in the previous house I had mentioned earlier. They are just what the blue kitcjen cabinets had looked like.

Well that's it for My Americana Kitchen ~ Part One. I will be back tomorrow to share My Americana Kitchen  ~ Part Two how the kitchen looks here in my home in the California desert.

xoxo 

Bunny Jean

I am sharing at these parties: 
Tablescape Thursday 
Tabletop Tuesday
Let's Dish
Sunny Simple Sunday