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

Apples and Old Lace

No Arsenic today…

Just sweet memories for this old lady.

(Remember that old movie "Arsenic And Old Lace" starring Cary Grant?)

Today I wanted to share my the kitchen nook in my new desert home. Even though we have been here almost a year, I have yet to really “decorate” it. This is the first time showing my kitchen because I am kind of embarrassed that it is not yet a completed project… if there is such a thing in home decorating.

That lace doily on the cake stand was my mother’s. I have two smaller ones that match. They were on the “hard rock maple" colonial furniture that I grew up with.

When I started my first home in 1970 I was NOT going to have that “yucky old stuff” in my home! NO WAY… it was all black leather (pleather), chrome and glass.  I wanted my “own style”…  even though it looked like everyone else’s. Lol.

Then “country” hit big in the mid 80’s. I was hooked on this “new” style. Silly me. I found that I actually felt more comfortable in a country style home. Warmer colors and comfy textures and patterns. PATTERNS! Wow…I was the queen of multiple patterns in one room. Talk about visual overload… did you use lots of patterns back then?

This is the little hutch (one of two) that I once had as a display piece in the Texas gift shop where I leased space and sold my decor items. That was four years ago.



The Susan Winget dishes are from almost twenty years ago. I should get newer ones but I am sentimental. My Children and grandchildren ate on these dishes before we we “all” grew up and moved on. If I do get newer ones these will for sure get safely packed away. Does that make me a hoarder?

Those valances have traveled to five homes so far. I just put them up for this photo shoot. Took two sets and layered them. They stayed in the box for the six years that we lived in Texas. They don’t know it yet, but they are just temporary. See where I put one set in the back of the hutch? (You can see it better in the previous picture) I put it there because that hutch didn’t have any wood backing in that spot.

Yes, country is still very much still alive in my kitchen. Now that the “new  farmhouse country” has become popular, maybe I can just update it somewhat. Stay tuned to see the "New Country Farmhouse" kitchen makeover.

That chandy is something I got when working at Ethan Allen. I won’t ever part with it. Maybe just paint the wood off white… when I get around to doing my kitchen update.

You can see that I definitely need to add some depth to the room. Maybe wainscoting or board and plank details. I really, REALLY want to put in a nice deep cushioned 4-6 inch (sofa) banquette!  I would then put a few shelves on the length of the wall for my dish display. I have SO many stuffed away… Where do you hide all your dishes?

I thank you for sticking around to hear me relive my decorating past. Actually I am still living in that past… lol. One day I will get it all updated.  Hopefully.

This week I am sharing at these wonderful parties:

Show Off Your Cottage Monday @ The House In the Roses 

Table Top Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

FarmHouse Friday @ LaurieAnna's

Home Sweet Home @ The Charm Of Home

I want to thank all the lovely hostesses 
for making it possible for me to share my blog.

xoxo Bunny Jean

Tablecloth Window Panels!

If you have seen any of my Fall tablescapes, 
you may have noticed my plaid window panels.

See how they match the

 little round table?

Well that's because they

are actually tablecloths.

Tablecloths come in  widths of 60"

and lengths up to 120" or even more.

I just took curtain rings that

 have clips and attached them

 about 4-5"from the top.

 The standard is about seven

 clips per stationary panel.

It gives a very casual relaxed look.

The size of the tablecloth you

buy  determines the amount of

 "puddle". I haven't even cut them.

Just folded them in half lengthwise.

This is a really inexpensive way to

 get LONG panels that you can

change out for the holidays.

~~~

I didn't do an actual tutorial on how

to do this because it is SO simple.

If you have questions I will gladly

answer back here in the comments.

I know that there have been a LOT

of curtains made out of dropcloths. 

That color just doesn't work for me.

So I came up with this idea... 'cause

I liked the colors in the plaid table-

cloth on the round accent table.

I think it looks real warm and inviting.

What do you think?

Now please go and visit Gina's Transformation Thursday over at The Shabby Chic Cottage.

 

~~~

BTW...

Some of you may not have heard that I am moving

back to California...

Here I am taking a picture of an area of La Quinta.

This is one of the cities where we are looking to live.

It is is the  Palm Spring/Palm Desert area of California.

Palm trees and mountain views on all sides of the valley.

The mountains in this picture have light snow on them in the winter,

but the valley stays at a moderate temperature.

It is sunny about 360 days a year ( rains 3-6 ") and it does get hot in the summer!

I hope to share more info on my move.

(I have some pictures of the desert)

Just give me a few days as I will be

 very busy getting the house ready.

Once again... Hubby gets to go off first

and I will be left to tie up the loose ends.

Thank goodness for the corporate

moving package... I won't have to do

much, if any packing!

Long Window Panels... on the Cheap!

If you have seen any of my Fall

tablescapes, you may have noticed

 my plaid window panels.

See how they match the

 little round table?

Well that's because they

are actually tablecloths.

Tablecloths come in  widths of 60"

and lengths up to 120" or even more.

I just took curtain rings that

 have clips and attached them

 about 4-5"from the top.

 The standard is about seven

 clips per stationary panel.

It gives a very casual relaxed look.

The size of the tablecloth you

buy  determines the amount of

 "puddle". I haven't even cut them.

Just folded them in half lengthwise. 

This is a really inexpensive way to

 get LONG panels that you can

change out for the holidays.

I didn't do an actual tutorial on how

to do this because it is SO simple.

If you have questions I will gladly

answer back here in the comments.

I know that there have been a LOT

of curtains made out of drop cloths.

So I came up with this idea... 'cause

I liked the colors in the plaid table-

cloth on the round accent table.

I think it looks real warm and inviting.

What do you think?

~~~

Here I am taking a picture of an area of La Quinta.

This is one of the cities where we are looking to live.

It is is the  Palm Spring/Palm Desert area of California.

Palm trees and mountain views on all sides of the valley. 

The mountains in this picture have light snow on them in the winter, 

but the valley stays at a moderate temperature. 

It is sunny about 360 days a year ( rains 3-6 ") 

and it does get hot in the summer!

I hope to share more info on my move.

(I have some pictures of the desert)

Just give me a few days as I will be

 very busy getting the house ready.

Once again... Hubby gets to go off first

and I will be left to tie up the loose ends.

Thank goodness for the corporate

moving package... I won't have to do

much, if any packing!