Transferware Bowl and Kitchen Befores

 I thought I would show pictures of something pretty first to ease you into the before pictures of my kitchen. My best friend that I went shopping with this past weekend was looking for something special for the center of her dining room table and she decided on this transferware bowl. However upon bringing it home she decided it wasn't for her. Lucky for me because I was in love with it and so I bought it from her. It has a large crack so it was super cheap but you know how I feel about cracks, they don't bother me any! It fits right in in our farmhouse, there is even a beautiful picture of a farmhouse on it.

The place we found all of our amazing purchases is the Shawnee Country Barns Antique Co Op in North Tonawanda, NY. It is huge and takes quite a while to walk through but oh so worth it, and the prices on most items are unbelievable. It is were I bought most of the ironstone seen in my most recent kitchen pictures. Afterwards we happen to just run into the thrift store in that area and I found some amazing ironstone pieces in there too. It was a good shopping day to say the least.

Okay so here goes...these pictures should give you a greater appreciation of our kitchen as it looks now.

This is the corner where our stove is now as seen below.

This is me getting ready to get back into my scraping the floor position...good times.

This picture can give you an idea of where the wall we took down was. Where that chair is is where we have the long counter with the cutting boards in the basket at the end now. It was so dark in this house when we first bought it. The wood was dark brown, the walls were dark, the ceilings were low...no one could understand what I loved about it. I knew it just needed some light and lots of white paint (and to be scrubbed).

Thanks to all of my followers for your sweet comments, I can't even begin to tell you how happy it makes me to hear that you guys find my blog inspiring.

Farmhouse Kitchen Part 2

Finally.....kitchen pictures!

 Our kitchen has come quite a ways since we gutted it and it has been and still is a work in progress. When I finally finished repairing the walls in here I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with the space in between the two doors. I knew I wanted some sort of storage here but a chalkboard also seemed perfect. So I painted a chalkboard onto the wall and had my husband, Neal, build an antique inspired cupboard for storage.

I just bought the adorable blue chicken wire cupboard at Home Goods this past weekend and it is empty for now because I am going to have Neal make little shelves for inside. I hung it anyways though because I wanted it to be in the pictures:) He also built the tall and skinny cupboard for all of my spices.

The french door was a lucky $5 dollar yard sale find. Neal had to cut it down to fit and replace one of the panes of glass.

I designed our island and Neal built it. I wanted it to have a butcher block top but we can't afford a piece of butcher block that size right now so we just used an Ikea table top that we didn't have a place for anymore. I had painted the top black originally but it just wasn't me so I painted it all one color and I love it so much more now. The side of the island you can't see hides things like the garbage and recycling and the microwave.

Our counter tops are from Ikea as well as the sink. Neal built the base for the sink, and then I just made a curtain to hide everything underneath. If you notice I found many wonderful pieces of ironstone this past weekend that I snuck into all of the pictures.

The rectangular platter below is a thrift store find from this weekend, I absolutely love it.

I had a different sign above the stove until last week but I decided to swap it for this one that I had out on our porch. I bought it years ago for $7 and I always wanted to hang it in our kitchen but the gold lettering bothered me, so I thought why not just paint over it with white?

Sign Before

The Anderson windows that we put in last summer make all the difference in this space. They let in so much light, plus they actually open and close opposed to the ones that used to be there. I will show before pictures of our kitchen in the next post, I didn't want to mix the ugly with the pretty.

I keep my dish towels in this antique basket. This past weekend I finally found some antique homespun dish towels, they have been on my "hope to find" list for so long!

I hope you enjoyed Part 2, stayed tuned for Part 3!

Ironstone Platters

One of my favorite things to collect are shabby discolored ironstone platters. I love them all stacked together, I love them hung on a wall, I love them on shelves...you get my point. I recently purchased some from Spring Hill Farm on Etsy, Emily's shop is one of my favorites (also where I got the ticking pillow covers pictured). She also has a wonderful blog Springhillfarm-eg.blogspot.com that you should check out.

My best friend and I are going to some antique shops this weekend, hopefully I will find some goodies! And the sun refuses to shine here so no kitchen pictures until it decides to come back out again:)

Rustic and Rusty Kitchen Items

I am waiting on just the right sunlight to take pictures of the other side of my kitchen but in the meantime I couldn't wait to share two great rustic and rusty kitchen items that I found on Etsy.  

I absolutely love the old rusty basket I purchased from Blue Moon Collectibles, I looked at this item for sometime before purchasing, now I can't believe I didn't buy it sooner! And my recipe cards fit perfectly in this charming box from Simple Life Vintage. 

I put both of my new items on my island for quick access, looking for a recipe and cooking with potatoes, I pretty much do both daily. With it being Valentine's Day yesterday I did quite a bit of baking this week and my chocolate chip cookies, the family favorite, were begging to be photographed. 

Happy Friday, I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

Great Finds

I recently picked up some new goodies that I wanted to share.

I bought this awesome dove-tailed store box this past weekend, I love the description and the tiny little hook. Old boxes are definitely one of my favorite things and I could never have too many.

I found some great chippy platters, the bigger one is from the thrift store and was only a $1! And I purchased another ironstone pitcher at a great price to add to my collection.

One of the things I was most excited about finding were these antique shelf brackets. They were at the thrift store for $1 each!

The round ironstone plate is also a thrift store find that I got some years back, it was also only $1.

Did I make you want to get out there and look for some great finds of your own? I am dying to go to the flea market, watching "Market Warriors" will only get me by for so long!

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Pictures of the rest of my kitchen coming soon!

Our Farmhouse Kitchen Part One

As promised...some pictures of my kitchen!

This is one of  the entrances into the kitchen from the dining room. The cupboard pictured was in the house when we bought it and I can not even begin to tell you how much I love it. There had been an estate auction at our house before we bought it and almost all of the original farm items sold. The only reason the cupboard didn't sell was because it was literally screwed into the wall, lucky for me!

The new slipcover I put on the armchair goes perfectly with my kitchen decor and colors. This is where I often sit with a cookbook and a cup of tea.  I just found the antique towel rack at the thrift store for $1, I was so excited! And the deer bell is for me to ring when it is meal time.

Our kitchen table is a thrift store find that my mom found and bought for us. I sanded down the original top and painted the bottom. Our kitchen chairs came with a table my sister bought, she didn't want the chairs and we were in need of some.

You wouldn't believe it now to look at but neither that door or the window were there when we bought the house, actually that doorway lead into a closet. My husband and I tore down both an exterior wall and an interior wall (with the exception of family we have done everything to date ourselves, we have yet to hire anyone). The kitchen was half the size it is now and very dark.  The area that I am showing in these pictures was actually a tiny bedroom. Everyone thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to rip down the wall separating the two rooms, but I think it worked out:)

Somewhere along the line someone had glued linoleum to these beautiful floors. I spent over a month on my hands and knees scrapping off that awful glue. I sanded the floors down and then restained them a dark walnut. An endless process and not easy with a 1 year old crawling about, but so worth the results.

There is lots more to show of the kitchen....stay tuned!

Linking up with the Cowgirl Up Party!
http://farmhouseporch.blogspot.com/"><img border=”0” src="http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss229/krystalwinn/hfd/cowgirl-up-003-button-4.jpg