My Farmhouse Kitchen

I was feeling a little down today.

 I remembered a wise piece of wisdom my Italian Grandmother once told my father.

"Whenever you are feeling depressed clean out a closet or a room."

So I cleaned my kitchen.

And like any self respecting DIY blogger I took pictures to share with you.

 It took about seven years to get it right but I can now say I love almost everything about it.

Except cleaning it .

It's an open plan with only one wall of cabinets so most everything is exposed.
Hence the need to keep things tidy!          
Because there are so many windows there isn't any space for wall cabinets anyway.
When I researched historic farmhouse kitchens one thing most of them had in common is the lack of cabinets and the use of furniture pieces in the kitchen for storage.

The stainless steel pot hanger is very conveniently placed near the stove and I have two butcher block work spaces.

The stove is from France and the maker is Morice, a company known for restaurant stoves.

There is no one on the West Coast trained to fix it.

And the manual is in French.

It was a floor model and the only one at the shop in LA where we bought it. We fell in love with the color and bought it on impulse. 

It took four guys to carry it in the house.

I love this stained glass window.

This Sub Zero refrigerator is really great and you can see inside so it looks a little messy most of the time.

I painted some old chicken nesting boxes red and use them to store canned goods, cookbooks, and whatever junk ends up there including the turtle tank.

That white wrought iron produce stand was black but I spray painted it.

I also made the chalkboard.

The farmhouse sink is a Shaw Original and the faucets are by Rohl. This sink is so big that my 31/2 year old still bathes in it.

And on the windowsill is Elsie sent to me by the Lovely Louise at Lou Loves This. When Gigi saw her up there she insisted on having her back but I was only trying to save poor Elsie from being loved to death by a 3 year old.

I have a small collection of old French enamel ware I bought in the south of France in a little town called L'isle Sur La Sorgue on a special trip I took there with one of my babies.

It was just the two of us.

This is my favorite thing about the kitchen.
It's bright and fun to hang out with my kids in.
Although I love my home and feel blessed to live here, living outside of the city in a semi rural area has been a big adjustment, even now, eight years later.

I love the city and all of the cultural attractions it has to offer, plus it's where I grew up.

It's been hard making friends and although I have made some since moving here eight years ago, because I live so far from the nearest town in an isolated spot, it's been hard to maintain those friendships.

Plus, I think I'm just sort of weird!

Blogging has been a solace for me because I haven't made a friend in my local community who shares my passion for sewing and making things.

When you read creative blogs it's seems like EVERYONE is into making stuff but I guess that's not really true. is it?

The creative impulse is like any muscle . The more often you use it, the stronger it gets.

Seeing all of the beautiful creations of my blog friends has inspired me to reach farther into my own creative resources than I thought I could, these past two and a half years.

I've heard people say that the blog world isn't the "real" world.

And that the blogs you visit don't really represent the people behind them.

But I don't believe that really. We are all trying to put our best foot forward on our blogs, but we do the same in real life.

When a friend comes for a visit don't you spend time tidying up your home?

I do!

It shows the visitor that you cared enough about them to make things nice and pleasant for them.

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