In My Home This Week: In the Pink!

 

As with most of the kitchens I've been featuring this one is from the early to mid 1940's.  Why so fascinated with this time period?  Lots of reasons, really.  Number One is the often imaginative and awesome use of color.  As one who has seen quite enough white and grey interiors these past ten years,  I simply adore the colors.  

Second is that the kitchens are often real work horses with many functions encompassed in one modest room.  The use of space is nothing short of brilliant.  

Third, I love that these kitchens still have some form of dining space, either as the only room in which to eat a meal or as a less formal space.    Honestly I've never quite liked the dining nook in the living room (which is what I have now).  I sort of like the table in the kitchen.  My dislike of it in my present home was that the eating area (where I now have my kitchen sitting spot) was simply too small for a full sized table and full sized family to eat in though we did cram ourselves in that space for the first 14 years we lived here.  

This kitchen has a lovely color scheme in my opinion.  It's at once both feminine and practical.  The pink is well tempered by the black and white colors used in the room.   That flooring isn't likely to show half as much dirt as a lighter colored floor or at least so I believe.  I think the pink and white breaking up the black would help disguise some of the dirt.  However, I am mindful that the current trend of dark wood floors did indeed show up every speck of dust and every crumb, so I might well be wrong.  

Now for a change of pace we'll start off to our right and work our way counter clockwise about this room.   

I'll just lay odds that the kitchen table and chairs set were something the homeowner already had and 'made do' with.   In just glancing at the picture I thought at first the tabletop was painted with a pattern but it's placemats and napkins in the perfect shade of pink to match our room.

I'm going to assume our kitchen is thoroughly modern and has a fridge tucked into the wall to the right perhaps with a small countertop between it and the stove.    The stove of course, is one of those big ones I admire so.  And next to that is a counter space that appears to be the baking center.  I like a nice bit of countertop next to my stove where I can chop vegetables or mix up a batch of cookies, don't you?  

Note that the wall here appears to be tiled from floor to top of cabinets.  Given that most of the other kitchen done by Hazel Dell Brown used linoleum on the walls (and having seen something very similar to this product in Granny's home), and counter tops,  I'll just bet that those 'tiles' are vinyl.  Honestly, I can't imagine anything more practical!  Just think how easily it was wiped down!

I suppose if you can't have a window right over the sink the next best thing is to have a window right beside your work spaces and this is a big lovely window.  I like that the frou frou curtains were left off and while the black ribbon on the venetian blinds might look stark in another room, it's the right amount of accent for this room.  It didn't need the frilly curtains with the color scheme and polka dot wall paper.

Now turn to your left and there is our kitchen sink.  Based on size, I'm thinking this might well be one of those styles with a sink and drainboards either side which is handy as can be.   I had one of those old metal cabinet sinks with the cast iron and porcelain sink and drainboard on either side in the house I loved best and I have to say that it was one thing I never squawked about wanting to change though the kitchen itself was dismal to work in.     The planter is a nice touch, too.   And yet, the homemaker can easily look right over that raised countertop.

Coming around the corner from the sink cabinet, we have a tidy work station: sewing machine that can be closed up to use as a desk.  Telephone near so the homemaker doesn't have to leave the room to answer it.  She needs only to pull the chair from the dining table to have her seating for sewing or paperwork.   

Right around that end I was most intrigued by this counter top.  Being the modern day homemaker I am, my first thought was "Oh here's the washer and dryer!"  Nope it's not.  It is storage and possibly a cabinet style hot water heater.  It's also the right height to be a cutting table for sewing.  Note that she has her iron set up there as well.

And then there's the washer and the baby's play pen within easy reach.   As I said, one thing I do admire is the workhorses these small kitchens are designed to be.   It rather makes me ashamed of the separate rooms I have for sewing and laundry and such.  

The only item I'm uncertain of is what is hanging in that little nook above the washer.  I'm assuming it might be a heat proof pad to iron on?  Anyone else have a guess?

Well there you have our kitchen for this week.   Let me know what you think about the colors used, the various functions, etc.  And share if you've seen any features you'd love to have in your current kitchen that you've seen here.  

Work This Week:  

As usual, now that the weather is warming, I am anxious to get busy with a dozen projects.  And as usual, the very things I want most to do require some purchase or another.  Sam asked me to sit with the kids while he ran to Lowe's today and I requested he get me two bags of mulch and one bag of moisture control potting soil.  Now I can tackle the bed about the faith tree.  I'll need to remove the stones, dig out some of the growth under the weed mat and replace the weed mat and then I can mulch lightly.  I will put some mulch around the baby tree I planted last year that has sprung to live once again.  I expect that's about as far as those two bags will go but it's a start.  

The potting soil will be used in repotting houseplants or potting up rooted bits of coleus, ivy, etc. that I've had wintering over in the kitchen window.  I have African violet soil and some Orchid bark in the shed that I'll get out too and see if I can repot the older African violets and one of my orchids that isn't doing too well.  I'm pretty sure I won't have any potting soil leftover to repot Dianthus and Angelonia and such that are growing in pots outdoors but if I can I will.  

We will try to make it out to the cemetery for an hour or so at least 3 days.  I'm at the stage now where I have a lot of weeding that must be done now in flower beds so I'm not going to over do it in the cemetery.

See if we can't borrow Sam's hand trucks and get the dryer out to my shed.  I am not liking at all having a washer and dryer sitting on my back porch.  It's a bit too rural country to suit me.  I'll encourage John to move the washer out behind the pump house or into his second shed, too.  You know, while he's got the hand trucks over here. 

Ponder the patio.  I removed the chairs from the table a couple of years ago and put them on the front porch.  I found we really did need the extra seating on the porch when we had family here, however the dogs spend more time in the seats than people do.  I'm not so keen on that aspect of it.   Second is that I had grand plans of us grilling and eating on the patio.  Not gonna happen.  Much as John likes the idea of picnics, he loathes eating outside here at our own home because he says that dogs hang about too much, sigh.  They aren't the begging sorts but they do like to be near us and this is offensive to John when he's eating.   So do I want to keep the table and chairs?  Do I want to pass them on to someone else?   And what do I do with that blank slate patio that I've been trying to figure out how best to use for the past 25 years?  Truth is, it's long and narrow.  If chairs are put too close to the house they get drips from the eave every morning, not just rainy ones.  It's just a problem area for me that seems useless.  So this week I will ponder the patio.   

Continue to clean the kitchen cabinets doors.  

I'm calling it a Zone Free week which means I'll do whatever tasks I see need doing.  

I hope to go donate items to the thrift store.

I'm going to plan a day out on this week.  John has a lunch date out and I've plenty of things I want to get done that I haven't been able to get to.

I have to get my mind wrapped around several different lists I need to make.  I need certain items but tend to order them piecemeal.  I'd rather just do one shop and get them all at once but I really need a list to purchase by.    I also have a to do list I need to make out for something coming up mid-April.  And April Goals must be set, etc., etc.  

Kitchen Work:

Restock my kitchen with items from the pantry.  I typically will just run to the pantry to retrieve what I want, one item at a time.  Lots of wasted steps and never at convenient times.  I need to replenish the cabinets with the more basic items I use most frequently.

Figure out what to make from the other expired items in my box of things that are out of date.

Pack up some picnic supplies. It's getting warmer and it's better weather for picnics once more. 

Meals this week:  Pepperoni Pizza for lunch and then I had leftovers and John had an egg salad sandwich.

Italian Chicken Pasta, Mixed Salad

Cubed Steaks, Squash Casserole, Coleslaw

Mac and Cheese,  Roasted Italian Vegetables

Chicken  and Chick Pea Tikka Masala, Rice, Sliced Cucumbers, Naan

Tomato Soup and Cheese Sandwiches (this on John's day out. He eats a big lunch and won't want a heavy supper)

Pesto Chicken, Rice, Green Salad

Personal:

I thought I'd change this section up to reflect the fact that generally it's personal things I put here rather than leisure exactly.

I so enjoyed my little spa day last week that I feel I should schedule another one.

Plan wardrobe out for April.   I confess I have leaned heavily upon the new pieces this month and not incorporated as much of my older things as I'd meant to.  I pushed myself to wear a shirt I had planned for the March wardrobe on Friday and I realized that I don't much care for it.  Not as in "I don't want to wear that" but more that I don't want to wear it anywhere except at home.  So another piece moves to the house drawer.   I'm a little excited to choose wardrobe items this month because the weather is likely going to be warmer more often than not and that means I can choose different pieces than I've had to choose from these past few months.

Create a reading stack for April.  That means admitting that I simply am not going to pick up that Harriet Beecher Stowe biography and putting it back on the shelf for now.

Work on a post for the Roots and Rabbit Trails blog.

Make a point of doing a daily Bible reading.

Make it a point to do a daily journal entry.

Continue watching "Victoria".  We started season 3 Friday night.