This Week In My Home: Sort of Gardening

 

What do you all think of this kitchen?  

It's another Armstrong Kitchen, from 1949 this time and another of Hazel Dell Brown's designs.  I'm going to start right in the middle where they've put the kitchen sink and then we'll discuss the rest of the room.  Its that sink 'nook' that is the feature of this kitchen for sure.  You can tell not only by how they arranged it but by the floor pattern being different in that space.

First lets look at all the cabinet and counter space there is in that little area.   Mind you, it's all right there handy to left and right.  Had they spread those counters down the wall, the space would have been just as much but not quite so handy.  I like that workspace.  I like that there are no upper cabinets so you don't feel so much hemmed in.  If you look carefully they added two drop leaf shelves.  One hand for the child of the house to sit and draw while Mama works in the kitchen and one handy for mom to use while she's washing produce or mixing up recipes or even washing dishes and drying them to put away. Both those cabinets appear to have doors on two sides, front and back for added storage.  I'm presuming it's the same on the left as the right...

Now let's look at the wall the kitchen sink is centered upon.  Note how there are shallow shelves either side, a proper pantry sort of area?  It's not very wide.  Perhaps it's six inches deep?  Four inches even is a huge help.  I've shared before that the handiest feature in a house we lived in once had a pantry put into the wall cavity between studs and it held a LOT Of food.  It was about six feet tall and about 32 inches wide.  It was right behind the back door.   Well that is the back door right there on the left.   No cabinet would ever fit in that space, but a shallow cupboard does!  It's a brilliant use of space. Then the same idea is repeated on the right hand side of the sink where a cleaning closet door can be seen standing open.  The smoky colored sliding glass doors fit the color scheme and camouflages what is behind them enough to stop some of the visual clutter one might see.  Solid doors would have worked as well, but visually, these make the room appear to be larger.  You are immediately aware that there is a depth of space behind those glass doors.

Over to the far left we see another long counter.  There's a window there and shelving in the window holds pretty colored glass pieces.   That counter appears to be about 12 inches wide as are the cabinets underneath.  Just deep enough to give you plenty of storage but not so deep that things can get lost.   And that cabinet is handy to the stove area, too which we can just glimpse on the left of that photo along with a drying rack for dishtowels.

I think by 1949 we can be pretty sure the fridge is in the kitchen along the wall the cleaning closet door opens off of...

Again the design team used the trick of bordering the patterned tile and running it up under the edges of the cabinets with that bit of white at the corner seam which gives the illusion of a free standing cabinet rather than one grounded to the floor.  I think that is one of the most clever optical illusions ever.  Mentally your brain reads it as space even though it's purely an illusion.

The floor pattern is pretty, resembling those penny tiles you would find in old houses at the turn of the century.  I love that dusky blue color on the walls.  I think the red is a bit too red for my tastes, but the black helps to ground that color so it's truly an accent and doesn't overwhelm the room.  

For a small kitchen, I think this one has got all it takes to make it useable and functional. What do you think?

In My Home This Week:

I had big plans for July and realized this morning that July is more than half done.  Half done...and this next week will close out the third week of July!   How on earth is it that summer has fled past us?  My grandchildren will be in school again in less than two weeks!  

As for my plans...well they are partially accomplished but it's doubtful anyone but me will see any progress towards July goals.   Part of the reason is that I've been kept busy with Caleb last week and most likely for a few weeks ahead.  He needs to be watched while his mama works.  Her hours are not such that she can put him in daycare and so it falls to Gramma to take care of him.  Not a hardship most days and the hard days are not heavy.   He is a very schedule oriented child when it comes to his bedtime and he doesn't seem to mind bedding down here nor in being awakened and taken home either.  Good for him!

But it does mean that some of the waking hours I'd have spent doing things in my home are instead spent chasing after an 18 month old little boy.  And it wears me out, I don't mind confessing that!  I chased him through the bedroom, grabbed him just as he got to my bathroom and changed his diaper the other day and then did a repeat performance when we were done with the diaper.  I was winded and told him sincerely, "Honey, Gramma didn't bargain on taking up running at this stage of life!"   

I'm glad he's happy here and glad to be doing this for Katie for right now.  I know it's all just part of a season of life and it too will soon be gone, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Work:  

John and I made it to Lowe's last week and got mulch.  I need to spread that this week, preferably early one morning before it's hotter than blazes outdoors.   Mild summer or not, add 85% or more humidity to 92 and it FEELS hot.   I'll try to hustle over there and get it done before I start my day here.   John will be waiting to catch windows of dry weather so he can mow and trim about the three homes.   

I'll lay weed mat and weight it down on the rest of the beds.

I hope to buy six or 8 more bags of mulch and feel sure I'll need more weed mat as well.  That is just the tip of the iceberg of what I need for the house in town but it's a start and you all know my theory of getting a start on things even if I'd prefer to not work in stages.   

Pot up all my rooted cuttings.  I have a bevy of little plastic pots I've saved up over the past few months so I should be able to get all the plants in soil.  I think I'm going to put some of the coleus in a half barrel of mums that looks about half full.  I might plant the touch me nots in the lily barrel to add color there for the remainder of summer.

Zone 3:  Didn't get a thing done on the porches last week though they really needed something done to them.  I settled for blowing them off each morning and picking up what little trash there was.   That was better than nothing.   Zone 3 will focus on beds and baths this week.   I want to polish the wood pieces in my bedroom, clean the ceiling fan and oscillating fan.  Basic cleaning in the bath.  Since I rearranged the cabinets storage is working much better for us so no need to do more than that.  Ditto for guest bath.  Guest room...I really need to clean out and arrange the chifforobe better.  It's meant to also be used as a guest closet but right now there's no room for a guest in that chifforobe.   I also have a bin of 'extra' items that I should either move to our bedroom closet since it's mostly linens and throw pillows or I find homes for that and empty it.  

Order a new shelving unit for the pantry closet.  I have a gift card and a little extra cash that will cover that.

From this stage of the month I mean to just hang on tight.  We have a neat little sum to put towards that financial strain that occurred at the beginning of the month.  We have plenty of foodstuffs in the house with no need this week of more produce.  I am opting to buy the shelving unit instead of other things I'd meant to purchase this month because it would be the most benefit to me at present.  

I want to take time this week to write down a crowd of thoughts in my head regarding our finances and groceries and household as a whole.  Nothing new or earth shattering but if I think anything might be especially helpful I'll share it with you all.  Just a sort of mini boot camp to help keep me in good form.

I also want some fresh ideas for breakfast.  Things I might make ahead and bake when I first wake.  Or lighter fare than our usual round of things.  I'll dig around in my cookbooks for those ideas.

I have daylily I really need to plant.  I've got to get to it because I have others and iris that need to be divided.   We've rain slated for every day this coming week again so the ground is more easily dug and plants flourish when planted.

And that's as far as I'm planning.  With Caleb and the children from across the field, a full weekend of church things to see to and all the routine work I feel and all the unexpected things I hadn't planned on I am sure the week will be filled right up to the FULL mark.

Kitchen:

Gathered Fragments:

Chicken and Grape Salad

Steamed cabbage, potatoes and carrots

3 slices cooked bacon

5 slices taco pizza

2 ounces of green chilies

grapes quickly nearing their best to eat date

2 canned pear halves

1/2 an orange

1/2 a plum 

Pepperoncini juice

1 cup of pineapple fruit juice

cut watermelon

3 thawed ready to bake biscuits

2 slices french toast

3 tiny pancakes

Heel end of a loaf of bread

chicken broth

chicken pot pie

macaroni salad

cranberry sauce

4 ounces kielbasa

2 hot dogs

peaches and plums on the counter quickly getting ripe

It looks like I've enough bits and pieces to concentrate on a separate Gathering Fragments post this week.

I also have thawed venison and chicken wings for the weekly menu plan.  Not listing on here but also have plans for what Caleb might eat if he's here with us for dinner.

Meals:  

Chicken and Grape Salad, Muffins, Key Lime Pie

one night out at Seniors dinner

Pizza

BBQ wings, French Fries, Coleslaw

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Greens and Cornbread

Cottage Pie (using leftovers from ground meat and extra mashed potatoes and green beans), Fruit Salad, Snickerdoodles

Macaroni and Cheese ( I mean to really make this instead of just sticking it on the menu!), Sliced Tomatoes, Lettuce Wedges

Leisure/Personal:

Sit on the porch with coffee or iced tea each day.

Putter in the yard, talking to flowers and seeing what else I can divide, move or root to make more of and fill in empty spaces with.

Brain dump each morning and try to find time to do more than just dump but really write out my thoughts on several matters.  I need to see what I've been thinking.  It helps me to formulate my plans and understand what I want to work on in the weeks ahead.

Gather a new stack of books to go by my chair.   Finish reading the ones I've already started first though...