Cozy Kitchen Corners

Wow...  that's some kitchen!  The 50's
must have been a fun time to decorate
the home.

We live in a very old house.  One hundred and one years old, to be exact.  It was nicely updated...  sometime in the 1950's.  This is not a complaint, we love our house and we know all of it's little idiosyncrasies.  The few times we've determined that it was time for a move, we have faced the fact that we can't bear to leave our house.  It's small, for ten people, and it has some issues, but it feels like home should feel, and one can't ignore that.

I love the wavy glass in the old windows, the fabulous woodwork that would cost a fortune now.  I love the doors and doorknobs, and the slightly uneven wooden floors.  I also love the kitchen, which is far from perfect.

Lighting and outlets have always been an issue.  There are three outlets in our kitchen, and one of them is only for the stove.  The other is behind the refrigerator and, therefore, useless.  The last electrical point is the one that is sued for everything...  blenders, toasters, mixers...  When you are preparing a big dinner, like Thanksgiving, there is a lot of pulling and plugging going on.  If you want to make a cooked frosting, which I almost always do, you have to run an extension cord across the room for the hand mixer.  The outlet seems rather loose, as well, so it's sometimes necessary to bribe a child to make sure the plug doesn't slip out.  It's no wonder that my kids don't really like Seven Minute Frosting.

Why just put dishes in your dish cupboard?  Lining the
back and then including fun items you've collected
over time is a great way to add interest and make it
fun to put away those dishes!

But, there are some good points about our kitchen, as well.  Even though I vow to change it from time to time, I really like the milk-glass green cabinets.  I also like the red and white gingham curtains and the big "Keep Calm and Carry On" picture that presides over the room.  It is, to me, a cozy, friendly kitchen and it's filled with all kinds of fun things to make and to do.

We love our Pyrex bowls and use them.  But
they also look great as decorative items.  So
do cookbooks...  Some of them are sentimental
keepers (the light blue Joy of Cooking was my
grandmother's), and others are well-used
standbys (the New Joy of Cooking that my
son bought me for Christmas several years ago).
Old-fashioned kitchen gadgets also look good...
That donut maker?  Doesn't work at all, but the
box is very cool.  The cookie presses do work
and are brought out every year at Christmas.
Retro packaging is so colorful and jolly,
and it brightens up the kitchen enormously.

If you, like me, have a less than perfect kitchen, or any room for that matter, it's easy to overcome.  By filling your space with enough of the things you really like, you can make almost any room into a favorite place to spend your time.