The Entry Hall

These photos were taken in December, so there are fresh magnolia and pine swags at the front door.

We had a pretty calm December here in Illinois. The first snowfall came a week later.

The front entry hall is paneled with the original cedar paneling. It's dark but very cozy and the smell of the cedar is wonderful.

 

(Antique Italian carved candlesticks made into lamps.... found treasures at an estate sale!)

There is a small room to the side of the front door that was a little ladies lounge area connected to 

the powder room. A coat closet was added by the previous owners so the room is a bit smaller now,

but there is still room for a table and a side chair there.

The table is an old metal gun box made into a table. The owner's nameplate is still on it.

Love these old German walking sticks that have completed trail tags on them.

This little red room is leads into the powder room which is wallpapered with a pheasant print by Thibaut. There used to be a pheasant run on the property in the 1930's and 40's and if you can believe it, I picked this paper not knowing that fact!

I love to collect small old oil paintings so there is a little collection of them in this little room.

These boxes are great for guest towels and extra soaps.

An old French fabric swag bracket for above a daybed. Makes a great towel holder!

The Kitchen

When we moved into our new "old" house

almost 8 years ago,

I loved every inch of the place,

well almost.

The kitchen needed to be remodeled in a big way.

The cabinets were a pink-hued pickled oak,

the floors and counter tops were terracotta tiles,

and the backsplashes were the same.

Needless to say, there was a whole lot

of burnt orange in the room!

The cabinets were falling apart,

but we lived with them for six years

until finally it came time to make some serious changes.

From the time that we moved in,

I ripped out and saved magazine pages

depicting kitchens that I loved.

I had so many of these images,

it took two jumbo three-ring binders

just to hold them.

So when my sweet husband finally decided

that we could take the plunge

and make the changes ...... I had a game plan.

It was time to trade spaces.....

away with the old and in with the new.

Since the house was built in the 1930's, I decided to use beadboard and simple flat frame cabinetry. The hardware and the details are mostly vintage style from that time period. My collections of vintage white ironstone and brown transferware worked well as accessories in the room's design.

I think my contractor thought I was crazy

when I asked him to take an old arch top screen door

and use it for my new pantry. He lined it with beadboard

and added deep shelving for storage.

I like how the arch is repeated in the hood

above the cooktop and again in

the iron armatures on the chandelier.

The chairs at the table were found in High Point

and have pastoral oil paintings upholstered on the backs.

I loved these when I saw them. The English oak sideboard

and parquet top pub table are antiques I found.

The island is a reproduction hunt board table

from the Philippines. It's almost ten feet long

and came with two built-in marble tops.

Perfect for an island, right?

The light fixtures are a mix of  new and old.

The pendant lamps above the sink are from Pottery Barn,

the iron chandelier above the kitchen table is an antique

from an old house in our town, and the iron chandelier

above the island is from Holly Hunt/Chicago.

Since we live on a concrete slab foundation,

our flooring guys recommended that we use

teak flooring instead of other woods

since we are more susceptible to mold and mildew.

It came hand-scraped so the texture

and patterns are nice and random.

(I would have loved to have recycled wood planks,

but that was not an option.)

I'm still looking for old digital images of the room before we renovated, but haven't been able to find any. So, until then... at least I can share the new images.