Making a Period Kitchen Really Cook

For those of us with period homes, the kitchen can be among the most challenging to decorate. Our kitchens are often the heart of the house, the place where some serious work is done, where guests linger, and where families spend much of their time. So for folks with older homes, we realize our kitchens need to be functional. But they also need to fit within the flow of the rest of the house. They need to feel a part of things, not just a separate add-on to the overall atmosphere.

And walking that line between functionality and style can seem a little overwhelming!

Like how much period accuracy do you need? Well, would you trade your refrigerator for an old-fashioned ice box, just for the sake of historical correctness? Um... no, me neither. So that's why I thought today it might be helpful to talk about the period kitchen, and how vintage elements can be used to create a kitchen that has an old-fashioned vibe, without losing modern-day conveniences.

In the book "Period Kitchens," by Judith Miller, I uncovered a number of clever inspiration photos. Like the photo below...

Note the painted beadboard walls, and the use of mismatched plaids to create a comfortable, soft, lived-in feel. Also notice the way plaid tiles were used behind the vintage refurbished stove. Furniture here is the same sort of furniture this home might include in its livingroom or on a covered porch. This helps connect the kitchen to the rest of the home, and encourages visitors to pull up a chair and spend some time.

Here once more, tile becomes a central feature of the kitchen. See how the patterned feature wall in blue and white echo the china on the plate rail above, making the wall and accessories become one unified eye-catcher...

Cabinets are a combination of built-ins and free-standing pieces. This evokes the feeling that pieces were moved in over time.

This kitchen uses some antique seating and 18th century tavern tables to create a unique breakfast nook.

The china-filled cabinet displays pieces that are both usable and decorative. You'll probably notice many of these period-influenced kitchens have open shelving, which hearkens back to earlier times-- and gives a decorator the great chance of showing off some favorite collectibles.

This collection of china really appealed to me, with its different patterns yet cohesive coloring...


You'll certainly never go without a cup or bowl in this house, yet the abundant look displays a really pretty, welcoming collection.

I also thought you might enjoy seeing the way something as simple as a collection of different-shaped cornbread molds could become a pleasant wall display...

You're so busy looking at them hanging there, you really never notice the stove is a modern one. And because the molds are metal, they hold up well to any cooking oils that might splash up from the stove below.

I also drooled a bit over these terrific cabinets with gothic arch windows...

If it were me, I'd remove that distracting navy blue tea towel off that gorgeous cream period stove, but otherwise, the soft distressed blue cabinetry says "old world" while clearly this sort of cabinetry and styling never made its appearance as a part of earlier kitchens.

Here is another way to display a china collection, tying it directly to the colored wallpaper behind...


Now, many of these general ideas I used in my own kitchen. These are not the best photos, and for that I apologize. But this should give you a good idea of how I've been tying in modern conveniences, like my beloved coffeemaker with vintage collections...


A free-hanging stained glass window helps add a period feel to the window over the sink (and means I don't need to look at the big gray wall of my neighbor's house!). I added molding to the plan upper and lower cabinets, painting the upper cabinets white and staining the lower cabinets a dark shade that matched the woodwork around the rest of my home.

All white, and I think it wouldn't have looked as cohesive with the livingroom, from which it extends. And all dark, and I think with the giant upper cabinets, it would have been too dark, and not very fresh-looking. This was a strange, but helpful compromise.

I removed the doors off one cabinet on each side of the sink to create balance and to showcase my green and pink depression glass collections. This way I can reach them easily.

The bright green coffeemaker and toaster match the green depression glass quite well. Here is a little window display of some of my old and new accessories...


And here's the very-modern but plain stove. Nothing special about it, so it doesn't draw attention to itself!


Same with the refrigerator! Simple, and nicely boring!


More Victorian transferware plates and Jadite are displayed on the far wall, on plate rails...

Do you have a period-influenced kitchen you wouldn't mind sharing here? I'd love to hear from you. Kitchens are such a tricky room to decorate, I think we could all learn a lot from each other. Just email me at thriftshopromantic @ mac . com (except with no spaces) if you have anything you'd like to share.

Did you miss last Treasure Box Wednesday when we met the silent butler? Click here.

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone. Don't labor too much now!

The Swaps of Summer: Outdoor Decor Swap

You could say it’s because we see our surroundings as art. Or it’s a reaction to a depressing global situation. Or even a mild version of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. But it seems that gals who like a vintage mix-and-match style tend to decorate EVERYTHING, inside and out.

I mean, if you’re visiting and you stay too long, be wary-- you might just get decorated yourself.

We compulsive vintage decorators might also extend this philsophy to scrapbooking. Or making our own notecards. And even the dishes in our kitchens probably have character. Because, hey, you have to eat, but doesn’t food TASTE better when it’s on pretty china? It’s all in the details.

So after the success of the first swap organized by the members of the Cottage Living decorating forum (you can read about that one here), it’s not much of a surprise that we decided to tackle our outdoors next.

Yup, Cottage Girls can’t be stopped.


The rules were as follows: each person would have a swap partner for whom a goody package would be chosen. We were to spend no more than $10 total, not counting shipping. One item had to be something organic-- seeds. bulbs, etc. And the other item needed to be for outdoor decorating or entertaining in some way. The rest was up for grabs.

Each person listed preferences that might help their swap partner-- such as favorite colors, flowers, and style of current outdoor decor. Then we were off and running.

And it absolutely felt like Christmas when my package arrived from my swap partner, Gigi! It was remarkable how she picked up on my taste-- cottage with a Victorian twist.

Just take a look at the lovely pink cloth napkins, tole-painted planter, candles, and sweet vintage candlestick-- all perfect for an evening of sitting out on the porch admiring “The Back Four.”

Gigi additionally added a few bars of her amazing creamy homemade soap and a jar of her bath salts-- a soothing way to end a day of working in the garden. (You can visit her web site, Under the Willow Gifts to learn more about her soap kitchen. Click here.)

And she also made me a cute pink tote-bag which I think will be really handy for flea-marketing.

Now Gigi, I knew, liked reds, blues, greens and pinks. Also, having seen some photos of her vacation cottage, I got the sense her decor had a bit of a country-Victorian feel. She’d mentioned she had yet to get herself a set of windchimes. And that she had a little frog pond, with frog statuary around it-- and had room for a few more frogs.

So this is what I pulled together for Gigi:

• Some cottagey wrought iron candle sconces which could be hung outdoors.
• A metal frog prince to keep the other froggies in line.
• Some froggy napkin holders because they made me laugh (wasn’t trying to over-frog her, but sometimes you’ve got to go for the humor value.)
• A cheerful “gardening angel” window valence (she said she might use this on the door to her soap kitchen-- how cool!)
• And then the challenging craft project-- a painted birdhouse with silverware windchimes.

The painting of the house itself was easy enough. I selected the color scheme based on the happy red door that leads to her soap kitchen, and a blue-gray with a cottage feel to it. Getting the silverware chimes affixed to the birdhouse, though-- that ended up being the tricky bit. They’re attached via five eye-hooks in the base of the birdhouse. From there heavy-duty nylon jewelry thread was attached and beaded.


Then the issues happened. For the silverware with holes already in the handles, threading was simple. But for the hole-free handles... oh dear....

I had HEARD that drilling through stainless steel was not easy.

I had NOT heard, though, that a metal drill bit to stainless steel is like bullets to Superman.

I swear, that spoon just sat there giggling while I applied the drill bit to it, indicating it “tickled a bit.”

So, after a few minutes of this and some very choice words, I decided glue would be the way to go. I had what I thought was heavy duty marine glue, which I applied to the handles and the thread. And after I let it dry for a day, I hung up the windchimes, hearing for the first time a very happy, satisfying chime...

And then a clunk and a clatter as one of the spoons hit my hard wood floor.

So back to the drawing board! For, a gift is not a gift if it falls apart.

I tackled it with some serious outdoors epoxy I’d used on my mosaic stepping stones. This baby should be together and chiming for a good long time! (I pity any baby birds who decide to move into the birdhouse, though... Nice neighborhood, but the noise would have to seriously devalue the property.)

So that’s the story of the Cottage Living outdoor decorating swap. You can see here how nicely the wonderful items I received work for a happy dinner on the porch. Care to take a seat? I set the table just for you!


Oh, you can’t stay long? Well, I am sorry to hear it, but that’s quite all right-- I’ll see you next week, then!

The Big Picture: Mini House Tour

Typically here at The Thrift Shop Romantic, we talk about a specific decorating item, or project, so we focus on the details. But it had occurred to me that there were a few rooms in Waterhouse that you folks had never really gotten to see.

So that’s why I’ve scheduled this mini-house tour.

And admittedly, it IS a mini-house.

Yes, indeedy, I do live in a Victorian, but you’ll want to wipe from your mind any preconceived notions that it’s some rambling genteel estate, or elaborate vision out of The Haunting. Waterhouse is a modest little Victorian-- Victorian Lite, if you will.

This has presented its own challenges to decorating. It means I rely on a lot of wall shelving and clever corner cabinets to display my collections.

It also means that my love of art sometimes tends to exceed my wall space.
So-- got your comfy shoes on? Then here we go.

You’ve seen this entryway before no doubt. Yup, this is the one I’d just painted in a flurry of activity during Whirlwind DIY week. So let’s just go to the right and pop into the dining room.

I’ve shown you a number of table and mantle displays in this room over the years. But I thought I’d show you some corners of the room you normally don’t get to see.

Like the one with my beloved fainting sofa. This lovely lady is no antique-- I got her from the clearance center of Levin Furniture. And though I don’t have space for both a dining room and a parlor, I think the piece works pretty well here under the picture window.


Oh, and see that? That’s where one of the recently thrifted paintings now lives.

Here are a few more corners you may not have seen.

And this, this is a bit of an embarrassment to me, but hey-- I try to be up-front about these things.

This was a built-in cabinet at one time and I found it in my basement, freestanding. I need to fix this, and have needed to do so for a really long time. I’ve tried to add trim, and plan to add legs to make this more moveable and useful. Admittedly, right now it’s a bit of an eyesore. It’s on my to-do list of projects for this year. Currently, I store china and linens in it.

Let’s head into the living room. This is a bit of a deviation from some of my other rooms, but I’m happy to have an appropriate home for that enormous Edwin Austin Abbey print of Richard III. You can also see where the Mille-Fleurs TV armoire lives.


I’ve tried to stick with a medieval/William Morris tapestry feel in this room.

Okay, in the interest of keeping the file size of this page to a minimum, I’m not going to take you into the kitchen from here. If you’d like to see the kitchen, you can always click here to see the feature on my kitchen cabinets.

Let’s head on up to the second floor.

Here on the stairway are some of my relatives-- heya, Great-Grandpa, how’s it goin’?--

...And most of my art deco prints. I’ve grouped them gallery-style so I could take advantage of the limited space I have. I know some folks would regard this as clutter. But I think they all work pretty well together.

Now on to the guest room.

I think you all have seen bits and pieces of this room through various other features, but here are just a few quick snaps. This and my kitchen are my most cottagey-Shabby Chic rooms.

And now onto my room.

Guests visiting are usually a little opened-mouthed about this room-- probably because there’s so much color and so much darned stuff going on in it. Frankly, it’s a joy for me to be in here.


It’s a little bit of Eastern India, a little gothic, a little Victorian, and pretty much mixes art deco and art nouveau together, no holds barred. But somehow I think it works.




Growing up I’d always wanted a posterbed, and now I’m lucky enough to have this wrought iron one which I’ve covered in curtains and sari fabrics, fastened in place by vintage pins.

Well, that’s pretty much the whole of Waterhouse, without taking you through my housemate’s territory, which out of respect for the renting, is not on this tour. You can, however, click here to see the bathroom if you haven’t seen that page before.

Or, for something completely different, you can follow me to the second feature for this week, where thrift goes to Antiques Roadshow. Click here.