It’s strange. As much as I loved the kitchen in my former 1890 farmhouse in a valley just south of the Catskills, I don’t have any good pictures of it. Part of the reason is because I wanted to take pictures ‘when I finished it’, and I never did. I decided to sell that house after 6 years, and I sanded the white paint off the wood floor and installed cabinets and granite countertops to make it more appealing to the average buyer. I had an old stove and free-standing tables the way Edwardians would have.
And when I say, “I never finished,” or “I sanded”, I mean I – the only thing we had contractors do in the renovation was the roof, one part of the foundation excavation, two exterior walls, and then they quit. And no one else was interested. And that was before we ran out of money.
But here’s my ideal sink. It’s from about 1930 and skirted with Martha Stewart Kmart curtains. The hardware is a $15 reproduction from Ebay. The real thing is hell to retrofit without paying a plumber a fortune. This man my husband knew had the sink for sale for $200, and when I went to get it he led me to a spot in his overgrown, junk-strewn yard where it lay with a weed growing up through the drain hole. I felt bad about haggling because he was an acquaintance of my love’s. It cleaned up with a power tool and bleach. It was very shallow and stained easily, making its main task difficult to do, but I didn’t care.
I’ll get an old sink again without hesitation for the kitchen addition I hope to do in my studio next year!
Photo by Mimi Duistenhof
The little chandelier was a rare steal - $50 on Ebay from some guy cleaning out his mother’s house. It’s lead crystal. I just spray painted it white with Rustoleum and added the ball finial. I hated to leave it!
Until next time, stay shabby!
.jpg)
