08/20/13

In my last post I shared how we did a few changes around the house that were small, but a great change to the look of some rooms.

My kitchen has always been a place that I have tried to keep the old farm feel.  I miss my days on the dairy farm and the border I chose 17 years ago is just as precious to me now as it was then.  It is of a country farm theme that repeats.  It is simple and not overbearing.

Over the years I have worked on the kitchen to make the farm life become more a part of what I originally wanted.  Seventeen years ago we didn't have Pinterest, or think of using spray paint as much to cover things that normally we would just give away.

I knew it was time to update the top of my refrigerator... it was in need of serious help.  I felt like for the longest time it was just stuff stuck up there that I had gotten as gifts, but there was no rhyme or reason for them being there.

I began to look around shops for things that looked old and farmhouse charm.  I had thought about going to antique stores, too.  Money WAS an option so I needed to keep the purse strings tight as I looked.

One afternoon it hit me... I should ask my MOM what she might have that was antique.

HELLO... where have I been?  She WAS the dairy farmer's wife and was raised in the country herself!

Well... let's just say I hit the jackpot with her.

She had things I remember from childhood that she had put away and was not using anymore.  I was ecstatic... a kid in a candy store... beyond words.  

My aunt passed away a year ago and many of my grandmother and great grandmother's items were given to Mom (and my other aunt).  Mom had just gotten them and was trying to figure out what to do with them.

I was so willing to take them off her hands.  :)

LOOK at all I was able to get!  PLUS, they have family/sentimental value that made me love them more.

• The egg basket was my great grandmother's.  She put eggs in it daily from the henhouse.
• The plate to the left (in the stand I had painted black from my previous post!) used to hold my great grandmother's fish when she fried fish.
• The tea cups to the left were my grandmothers.
• The spoons were my great grandmothers.
• The jar with the dried peppers in it were my grandmothers... some of her last she put up before she died.
• The percolator was my great grandmother's... and one of her coffee cups is in that area somewhere.
• The little house is actually a butter dish that was my grandmothers.  Mom said she remembered it being on the counter at their home all of the time.
• The potato masher was my great grandmothers.

This was my great grandmother's enamel wash pot.  I fell in love with the red rim, white inside, and the rust.  Yes, the rust.

Here is what I did on the fridge... 

the egg basket, enamel pot, grandmother's last pepper jar, an antique blue Ball canning jar, and another jar Mom had....

Look below to see what I did with some of the other things.  

This antique piece is in the kitchen near the farm table.

I have on it my great grandmother's percolator and coffee cup that she drank out of every morning.  (I percolate my coffee every morning, too, so this has double meaning to me!)

My great grandmother's potato masher, her bread bowl (already had), my grandmother's house butter dish, a green jar I had that I just liked for the color, and my Mom's old sifter.

I often wonder how my great grandmother liked her coffee... and was that one cup enough?

May I just say that every time I look over on my antique piece in the kitchen now or on top of my fridge I get a smile on my face?  So glad the Lord prompted me to "go shopping" at Moms!!!