Inspiring ideas for the handmade home.
Short blog article this week. Great milestone to report. The house has passed the preliminary inspections, insulation has been added and now we on the path to adding the plank walls (where needed) and trim work. This is where it is going to get fun.
Master Bedroom.
Former Garage, now a bedroom.
Stair way.
Fireplace
Kitchen
Master bedroom.
Master Bedroom Ceiling
This gem will be used in found condition. With the exception of glazing; there will be no treatments of the surface; it will be installed as is.
For the renovation, I have been searching for architectural pieces that I can use in found condition that will reinforce the age of the house. With all the new construction, I have made careful design decisions that will keep the old cottage feeling old.
One piece I came across from one of my favorite downtown McKinney antique dealers, is the old French Farmhouse window. It will have a place of prominence in the house. It is in the direct line of sight as soon as you walk in the front door. It will be set, with its current worn finish against a wall of white plank boards in the kitchen, above the kitchen sink.
The kitchen sink, by the way, will be an old zinc trough. I believe the pairing of the old window and trough sink will be lovely reminders of the age of the house. I have seen them at a number of dealers at Round Top, so I’ll add it to my list of things to get:
The cherry on the sundae will be an old brass wall mounted sink faucet…if I can find one.
As I was looking on the Houzz website this weekend, an old French farm house kitchen caught my eye. When I clicked on the link and saw pictures of the entire house, I spied a window very similar to mine. I am in heaven.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
xoxo
Beautiful French farm house bedroom. I love the stone floors and the architectural salvage bed. But mostly, my eye was drawn to the window above the door.
The window looks very similar to the one I bought from Chase Hall in downtown McKinney, pictured above the post.
Let’s face it. My renovation is largely budget driven when you consider that 70% of the budget will be spent on things you can’t see like electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. So when it came to finishes, we had to keep things simple and economical so no high end splurges on anything.
One area, though, I absolutely insisted on a splurge are my kitchen appliances. So much so, I am purchasing them myself and not running the cost through an already strapped budget.
I settled on the AGA suite of appliances: range, fridge and dishwasher. My decision really centered around the range. I had a list of must haves and for the most part, the AGA Legacy Series of ranges checked of every box on the list:
Regarding the finish, it was important to have a finish on the appliances that melted in with the aesthetic. Since I am creating a great room that makes the kitchen, dining room and living room into one area, I really didn’t want to go the trendy stainless steel route. The high contrast that the stainless steel finish would create between the appliances, antiques pieces, kitchen cabinets and furniture would fight the harmony I am trying to create so I have chosen an antique white finish for all three pieces.
Fortunately, AGA was also having a year end special whereby if you purchase the stove and fridge, they tossed in the dishwasher for free.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
Antique white finish, two ovens and five burners.
Broiler.
Two ovens and a broiler; convection heat.
French Doors and bottom freezer.
Full size deli drawer and filtered water dispenser.
Simple styling with integrated, hidden controls.
Back of the restaurant. I love the large table with the rope light installation.
Went to a new restaurant in Downtown McKinney named Harvest. It is a farm-to-table restaurant owned by Rick Wells of Rick’s Chophouse, also in Downtown McKinney.
I am deeply enamored with its design. It is one of my favorite styles, pairing the rustic with the refined. Old, original exposed brick, barn wood, industrial light fixtures, filament bulbs, burlap and teal velvet. They use simple cotton, waffle pattern dish rags for napkins. They present your check to you rolled up in a wood cube along with a card that can be ripped in half and planted to yield flowers. A lot of really unique and earthy touches that are in keeping with it’s concept. You’ll feel warm and toasty the minute you walk in the door.
This may give me some ideas for my own renovation. Hmmm…we’ll see.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
Barn wood, industrial light fixture, filament bulbs along with these really fabulous teal velvet tufted wing chairs.
Scaffolding planks, cast iron piping and mason jars with vegetables artfully displayed greet you at the door.
All the finishes work together to create a really warm vibe.
A light fixture that is stunningly simple.
The front porch has these terrific swinging settees with the teal velvet cushions (although they have added tables, great for nice weather dining or drinks outside)
Great little drift wood lamps adorn the 4 top booths.
Kitchenalia is my latest passion. I recently scored a lovely French herb chopper and an antique garlic or potato masher. Sometimes, however, the real thing is a tad expensive. I was mining the web and found two sites that offer reproductions at a much reduced price over its antique counter part and I thought I would share them with you.
Original English butter slabs can run anywhere from $1200 to $2500. Or you can find a reproduction English Butter Platter from Joanne Hudson for much, much less (click on the picture to go directly to the product/site):
Reproduction of an English Butter Slab. Other styles are available.
Original French wire ware cooling racks can cost upwards of $150 or so, if you can find one. However, a reproduction of an old wire cookie rack from Donna Hay is very reasonable (click on the picture to go directly to the product/site):
Reproduction of an old French cookie rack. It comes in two sizes.
I get tremendous joy (and use) out of both of these items and look forward to having them a part of my renovated kitchen.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
-- Download The Prettiness of Ugly as PDF --
We are at a bit of a standstill with the renovation until we get our permits approved. So when I went by the house this weekend, I didn’t expect much would be different. And I was right. But what little had changed was choice indeed.
The six or seven layers on the kitchen floor were pulled up and to reveal original hard wood floors. They don’t look especially great right now, but everyone loves a Cinderella story and these little ugly ducklings have a shot at becoming pretty. What a sweet surprise!
My contractor believes we can salvage the floors in the kitchen. All the floors will be refinished in a honey pine tone. They will be a nice, warm contrast to the exposed ships lap on the walls which will be painted white as part of the renovation.
The top half of the picture shows the newly revealed kitchen floors, the bottom half of the pic are the floors that were already exposed which are in serious need of refinishing.
Here is a general sense of the feel I am going for:
A simple palette: white walls with pine flooring. This will make the house a canvas for my antique pieces.
Rachel Khoo, literally in her Little Paris Kitchen
I stumbled on a lovely little show on the cooking channel, hosted by Rachel Khoo. She lives in a little (and I mean little) Parisian flat and hosts a cooking show from her kitchen which is literally the span of her arm’s length deep and wide.
I would imagine that out of necessity, she would naturally gravitate towards simple cooking because she doesn’t have the storage for kitchen gadgets and a plethora of cooking accoutrements. Rachel is probably a better version of my younger self. I love the way she uses an old chippy, antique enamel bowl to do a lot of her mixing. She has used it in several episodes. She doesn’t even have a proper stove or oven. She has two burners and a counter top oven and she manages to use them very well. Not only that, she ran the smallest restaurant in Paris from her apartment. French dinner for two by an English girl. Brilliant.
She is confident enough and refreshing enough to show a clip in her show of a French Butcher who didn’t particularly like her version of steak tartare. I really appreciate someone who knows the best things in life are often the things that fall outside the lines.
So intrigued was I, that I purchased her cookbook on Amazon (here is the link) and have made five recipes so far. Three turned out great, two…not so much. But the recipes that didn’t turn out were my errors and I will try them again, until I get it right.
One recipe I tried was “Nids de Tartiflette” or Cheese and Potato Nests. A simple and rustic recipe with wine and french cheese, it was really lovely and easy. Rachel Khoo is really onto something if she is determined to de-mystify French cooking and do it the way the French do at home. I had great fun with these recipes and great result.
The mystery out of French Food prepared simply.
Click on the title for a link to the recipe. Here is a snap of my result. Insanely delicious.
Cheese Potato Nests (Nids de tartiflette)
In the new year, I am embarking on a major renovation of my little cottage. The goal is to work with the existing foot print but make the cottage everything that it should be. After living in the house for ten years, I have come to know it like I know a good friend and have come to understand how I can live better within it. It can be The Little Cottage That Could while continuing to pay homage to the wonderful old home that was built some 80 years ago.
Certain foundational items will be on the punch list like updating the electrical, insulating the exterior walls and replacing all the sheetrock with horizontal wood planking.
Upgrades will include an additional bathroom upstairs to create a master bedroom en suite, creating an additional bedroom in existing space and adding closets and built in storage. Special touches will be exposing the rafters upstairs and tucking a sleeping loft above them and a fire place in the den. If historic guidelines will allow, we’ll do a bump out in the kitchen to give it a little more space.
Several years ago, I was mining the internet and I somehow ended up on a real estate site that had the most wonderful Hamptons Cottage for sale at the whopping price of 1.9 million dollars. Location, location, location right? Of course. But what really struck me about the cottage was its staggering simplicity. I fell in love with it and it will be part of my look book that I present to the contractor when I finally get started on the renovation.
I saved the pictures for future reference so I’ll share them with you:
Baby’s Breath in antique vessels.
I’m not prone to fill my house with market items, as I prefer to fill my home with antiques and vintage items. But sometimes when you find a market item with the right vibe, it doesn’t matter that it isn’t old. These mother of pearl drawer pulls with brass centers is just such an item.
Waiting in line to pay for my merchandise at Home Goods, no less…standing by all the impulse buy displays, I spied these lovely little drawer pulls that amount to mother or pearl flowers with a brass bead for a center.
Bunched together, they look like a lovely bouquet of Baby’s Breath. The neutral tone of the mother of pearl flowers against the somewhat tarnished brass makes for a perfect foil of the rustic against the refined….my favorite style approach.
Trying to find the best place for them proved rather easy. I chose a bedside table where some vintage and antique brown transfer ware reside. There seemed to be a parallel between the cream and brown tones of the antique pitchers and the drawer pulls. It didn’t take much convincing…I was sold that this was the right place to put my great little market finds.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
Delicate little mother of pearl petals refine the old, crackled paint finish.
The rustic against the refined; beautiful inexpensive drawer pulls add to the charm of an old, antique table.
The drawer pulls reminded me of a bouquet of Baby’s Breath.
The little touches that make this little space pretty and useful
Home is where the heart is.
White. Pine. Or Chippy White and Patina Pine. Both of those finishes are the finishes that I am transitioning the antiques in my cottage to. Yesterday while strolling through downtown McKinney on a beautiful crisp winter day, I found this little market item: a little white heart. Painted white it is made of stone or something and has some weight to it. A heavy heart, you could say.
So I brought it home and found a special place for it. So it goes that home is where the Heart is.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
The Corner of White & Pine
