Farmhouse Friday ~ Farmhouse Kitchen

Hello and welcome to this month's edition of FARMHOUSE FRIDAY!!! This month's theme is FARMHOUSE KITCHENS!!!

I have to say when writing these posts it is hard to know what readers already know and have heard lots of times (yes you Debbie, Maria, and Robin) and what others may not know at all, so I figure it can't hurt to go over some things. First of all our budget is usually zero dolllars when we start a room so I am always looking to be creative and use what we already have. Our farmhouse kitchen was dark and small before we gutted it and took down a wall. There was nothing original left in it when we purchased the house, the cabinets were ugly 1970's brown shellacked and the walls were paneled and there was a drop ceiling.

Anything that we already had to work with when we were re-doing the kitchen was a bonus. Like the cabinets for example, my parents were tearing them out of their house right at the same time we were re-doing our kitchen so we just reworked them to fit in ours.

This is Neal, my dad and my nephew putting them up.

I painted them white of course, it appears that I had actually already started to when I took this picture, seems like so long ago. The counter tops are from Ikea, and we couldn't be happier with them.

Another item we were able to reuse is the top for the island, it was the top to our very first Ikea kitchen table. I designed the island and Neal built it, it hides our garbage can and microwave and has shelves for baskets that hold my potatoes and onions. I recently painted it Glidden's Whispering Wheat ( it was Martha Stewarts Sissal before) and changed the handles I had on it.

The french door that keeps our mudroom closed off was $5 yard sale find that Neal cut to fit this door frame.

We have had a couple different tables in our kitchen but I was not to be satisfied until we had a big farmhouse style one. Neal built us this one and the chairs are hand me downs from my sister. The chandelier I found on Overstock.com for a steal.

I am sure you have spotted my amazing new sign by now. I have been looking for an old black and white sign for this area for the longest time. Then a couple of weeks ago I spotted this beauty on Etsy at Maria's wonderful shop Covet Antiques. I new it was the absolute perfect thing for this space and Maria could not have been wonderful to purchase from, and she knew of my blog!

Isn't it just beautiful?!

And at an antique fair a couple of weeks ago I found this little folding step stool, I just love it.

On top of this little cupboard that Neal built us I keep my rolling pins and antique drying rack that my mom gave me.

You guys now how much I love wooden spoons and this month us gals in the blog hop were lucky enough to get utensils from Polders World Market!!! Their items are handcrafted by a member of the Poldler family in Rogersville, Tennessee. They haul the fallen trees out of the forest, cut the wood on their sawmill, carve, sand and pack each utensil themselves, pretty cool if you ask me.

As much as I love to cook I am embarrassed to say that I have not yet used mine but they are absolutely beautiful and so soft to the touch. This month Polders is offering 35% off collections so hurry up and get some while they are on sale! And you could even win some, check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post!

The beadboard on the ceiling is not original, we added that. We also added the beam running through the center of the room. It hides where the two ceilings meet, it is just pine that I stained Dark Walnut. We finally just got to putting up the trim where the walls meet the beadboard ceiling. We actually used PVC trim oppossed to wood trim which saved us over $200. I usually don't like using things that would not have been around when our house was built but sometimes price does come into play.

And actually once it is painted you really can't tell that it is not real wood.

I like my kitchen to be bright and white contrasted with lots of wood tones. I love filling it with simple but pretty things like linens and rustic baskets, and lots and lots ironstone of course:)

I am off now to a girls trip to Washington DC!!! Thanks for visiting and make sure to visit all of the wonderful blogs below!!! AND MAKE sure to enter the giveaway....

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HOUSE OF HAWTHORNES