Clayson House Kitchen

Clayson House kitchen table

Last February, I blogged about my kitchen and the plans I have for it here. Then in March, I started removing the vinyl floor covering here. Well, the floor is still in progress. I didn't work on it all summer, but this fall weather has me hoping to start up again, if my knees will cooperate!

Today, I decided to walk over to our local house museum, the Clayson House, for some kitchen inspiration. The overall look is what I would strive for, with a lot of wood everywhere. Wood wainscoting, door and window trim would really enhance my kitchen.

The ceilings at the Clayson House are at least 10 ft. and mine are 8. Although I would have loved a fixture like this, I settled for a different style that doesn't hang so low.

And although I would love the look of an old stove and ice box, my current oven and refrigerator will have to stay. I'll just try to pretend they're not there!

The dry sink shows more of the beadboard look I want to achieve.

The museum kitchen wasn't really set up the way it would have been used. Because it's a museum, there were more tsatskis on display than a working kitchen would have out all at one time.

Although, part of the charm of these old kitchens is how things sit out on open shelves. I love the scale and the blue graniteware!

And my kitchen clock would look so much better sitting on a shelf with a lacy cloth like this!

My neighbor has one of these wall-mounted coffee grinders and actually uses it.

My coffer grinder is more like the one above, and is only decorative. Notice the nice spice boxes and the copper clothes boiler. Laundry was done in the kitchen. Clothes were boiled, wrung out, starched, ironed and pleated, and hung to dry.

This looks like maybe a wash tub for the baby? I'm lucky I don't need to do my laundry or bathing in my kitchen!

I like the oil lamps with the iron wall brackets. I have one, and plan on using it when the kitchen is completed.

A cherry stoner. People back then probably thought they were living the good life, with all the fancy contraptions at their disposal. They proudly displayed any modern devices they owned. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out places to hide my food processor, coffee maker, etc. in order to make my house more "Victorian." Something not right about that, huh?

There's something so simple and elegant about glass bottles on a windowsill.

The fake pie was a nice touch. I love looking at fake food. But it made me realize that I should bake more often. And I believe I will, in the dream kitchen I'm slowly creating for myself. And although my oven will be modern, my food refrigerated, and the ingredients bought at a supermarket, stepping back in time in my own kitchen will be the secret ingredient that makes everything taste better.

Kitchen Floor Restoration

My recent post showing our kitchen really got me thinking; I needed to start renovating this room! The flooring is so ugly. So two weeks ago, I began the task of ripping up the vinyl floorcovering and the underlayment. I started on an area 3' x 5'. I started pulling up the peel-and-stick vinyl tiles first. They came up easily, but left an extremely sticky film on the particleboard underlayment beneath. The particleboard was nailed to the floor below, so I then began breaking it off in pieces, getting as many nails out as I could, and countersinking the nails that broke during the process.

What I found below was a beautiful oak floor! Well, not exactly beautiful. In a couple tiny spots underneath the toe kick near the counter, I found beautiful varnished oak flooring.

The rest of the floor had a thick layer of old, whitened adhesive stuck all over it. I've read that in Victorian houses, hardwood flooring was used in the public rooms, not in kitchens and second story rooms. I am very fortunate to have original oak flooring in my kitchen! Why anyone would ever coat beautiful hardwood floors with adhesive and cover them with ugly linoleum or vinyl flooring is beyond my comprehension. I believe the adhesive on my floors was from a previous flooring installation, before the particleboard and peel-and-stick vinyl.

My next problem was how to remove this old adhesive. I scoured the internet, looking for ways other people have found to remove old flooring adhesive. I tried mineral spirits... nothing. Then I tried Goo Gone, which I love to use for removing sticky price tags... still nothing.

Then I came across a forum where an architect from Milwaukee had used a steamer to soften his flooring adhesive, then scraped it away. I went out and bought a wallpaper steamer and gave it a try. It really does work! It still requires a lot of elbow grease, and there's still a layer of stubborn adhesive scum on the floors. Also, kneeling for long periods of time is not working well for my old arthritic knees! So I've been trying to keep the work to 1 hour increments. When I first started the scraping process, my right thumb became numb and stayed that way for 2 days. But I've always been a proud do-it-yourselfer, so I'm sticking to my guns and getting this project done even if it kills me!

At this rate, it will take no less than 3 months to remove all the floorcovering and scrape the oak floors. I've only worked on it a few weeknights, and mostly only a few hours on the weekends, but I think I will love the end results.

I had thought of renting a floor sander, but I'd like to remove as much adhesive as I can by hand first, since I read adhesive gums up sanders like crazy. The friction melts it enough to clog the sanding pads. I may try a safe soy-based paint remover to see if that does any good on the remaining adhesive. I'd like to keep the integrity of the oak flooring as much as possible, as sanding always removes some wood, and the patina as well.

There's no turning back now. The floor project will move at a snail's pace, but I will get it done! And I am so thrilled that I found the original oak flooring underneath. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Lace Shelf Edging

A few people have remarked about the lace shelf edging I'm using on my kitchen cabinet shelves. It's made of vinyl. I bought it years ago at a gift store that has since gone out of business. I didn't have this kitchen cabinet at the time, and I don't have enough trim to cover all the shelves.

Well, I Googled vinyl lace shelf trim and found that Amazon is selling something very similar! The pattern is a bit different, but it's made of vinyl like mine. Much easier to keep clean and lasts longer than the old-fashioned paper shelf trim my mom had when I was a kid!

I prefer the vinyl edging in the kitchen, but in my side-by-side secretary where I display my teacups in the parlor, I just tacked on real lace edging I bought at the fabric store! You're sure to find something you love there. I selected this white eyelet trim.

I'm going to order the vinyl version from Amazon. It's just what I've been looking for to finish off my cabinet!

Other sites to check out:

Amazon

Retro Renovation

Taylor Gifts

ShowMeTheHeartland

Collectos

Design Sponge

Etsy

A Tour of Our Kitchen

Welcome to the Kitchen at Eastlake Victorian!

When the house was built in 1873, there was no kitchen. The owners probably had a small stove in the one-room house for both heating and some cooking. Maybe they cooked in an out building, but there is no evidence left for me to know for sure. The kitchen was probably added around the turn of the 20th century. There are no rooms above our kitchen, but there is a full basement below. Several years back when workmen were replacing all our roofing, they found a gaping hole in the kitchen roof, covered over with only tar paper and several layers of old asphalt roofing. They determined this was probably an old stove pipe location, improperly covered over in later years. There were 5 layers of old roofing that needed to be removed, including the original wood shingles from 1873!

Here's our kitchen as you enter it from the parlor. The back door leads to the basement and to an outside door to the yard. The round table was my grandma's. Nothing fancy here. No granite countertops, nothing special about the cupboards, and just a plain old double stainless steel sink. You can see our recycling bins in the far corner under the counter. We keep our garbage can outside the back door so the cats can't get into it!

There are some things I like about this kitchen, and a lot of things I don't like. What I dislike most of all is the ugly vinyl floor covering. It's old, yellowed, and worn out. It really must go! That being said, let me show you the rest of the kitchen. (Try to ignore the floor in the rest of the pictures!)

The refrigerator and stove came with the house. They are a light beige color, probably from the late 1980's. They still work great. I know a lot of people like new appliances, but as long as these items remain in good working order, I don't see the point of buying new. I'd rather spend that kind of money on something else in the house. Notice the weird shelf over the stove? It's lined with sheet metal, it's ugly, but I haven't taken it down because it's a great place to store the toaster, pot holders and plastic storage containers!

Here's a view of the light fixture I bought a couple years ago. I really love it! It replaced a very ugly neon light fixture. We put in a dimmer switch so that we can turn the light down when we're eating, but turn it up to clean or to prepare foods (we have no under-cabinet task lighting).

I like the fact that the window over the sink overlooks the garden. It's fun to wash dishes and watch the birds, butterflies and squirrels and see the pretty flowers in the summertime! I put some fake stained glass "stick-on" material in the upper window, then found a cute piece of wood gingerbread that fit the window nicely! It's a bit much, but I'll probably change that out someday. I don't like the casement windows that are in some of the rooms. I'd like to replace them with double hung instead.

Here's how it looks with the morning sun coming through.

Not much counter space, but I've never really needed any more. I usually prepare food on this side of the counter...

while this side is for some of the appliances such as the coffee maker and food processor.

I bought this creamware pitcher years ago and I use it to store my most used cooking utensils!

Notice the fake brick wall. When I bought the house I thought this was quaint, but I have since come to loath it. It's very hard to keep clean because of its textured surface, and the paint has chipped where I've had to clean it the most. I can't wait to tear it all off and get something easier to take care of.

A peek inside some of the cupboards...

Our mug rack.

Here's something I really love about the kitchen: Our antique kitchen cabinet! My mom gave us this cabinet about 10 years ago because it really wasn't working in her kitchen anymore. She has a pantry, but we don't, so this has given us so much more storage! We keep all our canned goods and most of our dried goods in here, as well as all my cookbooks!

The bottom part of the cabinet is great for storing all my odd-sized cooking pans and casserole dishes!

This is the cats' favorite window. In the summertime, we attach a cat perch, and they soak up the sun and smell the fresh air. An old rug beater hangs on the wall (yes, I do use it to beat rugs!).

I don't know the reasoning behind this high, long casement window. It's too high to look out of, so I hung a nice old piece of stained glass in it. It does bring a little more light into the room, but it's definitely not part of the original kitchen.

This little cabinet holds all our teas and pastas!

I love my antique kitchen clock! I love the sounds that old clocks make. I prefer faces with regular numerals rather than Roman numerals. This clock has beautiful Eastlake/Aesthetic cranes painted in gold on the glass door!

Back when bakers racks were all the rage, I bought this mini version. It's great for displaying some of my kitcheny knick-knacks.

Here is where the kitties eat!



I love the sound of our shopkeeper's bell that I attached to the back door!

And finally, my little old recipe box, filled to the brim with old recipes, some typed on an old typewriter and yellowed with age.



A couple years ago, I compiled all our favorite recipes and had them bound into a book. Now my very own cookbook is the one I use most often! Most of the recipes have been tweaked, and some are my own interpretations of foods we were used to eating before we became vegetarians. I go through cycles of experimenting with new recipes, and I'm at a point where I have enough new recipes to fill another volume!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Eastlake Victorian Kitchen. Please, if you have any suggestions, let me know! I value your input!

I have so many plans for this room. Here are my ideas so far:

1) Remove vinyl flooring, sand the old wooden floors, and varnish.

2) Replace the window over the sink.

3) Replace all the woodwork.

4) Replace the back door.

5) Add beadboard all the way up the 2 walls near table.

6) Add some narrow open shelving to replace the baker's rack.

7) Remove shelf over stove.

8) Replace the fake brick.

9) Add a fake tin ceiling (can't afford real tin!).

Remember my inspiration picture from way back in October 2009? Even though this kitchen is bigger, and I'll never have a stove like this, I think I can get a similar look. Wish me luck!