Hello, my friends! It is time to get back to the house tour! And boy do I have the before and after photos for you! You know how I love those before and afters!
So far we have toured the foyer and living room/parlor area, now let's move on into the kitchen/dining room area. I had always said that in our next house (which is this one) I really wanted a foyer and a dining room. Well I got both but I had to settle with the kitchen and dining room as one room. It is a fairly long room so it works, just wish it were a little wider. AND, if I could I would have switched the two spaces, the dining area would have been here and the kitchen to the back of the room, so when you come down the front hall or through the parlor you would not see the island and appliances before anything else! The photo below is how it looked when we moved in 5 years ago. Too light and not enough color!!! And the box light had to go!!!
Please click on to any photo to enlarge it.
This is what it looks like now...
Although, you still see the island first!! This is looking at it from the dining area.
Housed in the corner (of the above photo) is a brides basket in its holder that I bought at an auction several years back. I bought the plateau mirror later at an antique mall. I thought they looked pretty together.
And this is the before dining area (looking from the kitchen).
Not very exciting at all!
Below is the room after my husband installed the new flooring. Notice how it made the light colored walls look darker. And yes, the box light is STILL there! Now remember, my hubby is not a Victorian wanna be so he didn't see anything wrong with that hideous light!!!
Here it is with some color! I wallpapered and painted it myself. My husband put up the chair rail for me. Isn't he a sweetie?!
Below is what it looks like today. Notice the new (antique) cabinet to the right! Yay! So, because of that I had to move things around a bit! I'll tell you about that further down in the post.
AND, did you notice?!!! The box light is gone! I finally talked hubby into getting rid of that thing. So, to go with the rest of the room, we added the same recessed lighting. Even though I don't care for that either, too modern. I would much rather have an antique chandelier hanging over the dining room table. Which some day might just happen. But I think it would have to just hang their and look pretty with no electricity because hubby said he wasn't changing that! Can you believe that?
A closer view of the dining area.
A cruet set that I bought several years ago for only 30 dollars! It was missing one bottle, I have replaced it with a different one that really doesn't match. But oh well.
My stepback cupboard that I bought several years ago at my favorite antique shop in Perry. It is a very small town here in Missouri and the shop is called Lick Creek Antiques. I bought it to replace the oak hoosier cabinet I used to have (at our other house). It barely fits in an 8' room! I was lucky!
The detail work up close.
Below is another view of the dining area. The fruit picture I got at a different antique shop in Perry. It was in a plain walnut frame that I didn't care for so I put it in this gold one. The print is dated 1906 and titled "Watermelon". The two pictures on the other wall are embossed game pictures. They are also early 1900's. The one on the left is titled "Partridge and Woodcock" and the one on the right is "Wild Goose and Golden Plover". I bought them at an auction, there were 4 of them but I sold two of them. And I'm even thinking about selling these two and putting some other picture there... that I don't have yet! What do you all think? Should they stay or should they go?
Several years ago I bought this set of 6 chairs at an antique shop in Mexico, my home town. I recaned 5 of the 6. The 6th one really didn't need it but lately I have noticed some cane breaking! Oh no! It takes forever to recane one chair! I'm going to hold off as long as possible.
How's this for a bird? I thought it looked kind of real and like a canary. It doesn't make any messes!
The cage is brass and has Osbourne Mfg. Co., Hudson St. New Jersey on it, so I don't know if that is special or not. My mom had it out in her barn and it was painted green, so I stripped it!
And this, my friends, is my latest furniture purchase!! It makes me so happy because it is SO fancy and I love fancy! And see that space there? That was the space I was saving for my walnut marble top sideboard. And then I saw this beaut! I knew I had to have it, so after I brought it home I moved the furniture around a bit... just to make sure I would still have space for the sideboard whenever I find just the right one!
Now this piece almost caused my hubby to divorce me, but then we had a heart to heart talk and I'm still here. Here and happy, needless to say! (I really don't think he would actually divorce me though ;-) )
I had had my eye on this, out at the auction house, for 3 weeks! So I had lots of time to think about it. So on the day of the auction I made the decision to bid up to $400 and that was it, so if I didn't get it I just didn't get it. It had lots of broken pieces (the gold pieces) off of it in a box sitting inside the cabinet and someone at one time had tried to make new pieces for it but didn't do a good job. So I had that going for me, I knew that I could fix it where someone else would not want to or know how.
SO GUESS WHAT?! I got it for $400 exactly! Can you believe that? It was heck trying to get that thing loaded in the truck! There was no place to hold on to it without more pieces breaking off and let me tell you, more pieces did break off! I was about ready to tell the auctioneer that I didn't want it after all! My hubby was about to divorce me and pieces were falling off right before my eyes! What a "to do" it was!
After days of glueing pieces back on, breaking off the pieces that someone else had attempted to make, making new pieces and brightening up the gold a bit, here it is! (I wish I would have taken some before pics of it before I started working on it). Isn't it gorgeous?! Look at all the detail! The auctioneer thought it was a 1920's piece but I think it's earlier. What do you guys think?
The birds are my absolute favorite thing about the cabinet.
Especially this one!
And this little one on both sides of the cabinet.
Here is a close up of what I have in it. I really like how the colored glass looks in it. I'll have to find some more of it sometime.
Here is the little painting that is on the inside of the door, near the bottom. I thought it added a little "sweetness" to it.
Well, that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed the tour and I'll meet with you all again next week. Thank you so much for visiting and have a great week!
I am joining
A Joyful Cottage with Nancy, please come check out all the other dining rooms.