Vintage Inspiration Friday

This week I'm linking up with Debra over at Common Ground for "Vintage Inspiration Friday". I bought my house a little over ten years ago. I had gone through a divorce, big family house sold, and I just wanted a house that I knew I could turn into a "home"! The houses where I live were built in 1950's, track houses. My home originally was much smaller, but the previous owner had done some awesome additions such as two master bedrooms and baths, a huge family room and a pool! Even though I knew the house needed work, I knew it had potential. The kitchen is the fist thing you see when you walk in the door. It was pretty ugly, dark oak cabinets to the ceiling all over the place. Bryce ripped out almost all of the cabinets, and a wall which opened up the kitchen to the dining room. This two piece cupboard, of course is heavy, but great for storing all my food in. Plenty of space and everything is easy to find. The sign on top? Came from an old bar up in Pasadena in the early fifties. In case you are wondering, it's double sided too and at one time had lights! Would love to get the lights working again! I've always thought this is just the cutest little cabinet, seriously and I got it cheap! It sits across from the cupboard in the first picture. It has all of these awesome little drawers and the top piece holds all my spices and cooking stuff. This cute little cabinet also covers the back of the house's original fireplace where the wall use to be. Now it's all open to the dining room & kitchen and you can really enjoy the three sided fireplace from all over the house. Another whole wall, and even where the stove is at was once covered with ugly, dark oak cabinets from the 80's. Bryce ripped them all out and took out a small wall that divided the kitchen from the dining room. The space made everything look so much bigger. This cabinet in the picture was horrible to move! All one piece, original wavy glass, and was unbelievably heavy! It's great for storing all my glasses and such and the drawers below are great for storage as well! Okay, confession time! This, by far, is one of my most favorite EVER old primitive cabinets that I own!! When I was taking the picture, I was thinking that if some people saw this sitting by the trash, they would just drive on by. It's got lots of wear on it and great green chippy paint on the outside, and awesome red paint on the inside. This old cabinet holds all my plates and dishes and really is very practical! I have a love affair with this cabinet daily!! Actually, when I bought this old stove, it was very capable of working and still would if I wanted it to. It came from an estate of a semi famous musical person that I can't think the name of now. I have "that" paper, somewhere?? For now, the stove works great for storage and display. It was one of those things that I just HAD to have! I know some of you know what I'm talking about! My house was built in the mid 1950's, just a regular track house. Back then, I don't think they really defined "entry ways"! By adding this old store display case it did give the kitchen more of a defined area, and the old display case is great to store all my vintage "stuff" inside above, and all my pots and pans below. To keep the floors looking all the same with a bit of a vintage look to them, Bryce laid down cheap "tongue & groove" wood that is normally used for walls. We banged it up a bit to make it look older, and the rest is history! You can sort of see in this picture how the old store display case created more of an entry "feeling" for my house. It worked well in dividing the room without walls. The bright yellow paint is waiting to be re-painted. It too was a quick fix. The walls on the right and in my entire dining and family room were covered in dark, ugly wood paneling. So, a little paint was a quick fix. Bead board will some day be put up and the yellow will be gone. I've been living in this house for over ten years now, and I have to say it is a work in progress and always will be. Nothing is ever finished because the time that it is, I'm ready to change it again. I'm kind of use to the "work in progress" thing. What is so cool about vintage stuff, is it is not only a way of recycling but some of the pieces really make our homes stand out, not look like the cookie-cutter houses of everyone else. It's fun to be different, or at least I think so! Thanks Debra for hosting, "Vintage Inspiration Friday"! Have a great week-end!