Well, we have reached the end of your little visit and what better than to sit in the kitschen where it's always warm and cosy thanks to the Aga. Another time I will show you through my linens. Here are a few of them starched and pressed especially for the big day!
Buns and biscuits were baked too of course. Would you like one? Help yourselves.
(no that's not CK cutlery. Much older and much cherished originals!)
Of course there was strawberry cake. My early readers will know how I admire the pretentiousness of a triple layered cake!
I should start by apologising for the quality of the pictures here. The kitschen faces South West and is in full sun for most of the day - the lighting is therefore a bit 'all or nothing' and I am quite sure you will prefer the professional pictures! I am so excited to see them!
Here is the view you are all familiar with and ordinarily when I take this I am surrounded by piles of laundry, household paperwork, discarded school uniform, homework etc. etc.. The stuff of life that big kitchen tables were made for! But not today. I'm going to spin anti-clockwise (so you can get your bearings).
Ooh. Just a moment - do you see those yummy blue legs? It took me years to persuade hubby to let me paint our old dining table in kitschen blue! I'd like to mark the moment. Scrummy! Of course the top is still scrubbed pine. Very practical especially for jam making and easily covered in dotty dots for special visitors!
Another pause by the Aga. It is switched off every year from 31st May (gulp!) to 30th September. I miss it so much we tend to live off the barbecue as much as possible, even if a wet English summer means that we often end up having supper in the barn!
Want a closer peek at the overmantel? That's some of my utility china. I never set out to have a pastel colour scheme in here but somehow when you collect 1940's and 1950's china that's what you get. Ice cream colours. And I love them!
Of course there's some other bits there too. Our everyday Poole tea pot and various hand-painted plates and bits. And of course a bit of Emma Bridgewater.
Oh and I thought I'd show you this. I've used it since I was a student! It's my favourite oven thingy. Despite gifts of lovely pink Aga gauntlets and yummy spotty oven gloves, this is my piece of essential equipment. I'm lost without it! And it's so pretty too. So much work in a simple heat mitt!
Moving on! Doors off to the dining and utility rooms (the photographer wasn't allowed in there!). And the HUGE fridge. We did have one of those dinky little Smeg 50's fridges. But by the third replacement we asked John Lewis to take it away and never bring another and opted for a more reliable (and much more capacious) Liebherr instead. The Smeg looked so pretty, but we needed a fridge that would keep food cold. Really. You do don't you?
A quick peek into that corner and you can see the beautiful boy has his own kitschen too!
It oversails the dining room door a bit but heck! What's a few inches when you can have such a pretty play kitchen! The poster makes me smile too. It's from the wonderful Megan Price at Mr P.S.. So much of her work makes me smile I'd love to have the whole collection!
Keep going! We'll have a sit down in a minute! Can you just see on top of those cabinets? Not very good view of my Hornsea china. Summit and Summertime! Just love 'em. So tactile. A couple of very pretty Egersund casseroles too. Will have to get pictures another day!
That's the door through to the sitting room over there. And can you see that jolly pink cow?
That's my gran's Tonibell Ice-Cream Parlour tea towel. Happy memories. And on the counter top the tall yellow patterned tin is her biscuit tin. I've talked about that just recently in this post. These little things make me smile. I love to have them in our home.
Around the corner to the other side and more utility china!
It's the shapes as well as the colours. After the popularity of Clarice Cliff and all those piddling triangular handles of the 20's and 30's, here was china a man could get hold of. Jugs that are voluptuous and you can get a grip on to properly pour a pint of milk. There's melaware too. Lots of that in the cupboards for outdoor picnics in the summer. All mismatched of course. Much prettier that way!
On the top shelf you'll see three little pink mugs. Those aren't utility. Those are the ubiquitous recessed handled mugs from the Holkham pottery, R.I.P. 2008. Very sad.
Nearly back to where we started. The window wall. One of these cabinets hides a modern dishwasher. We had to do unspeakable things to the cavity wall to be able to install a modern appliance into the shallow 1950's base unit. But it was worth it to hide the machine!
A quick pause to see my bucket. Another smile of happy memories makes the drudge of kitschen chores much more bearable!
This is one of Gran's sweetie jars. I used most of them for my button collection but this one got away!
And here we are back where we started. Time for a sit down.
Have I shown you one of the nicest things of all about the kitschen?
Just look at that view!
Thank-you for visiting. I have really enjoyed showing you around. Only 14 days to go until my Blogiversary! Don't forget to pop back so you can join in! There will probably be more cake too! You need cake for a Blogiversary don't you?! t.xxx
Buns and biscuits were baked too of course. Would you like one? Help yourselves.
(no that's not CK cutlery. Much older and much cherished originals!)
Of course there was strawberry cake. My early readers will know how I admire the pretentiousness of a triple layered cake!
I should start by apologising for the quality of the pictures here. The kitschen faces South West and is in full sun for most of the day - the lighting is therefore a bit 'all or nothing' and I am quite sure you will prefer the professional pictures! I am so excited to see them!
Here is the view you are all familiar with and ordinarily when I take this I am surrounded by piles of laundry, household paperwork, discarded school uniform, homework etc. etc.. The stuff of life that big kitchen tables were made for! But not today. I'm going to spin anti-clockwise (so you can get your bearings).
Ooh. Just a moment - do you see those yummy blue legs? It took me years to persuade hubby to let me paint our old dining table in kitschen blue! I'd like to mark the moment. Scrummy! Of course the top is still scrubbed pine. Very practical especially for jam making and easily covered in dotty dots for special visitors!
Another pause by the Aga. It is switched off every year from 31st May (gulp!) to 30th September. I miss it so much we tend to live off the barbecue as much as possible, even if a wet English summer means that we often end up having supper in the barn!
Want a closer peek at the overmantel? That's some of my utility china. I never set out to have a pastel colour scheme in here but somehow when you collect 1940's and 1950's china that's what you get. Ice cream colours. And I love them!
Of course there's some other bits there too. Our everyday Poole tea pot and various hand-painted plates and bits. And of course a bit of Emma Bridgewater.
Oh and I thought I'd show you this. I've used it since I was a student! It's my favourite oven thingy. Despite gifts of lovely pink Aga gauntlets and yummy spotty oven gloves, this is my piece of essential equipment. I'm lost without it! And it's so pretty too. So much work in a simple heat mitt!
Moving on! Doors off to the dining and utility rooms (the photographer wasn't allowed in there!). And the HUGE fridge. We did have one of those dinky little Smeg 50's fridges. But by the third replacement we asked John Lewis to take it away and never bring another and opted for a more reliable (and much more capacious) Liebherr instead. The Smeg looked so pretty, but we needed a fridge that would keep food cold. Really. You do don't you?
A quick peek into that corner and you can see the beautiful boy has his own kitschen too!
It oversails the dining room door a bit but heck! What's a few inches when you can have such a pretty play kitchen! The poster makes me smile too. It's from the wonderful Megan Price at Mr P.S.. So much of her work makes me smile I'd love to have the whole collection!
Keep going! We'll have a sit down in a minute! Can you just see on top of those cabinets? Not very good view of my Hornsea china. Summit and Summertime! Just love 'em. So tactile. A couple of very pretty Egersund casseroles too. Will have to get pictures another day!
That's the door through to the sitting room over there. And can you see that jolly pink cow?
That's my gran's Tonibell Ice-Cream Parlour tea towel. Happy memories. And on the counter top the tall yellow patterned tin is her biscuit tin. I've talked about that just recently in this post. These little things make me smile. I love to have them in our home.
Around the corner to the other side and more utility china!
It's the shapes as well as the colours. After the popularity of Clarice Cliff and all those piddling triangular handles of the 20's and 30's, here was china a man could get hold of. Jugs that are voluptuous and you can get a grip on to properly pour a pint of milk. There's melaware too. Lots of that in the cupboards for outdoor picnics in the summer. All mismatched of course. Much prettier that way!
On the top shelf you'll see three little pink mugs. Those aren't utility. Those are the ubiquitous recessed handled mugs from the Holkham pottery, R.I.P. 2008. Very sad.
Nearly back to where we started. The window wall. One of these cabinets hides a modern dishwasher. We had to do unspeakable things to the cavity wall to be able to install a modern appliance into the shallow 1950's base unit. But it was worth it to hide the machine!
A quick pause to see my bucket. Another smile of happy memories makes the drudge of kitschen chores much more bearable!
This is one of Gran's sweetie jars. I used most of them for my button collection but this one got away!
And here we are back where we started. Time for a sit down.
Have I shown you one of the nicest things of all about the kitschen?
Just look at that view!
Thank-you for visiting. I have really enjoyed showing you around. Only 14 days to go until my Blogiversary! Don't forget to pop back so you can join in! There will probably be more cake too! You need cake for a Blogiversary don't you?! t.xxx
Comments
I actually think that your tour this week may be better than the final magazine article, but that won't stop me buying the magazine when you finally tell us it's out! (And that will be no mean feat here in France.)
Mel xxx
And of course you know how much I love that utility china, those colours!
I am going to help myself to cake and I shall be back in two weeks to fill up a pretty pink plate with even more.
Kitchen definately my favourite - I really miss our big room we could all sit in, now have small cottagy rooms. 50's units are to die for.
Lisa x
Very childish i know but my word verification is Fartzi (made me giggle)
We could have fun playing snap: I have lots of Woods Ware and Meakin Glamour. I gave away most of my Greydawn and Rosedawn though, I'm running out of room.
Are you uploading these photos to Flickr so I can have a closer gaze?
S
xx
I've absent-mindedly eaten a whole pack of biscuits while scrolling down and drooling!!
I love utility china. I have quite a bit of greydawn, I like that it goes with other stuff - eg the CK china I got for my wedding looks fab sitting on top of a larger johnsons bro plate....
And before I stop rambling on - you are officially the best mummy in the world...your mini kitschen nearly had me in tears of joy (and jealousy!!!)
:) thanks so much for sharing x
x
xxx
Kris
Have a lovley day,
Nina x
Victoria xx
Am I allowed a favourite room? Is that fair??...I LOVE your kitchen! And everything in it!
Now about that cake...(having seen a tantalising glimpse of it on my Birthday card! ;-))
Niki x
(I have a cream Smeg fridge and its the best appliance I've ever had...I bought it with the profits from my shop when I closed it and wouldn't wish to be without it...)
All in all a very lovely and well loved home.
aneela x
I have quite a collection of Johnson Bros too.We use it everyday.I am amazed how resiliant it is.It goes in the dishwasher too which is great. I even dropped on the other day on our stone floor but there wasn't so much as a chip!
I also have a collection of Woods Ware but that's stored in the cellar.Along with my vintage floral china.Just in case I change my mind one day!
Lizzie x
Your kitscheb reminds me so much of my Mother's 1950's kitchen, happy days!
Like you, two Smegs later and lots of very thin plastic replacement parts...I finally sent the Smeg rocking and rolling and got myself a much bigger and more reliable fridge/freezer, my cream Smeg looked the part but never worked properly from day one.
I cannot turn my Aga off as I have no back up - apart from the oven we take camping...I think I would miss it too much anyway.
BB's kitschen is fab too, I can see one of those going on the Christmas list!
Love all the yummy colours you have used. My long suffering has given up the ghost, he never is quite sure what I will paint next.
Cx
I have a kitchen table that is crying out to be painted..but dare I? ;-)
Thanks for coming to the Attic and leaving me such wonderously funny comments, i really appreciate more than I am able to say.
Loe to you
Lucexxxxxxxxxxxx
x
Allison xx
I had one of those cream Smeg retro fridges and have to thank Mr C for killing it.. as now we have a AEG which keeps food cold and has lots more room!
Can I order one of those cakes please.. triple deluxe!?
I didn't believe the tour could get better but it did.. and how!
Michele x
ps..can you help me with a little query please? I have been hunting for checked floor tiles like your kitchen ones for donkeys years,only in red and cream..have you any ideas please?
I smile when I see Melamine. I grew up with a lot of it around as my Aunts worked for the company.Still have a sizeable collection. I refused to drink out of it and even on family picnics I insisted there was a china cup for me!