In my previous Kitchen Krazy blog post, I explained our design inspirations and some of our furniture ideas for the kitchen in our 1920s vintage bungalow. Let's see how it worked out!
Greg sanded down the kitchen cabinet door frames that we had repurposed from the spare doors on an antique cabinet we bought to use as a bedroom bookcase.
(You can see the finished bookcase here.) I cut new glass panels using seeded glass that looks like old glass.
We knew those would be the upper cabinet doors on either side of the sink. From there, John Hopfensperger of Cayce Custom Cabinetry designed the kitchen cabinets.
John's designs included all of our wish list items such as a rack for plates, shelves next to the window for growing herbs, a lazy Susan corner cabinet for pots and pans, a slide-out garbage can, and a spot for the microwave off the counter. The vintage light fixtures were hung first.
In addition to kitchen cabinets, I also wanted to use an antique buffet in the kitchen to add even more character to the space. We found an 1920s Arts & Crafts antique buffet in France several years ago and knew it was the perfect piece! It was even painted on the inside with the same blue-green color that I wanted for the cabinets and it has wonderful antique glass doors. Although the top would normally sit on the bottom cabinet, we wanted to hang the top on the wall in order to create more counter space.
I held my breath while Greg and the cabinet installers hung it!
The hardware on this cabinet also inspired the choice of hardware for the rest of the kitchen.
I haven’t completely moved everything in yet nor finished decorating my wonderful kitchen, but here are some early “after” photos.
Of course, I am also not planning to have plywood counter tops. I want copper counters, but that is still a project we haven’t finished yet. We also have work to do for a backsplash. Don’t worry – you’ll see finished photos eventually!
Although the house is far from finished, with the installation of the kitchen, we were finally ready to move in – after three years of hard work!
Aimee owns EuroLuxHome.com with her husband and best friend, Greg. Aimee sources amazing antique furniture, vintage lighting, & high-quality reproduction furniture to help her customers decorate their homes in a unique way. She loves her 8 (you read that right) fuzzy children and is renovating a 1920s bungalow in South Carolina. Find us on Facebook or connect with EuroLux on Google+. Or you can sign up here to receive this blog in your inbox.
Before we started the renovation of our 1920s vintage bungalow, Greg and I talked about which things were most important to each of us. Greg (the music lover) wanted the whole house to be wired for media so that he could listen to his favorite tunes in surround sound, no matter which room he was in.
As for me, I wanted a gorgeous and unique kitchen – unlike anything you would see in most homes. Although I know it is very trendy, I really didn't see myself in a kitchen with dark wood cabinets and granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. I wanted colorful, painted cabinets that looked vintage and had a great deal of character.
The style of the kitchen cabinets were influenced by this antique kitchen cabinet that we found at the Antique Tobacco Barn in Asheville. We actually bought that cabinet to be a built-in bookcase in our bedroom so I can use it to display my favorite books and family photos. (It's not full yet in this photo... I'm still working on it!) The three upper areas have glass doors and the three lower areas have solid wood doors.
That's the background story, I'll show you in my next post how it all turned out!
The renovation of our 1920s bungalow has truly been a labor of love. You’ve seen the tile floors go down and penny tiles in the bathroom. We replaced the roof too as well as building a cat porch. Now we’re excited to put down laminate flooring.
We chose a dark walnut laminate rather than true hardwood floors because of the durability against scratches from the dogs’ nails.
We liked this particular laminate because it had staggered sizes of boards and it has a textural wood grain feel. It also has a vintage or distressed look to it, and it has a very thick attached padding to the underside.
Greg worked with our handyman, Frank, to put down the laminate, which we had never done before. They started in the front living room.
In this shot of the dining room, you’re getting an early peep at the kitchen. I’ll show you how the kitchen came together in the next Vintage Life blog. Next came the master bedroom:
And then the closet:
Now that we actually had flooring throughout the entire house, we could start bringing in furniture, which made us feel like we were really making progress!
We started with the vintage green leather English sofa and chair set that we had purchased in Asheville.
Next we brought over our bed...
...and our antique dining room table and chairs.
We hope you enjoy this quick “antiques roundup” of highlights from our October blog posts, linked to the original stories so you can go back to see them for yourself!
We had quite a busy month, including adopting a new cat and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the photos in our spotlight on our customer's gorgeous Greco-Roman mansion home.
When I opened the door, she pranced in as if she belonged here and pretty soon she did! She arrived just in time to be the star of my National Cat Day post.
You can see how she's been making herself at home all over the gallery, and we've also shared recent cute photos of some of our other fur babies.
Welcome Pumpkin... named for the month you arrived!
Aside from furniture featuring marble details, the current trend has inspired faux marble looks on everything from textiles to wallpaper! This marble print duvet cover is a great example of a fresh take on an eternally elegant material.
I look forward to spending November with you, sharing more ideas and stories about antique furniture and home decor. Stay cozy!
When we purchased the house, we thought we had about 5 years left in the existing roof, but it turns out it was only about 3 years. And so we needed to replace the roof.
Although Greg is extremely handy, and I am a delightful assistant, we decided not to attempt a roofing job ourselves as Greg does not like heights. We hired a crew and they set to work removing all of the old roofing shingles. as you can see in the photo above.
After just two days, the new roof was completed and looked good.This is the view from the back of the house:
We choose a reddish-colored roof shingle that matched the reddish-paint on the brick foundation around the bottom of the house. It's a very patriotic combination with the blue paint and white trim!
Here are four of the cats. I keep them supplied with a pot of cat grass so they can happily graze all day!
This shows our porch after we hung new exterior siding, but before we screened it in.
We thought it would really make the porch look nice to tile it...
...and of course we needed a great vintage screened door, which we found at the Antique Tobacco Barn in Asheville, NC, where we also have a booth.
Then we added a very interesting oyster chandelier. We have oyster chandeliers for sale in case you like it as much as we do and are interested in buying one!
There are two cat doors on either side of our front door leading out to the screened front porch so that everyone can come and go as they please - which they do all day and night. We constantly hear "flap, flap, flap" from the cats going in and out.
Have you "spoiled" your fuzzy babies with something built especially for them them? Tell us about it in the comments or show us with a photo on our Facebook page.
Greg and I love to putter in the garden - we find it so relaxing to be outside, digging in the dirt. I like to call it yard yoga. As soon as spring starts, we can't resist working on the landscaping for our vintage 1920s bungalow, even though we still have so much to do inside! When the weather turns so hot we can't stand to be outside, we'll turn back to our inside projects. We've come a long way over the past few years.
Here are some photos from when we first cleaned up the front yard...
...then created beds, planted baby plants, and put down grass seed in the Spring of 2012.
The following spring in May 2013, the roses were in bloom, the grass was starting to fill in...
Last spring, we worked in the back yard. We hadn't done much since 2012 when we cleared it, put up a fence, and planted baby trees:
In the Spring of 2014, we tore down the old dilapidated shed
and built a pretty, new shed for garden tools:
This is the finished shed - it matches our vintage 1920s bungalow!
We've been busy this year planting more flowers in the front yard...
I think we're going to have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year!
Do you love to garden? Tell us about it in the comments!
St. Patrick's Day is coming up on March 17. Rather than tell you how to make green beer 🙂 I thought I'd share home decor inspiration from some beautiful traditional Irish houses.
This is Montalto House, a mansion in the lovely green countryside of County Down, Northern Ireland. The house was built in 1760 and it sits in 600 acres of parkland. (I wouldn't want to have to mow THAT lawn!)
In 2010, architects finished a major restoration on the house interiors.
This is the library - doesn't it make you want to curl up with a good read? The burnt umber wall color creates warmth and sets the tone for the room. A roaring fire and lighting from the table lamp and wall sconces add more atmosphere. I also spy a brass or copper chandelier overhead. This room proves that good lighting from several sources makes a big difference to the feel of the space.
Here is the kitchen. It looks just as you'd think an Irish country house kitchen should look! I love the old metal chandelier and the deep farmhouse sink, also known as a Belfast sink. Montalto House is now a venue for private events like weddings and it is full of Irish and European antiques and art.
A little more modest and more realistic for most of us, this is a very nicely designed Arts and Crafts movement house just outside Dublin. Once again we have a blazing fire! I guess it is chilly sometimes in the Emerald Isle. Heavy wood furniture, barley twist legs on the coffee table and William Morris fabric all add to the sense of traditional comfort in this period home.
Upstairs in the bedroom of the Arts and Crafts house, the rusty red textured wallpaper has only been applied below the picture rail. It was the same with the olive green walls in the living room photo. Keeping the bold color below the picture rail means that it isn't too overwhelming. It also visually lowers the high ceilings to make the rooms a bit more cozy.
Here is another traditional home in Dublin - it welcomes us in at once! The dark brown wood style wallpaper gives an Old World feel and shows that dark walls don't make the room itself dark if the actual lighting is good! This living room seems to enjoy tons of natural light, as well as a handsome chandelier to add a glow in the evening.
The patterned table top is crafted with a swirl mahogany veneer and English brown oak burl. With the fluted pedestal column too, the table looks incredibly authentic.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! If we can't make it to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, at least we can all dream by looking at these amazing traditional Irish houses. Have you been to Ireland? What did you like about the decorative styles there?
Our 15% discount on everything (antiques, vintage, and new) in our EuroLuxHome.com inventory is valid through December 8. We include free shipping too – just as we always do. Now there’s a holiday gift to make Santa smile! Simply enter the coupon code at checkout (chosen to celebrate small businesses like ours): ShopSmall
Among our favorite antiques and creative home decor blog posts from November, our story about Bob H.'s Renaissance Knight Buffet, Mural, and Window has to be one of the most memorable.
For readers who are getting ready to redecorate soon, I shared some creative home decor ideas in my stories on Classic Painted Floor Designs and Red Wine Colored Decor. Whether you are painting floors or walls, I hope that you find some useful inspiration!
The most exciting story for us personally this month is that we finally moved into our our 1920s vintage bungalow.
I look forward to sharing more creative home decor news with you through the month of December, and hearing about your own antiques and creative decorating too!
If you read Victorian Homes magazine, we hope you see the EuroLux Antiques advertisement we are currently running! Many of our clients across the country are working on Victorian home restorations. We are always delighted to help them find exactly the right piece of antique furniture dating from the Victorian era to blend beautifully into their design scheme.
This antique buffet in the ad has now been snapped up by a customer. It's already been delivered to her home in Kentucky. But we have plenty of other antique buffets in our gallery to choose from!
Are you also furnishing a Victorian home? Or do you just love looking at home décor from this period as much as we do? Then you might enjoy some of my recent customer spotlights about clients working on Victorian home restorations.
Sal in New York is restoring his beautiful Victorian home to its former glory. Sal's interior designer recommended EuroLux Antiques to him. However, Sal couldn't decide between all of the Renaissance buffets we had in stock! So he drove from New York to visit our gallery in South Carolina and make his selection in person. It was wonderful to welcome him and show him around. He finally chose a buffet, a set of ten 1880 Hunting chairs, and a 1900 French Renaissance server too. See more photos of the furniture in my post on Sal's Victorian restoration.
Other clients opt for something from our selection of high-quality reproduction furniture and home accents to bring some beautifully-crafted Victorian style into their home.
Do you live in a Victorian home? Or do you like the elegant Victorian style of décor? Tell us about it in the comment box below!