Kitchen finished!

Yipee!  I have my kitchen back!  It is all white and I love it!

After three weeks of the makeshift kitchen (kettle, toaster and microwave), I can now do laundry and cooking - all appliances are back in place.  My hard work then commenced - working out where to put everything I had taken out of cupboards, and of course it all had to be washed before it could be put away.  I'm shattered, but happy.

Rest of house now has to be put to rights - I'm sure I'll be finding bits and pieces of kitchen "stuff" all over the place, but I've loads of cupboard space now.  I've gone very modern - well, for me.  The Welsh dresser will find a new home in the dining room and I'm going to have much less clutter around the worktops.  Well, that's the theory anyway - we'll see if I stick to that one!

While I couldn't cook I discovered that it was the simple things that I craved - a boiled egg, or cheese on toast all hot and bubbly as it came from under the grill.  My first meal cooked in the new kitchen on Friday was a tasty chicken pot pie with ... well it was supposed to be with mash, but I couldn't locate my masher!  It didn't matter, the pie was yummy and so were the ordinary spuds!

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my recent posts - it is so good to hear from you and I appreciate them all.
Love, Liz

My temporary kitchen

So, this is my former dining room - now my temporary kitchen.  Dining room table with tea essentials - can't do without my cuppa!  Last Monday work started on my kitchen refit.  Everything was pulled out! 

I have to admit, dear reader, that I "escaped" last Sunday and went to stay with my younger son in Glasgow for the week, leaving Hubby with a freezer full of microwave meals and having to cope with a house full of workmen and deliveries of materials.  He's quite enjoyed himself (probably because I wasn't there).  Not sure how my Son feels, but I had a lovely time with him.  He was out at work all day, so I had his flat to myself and spent some time in Glasgow, as he's just a short bus journey from the city centre.  I even cooked for him - he asked me to make two of his favourite meals while I was there.  It was strange cooking with gas - my cooker is electric.  But I managed fine!

This is how the kitchen looks today.  There's been no water in kitchen for a week - washing machine, fridge, cooker and dishwasher are all in the dining room.  Only the fridge is working.  (The blue is just a protective cover on the units.)

My vintage treasures are all safely packed away and the bunnies have found temporary accommodation in the dining room among the pine cones!

I thought this whole process would be very traumatic and stressful - especially as I am participating in Dry January!!!!!!  But in actual fact, when there is nothing you can do about the situation, it is just a case of getting on and making the best of it!  Of course it helps when you get away for part of it!  Thanks for putting up with me, Son!

Love, Liz

So much stuff!

There is going to be a big change at Shortbread House next week - we're getting a new kitchen!  The little bunnies who live in the Welsh dresser and saying goodbye to their old home - they don't look very happy!

We've had our kitchen for about 20 years and, as much as I love it, it is getting a bit shabby and tired.

The workmen are starting on Monday, so I've been emptying cupboards and drawers to get ready.  This has really been helped by putting on an Amazon Music playlist - 70s Hits to Make You Happy!  I've been bopping around the house and clearing out hasn't been such a chore!

What a load of "stuff" I've collected over the years!  I don't mean my vintage china - that is "treasure" and has been carefully packed in boxes to keep it safe.  I'm taking about all the other bits and pieces that seem to be essential at the time.  My cutlery drawer, apart from the usual well ... cutlery, was full of ... rubbish!  Old blunt bread knives and strange utensils some of which I can't even imagine what they were for!

Glasses - how many do two people need?  Two dozen wine glasses - crazy!  They take up so much space too!

Not going to have as much cupboard space in new kitchen so really need to weed out the rubbish.  So there are now bags and boxes all over!  Stuff for charity shop, stuff for tip and stuff for recycling!  

Having a wee rest and a cuppa now before I get on with more clearing out!

Love, Liz

Old kitchen friends

These kitchen appliances were given to me as wedding presents way back in the (late) 1970s.  They have only recently broken down, but I've been loath to part with them.  Somehow they are part of the fabric of my family life.  They have been well used and gave great service.

My mixer - wonder how many cakes and desserts this has helped to make?

Moulinex Blender - used to have a little tub thingy for grinding things - really useful and well used.  Check out the trendy orange trim!

Electric knife - remember them?  Also a Moulinex in cream and orange.  Great for cutting joints of meat.  Somehow I manage with an ordinary knife now!

These old friends, now 40 years old, are off to the tip.  Funnily enough, as I was taking these photographs the song that was playing on the radio was "I'll stand by you" by the Pretenders.  Dear reader, I will admit that I had a wee tear in my eye - what an appropriate song!

Wonder if my replacements will last 40 years?  (I'll never know!)  What's your oldest kitchen appliance?
See if you can spot them in this photograph of my "show of presents" which I blogged about here!

Liz

My retro kitchen

I didn't realise until quite recently how many bits and pieces in my kitchen that I use often are actually quite vintage.

This tea towel must be at least 30 years old and was from Marks & Spencer - if I remember correctly I had oven gloves to match.  It just gets used and washed and used again.  Getting a bit faded now, but still ok.  I love the row of cheery chefs!

These storage containers are also over 30 years old.  Still in perfect condition and useful, so why change them?  They hold lentils and barley for my soup.

I'm not the kind of person who changes things on a whim or to match a new colour scheme - find that a bit wasteful.

Have you got some useful retro bits and pieces in your kitchen?

Love, Liz

Wash Tub Blues!

Another kitchen disaster!  My washing machine gave up the ghost at the weekend, so I'm sitting waiting for my new one to arrive.

There's mounds off washing to catch up with, even although there's only hubby and I at home!  I remember when I was little, my Mum only did a washing once a week.  She had a twin tub which had to be pulled out, filled with water which was then heated up.  The clothes were done in batches, starting with the whites working down to my Dad's working clothes and my brother's football gear which went in last, because by this time the water wasn't quite so clean.  Then it all had to be rinsed and spun and the machine emptied!  Phew, no wonder she only did that once a week!

When the broken machine came out I noticed this  retro wallpaper in the space under the worktop.  Very "vintage" with its brown and orange design.  There's probably a "new" version of this on the go!  I've given it a bit of colour to jazz it up a bit.

Love, Liz

Tupperware Pickled Onion Thingy!

Isn't it strange that you stop noticing things that you use on a weekly basis?!

I've had this Tupperware pickled onion thingy since I went to my first Tupperware Party back sometime in the early 80s.  It still gets used because I absolutely love pickled onions!

Its just made me realise how many other bits and pieces of Tupperware from then that  I actually have in my kitchen!

Anyone else love pickled onions?  Especially with a chunk of cheese?

I've decided to go with a pretty shade of blue for my crochet.  Thanks to everyone who gave advice. 

Love, Liz

Everyday China

Thought I'd share my everyday china with you today.  I've had it for over 25 years.   It is Kilkee by Noritake and not the least bit vintage, although I have seen some bits and pieces appearing in charity shops over the last year.  I still like it, though, and its done a grand job over the years.

 

I got the bus into town today as it was raining ... again!  The bus stop is at the opposite end of town from where I usually start my charity shop trawl.  It felt very strange approaching the shops from the other end of town and visiting them in a different order!  Didn't realise I was such a creature of habit!  Do you have a usual route or order when you go charity shopping?  I've just realised that I even go round the shop exactly the same way each time!  Oh dear!

 

Did get a laugh, though.  I was in one of those charity shops that sell furniture and a wee pensioner couple were looking around.

Wife to hubby         "That's a nice wee computer table, i'nt it?"

Hubby                       "Aye, no bad."
There was a short pause ...
Wife                            "Shame we've no got a computer."

And they wandered on.

It was just one of those perfect moments!

 

Absolutely no luck charity shopping today.  The £30 tea set was still there (2 months, now) and the plastic basket of china was still as full and awkwardly placed as ever!

Think I'm going to give up collecting china, it is becoming too expensive.  I'll leave it to the experts.  Hope you had better luck today!

Love, Liz

Spring Dressing

I love rearranging my kitchen dresser.

 

Springtime deserves a new arrangement.

 

This is how it looked before.

 

I love mixing new things - my Cath Kidston Christmas presents - with charity shopped vintage china.

 

Postcards and tins.

 

Hope you find something you like.

 

 

Love, Liz

Dresser Dressing

It's amazing what you can find about the house!

My kitchen dresser needed a bit of cheering up after I had taken all the Christmas bits and pieces away.  I missed the cheery reds - so decided to have a look around the house to find some colourful additions.

Compare before - as in blog header - with after. 

Much better, or a bit cluttered?

I love it - enjoy looking at some of my favourite things all in the one place and it really cheers up the kitchen!

Perhaps time for a new blog header?

Love, Liz

Red Tins

As you can see from my blog header, my kitchen dresser has predominately blue and white items on it.  After having some lovely red Christmasy things on it for the last few weeks - it looked really bare when I took them away.  So, I decided to have a look around my cupboards to see if I had any red bits and pieces I could add to it to cheer it up a bit.  I found these -

I think that both of these tins were issued in the 80s.  One is from 1985.

I actually used both of these to keep my Oxo cubes in at one time or another.  Glad I kept them.

Love the little fellow on this one - look at his wee red sandals!

Very clever cube design on this one.

Now off to scour my cupboards to see what other red goodies I can find!

Love, Liz

A big welcome to all my new followers -

hope you'll come by and comment often.