Summer Kitchen, Part 1, 2020

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Hope all the Father's out there enjoyed their day on Sunday.....

Joe wanted pizza from a locally owned Pizzeria so we got 2 trays of Sicilian pizza which is pretty much the kind I always had growing up.......

I think I was in my teens when I realized that most pizza is round and does not automatically come with onions!!!!

This is what was left over but it sure does heat up very nicely in the microwave so it will not go to waste......

 Jim and Danielle gave Joe money and a Lottery ticket which he won $30 on which we laughed about because on Mother's Day , I also won $30 on the Lottery ticket that they gave me.....

The difference is that I cashed mine in for money and Joe used his to get more lottery tickets!!

Joey gifted Joe a Pittsburgh Penguins Paver but it can also be hung.....

So this is how the front porch looks like now........

 It was easily hung on one of the nails that we have in the brick to hold the Christmas garland....

 I will probably rearrange the other things today that are hanging here.......

Well, I lost a Battle against those darn squirrels....

I have 2 owls out in the back yard to ward off the squirrels that insist upon burying the peanuts that my neighbor continues to throw out in his yard with reckless abandon, totally disregarding the destruction to his neighbor's property........

I am biting my tongue as I write this, can you tell??????

The one owl "Hoots" when motion is detected....

I usually turn it on when I see the peanuts in this neighbor's yard but do not keep it on all the time because it would be "hooting" all day long because of the amount of birds that fly through our yards....

And I RESPECT my neighbors by not annoying them all day long with that "Hooting"....

Now over 2 weeks ago, I used the red coffee container for bird seed that I had bought and it sat on the shelf on the Potting Stand all this time......

 2 days ago, I remembered that I had Letter stickers in my stash but I did not have the proper letters to spell out "Bird Seed" so I spelled out "Bird Food".......

 I was so darn proud of myself!!!!

Okay, I guess the squirrels can read because yesterday, my son, Joey, called me out to the Patio and said " You gotta see this"!!

 Lying on the ground was the lid to my "Bird Food" container!!!!!!

All chewed apart!!!!!

 Joey saw a squirrel running from the scene of the crime!!!!

For 2 weeks, they did not bother that container but as soon as I put those letters on it, they ripped apart the lid to get into the seed!!!!

So do you think squirrels can read??????

The Bird Seed is now kept in the house......

And the War continues ........

Today, I will be FINALLY sharing my Summer Kitchen that I promised to do a few posts back.......

I got distracted by the garden.....

I will be doing it in 2 parts......

Summer is really the only time the Kitchen is not decorated for a Holiday......

I don't decorate it for the Patriotic Holidays....

 For many years, I was not happy with the way our Kitchen looked......

When we bought our townhouse which was brand new at the time, it was the late 70's so I had black walnut cabinets and harvest gold countertops......

It only took a few years before I surprised Joe by painting the cabinets almond which at the time was the "In style" color ....

NO!!!

 I NEVER ask Joe about doing anything in the house because he told me right from the beginning of our marriage that I could do whatever I wanted to do to the house as long as he was not the one doing it!!!

As a Carpenter's Daughter, that was a dream come true!!!!!

When I painted our Living Room peach, it took him 2 weeks before he noticed that the color was actually peach.....

Joe being totally oblivious is great for me!!!

Over 10 years ago, I wanted to paint the cabinets again......

This time, I did enlist his help and we painted them white.....

That was when I stripped the apple wall paper border off the walls and put up the border I now have, painting the Kitchen red and a pale yellow and putting in a chair rail....

In 2013, we decide to do a major remodel of the downstairs......

We had laminate flooring installed in the Living Room, Dining Room and Powder Room.....

Along with new light fixtures in the Powder Room and a medicine cabinet, new countertops, sink  and light fixture in the Kitchen along with the new flooring.....

Prior to this, I repainted the Living Room, Dining Room and Powder Room and stripped the old wall paper border off and put up new wall paper border in there......

My Kitchen went from this........

 With the harvest gold countertops and enamel sink........

And harvest gold flooring.......

To how it looks now.......

New countertops........

 And my new E-Granite sink as I do not care for stainless steel......

 And the flooring was continued into the Kitchen from the Dining Room and Living Room......

 I felt that I finally had the French Country Victorian looking Kitchen that I had always wanted!!!

And I am still very happy with my Kitchen......

 Today, I am going to share what I call the "Work" area of the Kitchen.....

 We will start here by the stove.......

On the side of the cabinets by the door out to the Den.......

 I have a French Country vibe going on in the Kitchen with the roosters and chickens.....

 Even though many consider them Farmhouse, they were French Country LONG before Farmhouse came on the scene!!

 On the side of the stove......

Pretty embroidered towels.......

Vintage rolling pins and mashers inside of a Planter's Peanuts can that was my Mother's and a chicken rug beater......

Last year, I re-did Home Interior pictures that I had hanging in the Kitchen using place mats from Dollar Tree......

Click HERE if you would like to see what I did.......

 Many years ago, I had my Dad take out the center panels of the cabinets above the stove and refrigerator and put in the plastic panels used for drop ceiling lighting......

I did not like how that looked so I spray painted the panels with a copper paint to go with the copper pieces that I had in the Kitchen.....

So even though copper is big right now, it has always been in my Kitchen!!

Again, French Country!!!!

A few things hanging above the stove.....

Bright red, green and yellow dish towels......

This is all the counter space I had in the Kitchen before I had a counter bar built on the wall opposite to this one.....

I have vintage dish towels with strawberries and apples on the hanging from the cabinet handles.....

The area to the left of the stove.....

As I have said many times in the past, my Dad took out the Kitchen window when I had him turn the enclosed patio off the back of the house into the Den......

I still treat it as a window and like to decorate this area for the different Holidays......

Right before Easter, I made valances from a red and white checked tablecloth ......

And hung it here for the Summer......

I bought this chandy on Clearance and added a set of demitasse cups to it after spray painting it red.....

Red beads, mini galvanized measuring cups and a bird hang from the chandy....

Bird houses that I painted several years ago hang from the gingerbread fretwork that I added to the sides of the cabinets....

Last year, I used pot holders and red framed Valentines signs to create the Rooster plaques on each side of the cabinets.....

I also hung Rooster ornaments from the curtain rod.....

On the window sill.......

A vintage eggs beater, a mason jar filled with eggs and a vintage yellow pot that is part of a salt and pepper shaker set.....

In the center are 2 milk bottles that I painted white and added hearts to......

A crackle glass sunflower candle holder that I filled with battery operated fairy lights.....

A vintage mason jar filled with fruit.......

The red and yellow doilies came from the Dollar bins at Michael's......

The glass shutters were in my neighbor Elly's attic when we cleaned her house out for her sons.....

 NO, I do not have a dishwasher, hence, the larger dish drainer on the counter.....

 Joe used to be my dishwasher but when I retired, he told me it was now my job "Since I had nothing better to do"!!!

It took him awhile to get used to me not working and also the loss of my salary.......

Copper plaques around the soffit above the cabinets......

Before Easter, I decided to hang this wreath on the center cabinet door.......

I finally found the cotton picks that I bought in the Fall on Clearance at Michael's and added them to the wreath......

Did you ever put something away and have no idea where you put it??????

I searched high and low for these darn cotton picks and finally found them!!!!!

To the right of the sink......

Bought these canisters in Michael's many years ago......

In the corner in a wire tea cup........

A floral arrangement with a set of 20 lights.....

The toaster and can opener......

And my Beverage area.......

No, I do not have a Keurig.......

Mine is a Hamilton Beach Brew Master and you can pour each cup individually.....

This is the second one we have had....

I had mentioned in a previous post that I used a gift card from my son, Joey, to buy this vintage styled Coffee sign......

It goes well with the vintage styled tins I have here......

The vintage green depression glass salt shaker is to sprinkle a bit on the coffee grounds when you put them in the filter to lessen the acidity of the coffee....

My Dad taught me that and he used to brew the BEST coffee.......

I covered the red and white checked place mat I have here with a clear acrylic chopping board to try to save it from spills.....

I don't pride myself on my agility.....

Another vintage styled coffee sign on the side of the refrigerator.....

All 3 of those containers including this little shelf that I painted with chalkboard paint, came from my neighbor Elly's house.....

So did the enamelware holding tea bags, hot chocolate mix, etc......

I tried to make the best use of my limited counter space....

Yes, I have white appliances because I truly do not care for stainless steel as it looks very "cold" to me.....

On top of the refrigerator......

With the tea pot lamp off.....

 And back on.....

An egg crate that I bought at Michael's in early March rests on top of a green vintage mixing bowl......

In the center is a vintage yellow enamel coffee pot filed with red and yellow flowers.....

The 2 little houses were bought in Michael's at 90% off about 2 years ago......

I embellished this lamp shade using a vintage tea towel, trims and beads.....

When the boys were young and we went different places on vacation, I collected magnets from all those places......

I now have them on a magnetic board in my Sitting Room......

These are magnets that Joe and Joey bought for me from their Pittsburgh trips, a trip to see all the War Memorials in Washington, DC and from a trip to Canada, Niagra Falls, that Joey took.......

Along with some that have cute sayings on them and one from India, which was gifted to me by neighbors from India for taking their children up to the school  bus stop with mine and picking them up and bringing them home....

On the bottom half on the refrigerator are pictures of all the dogs I had in my life and a few other pics....

And this is where we will stop for today.....

In my next post, I will share Part 2 of my Summer Kitchen, including the Hutch and the Counter Bar............

 So I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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