Saturday, March 7, 2015

A KITCHEN DREAMS ARE MADE OF



At least MY kitchen dreams---beginning with looking into the tiny windows of Karla Kay Fullilove’s dollhouse.   It was every Sugar-Easter-Egg tableau, Dorothy’s Door, and every sweet and wee and candy-coloured wish of a Girly-Girl’s heart.   Her APPLIANCES were PINK.  And in my eight-year-old real world of white Amana this and that, and a common chunky white front-load Bendix right there in our kitchen, all shiny and new and maintained with the fervor of a keeper of the Crown Jewels, that dollhouse kitchen became my Dream of future Perfection.




My own small doll-dwelling was a bit stark by comparison, filled with sharp-cornered molded plastic this and that---swirly brown buffet and cabriole table in the dining room with spiky-legged little chairs, and a white boxy table in the kitchen, just like ours but without the wheels, for ours was rolled into a neat niche except for meal-times.

And though MY appliances were hollow and white and plain, I loved that little home with all my heart.   The cabinet-sink, fridge and stove are all that remain, and live on the kitchen pass-through in a cake-stand cloche, in various levels of dishevelment and sloth, reflecting the real kitchen around them.




My ordinary little appliances, with a bread-wrapper rug, toys strewn about, the baby’s potty in evidence, and a sinkful of dishes:








When I rightfully should have had THESE:






With THOSE Mamie-pink playthings, I know I’d have had long curly hair, eyelashes out to THERE, a whole library of books shelved right there in my room, yearly trips to Rock City, and an autographed picture of me with Wink Martindale, just like the charmed life of Karla Kay.


My friend Lil sent me these pictures of a time-capsule sort of house from the Fifties, all enclosed and kept pristine these sixty years, just waiting for an aproned housewife to walk right in with her Wearever pots and Rinso and pearls.


Can you imagine working in this calming, Fairy Tale kitchen?







The oven with space-age timers:



Open, with shining promise and a cookbook.




Built-in countertop range---I could even learn to live with ELECTRIC burners.





A corner with an avant garde clock for timing the Seven-Minute and the Fudge:





The Fridge, all eye-level, spacious, no-bending Queen a Sheba:




We’re about to get new kitchen cabinets, so today I brought home a bunch of counter-top samples.   One’s pink veined marble---that’s a start.



Linking to Beverly’s PINK SATURDAY

10 comments:

  1. I had a house built in the 20's with pink veined marble in the kitchen and around the fireplace mantle. I still have doll house furniture too though it is tucked away in boxes and drawers.

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  2. As time marches on! Wish we could go back. For 70 years we had it so good. And life was a dream come true for most little girls.

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  3. PINK-VEINED MARBLE...that sounds so so luscious, especially if you love pink.
    I didn't have a doll house...but my little girl had one...I had a serious talk with ole Santa and he brought her a cutie.:)
    I grew up in the 40's and 50's and married and had kids in the 60's...life was so so good back then..I didn't realize HOW good..now, with the mess our nation is in, I can see it even plainer.

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  4. A pink kitchen in real life would be awesome. I love pink! Your photos are amazing.

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  5. Darling Rachel,

    We both wanted doll houses as children......without dolls as we do not like them....but never managed to own won. So, it was with great delight that we became the proud owners of a 1910 doll house as adults. Does one ever grow up?

    The doll house kitchen furniture you show here is delightful. How it captures those golden days of the 1950s although whether they really were that golden then,we doubt!

    But, how exciting that you are to have a kitchen facelift. Pink would not be our colour of choice, we have to say, but, then, we are never in our kitchen so are not entirely sure what colour it is! Whatever, we are sure that you will put it to good use immediately. Please do show before and after....

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  6. Darling Rachel,
    Most of GSL's time in the kitchen has been spent at the shipping dock but that kitchen with the space-age gadgetry sure looked familiar. My mother just had her kitchen redone last Fall and she was excited even if it's just she and her cocker-spaniel pup 'Dolly' the make use of it.

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  7. My dear Rachel,

    How exciting to learn that you are refurbishing your kitchen. I know how much you love cooking and entertaining. So, I hope that you are happy with the result of your new kitchen cupboards. Like you, I'd like to entertain and cook at home all the time and it is my way of relaxing in the evening. I have a rather old-fashioned (but it's still in sound condition) kitchen and it's been in one of my pending lists to ask for the joiner to come and see how it could be refurbished. One thing that I learn about the old kitchen units is that in the old days, things were made to last. They are incredibly robust and good quality. Having said that I am not a Luddite, I'm a modernist. But I care a great deal about craftsmanship and attention to details (everything is well thought out).

    I think doll houses are perfect pastime if one loves to do interior decorating. Possibilities are endless.

    It remains very cold and chilly in the evening even though the spring is supposed to be on its way.

    With my warmest wishes, ASD x

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  8. Good morning dear Rachel, I am always behind the eight ball with my visits. Sigh. My cousin Bob arrived last Thursday and my time has not been my own. Running the roads, playing cards and visiting about all of our 'up North' family has kept me from my dear computer friends. He is staying in our cabin and sleeping late cause he is usually here by now. The cabin is just a few steps away. It is rainy, foggy, and warmer but not yet at full light. I am loving a few minutes to myself as Bill is already at the dentist. Nice...Smile.

    I still have my doll (adult) house and it is bad need of renovating. It sounds so much like your as far as the interior is concerned. Dishes in the sink with white appliances. I even have wee food to display. Your photos are all so much fun. However, I am sure you are thrilled to be giving your real kitchen an update. The marble sounds divine...I mean it. I would dearly love to have lovely counter tops. Mine are 'ho hum' but in perfect condition but new ones have been my dream since moving here.I also want a back splash. One day maybe. If only the stock market would behave. HA!

    Yes, it would be awesome to somehow manage to visit you. We have to keep thinking it could happen. Smile!!!

    Happy week to you and yours.

    Love, Jeanne

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  9. Oh, dear…all that pinky kitchen stuff! I adore pink and have a little pink kitchen set – sink, refrigerator and oven that some little girl obviously loved and used back in the 1950’s I think. Her brother (I’m guessing) pasted a big “Boy’s Town” sticker on the front. Imagine her dismay!

    I never had that girly-girl kitchen when I was little either. And I think that one of the best things about growing up is that we can acquire the things that we’ve dreamed of. And you, lucky lady, have the perfect excuse in that gorgeous granddaughter who spends so much time with you. I have no such excuse, so everyone knows that the toys and miniatures and the Nancy Drews and all the Oz paraphernalia is just mine.

    Lil sent me those same pictures of that house and its pink kitchen. I swooned. What a treasure. How I hope that the house’s future owners don’t rip all of that out and put in granite counter tops and stainless appliances.

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  10. My dollhouse was one under my grandmas old pedal sewing machine. I had a couple of Barbies who lived their. I made plenty of their clothes. My daughter did have a Barbie dream house.
    Ann

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