Make Way for Herman! Kitchen Remodel Continues…

Who is Herman?  Herman visits when the nights start to become cold.  He keeps us warm when the cold winds are blowing.  There is fire in his eyes, and he eats a steady diet of wood!  You guessed it, Herman is our wood stove.

I had high hopes that we could repair our wood cook stove and use that, it would have been so charming.  With all the work around the homestead, there is little time to be scouting out a cook stove repair shop.  In fact, there is none around these parts as far as I know.  Old faithful Herman has done us well through the years.

Early morning huddles with the family and cozy candle lit evenings hearing the crackle of fire are things that bring me to a place where I welcome the cold.  Burning wood is something we will always do.  There is just something so pleasant about the smell when you go outside.  You see that smoke billowing out the chimney and it just smells good.

We have been enjoying our fall days.  And the view out my kitchen windows is like a dream.  I see pretty golden leaves just falling all around outside, and as they blow in the wind, it just feels like time stands still.  Those are the moments of life that I just sit in awe of God.  I see His marvelous creation at it’s peak strutting it’s wide array of color and beauty before it all takes a long winter slumber.  It is like the world is on a stage, preforming and then taking its bow as petals and leaves just give the grand farewell.

I know, I am a dreamer!!!

​More renovations to my lovely homestead kitchen…

Anyhow, I had to make way for Herman.  That was a job since my kitchen was already full of shelves.  I had to get rid of 2 shelves in order to make enough room for the wood stove.  These are the times I feel full of life, when I can put my mind to the challenge and come up with even more ideas to make my kitchen more functional and pretty.  What fun!

As you can see, I had to nix the big plastic table to slide everything down for more room.  I was pretty excited because that plastic table was really not my favorite thing, it kinda spoils the rustic look.  I get to use my antique drop leaf table that I have used our entire married life.  Grandma gave it to us when we moved into our first apartment.  The drop leaf is perfect!  I can pull that leaf up for more working space and believe me, I need it.  When you do not have counter tops, you have to figure out ways to create working spaces.  And I just think it is so adorable!

I plan to sew up a cute skirt to put under that table to hide the cookers.  I am all about cute!  So there is more for me to blog about, I can show you what it looks like after I get that done!  I am planning to use my left over curtain material which is gingham check.

I had to reorganize other shelves and add another dresser.  Oh, the dresser thing is really awesome.  I mean, you can use it for a countertop and the drawers are great for holding kitchen stuff!!!

In the top drawer I placed all my hot pads, dish cloths, and towels.

The next drawer I was able to put all my plates and bowls.  The bottom drawer was used for pie plates and casserole dishes.  It is so nice to shut them into a drawer.  Love it!  I told my husband that I love my kitchen so much.  He just giggled because he could not believe I could love my kitchen so much.  It inspires me to clean, cook, and make lots of homesteading videos again.  It does make a difference when you have order, especially when it is functional and beautiful in its own way!

Since we can a lot, I found a fun way to store my rings.  I put them in a bushel basket which makes it all the more fun to can in my kitchen when I can find all the things I need!

My office space is super small and it hides under the barn staircase.  As you can see by the photo below, I tried. I tried to make it work, but the black plastic table is kinda like an eye sore in such a rustic environment.

I had one solid oak barn shelf left over in the kitchen.  It was an old shelf I salvaged from one of the out buildings.  I repurposed it for the kitchen and since I simply could not fit it into the kitchen, I thought, why not use it for my office supplies.  Hey, that could be great.  Look at what I have now…

I used my old crates for placing office supplies or paper in.  I just love it and it really does improve the organization and function
ality of my office space, not to mention, it is so adorable!!!

Everything in its place and everything in place!  Here is our Herman!  He is standing tall and ready to burn some serious wood!  Every good thing comes with surprises, though. You can’t have everything come with cake and pie.  I have learned that along the way!  Well, first off, we needed something to park the stove on that was fire proof and I scouted around town looking and I I found was an over priced very fake looking platform and Mark said he could find something around the farm for FREE that would be way nicer.

He found another piece of tin and put it on a sheet of drywall since drywall is fire proof.  He is ever so clever!

After Mark started fitting the pipes and making sure everything was sound up through the new chimney pipe he put together.  Well, after starting the fire, the kitchen filled with smoke.  He will keep trouble shooting, but we are excited since today, our friends from out of town are coming for a visit and I am sure they will get this going in no time.

I look forward to his warm glow!
​Happy Fall to you!