Friday, February 7, 2014

Playing House

I love this picture of my daughter playing with the vintage style kitchen that her dad lovingly made for her first birthday. I designed the play kitchen to look similar to ours.  Bead-board planks were used for the back-splash and the cupboard doors.  A wood counter-top gave it that farmhouse kitchen style we all know and love. I found the vintage faucet fixture at an antique shop, and the gentleman could tell I was salivating over it, so he quoted a pretty penny. I tried, in vain, to talk him down, but the fact is I would have bought it even if he went up in price. It completed the tiny kitchen. 

When I was kid playing house was my favorite thing. My sister and I had a big porch all to ourselves, and we spent many long sunny afternoons tending to baby dolls and arranging our homes. To this day, playing house is what I crave most when feeling stressed or directionless. Cleaning calms me. There are days when I wish all I had to do was fix my house up to make it look pretty. There are days when fluffing the pillows makes me feel that everything is fine with our world.  

Our little girl isn't little anymore and her kitchen is tucked away in the attic, waiting, hopefully, for another generation to play house.