Kitchen Island

The beginning…

Journey to the Farm

It was a summer day when we received an interesting phone call.  A lady by the name of Laura had called to ask if we would be interested in some antique furniture.  Needless to say we were super curious to she what she was trying to sell.  For some reason theres always a sense of excitement when ever we head out on these journeys.  Theres always a child like thrill of discovering or finding furniture, almost like a child waking up on Christmas morning.  So we go to the address we were given, and end up at this farm.  The scenery was beautiful, fields and trees as far as the eyes can see. There was a main farm house that I guess someone might have lived in at some point, but looked somewhat unlived in at that time. Off to the side there was two large barns. We were in awe at the beautiful structures, and we couldn’t contain the excitement we were feeling for what we might find. 

We were greeted by a young lady, who then led the way to where the goodies were.  We enter the barn where the items she was selling were in. As she opened the door, we felt like we had died and gone to heaven.  It was dusty, musty and almost something like out of a movie. We didn’t know where to look first, and almost had a dizzy feeling because there was so much to take in.  After a few deep breaths we started to ask Laura a few questions about this farm.  She tells us that it was her grandfathers farm that was for sale.  They were trying to sell everything because there was only so much that they could keep between all the family members.  This property had been in her grandfathers family for over 7 generations. It had once been a working farm and you can imagine how many items you can accumulate in 7 generations. Most of the furniture had been made by this family themselves. Simple structured furniture that was very functional for the time. Small tables, benches, ladders, chairs, etc… Off in the corner one piece in particular caught our eyes.

We asked what it was and were told that it was a bakers table.  Since everything back then was home made, they needed surface that would allow them to prepare baked goods but also to store the flour used for baking. We open one of the drawers and found that it still had flour in it!!!! That was all it took to decide that this was coming home with us.  Automatically we were transported to the past. Laura had told us it was at least 130 years old, and it was made by a family member and has remained in the family ever since. It’s crazy to think that everything had to be hand made back in those times. If you wanted a cookie, cake or even a piece of bread back then, guess what? You were baking it!  None of the modern conveniences of today that’s for sure. Although I’m sure many traditions were probably rolled out on this piece. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, we can just imagine the recipes that were passed down from generation to generation. One of our favourite sayings is “ if this piece could speak, the stories it would tell”. This particular one goes without saying, mother and daughter rolling out pie dough, or making a weeks worth of bread to feed the family. Traditions, memories, history and recipes all rolled into one.

Along with a bunch of other furniture, we left feeling like we were taking a piece of history home with us. Fast forward a few months later, we receive a phone call one day. A lovely woman buy the name of Lisa was looking for a kitchen island for her new home. She had mentioned that the new kitchen wasn’t that big and she asked if we could help her out. We had told her of this table and she was thrilled, we made a few suggestions and she was convinced it would work. We stripped the existing paint that was on it, added a butchers block and some new hardware to make it functional.

Presto pronto Lisa has a new kitchen island. The wood tray that slides out from underneath the butchers block is original, along with its knife marks!

Lisa has told us that she is thrilled that now she has a surface that she can use to bake with her own granddaughter.  This modern home now has character and is definitely a conversation piece. we hope that this family can make new memories together for generations to come.