My Internal Narrative

Shortly after we moved into 3301 we discovered the original owner of our home was Pearl Freidman. We found her name on an old alarm system permit and on the tag on the silk draperies from JC Penny's that hang in the living room. I imagine Pearl to be the mother of the developer of the neighborhood. The house is situated in a prime location at the top of the hill. She was probably in her sixties and widowed when she moved into her home and she entertained her sons, their wives and her grandchildren here.

Pearl left her mark on many areas of the home. The care that was taken in the design of the kitchen and pink and gray hall bath are prime examples of her love of this home. The kitchen, very sixties mind you, has brown tile counters, gold terrazzo-style vinyl flooring and brown, orange and gold floral wallpaper on the sofit. The valance over the kitchen window coordinates perfectly. The cabinets are pecan plywood, 3/4" thick. I don't really know the original color because the finish has ambered significantly.

Last week I took to scrubbing 52 years of love and use from the cabinets and removed the remaining white wallpaper from the sofit revealing pristine vinyl wallpaper. I also replaced the cabinet knobs with Amerock 1 3/4" chrome dish knobs that mimic what I believe were original.

Kitchen sofit, before

 

Pearl's Kitchen design!

 

Kitchen 1/2 way through scrubbing... 

 

Kitchen cabinets, new knobs and everything

There were two cabinets I had not yet tackled, on either side of the drawers pictured above. They are the kind of cabinets that travel back further than your arm can reach. The kind where outdated appliances go to die. I decided to dig in and clean them, perhaps even lay shelf paper. Half a day later and we have even more storage! While I toiled at the task I found a box, a jewelry box.  And inside? Stay tuned! Meanwhile, I hope Pearl is pleased that we are loving her home.

Now, while I was toiling away revealing Pearl's plans, Scott was busy...very busy in the corner bedroom (the guest bedroom). I'll post his trials later this week. And trust me they are worth the wait!