Just an old hat living in an old house, with a husband who started all this trouble with old houses, because his mother started him, and he hoped to be done with it all when he went off to college, where he met me, and then made the mistake of bringing me home to his old house, which I fell in love with and said I’m on mom’s side. Fortunately he was resilient, pursuit of art and music would be made three dimensional, the medium would be wood, and preferably two to three hundred years old.
Linda Sunderland
the view from here 
yes, we also have an old house, but it is in Auckland New Zealand, which is a much younger country than yours (by colonial standards) and dates from 1860-1870. We have been restoring it over the last 4 years, and still have the kitchen and a few other bits to go (so I was looking through various sites to get a few ideas on stand-alone cabinets, etc) and enjoyed your story a great deal. I guess the key is to look to use as much in the way of locally sourced materials as possible, and to use methods of construction (and tools, mouldings, detailing etc) that were used during the period when the house was constructed. Thanks again for your encouraging words. By the way, dont worry too much about the house not being “completed” – a friend told me there’s an old Chinese proverb which goes something like “House finish, man die”. Regards, Richard
Thank you, Richard – I love the Chinese proverb – the perfect excuse not to finish! Best of luck with your project – I’m sure you will capture the “soul” of your house into the context of your new kitchen. Enjoy the process – wish I could see the end result – in person! :)
Hi,
I for some reason am unable to sign up to follow your blog via email. I love antiques and antique houses, grew up with them all around me in Portland CT. I’ll try again, maybe there’s a little problem that will resolve itself :)
Jayne
DaiseyJayne.com
Good Morning –
I’m sorry that didn’t work for you – I just tested it and it seemed to be working.
If you type your email address into the email subscription box and click the ‘sign me up’ box it will send you an email to follow, then you have to click the “confirm follow.”
Maybe try again?
Thanks for your comments!
Linda