quaint, inconvenient things

My family lives in a 1923 bungalow with a kitchen in sore need of repair/restoration/renovation. While the project is not on the immediate horizon, it's always tucked away in our minds, surfacing with the same frequency as the lead paint chips—or when we visit other houses the same age as ours.

When we went on this year's Twin Cities Bungalow Club Tour, we paid special attention to kitchens. The photo is from one of the houses on the tour, in Minneapolis. Nice kitty.

We have a sink like the one shown here sitting in our basement that we salvaged from our neighbor's house. It's like the one that used to be in our house, so to reinstall something like this would go a long way toward making it feel more like a traditional bungalow. Simple things, essential materials; a realm free of marble countertops and cold silver appliances.

Our constant question is, at what point does reclaiming what's "quaint" become miserable? There is a balance to be found. We aren't slavishly historical, but would prefer to follow the lead of 1920's trends over 2010's trends. Stay tuned. In (let's make a leap here) 6 years when we DO tackle our kitchen, I'll make sure to post a photo of the sink.