Project: Summer Kitchen

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I’m trying to remember exactly how this project played out. I think Pete and I were standing in the summer kitchen one day brainstorming what in the world we could use the space for.

Summer Kitchen: It’s not what you think it is

FYI the “summer kitchen” does not refer to a modern day, Pinterest-worthy outdoor kitchen on a patio with a built-in pizza oven and a grill.
Nope.
When this house was built, the summer kitchen was a small extra building separate from the house used for food prep, so the heat produced from cooking could be kept out of the house throughout the summer months. (This was before air conditioning was a thing.) As the beginning of the summer months rolled around, they would actually disassemble the wood-fired stove that sat inside the house and move the pieces to the summer kitchen to reassemble them. This was in an effort to keep the house as cool as possible.

The Homestead McCollow’s summer kitchen is a small, rectangular building divided into two rooms, with an attic above. Some other owner of the property would eventually build a room between the house and the summer kitchen, connecting the two and making the first floor of the house seem endless, especially to first-time visitors.

Demo Day

So we were standing there, bouncing ideas back and forth – will it be a man cave? How about a home office? Who knows! All we did know for sure was that the interior wall needed a serious paint job. Someone had painted a design to look like bricks all over the wall.

Then we noticed a small hole in the plaster towards the bottom. We both looked at each other and couldn’t resist the temptation – before we knew it, one of us grabbed a hammer and started chipping away at the plaster. What the heck was under there?!

HELLO.
Underneath the plaster with painted bricks just happened to be an ACTUAL. BRICK. WALL. “This is definitely NOT your man cave. I’m claiming it as my office.” – actual words that came out of my mouth.

Pete grabbed the power tools and things got real.

Two hours later, we had a pile of plaster on the floor, plaster dust EVERYWHERE, and an exposed brick wall. It was at that moment that my love for Homestead McCollow grew so freaking high. Exposed brick is my fave.

We got it all cleaned up and what we will actually end up using the space for is TBD. Got any suggestions? I’m all ears! Tell me in the comments – What should we use our summer kitchen for?!