Hello all. Here is some information on actress spoons. It's from the Old and Sold website. Google the words "old sold article 872" to find the link to this article. It's an interesting read and some of you may find information on your spoons there as well. "One of Miss Garrett's old Gorham catalog pages shows a set of fifteen actress spoons made in a limited edition of 250 sets, for the 1892 Actor's Fund Fair held in New York City. Each spoon is tipped by a dimentional bust of an actress and carries a facsimile of her autograph. The signatures on the old catalog page cannot be read, and Gorham now has no record of the fifteen actresses portrayed. Of this set of spoons, Miss Garrett has six which show these signatures; Sarah Bernhardt, Rosina Vokes, Mary Anderson, Annie Russell, Fanny Davenport, and one which is illegible. These limited edition spoons were sold at the Actors Fund Fair, to raise money for indigent theatrical performers. For the same 1892 Fair, Gorham made the remarkable cream ladle showing five actresses on obverse handle and five actors on reverse."

I love this kitchen!! I love the character and the timelessness with so many of today's great features that we all want. I have been planning a kitchen remodel for what feels like 2 years now and my layout is very similar with the exception to the amount of space you have to the left of your double wall ovens. Thank you for all the detailed pictures as this validates a lot of my current layout choices, especially the corner of your sink wall / cooking wall where I've been back and forth 100 times and where your double ovens are located!!

I think these posts would make a great book. I certainly can't begin to top any of these stories. Some are hilarious. Mimsic: I think we must be related. What you described is how I grew up. Probably one incident I won't forget is the day my daughter prepared a meal for all her new inlaws and we were also invited. She set the table beautifully for everyone and when they sat down, instead of politely passing food (clockwise, I might add) they all stood up and grabbed for a dish, served themselves and put the dish back down. I will never forget the look of dismay on my dear, darling daughter's face. She couldn't believe it and neither could I. I do like to serve food hot, so when I call people to the table, the food is hot and ready to eat. My stepdaughter, husband and 7 children were here this summer from another state. When we all sat down to dinner and I was bringing in the last dish, they began singing which continued for what seemed like 10 to 20 minutes, never taking a pause so I could stop them. My point is that when you are a guest in someone's home, they usually direct how things will go at the table. I have another stepdaughter who came from a long distance for a weekend with hubby and 3 children. This was right after DH and I were married. We were at work when she arrived. I had a dinner planned to make when I arrived home, but when I arrived, she had all our pots out and had made some dinner with her own food for the family. there were dirty dishes and pots all over the kitchen. That was a surprise. Another time, they picnicked on our front lawn waiting for us to come home. They had a blanket spread and their food and ate and had a great time in front of all our neighbors. I say these things as my being appalled at basic manners being totally absent. My parents were simple folks but had good manners and there were simply things you didn't do. Oh Well. Love the people inspite of their differences.

Kaismom asks a good question.....where do you put all that messy media stuff if not in the living room? Thankfully, the TV has given up the throne as the most important electronic device in our homes. I grew up with it firmly ensconced on its living room throne. That meant no real visitation could go on in that space. Then there came the stereo, cassette player, 8-track player, CD and VHS and now DVD and TiVo and BluRay, and thumb drives and the biggest thing of all, which I think has finally knocked the electronics and all those WIRES out of the living room, THE COMPUTER, THE TABLET, THE E-READER, and we have a new need. At our house, we do not have a home office. Instead, we have a STUDY. I mean, we are both retired. We do not work, except on personal projects. And we read. Holy cow, do we ever READ! And since we have no need for a second bed, unless it is a daybed, we turned our #2 bedroom into a STUDY. PERFECT place to put all our electronics. And that included the flat panel TV. The charging cords for the cell phones, the tablet, the GPS even, the DVDs, the CDs, and I figured out how to play my DVDs on the computer screen, which now doubles as a TV. They are even building the monitors these days to moonlight as a TV when the old tower or separate OS is junked. So I'd say, move all that STUFF out of the living room. If it is possible, make the LR into your guest room. We shall do that, if it looks like we might need to have guests stay over, by mounting french doors to close it off. Usually a LR is the most spacious room in the house. And it is frequently not on the traffic pattern one uses in the mornings to get ready for work. I give myself a pat on the back for thinking about it. Talk about UNDER-UTILIZED SPACE, that is the living room if set up as a separate space. Keep it looking pretty. I mean, you could move that "entertainment center" into the former bedroom/guest room, and move a hidden Murphy bed into the living room, yet keep the space sensational for every occasion. I'm married to an Irishman, and heaven knows, they LOVE TO TALK, so having a sitting room area which is quiet enough for meaningful conversation is a big plus. Up in MA, I furnished the real living room, which was fairly small, had a fireplace, with a simple love seat facing the fireplace, and two armed dining chairs on either side of the fireplace. Just enough table surface for us to set down a wine blass or a beer can or a Diet Coke--because this is the place which set the mood for good adult conversation.No TV, no radio. Well, that's my take on where to put it. And that's all I've got to say about that. :)