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154 year old Pennsylvania church converted to a home & artist workshop studio

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Kitchen Sink Kitchen

The room is tiny, tucked under the balcony that once held the organ and a chorus of singing voices. There is a big sunny south facing window in it, but it's just six and a half feet wide by 14 feet long.

When we bought the church, I think it's last use had been a little nursery for the little ones. There was an old wooden highchair and a old wooden rocker with a cane seat that was broken through sitting in it. It also held a little bathroom sink that was plumbed in and dozens of dead ladybugs.

This room has a window, a pane of glass just in the wall, that looks into the main church room. You can imagine it was used to keep the little ones quiet during services and allow the people babysitting to look out.

When I first saw the room I thought it would be perfect for my crafts. The sink would be handy and the area under the stairs would make a great place to keep supplies. But I seriously underestimated just how much art and craft materials I have, without even bringing all my stained glass equipment into the picture.

Morton and Jimmy put up a lovely sturdy shelf under the stairs built with reclaimed wood from the inner workings of the old pipe organ. I had it loaded with boxes and organizers and over flowing and had only brought about a fifth of my supplies up. It was outgrown before I was even using it.

Then the idea came. How about I take the balcony for my studio space, arts and crafts and office for my businesses? It has a stunning view, about 1,300 square feet and when I'm working on a window or a painting, I don't have to worry about tidying it up if we are getting company.

Thankfully Morton liked the idea too. Now the little room was free again and with the cold weather coming, we decided the room would be the perfect size to put our kitchen sink into. We can close the door, add a tiny bit of heat so nothing freezes and the shelves that once housed boxes of vellum paper, paint brushes and sewing notions are now filled with food, plates, cups and everything you'd expect to find in a kitchen pantry. Plus the little nook under the stairs is perfect for the microwave, toaster, tea kettle and all our other kitchen things that I use to make our church feel like a home.

Now comes the sink! The glorious sink. I spent $20 from Re-Store Habitat for Humanity store for a lovely white cast iron sink in good condition. My sister had given us a brand new stunning copper kitchen faucet set several years ago and the two are sitting on a very old table from Ireland with barley twist legs that was given to us by a very kind man.

The result is just the coziest, sunny little kitchen that is also going to hold my flowers that will bloom all winter, herbs I use for cooking and most of all, that sink full of character and charm.

Cost of the whole make over is under 100, including the floor times!

We've enjoyed our first breakfast in the little room today on a drop leaf table (also given to us), with two mismatched wooden chairs that were free and I have to tell you, I almost couldn't chew my grapefruit from smiling so much.

See the pictures and follow along our journey on our Facebook page.

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