It’s time for a now and then look inside Rosslyn’s kitchen — circa 2006-7 as well as this past summer, August 2024 — with a focus on extra early phase historic rehab. I’ll begin with some photographs from the day of our inspection in the spring of 2006. Then I’ll share three views from January 5, 2007 when kitchen deconstruction begins. Ground zero. Disassembling slowly, carefully to preserve trim, built-ins, etc. for architectural salvage and adaptive reuse. And I’ll close with a couple of recent photographs.
Whether dancing decisively and enthusiastically into 2025, just barely fumbling forward, or ping-ponging back-and-forth between the two, the start of a new year promises plenty of change. A time of transformation (both authentic and contrived) propelled by the calendar, celestial bodies, habit, and optimism. In this liminal space between years past and years to come, between history and my story, I’m finding renewed enthusiasm for “deep digging” (ie. excavation) and revisiting our early months and years as Rosslyn’s new homeowners.
Before I continue cracking open this time capsule illustrating our first foray into Rosslyn’s évolution de cuisine, I’d like to braid today’s dispatch into the context of time, specifically Susan and my time at Rosslyn, especially with respect to our early adventures as the incoming stewards of this singular property and our current adventure as the outgoing stewards. What exactly does that mean?! Perhaps clarity will come with further composition. Perhaps… (And if not, there’s always the before and after photos that might well simplify the narrative!)
Simply put, this time of transition and flux is especially poignant as we advance our adventure toward identifying Rosslyn’s future homeowners. I’m looking forward by looking backward, revisiting the first couple of years that Susan, Tasha, Griffin, and I dove headlong into this love affair with a tumbledown home. 
It was an opportunity not only to  reimagine Rosslyn, but to reimagine ourselves. It was a period — an *extended* period! — of radical rehab. Of home. Of family. Of selves. 
Making Rosslyn’s kitchen our own, leapfrogged forward when kitchen deconstruction began.
There’s something profoundly personal about kitchens, especially kitchens belonging to those of us who love to cook and who love to entertain. For about half a year after we closed on the property we made use of the existing kitchen. The large enameled woodstove had been removed as well as some appliances and all utensils and accessories. But otherwise looked about the same as you see in the pictures above.
While we weren’t living at Rosslyn, we were there virtually all day every day. And occasionally we did spend nights as well — one night in October 2006 to celebrate Susan’s birthday and several nights in the winter when a snowstorm closed off access to the Rock Harbor home where we were staying — so we were using the kitchen quite regularly. Observing. Experimenting. Learning. All the while reimagining the kitchen in its next iteration.
What you see in these final two photographs is the kitchen as we’ve enjoyed it since the end of 2008 or so.
From the beginning of deconstruction through today, we’ve appreciated the opportunity to adapt and reuse this functional space in a manner consistent with our own personal lifestyle while honoring the home’s heritage as a hub of hosting and entertaining. So many stories. Delicacies. Aromas. So much laughter. And almost two decades of indelible memories!
What do you think?