My Country Kitchen

That’s how she rolls. Barbara McCollum planned her whole log home kitchen around her prized collections.

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Mason jars get put to use both as canisters and as part of overhead lighting.

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Both functional and cheerful, her kitchen holds a wealth of memories.

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She Keeps Rolling Along

By Barbara McCollum, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania

Collections pack this cute kitchen cram-jam full of charm.

I am a collector. That’s obvious when you first step into my colorful kitchen. Most people don’t know where to look first! It’s always fun to watch their faces.

So I’m glad that when my husband, Terry, and I built our log home in this rural town back in 1995, I decided it was time to really showcase my collections.

The rolling pin collection prompts the most questions, but the mason jars preceded it. When Terry and I married 35 years ago, I couldn’t find canisters that felt “old” enough. So I began using pint, quart and half-gallon jars to hold everything from nuts to flour.

Look up, and you’ll see blue quart-size jars, anchored to wagon wheels, in the unique lighting fixtures my father-in-law crafted.

He also made the three vertical wooden holders on the walls for my rolling pins, and is now working on a fourth. A few rolling pins hang elsewhere, too, including seven from a garden rake that Terry painted bright red and hung upside down.

Pinning Down the Appeal

Displaying the rolling pins is important to me. What makes my collection special isn’t that I have 78 rolling pins, but the fact that no two are alike and each has its own story. I love to dust them, because it gives me a chance to think back to the time I got each one.

I often ask visitors to choose their favorite so I can tell them its story. They’re all numbered and noted in a special journal.

The first was my grandmother’s rolling pin, unusual because she continued using it long after the handles had broken off! It reminds me of childhood Saturday mornings watching her roll out pie dough and mix dough for seven loaves of bread in an enormous pan. So when she passed away in 1987, I requested her rolling pin and the red-and-white graniteware pan.

Rollin’…Rollin’…Rollin’…

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Barbara especially cherishes her rolling pins, all unique and displayed creatively on special holders, including an inverted rake. Her grandmother’s rolling pin—the short, dark one behind the white tea towel—and big graniteware pan are special treasures, as is the chair with rolling pin slats.

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Then my collections really got rolling. Terry gave me a new rolling pin every birthday, Christmas and anniversary, and I’d hunt for more on business trips around the country. Our three sons, now grown, brought me rolling pins to mark their college graduations or weddings.

I’ve been honored to receive rolling pins from the kitchens of church members who’ve passed away. Another favorite is the one my employees had made when I retired. After 20 years at West Virginia University Hospitals in nearby Morgantown, I left to work from home as a legal nurse consultant and real estate agent.

People are sometimes surprised to learn that, despite all these rolling pins, I don’t do much baking. I love to cook, though, and when our boys were home, I’d cook large meals. I especially enjoy making roast chicken and turkey, lasagna, big pots of homemade soup and homemade noodles.

So I prize my kitchen’s functionality. And with the desk right there, I can work while keeping an eye on something simmering on the stove or cooking in the oven. Note that the chair, built by my youngest son, even has back slats that look like rolling pins!

Seeing Red

My red-and-white graniteware is just as functional as it is fun. I keep kitchen towels, bread and more in roasters and other large pieces, and use Granny’s big pan as a holiday punch bowl.

Their color really pops against the oak cabinets and gray stone floor. The cheery red-and-white checked wallpaper and curtains may have tipped you off that red’s my favorite color. A bold red stripe even runs along my navy blue counters, and you’ll see lots of red hearts as accents.

I very much enjoy all my special objects, since to me, a collection is mostly about connection. Everywhere I look, I see reminders of someone I love or somewhere I’ve been. I’m blessed indeed to see so many memories, right at my fingertips.

 

Floor Plan

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