The Green Gables Utility Room

Here is a photo that I particularly like. As I recall this would be the pantry or the utility room at Green Gables. For the life of me, I cannot recall where in the house this room is situated, but it must be somewhere close to the kitchen. (Do you all even remember a dining area at Green Gables?)

Anyway, I love this room and it presents so many symbolic, archetypal representations of the good memories of childhood.

Take for instance the tub in the foreground as big tubs are now a lost utility but were so very useful back in the day. I'm wondering if the large bowls are crockery or wooden? Large, deep welled crockery bowls were useful in the South for making biscuit dough because the crockery kept the lard cool for cutting into the flour. I wonder if these large bowls were used for making pastry dough?

I love the window (which with the morning sun shining through must be facing the East) and the string hooked from cabinet to the window for drying out wet cloths. I love this and wish there were a way to do this in my apartment without it looking like a slum. But back then, there were rooms for this type of utility, and this room at Green Gables seems to be one of them.

We once had a good utility room here where I live, with deep tubs and large faucets, and a table and book shelves for reading while you wash your clothes. But the rich ladies here decided that they wanted a showroom to do their laundry, and now it looks like a Southern Living showroom for laundry and I hate it.

Is anyone here old enough to remember hanging out washed, cloth diapers on the clothes line and the joy it brought to the day? Where does that joy come from and why did Maud never mention this chore in any of her books or journals?

I keep a tub in my sink for dish washing, a soft lamp on the kitchen counter and mirror that looks like a window pane over the sink. The mirror makes it look like a window looking outside, something that is important to me in a kitchen.

I love this room at Green Gables. It contains so many symbolic, happy impressions.