- Hey, y'all, please come on in the house. I've had so many people ask me, "When are you gonna do the tour again? "Y'all promised that y'all
were gonna do a tour." Well, we're still unpacking boxes, honey. We don't know where a lot
of things are gonna go. We'll put it here, but then two weeks, it may not look anything like that. Who knows? I'm the type that I have to
live in a place for awhile to see exactly how I
want it to live for me. So today I'm only showing
y'all the kitchen. And people that have known
me for the past 20 years, you know that this is where
I filmed all my shows, in this kitchen right here. So a lot of y'all recognize it. When I first started with cooking shows, I actually flew to Millbrook, New York, and I used Gordon Elliot
and his wife's kitchen. So that was not mine. It was Gordon's. So after doing that for
a season or two, I said, "This is very, very hard. "I'd like to do it at home." So, the rest of my tenure, I shot out of this kitchen. And so come on in y'all , and I want to hear what you think. If you got some good ideas, let me know. Eddie teases me that I
decorate by committee. It doesn't matter if I love something. I've got to ask everybody
that comes in the room, do you like that? (laughs) That comes from being
a people pleaser y'all. And I still hadn't learned
I don't have to worry about pleasing anybody in
my home, but me, (laughs) but I can't help it. All right, so in the renovation, these were shutters, the
two cabinets were shutters, and we decided to close those up, because we actually needed the wall space that's in the kitchen,
that's in the living room. So now that gives us a
good bit more wall space in our living room area. And if we go way back, there used to be a built-in
cabinet right here. It came out about this far. My convection up and was in there, and then cabinets and dishes
and storage stuff was there. Well, we decided to take that out, and I'm gonna show you some of the pieces that Eddie and I have found
after we sold Riverbend and sold it furnished. I had to get to shopping. So I'm gonna point out
just a few of the things that we bought. We just found this piece
bought a month ago, wasn't it, Eddie?
- Yes. - We walked into Tapley's, little antique market here in Savannah. She used to have Habersham
antiques, right, Eddie? - [Eddie] You're right,
a group shop, yeah. - Where people have their own
booths, individual booths. So I found this in her store, and I thought it was beautiful. Is it 17th century or 18th century? - [Eddie] It's it's early 18th century English Welsh structure. - Okay, 18th century. - [Eddie] So it would be 1700s. - Okay, 1700s, that's what I thought. I can get that confused. So this was built over 300 years ago, and it could tell a lot of stories, I bet. I just love it. These are some pictures,
Eddie, of my ex boyfriends, You see them? (both laugh) The drawers are still in good shape. And we're using that to keep... Oh, there's our napkin rings. I love the shiny. So like I said, we're
still trying to figure out where everything is, but
I love all the silver. I just found this piece at Seventh Heaven, and I just love it. I will actually be using this. It's great for breakfast or brunch to put your sausage or your bacon in. Eddie, God love him, (laughs) he took a piece of wood, like plywood, and he painted it the color of the walls, and he attached the chicken wire to it, because without that, we
couldn't put his dishes on it. They would have fallen to the floor. - [Eddie] Well, I didn't actually. I suggested it. I had Mike help me stretch the... (laughs) - Well, it was your idea. It was your idea. And yes, Mike, another man
in our life here that I love, yes, he helped Eddie do it. And, of course, I finally
got room for my babies' bed to come back in my house. This is where they'll
take the afternoon naps when their momma's in the kitchen. - [Eddie] Lulu's been enjoying it. - Yeah, Lulu has been
sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. We had drapes in here,
but those have long gone, 'cause I'm not using the same colors. But I was just talking
with Carolyn Hultman who has Hultman Interiors
here in Savannah. She has decorated every
Paula Deen's Family Kitchen. No matter what state it's
in, Carolyn's done them all. And she just knows my taste, and she knows the colors I like. So she was out here and
she's gonna help Eddie and me with some kind of drapery. I'm not having anything made, y'all, 'cause it's so damn
expensive, so expensive, but she's got this company that you can just buy the panels from. And I think that's what we're gonna do. And then we will probably just
glue some tape on the edges, and they'll look like a million bucks for 100 bucks. (laughs) And I can't remember how long
I've had this table, y'all, but this farmhouse table,
it's old, old, old, old wood. - Old heart pine.
- Heart pine, yes. And the chairs, I wanted
ladder back chairs so badly. I wanted a very understated chair. And so we were in Clutter's one day. Clutter's is a shop where if
you want to sell something, you take it to Lynn to Clutter's, and she will sell it for you. And Lynn really gets
some pretty things in, don't she, Eddie?
- Yes. Yeah, it's a great little
treasure hunt place. - Great little treasure hunt. So that's where we
finally found our chairs. This is very special to me. This was Michelle and Anthony's
great-grandmother's sofa. And Michelle called me a
month or so ago, and she said, "I'm still hauling around Nana's sofa. "Do you think you might want it?" And I said, "Well, send
me a picture, honey, "I don't remember what it looks like." She sent me a picture and I
said, "Heck, yes, I want it." So she brought it right over. And Nana passed away at 102. And so I'm just thrilled
that Michael's children can come in this house and see something that has history to them. That's real important to me. So that is Nana's sofa. And the rest of the furniture is - Paula Deen furniture.
- Paula Deen (laughs) Homemade Comfort. - Wonderful Craftmaster.
- Yes, Craftmaster is who does my upholstered furniture. I said I want every chair in
this house to swivel and rock, 'cause I don't think I had the
first rocking chair, Eddie, with every grandchild. I never had one.
(Eddie chuckles) This is another piece
that I bought at Tapley's, and it's very, very old, very, very old, but so pretty. So very pretty. - [Eddie] I think this one
we got it at Bull Street. - Are you sure?
- Yeah. - [Paula] I know the
one in the living room - That one's from Tapley's.
- We got from Tapley's. - This one we got at Bull.
- You know, you are right. - [Eddie] This one's 19th century. The other one's 18th century. - Uh huh, that one's the oldest in there. You're exactly right. And one day I'll show you the one that's older than this one. You're right, we got that
at Bull Street Antiques, I guess is what they go by. So this area, oh, and
let me show you this, this we found at Seventh Heaven. This is so primitive and old. Is this Danish, do you think? - [Eddie] This is an American piece. - American?
- Yeah. - [Paula] Wow. - [Eddie] We were told that it came out of Johnny Mercer's family - That's right.
- From a family member. - That's right. I wonder what family. I wonder if it could have
been as mother's and father's. - [Eddie] I mean, to me
it reminds me of something from maybe like the Pennsylvania area with the heart cutouts, and these would have been
probably for spoons, utensils. - Yeah, I bet, I bet. I bet, Eddie. I bet you're right. - [Eddie] And it probably probably sat on top of a piece of furniture even maybe. - [Paula] I think that it did, and the drawers still work. And what year si this, Eddie? - He didn't say.
- What is that? There's a piece of wood from something. It must be from the legs. - [Eddie] But just looking at it, it looks like it would be
either late 18th century, or early 18-
- If Jim Williams had it, he had exquisite taste. - Yeah, well, not Jim
Williams, Johnny Mercers. - Oh, Johnny Mercer. Oh, I thought you said... (Eddie laughs) Okay, I'm getting mixed up now. It's late in the day, and we've been working most of the day. So Johnny Mercer, and I
love Johnny Mercer's music. In fact, when I lived
next door in my condo, my neighbor was Johnny Mercer's niece, and she knows she's no longer with us. Her name was Nancy. And, oh, she could sing. And she just had the most wonderful, one of those people that
you just love being around. So I'm glad I got that in my mind. Maybe that could have
been from Nancy's family. Who knows?
- Possibly, yeah. - And these plates are the
plates that my grandmother Paul and my grandfather Paul, this is what they served their steaks on at Riverbend Restaurant. If you came in and ordered a steak, it was gonna be on the ivy china. So that's very, very special to me. Very, very special. And let's see what else? - [Eddie] Do you wanna
talk about your chandelier a little bit? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so if you'll remember, I don't know if y'all will remember, but this was all porch. And 17 years ago when we built this house, our family was not that big, but now we have 11 grandchildren. And when we get together,
it's 21 or 22 of us. So I said, "We got to have more room. "We can't sit anybody in
the space the way it was." So I had them take this
wall down and shove it out to the porch. So our porch is much smaller, but that's all right by me,
because it's so dang gone hot, you don't stay out there too, too long. I got one more thing in
here I'd like to show y'all, and this is our lighting Eddie and I went over to
Bluffton, South Carolina, which is just across the bridge, to a store called The Light Post. And Becky, what Becky's last name? - I believe it's Brackett.
- Brackett. Becky Brackett?
- Yeah, I think so. - (laughs) That's hard to say. (laughs) - [Eddie] I hope so, right? (laughs) - So she handmade all
of our light fixtures. And this, if you stand up underneath it, it is incredibly beautiful, but I'm gonna have her
make some changes on it, because it's a little too flat for me. So I'm gonna have her
come and do some twisting on those copper leaves
and brings some copper up to the ceiling, because, like I said, it doesn't do it justice
unless you're standing right under it, but they make beautiful, beautiful lightings, all kinds. Okay, so here's what y'all
really gonna remember, and that's the kitchen. You know I had a fireplace
here at one time. It was another color, and
this was my countertop. We put a new counter top on it, and we actually made a ledge, so we could sit up here and eat. So this is where Michael and
Eddie and I eat every night. And it's just as comfortable as can be. We got the same stove,
the same stove there, they're the same vent hood. Everything's just been painted, y'all. We always had these little bench seats, but while we were doing them, I asked them if they would
make them where they lift up. So I've got storage in there. And Eddie has stuck
family pictures up here, which I love looking at. Just love looking at all the babies. And this was the only
pantry that I had, y'all. And I remember when we
built this house, I said, "I just want my pantry
to have screen doors." So it's got screen doors, which I keep open most of the time, but I just thought that
was such a wonderful little farmhouse look. And we don't have this room done yet. We are working on it, but it's where my microwave
and my big convection oven... This is just like we
use in the restaurants. And once you get used to cooking in these, I can't hardly cook in
it like a home oven. So, we have refrigerated
drawers coming for right there. They're not in yet, but we've got lots of cabinet
space for stuff. (laughs) You know, that stuff that we all collect. We've got enough liquor to
make this whole town drunk. - [Eddie] Michael likes to collect things. (both laugh) - He does like to collect things. And we don't even drink. Michael might take a
drink every three months. You know it, Eddie? - [Eddie] I think he's
trying to get into wine. - Oh, is he? (laughs) - [Eddie] He's trying. - Oh he wants to be a little
bit more, not so redneckish. (both laugh) He will never make it, Eddie. He's a redneck. (laughs) So I don't know if y'all remember, I don't know how much
this got in the shots, but also one of my requests was when we built this house 17 years ago, I wanted an appliance pantry, because I don't like having
to get down on my hands and knees to pull things out of the drawer that I don't use that often. So this is wonderful. I actually made a cake, and I made some cookies the other day. I just wanted to make sure
that this felt and moved like I wanted it to, and it does. It's just a perfect place to bake. I love it. Got everything I need to bake
us a cake, honey, right there. All right, let me get this shut back up. And then we've got a
lot of big space down. I've got a real deep drawer right there to keep my pressure cooker
and my big pieces of cookware. I mean, it's really a lot of space. And this piece I had when we built the house
down the road, Riverbend. I asked them, the guys that
were doing some woodwork for us, if they would build me
something for the laundry room, so I'd have some place to fold
the clothes and all of that. So they built me this, and that was in the laundry
room that Riverbend. And Eddie pulled it in here
yesterday, was it, Eddie, or day before yesterday?
- Yeah. - And I'm still looking at it. (laughs) Like I said, it has to grow on me. It's so handy as far as the space, but I don't know if we're
gonna keep it or not, but it's beautiful wood. It came from something else
they were building there in the house for me. And I want to show you this little lamp. I just love this lamp. So, the story behind this is I
found this frog at HomeGoods. So I took it to Joe at
Seventh Heaven, and said, "Joe, could you kiss my frog
and turn him into a lamp?" (laughs) And he said, "Yes," and he did. And I just think he's the
cutest thing I've ever seen. Kiss a frog. (laughs) We were fortunate our same
refrigerator is still working after 17 years. I'm waiting on freezer
drawers for right here. it's just amazing when you've been in a kitchen for 50 years how much
stuff you can collect, but I've decided I want
to be a minimalist. Did I say it right, Eddie?
- Yep. - Minimalist, surrounded
by all this stuff. - [Eddie] Yeah, I think I'm
gonna have to refresh you on what that word means. (both laugh) - Yeah, I've got our dictionary from when I was a child in there. You might have me look up
that word, but you know what? I couldn't spell it to look it up. That would be my problem. So when we lived here before, y'all, this was Michael's office. Michael did not need an office I realized, 'cause we built this
when we first married, and I didn't realize with
him being a harbor pilot, his office is the river. So, I found that he just kind
of cluttered up this room with nonsense kind of stuff. I hope Michael don't
watch this video. (laughs) But anyway, so, I told him, I said, 'This time around you
don't get your office. "You're losing your office,
because I need another pantry." So, I did have them put a knee hole here, and he can put his computer there. But look at my pantry, y'all. I love this pantry. You know why? Is that yours, Eddie?
- Yep, that's mine. I love it, because it's not deep. And I don't have to pull
half of the drawer out to find what I'm looking for. I just love it love it. And it's tucked around
here where you can't see it from the kitchen. And we're having doors. I don't like all these
open cabinets so much. I don't have that much
pretty that I want to see. I got, I was gonna say a menagerie, and there is some animals in here, but Steve, the cabinet man, is putting doors here, here, and here. And we're gonna keep this open, because these are the cows
that my aunt Peggy gave me. How long ago, a couple of months, Eddie, when we were there to see her? So I want to see these every
time I want to see them. That cow actually mooed. - Is it a Mattel?
- Yes. - [Eddie] A Mattel Child's Story? - Yeah, they owned the toy
house in Albany, Columbus, and one in Florida. And I don't know if it was for sale or if Mattel gave it to them
as a prop for the Mattel toys. I don't know, I'll have
to ask aunt Peggy that. But it's just so nice
to have all this room. And I so appreciated living
at Bobby and Claud's, but all his cabinets were
full of his stuff. (laughs) And so I had to put just a little bit on top of Bobby's stuff, but I will never be able
to convey to them how much that meant to Michael and me to have that opportunity to stay there. So, that's it for the kitchen, y'all. And the next, I'll do the living room. I'll take you a tour on the living room, and I hope y'all enjoyed it. And I hope you saw on the
first couple of tours, because it looked like a hurricane had come through this house. (laughs) So love and best dishes, y'all. (laughs)
