SPRING IN THE KITCHEN

I ran out of blog steam, so I am reposting a Springtime post from 2013.
I decided our kitchen needed to celebrate the end of winter with a few Spring touches.


I added a few sprigs of faux Lavender to the shelf above the stove.

LIFE IS A KITCHEN FULL OF CHERRIES!

Our kitchen has kind of an out of the way (read, “out of sight”) appliance counter.  I usually don’t post pictures of it on my blog.  You’ll know why I don’t when you see these pictures.  This area is always a mess.  I know, a good blogger would at least straighten up this countertop before posting, but I like to keep it real on this blog!  (I know that sounds like an excuse for being too lazy to clean up this area.  That’s exactly what it is!)

See that red bread box, turned on it’s side?  I recently ordered something from Celestina Marie Designs Etsy store, and that cute magnetic list pad was a gift with my order.

I store some of my well used cookbooks inside the bread box.  See that cute recipe card with the little cherries in the corner?  Some of those were also included in my order from Celestina Marie Designs!  What a fun package this was to open.

Since I never take any pictures in this corner of my kitchen, I thought as long as I was being so “real” on my blog, I’d share a couple of other things in this corner.  Those two paintings were created and gifted to me by college friends.  Yes, I think my “New Better Homes & Garden” cookbook is an antique now!

One of my all time favorite movies is It’s A Wonderful Life.  I’ve watched it so many times, I think I can quote every line in that movie.  (You think quoting lines while they are being said on the screen is the reason nobody ever wants to watch it with me?)  A friend of mine gave me a vintage “lobby card” from the movie.  That’s the top framed picture.

One year, my husband took the lobby car to a cake decorator, who scans photos on the computer and then puts them on a cake.  He also supplied a picture of me to the cake maker.  That’s how my head ended up on Donna Reed’s cute body, with Jimmy Stewart holding me up in the air! 

Okay, now we’re getting to what I actually ordered from Clestina Marie.  It’s hanging on the side of my messy spice rack.

This cute cone with the cherry cutout  was on sale in her Etsy, and I couldn’t resist ordering it.

Celestina even included two battery powered candles to use inside the cone!

I don’t really have a cherry themed kitchen.  However, some of you may know that I grew up in this house.  When we remodeled, I kept my Mother’s breakfast room light fixture, and I stenciled cherries on the ceiling, so I did accidentally end up with the beginnings of a cherry theme.  Until I saw this cone on Celstina Marie Deisgns Etsy, I didn’t know I wanted to add to the cherry theme.  It just kind of happened.

Yes, life is a bowl full of cherries, and it seems I may have unintentionally ended up with a kitchen full of cherries!  Thank you for stopping by my blog.  laurie

I am linking this post to Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life. (This post is inspiring other bloggers to keep it real.  After all, if Laurie can show THIS on her blog, it should make other bloggers feel more comfortable posting a “not-perfectly-clean” area of their homes.)

SPRINGTIME IN THE KITCHEN

I decided our kitchen needed to celebrate the end of winter with a few Spring touches.

I added a few sprigs of faux Lavender to the shelf above the stove.

A basket, placed at the end of the kitchen island, is ready to be taken on a picnic at a moments notice.

The plates (Comptoir de Familee) were a recent purchase through One Kings Lane.

And a bowl of apples too.

At the other end of the kitchen island, I replaced dark placemats with bright, floral Quimper placemats.

I also brought a little Springtime to our built-in china cabinet.

Okay, I’ll “fess” up.  This cute cross stitch, a Christmas gift from my sister, has hung here through the winter.  It does have a Springtime look though, so I’m sneaking it into this post as part of my Spring kitchen décor.  I hope it’s warm enough where you are to drink a glass of ice cold lemonade.  laurie
I am linking to Seasonal Sundays at The Tablscaper.

OUR HEART OF THE HOME-AGAIN

I tend to forget that there are blog readers who don’t comment.  I seldom remember to check my stats, because I think I already know how many people are reading my blog – based on the number of comments.  When I do remember to check my stats, I start thinking, “uh oh, some people ended up at my blog by mistake”.  Recently, I was reminded that the kind people who leave comments on my blog aren’t the only people reading my blog, and at least one of them visits my blog intentionally!  I received a very kind comment from “Emanu from Argentina”, who informed me that she had been reading my blog for a year, but had never left a comment.  I was so flattered that someone had actually found my blog a year ago and intentionally continued to read it!  Emanu alerted me that the sidebar link to my kitchen pictures was not working.  (Wow! She not only wants to read my blog; she wants to see our kitchen again!)  Of course, I wanted to fix my link (if only for Emanu), but when I looked at my previous kitchen post, I realized that my blog pictures have improved since I first posted the kitchen (and a few things in our kitchen have changed) (other than that it is even more cluttered than it was previously). So…for those of you who remember previously seeing our junky treasure-filled kitchen (I do like being surrounded by my stuff), I apologize. Emanu, has flattered me into reposting it. I do have a question for you at the end of this post (my sneaky way of getting you to look even though you’ve seen our kitchen before).









We do love our fresh tomatoes, so I didn’t move them for the picture.  Yum!







Now I need your opinion.  This china cabinet is at the end of my island (to the left of my range alcove).  I want to paint it, but I can’t decide whether to go with an Annie Sloan cream color or blue, or some other color entirely.  As you’ve seen, the cabinets in my kitchen are either cream or blue.  If I use one of the A.S. blue paints, I will have to try to mix something to get closer to my blue cabinet color, and I’m not sure I can accomplish that.  Please give me your opinion of what I should do with this china cabinet (other than de-clutter it – I already know I need to do that.  When I paint it, I hope to purge some of the clutter.  I use the word “hope”, because, as you know, purging is not an easy task for me.)

Thank you for visiting my kitchen – again.  Y’all come back now!  laurie

HEART OF THE HOME

Oh, how I love plates -- especially Quimperware.

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As in most homes, my kitchen is the "heart of the home". Most of you probably saw my kitchen on RMS, but I do have some stories to share about it (again, is everyone shocked that I have a story or two to tell?).

My parents built this house in 1949, so I grew up here. My father died in 1969, and my mother died in 2000. My maternal grandparents had lived with us while I was growing up. I tell you that, so you might possibly understand why it took me three years, following my mother's death, to go through everything and get the house cleaned out. My mother and my grandmother were "pack rats" (and since I am also a pack rat, I say that with love). This house was filled with their "stuff". So, I come by it naturally (however, my sister could have pulled a dump truck up in the driveway, and she would have been done with the clean-out in a week--I don't know why I got that trait and she didn't).

Let me tell you... a pack rat, going through a houseful of three generations of pack rats, takes some time (to be honest, 3 years really wasn't enough time!).

When I finally had thrown away everything that I could part with (about 4 garbage cans full -- and they were small garbage cans), we had to decide what to do with the house. My dh had "courted" me while I was living in this house. After our marriage, we and our children ate many Sunday dinners in this house and celebrated many holidays here. Since we live in the town where we grew up, and since it is a fairly small town, we knew we'd be driving by this house frequently. Neither my dh nor I could stand to think about seeing someone else living in the house that held so many wonderful memories for us. So, we decied to buy my sister's half, remodel and move in.

We changed a lot when we remodeled, but we also kept a lot of the special features that we loved about this house. This breakfast area of the kitchen retains the built in shelves that I grew up seeing every day. (Of course, back then they weren't as cluttered as they are now).

This little book rack on the wall always held current magazines and a Bible. Now it holds my childhood books and even some of my mother's childhood books. My grandchildren call these "terrible" books. Of course, they mean "tear-able", because I've told them they can't look at them without an adult, because they are old and will tear easily. The "cherry" light fixture has always hung over the table in this kitchen. (Of course, those little cherries weren't stenciled on the ceiling until it became my home). I don't know why the walls look peach in these pictures. They are a soft yellow. (I really need to work on my photography, or maybe I should ask Santa for a new camera.)

You see this beautiful mahogany on top of my island (if I do say so myself)? That is the best story of all. I was trying to do this remodel as inexpensively as possible (what else would you expect from a bargain hunter?). I wanted a wood counter top, but couldn't find what I wanted. I called my dh's uncle, who is a cabinet maker in South Carolina and asked him about teak wood. He told me he had a huge slab of mahogany. I got so excited (until I found out what it would cost). I resigned myself to doing a tile counter top on the island, with hopes that I would eventually get the wood. I was at home on a Saturday, and my husband called and said the contractor needed me to come over to make a decision about something on the remodel. When I got here, my dh's uncle and his wife were here, and this beautiful counter top was on my island. It was my wedding anniversary gift. I cried like a baby. Isn't my dh just the sweetest?

Don't run to the optomitrist. You are not seeing double. Yes, there are two stoves. I priced those wonderful commercial ranges and immediately went into my "tight wad" mode. I decided that two free-standing ranges, placed side-by-side, would give me more burners and more oven space at a lower price.

The tile mural over the stoves was my first real Internet experience. I found these on a website, and I called to talk to them about ordering with my credit card. The man I talked to could barely speak English, but I did understand: "no credit cards, send check". I really liked the tiles, and more importantly, they weren't as expensive as most I had seen, so I sent a check. Months went by, and my tiles didn't arrive. My family was really giving me a hard time about how I had been silly enough to send a check, and the check had already cleared! I called the company and talked to a different man who could barely speak English! He said the man I had previously talked to was "out of the country"! I resigned myself to the fact that I had made a stupid mistake. The tiles arrived two weeks later. Whew! I was SO relieved and felt so vindicated (actually, I think I may have just been lucky, but I still did a lot of "I told you so's").

As you can see, I don't have many upper cabinets. I do have a walk-in food pantry and a walk-in china pantry. And if you think I'm going to show you those, you can just think again--they are packed way too full (not like that darling pantry that Cindy has on RMS)! They started out looking pretty good, but I gave up on that several years ago. There is a peak into my china pantry in the picture that shows my two stoves.

I probably shouldn't even show you THESE shelves. I have over-stuffed them too. But, I want to tell you about the little bench. I had that built to use for a dog bed. I only had one grandchild at the time, and she was an infant. Now I have four grandchildren, and they all think that is their little bench. After my grandchildren went home with dog hair all over their clothes a few times, I had to ban my dog from her bed. (Don't worry, I did find another spot for the dog, and she's very comfortable.)

(I know, I know, I should have turned off my flash.)

I'm not a decorator, and I hesitate to share my spaces with others, but as I've said before, this is my blog, and though I didn't hire a decorator, we do love our home. If one of you decorators out there wants to volunteer to come decorate "pro bono", I will happily accept your offer. And, as usual, I know this is a LOT more information than anyone wanted. So, if one of you psychiatrists out there wants to volunteer to come help me (pro bono) with my "over sharing" problems, I will happily accept your offer as well! Actually, if a decorator did show up at my door, they'd better bring a psychiatrist with them, because it would be a major job just to talk me into getting rid of all of my "stuff"! And, maybe they should bring the Sheriff too, because I just might fight for my "stuff". Thanks for stopping in. I know, I know, you're just glad you don't have to dust all of this stuff! laurie