Friday, September 5, 2008

Kitchen addition...

....addition to the blog post ABOUT the kitchen, that is.

I may like to redecorate, but actual renovation is above my mental capacity, physical fortitude, and from what I've heard, I'm not sure we could afford both a kitchen re-do and the ensuing marital counseling it would require.

I have enough trouble remembering to cook each night without the excuse of a kitchen demolition. Although if I may do a little more back patting, I did have home-made sloppy joes in the crock pot, and apples on the stove to stew - all before NOON....On the same day I was serving it.

I won't say that's a first for me, .....but others (related to me) may.

I find that with my kids in school all day, expectations are WAY UP for the Stay At Home Alone Mother.


OK, from the questions my post yesterday generated, I feel I may have left out a few details that might have affected your Curtain Vote. Here are a few more pics of the kitchen, including the curtains already in the main kitchen area. The curtains you are voting on are the ones in the little breakfast nookie (the one with the bead board I bravely painted black.) You can also see the island with the black bead board, and I think the wall color is a bit truer in this picture also. It's really not as pale as the pictures yesterday made it appear. I'm not going to blame it on my camera because I'm on a Camera Complaint Fast.




(Hey, I just noticed that if you look real close you can see the crock pot that houses my sloppy joes, and the blue dutch oven with my apples stewing. And if you close your eyes and take a big sniff you may be able to smell the cinnamon.)











That last picture shows a closer view of the same curtain as the one over the kitchen window, but this one is on the door leading out of the kitchen and into the mud room. I just wanted you to see the big, deep hued floral print to be sure you Toile Lovers don't want to change your mind if you think the patterns would be too conflicting.

Part of the reason I chose the red ticking was because it was understated and there's just so much else going on in this kitchen. But then I started adding the extra strips of material...because the red ticking was understated. Do you think I'm fickle?

One can rarely go wrong with toile (although combining toiles is tricky.)




Someone asked about how I hung my pots. This is just a metal rod attached to the side of each cabinet. I bought the hooks at a local kitchen store. When I first put them "on show" I worried about keeping them nice and shiny. But I got over that.





A couple more roosters that survived the elimination round. I kept them because they aren't just cute - they also hold stuff. Functional, yet tasteful. I was looking at a French Country decorating magazine today (in the mammogram waiting room...not while I was eating bon bons and watching Ellen), and apparently roosters are all the rage in french decorating. I was starting to think I'd been too hard on myself getting rid of so many of them...until I realized the magazine was published in 2003.

I'm really not going to be able to put this behind me until I go to France and see for myself. Are roosters passe' (....might as well start practicing my french, n'est-ce pas?)

Look at this totally cute and Very Me apron that my friend/competitor, Lea, gave me? Now that is an apron Way Too Cute to cook in.





Another friend, Janet, asked me about the curtains in my Foy-A. I was torn between leaving the windows bare (!) and covering them. I also had a little challenge because of the PC Incorrect Jungle Wallpaper in there. But aren't these just perfect?!! They are from Target's Shabby Chic collection. Can you tell how light and breezy they are? And isn't the smocking at the top very french country (my new theme..)?








This last picture is not actually part of my kitchen. And it's not even a very good photograph. (I NEED YOU, Hunter or Lea...Or more to the point, I NEED ONE OF YOUR CAMERAS!)

These are our six newest (and hopefully, very temporary) family members. Our promiscuous teenage cat, Beatrice had her sextuplets two weeks ago. They are just starting to open their eyes and do the wounded soldier crawl around their cage. In about 4 more weeks one of these adorable kittens could be YOURS.



10 comments:

Mrs. Pittman said...

I just love it when I'm the first commenter on my own blog :)

Here's the link to the nesting place blog - a good decorating blog, even if she is anti-fake plants. Thanks to Jodi for giving me one more blog to get addicted to!


http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

You have to teach us more about decorating in French Country! I love it!!!

Laura said...

Although I still prefer the unembelished curtains, I think the floral border would look better than the toille now that I've seen the other curtains.

The kittens are sooooo cute! We are currently contemplating a feline addition to our family.

Kahlua Keeping Koala said...

wouldnt' it be more appropriately, kitchen addiction. Plates everywhere, eat eat eat...

Kelley said...

I love the layout of your kitchen!

I may totally copy you and figure out a place to hang my pots as my new house will be short on cabinet space! Is that ok? I don't think there will be many people visiting your house AND mine in this lifetime...

Krista said...

Hmmm...I think that the other floral prints you are using in the kitchen do probably go better with the floral print option. O do love toile though, and I think that it could still be pretty to mix different patterns as long as they are consistent in their colors tones.
Speaking of kittens...Jane started poking around on and feeling of our cat's belly and counting. I had no idea what she was doing until I remembered that she watched you doing that to your cat to see if you could project how many kittens were inside!

Anonymous said...

sloppy joes and apples all before noon. stop making me look bad. and tell your kitchen to stop making my kitchen look bad...

Lori said...

Looking at your new picture my first thought was- hmmm, maybe having a panel on the curtains looks more balanced (my previous favorite was no panel). Then, as I continue reading, it seems like you thought the same thing!

Maybe go with whichever view is most often in sight? If everyone hangs out where they can see the entire kitchen at once, then add a panel; if everyone tends to be in the kitchen and looking at the breakfast nook, but not seeing the kitchen as a whole, then go with the simpler curtains.

Anonymous said...

I love that collection of red glass canisters with the rooster tops. Like I said in my prior comment I love chickens. One day I'm going to figure out how to get them into my kitchen.

Meg in Tally said...

As jealous as it makes me...I'm sending your comments into double digits.

You are such a decorating diva. I LOVE your kitchen (a bit jealous there, too...but I'm praying about it.). I like the black on your little island. I may do something like that with mine --can I borrow some paint?

I'm still going with the plain curtains...