Thursday, September 4, 2008

Kitchen Help Needed - No experience necessary




Thanks to those of you who stopped by earlier today and saw my textless pictures.The pictures that were taken completely, solely, and totally unaccompanied .....by me, myself and I. Then I singularly and unassisted ...as in, alone and without aid, uploaded them to my computer.

I believe in giving credit where credit's due.

However, it took me so daggone long to get the pictures on here that I had to leave to pick up my kids before I had time to write anything. So for today only, the early bird blog readers did not get the worm, but hopefully will/did come back to get the full story behind the pictures. Not that there's a real mystery here, I mean they are basically just pictures of my kitchen - but I do need your help. Keep reading - and look closely.

This first picture is similar to this one (hopefully, if you click on that you'll see my pre-painted, pre-redone, kitchen), but now the walls are a golden, buttery color - not like real butter which is palish yellow, but more like the fakey colored Wal-Mart butter. It's prettier than it sounds.

The trim around the windows, and also the cabinets and drawers, are pickled. Pickling is a treatment that looks like white glue has been streaked across the wood. Very classy - take my word for it :)

The bead board is now painted a semi-gloss black. A gutsy move on my part. At least that's what the so-called "paint expert" at Benjamin Moore warned me about. What I told him was that I am 53 yo and have spent plenty of years playing it safe. And if I want to paint my bead board purple with orange polka-dots, then I will. I hope Mr. Be-Real-Cautious-Paint-Guy reads this blog and sees how good it looks. And I hope he learns to keep his Expert Mouth closed around menopausal decorator wannabes like me.

If you're an Attentive Blog Reader (not a mindless skimmer...), you may have noticed in the picture of my "old" kitchen, I used those clip-on Martha Stewart dish towels, with the days of the week embroidered across the bottom, as cafe curtains. They were a little too "cutesy" for the new paint colors (but don't worry, Al, I recycled them - my $20 has not gone to waste - Amazingly, I am now creatively using them to dry wet dishes. I'm so 'green', aren't I?)







If you magnify the picture above (by clicking on it...I learned that in Blogging for Dummies), you can see that there are actually three slightly different cafe curtains on my windows. They are all made from red ticking, but the first one has a gold and red toile strip across the top - the second one has a floral material (from an old sheet I saved), and the other two are plain.

Which ones do you like? They are all just pinned up right now, but my sewing machine is awaiting your choice. I'm hoping to finish them up this weekend.

This next picture is blurry (but I'm not complaining about my camera...even though in the viewfinder this shot looked perfectly clear...), but you can see the toile border if you squint one eye and cock your head sideways.







Here's a little better picture of the pickling effect on the trim. The kitchen was already like this when we bought the house in March. I love, love, love the look - but I'm not sure if I would've gone to the trouble to do it. I'm a Lazy Decorator who likes projects that can be done in a couple of hours max. Instant Gratification is more my cup of tea.





I'm going to do a separate post on using plates for decorations. I have plates on the walls in most of my rooms - and on my book shelves - and in my curio cabinet - and in my bathroom. And sometimes we even use them to eat off of :)






Because of all the windows in our kitchen, most of our storage is beneath the cabinets - so I've had to think out of the box for storage. Most of our pots are hanging (picture was too blurry...sorry), and most of my bowls are on top of this china cabinet. I'm weaning myself of my rooster collection - trying only to keep the Best Roosters. I used to collect cows, bells, birdhouses, etc. Those were my Country Living days (I do still subscribe to the magazine- but I find myself drawn to a more traditional decorating style as I "mature".)

Eww...Eww...Ewww! (Does anybody else remember Welcome Back Kotter?)
I just realized that the inside of my china cabinet is white bead board. I think I'll paint it black. It'll be so fun to go back to Benjamin Moore tomorrow and tell the guy I need more glossy black paint.




Here are a few roosters that made the cut. Although I may have to rethink the fake topiary after reading the blog Jodi refers to in her comment today (see comment #5).




P.S. Did I mention that I put all these pictures on here by myself?

20 comments:

Kelley said...

Haha...I don't feel too convinced I should stick my child in school. Then again, she isn't old enough to do anything for me like upload my latest blog-post pictures:-)

Lookin' forward to reading the text that goes with them!

Anonymous said...

what a pleasant surprise--4 new posts! and none of them too long winded.

I think you should award a prize to the first poster who can point out which plates in your picture are actually *paper* (whispering here...)

an elegant mistreatment indeed (you are aware of the Nester blog, aren't you?)

Mrs. Pittman said...

Thanks to Jodi, I have just now used up the entire 20 minutes I was going to nap. I googled the blog she mentioned in her post, and I would prefer if NONE of you go there, please. It puts my little pictures to shame and disses my fake hydrangeas.

OTOH- I will definitely be adding it to my daily blog reads.

Laura said...

I love the colors of your kitchen! My living/dining room is painted a similar shade of yellow with A LOT of red accents. They are such happy colors.

I'll look forward to reading the text later.

hunter said...

if you stop using the flash on the camera it will show how much better that house looks than it is looking in the pictures.

hint. hint.

Anonymous said...

OTOH, Hunter, if YOU would bring your ultra-deluxe, very expensive camera over and take pictures of your dear mom's house, her blog would look much, much better.

Lori said...

Plain curtains without the borders is my favorite. The others are pretty, but the effect without the borders seems more balanced somehow. I love the black bead board!

Laura said...

#1 Plain curtains, no border
#2 toille pattern, however, gold seems to not work so well with the buttery color on the walls.
#3 obviously, flower border. While pretty is too country.

I also like Country Living, but I'm more of a Cottage Living girl.

BTW, my mom visits your blog and I know she will enjoy your home decorating blogs!

Anonymous said...

oh yes, paint that back of the cabinet black. you are a rebel!

Krista said...

I am a toile girl, myself...so that would be first pick.

Looks pretty!
Krista

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

I can't resist toile so my choice would be the first one...but I also think that the plain ticking stripe is pretty, too. I love the color you chose for the walls...so pretty! :) Thanks so much for visiting me today. I have enjoyed visiting you too and will be back! Great job uploading the photos too!!!
Carrie

Kelley said...

Toille would have been my first choice but the plain ones are cute too...

The black looks great!

jax said...

I'm going to go against the tide here + say that, oddly enough, I am leaning towards the floral ones. Floral is back and while I know the flash on your camera isn't super flattering to the curtains, I think the other two look a little too "McDonald's" color scheme without the other colors from the floral added in. And I'm a fan of patterns with patterns (it's actually a big trend right now).

Unknown said...

I vote for the plain curtains and for the black in the cabinet.
Which plates are paper? Jodi ... do tell us more!
Great job loading the pix. I uploaded a video report for our Civil War co-op blog (tallcivilwar.blogspot.com) and am quite proud of that!

Unknown said...

How does one get to Nester blog?

Meg in Tally said...

I'm voting for the plain ones --the others seem a bit fussy and us old gals need all the peace we can get!

Love the plates in every room idea...always be ready in case food appears--wherever you are!!

Anonymous said...

Wow!!!! i think i will say that again Wow!!!! i love the black bead board, it looks outstanding. I was once told by my wise mother in law that you should decorate with what you love... thus if you love the roosters let them stay. I have to go with the floral, I like the way the darker colors in the floral pattern pull the darker colors out of your plates up on the wall.

and by the way how impressive are you taking on the paint store guy....kuddos

Anonymous said...

sorry forgot the cabinet, i would paint the back beadboard black also, again it will make a nice back drop for your plates to POP out against.

I love florals and so i defer to my mother in laws rule, they will always be in my house.

Kind of like dressing in what you like, and what looks best on you... you can't pull it off if you don't like it. Don't decorate to fads, be inspired and then make your house inspiring...

( your house is lovely, it is inspiring)

Anonymous said...

Laura was right about how much I like stuff about decorating. I love what you have done with your kitchen and foy-a. The colors are great and the black bead board is terrific. I agree that the inside of the cabinet should be black, also. It will look great behind the plates and other things in the cabinet, like Jessica said it will make them pop.

As for the curtains, I vote for the FLORAL border! I love flowers and color and I think that one goes great with the ticking and all the lovely colors in the room.

Chickens and roosters have always been a favorite of mine. If you love them use them. It doesn't matter if they are in style or not.

Martha

Mamajil said...

I love the one with the toile .....so which did you pick??