a cozy corner

well we finally moved and i've been wanting to aggregate pictures and thoughts into a post to share and the days get away from me. in the meantime, i thought i'd show you an inspiring dining corner shot... our new place shares nothing in common with the above image other than wood floors. but we're hoping to create a little banquette area with a bench and some eclectic chairs. i also love the idea of the gallery wall above the table. totally planning on that as well.

image source unknown

another great martha idea

love this! here's the how-to.

kitchen whites

i'm all aflutter with dreams of a white kitchen (with touches of blue). these dreams aren't new to me, just renewed because we're talking about moving so possibility is in the air. i'm already set on white dishes, but here are some of the white kitchen accents i think would be cheerful, even on a frozen day like today. 

i love all the stoneware and ceramic egg crates i've seen so often recently, but my personal favorite is the one from anthropologie since it holds a full dozen. if i got this one or this one, though they're pretty, i'd still have a half empty carton of eggs each time i bought them until i got through the first six. not pretty.

i also really love the berry boxes because they're sweet looking and they just look so much like the real thing, even with the little puckers and dents and bends in the basket. even though i prefer them in white for my fantasy kitchen, you can see all the lovely little details in the green one here. aren't they lovely?

jayson home and garden has three different ones in white that's a nice mix and crate and barrel's are basic and inexpensive.

i'd also love a really simple set of white mixing bowls like these...

... and canisters, even with one special one like this thrown in (note: in this fantasy, i make cookies). 

and even white can have whimsy with little pieces of art like these owl measuring cups. 

i guess the nicest thing about these moments of white is that i might not be able to (read: will definitely not) have a dream white kitchen like this or this, but i can get some of these little accents and feel like i'm living a little piece of that wonderfully white dream.

top image

red hot...or white hot

since we're going to be apartment shopping in the next couple months, i'm fairly constantly thinking about what our new space might look like. i'm hoping for a sleek modern kitchen since i've never had one, but if it's not, and instead it's a little older and a little more..."charming..." then maybe i'd try and do somethings snazzy to the cabinets, like a high gloss red paint. this paint color is kind of amazing, don't you think? i think it's a lot like essie's long stem roses and you KNOW how i feel about that (on my fingers and toes as i type these thoughts). although it might be too similar to our pinky red kitchen now. 

in some ways, looking at the old pictures of our current kitchen all in white that i felt was so drab, maybe i'd kind of prefer that to trying to doll it up if it's not a really nice kitchen, and i know mitchell would since it would mean less painting for him. wins all around.

if i had my absolute druthers, i'd want a gorgeous white kitchen that perfectly mixes old and new, light and dark and warm and cool. like these.

especially this one...

how did we get from bright red glazed cabinets to all white kitchens? in a way, that's exactly why new homes are so exciting...a fresh start where you can begin on one path of design or look and feel and end up in an entirely different place.

top image, all other images original and from house beautiful

weighing options

kitchen counter space is always at a premium, but i think this would be worth the real estate. how perfectly vintage and industrial is this kitchen scale? it's regrettably no longer available at anthro, but i keep the picture as a reminder of a wish list item for the future. what i find special about this one is that it goes a step further than your run of the mill antique scale in that the stainless steel finish has a high gloss which makes it look special and important.

love!

to the max(field)

you know how i feel about things having a collected-over-time feeling (in a nutshell, i adore it). so the maxfield flatware from pottery barn has always made my heart sing. too bad i made its acquaintance after i received every kitchen item under the sun from my wedding registry. if i were to register now, these would be at the very top of my list. the set is comprised of five different place setting styles, and is perfectly mismatched in that timeless, vintage way so many of us strive for in our homes. what i also love about it is that if you eventually inherit flatware pieces or serving pieces from your parents or grandparents, they can mix right in and they make it all that much more authentic.


well since my registry ship has sailed (several years ago at this point), i'm going for the next best thing by collecting mismatched flatware whenever i can find it super cheap. last time i was up in woodstock, i scored an entire basket of old flatware for $1. can't beat that. i recently started polishing it...not easy. i get the whole elbow grease thing now. so i'll do it over time, and one day maybe i'll have a set as lovely as the maxfield.

pull up a chair

i have a chair problem. i see chairs everywhere that i want. sometimes, like in this particular case, they're incredibly old and weathered. and chained to phone booths. but i could see this chair in a hallway with a stack of books on it, and maybe an old phone sitting on top of them. i could see it being used as a little side table in a guest room with a pretty book or two and a small arrangement of sweet pink flowers. of course the chain would have to come off...


i've also been coveting a midcentury rocker from urban...and now it's gone. so gone i can't even look at it and lament that it's not mine. except i can torture myself by looking at it here.

my love for chairs knows no limit...i don't discriminate - i love all styles and sizes, all time periods and origins.

i collect chairs at tag sales and garbage piles (imagine that said under my breath - i'm not proud of it. well actually, i'm a little proud of it, but mitchell's not). i have a dream of what they'll be one day. my latest obsession is this, in our next apartment. i'll paint several disparate chairs all in one high-gloss color (TBD) and have them around a dining room table all together. i first saw the idea in sjp's home, and became obsessed. i've written about it a few times already, because i never tire of it.

here are the chairs i've collected (well, ones that look a lot like them) that will all live in harmony one day soon around my table. so far, i've only spent $10.

one thonet bentwood style chair, $5 at tag sale:

one chippendale style chair, $5 at tag sale:

then, i have my sights set on two chippendale-style armchairs at my grandmother's house (free) that are far less bamboo-esque than these, but you get the idea. and i love the fact that there are two...it breaks up the pattern of only having one of each and gives it that more collected feel, which in this case, is totally authentic.

then i have 2 french country chairs like this from my other grandmother (free). another couplet...

and then when my mom gives in to my urgings to get these chairs for her dining room table, i hope to take a couple of their current ones too (free). they look like this (no arms):

okay and one more -- this style captains chair which i picked up in a..."recycling" pile. it looks almost exactly like this, except it's in three pieces at the moment:

and i'd like to add a couple more should i ever come across them at a tag sale or something...a shaker style chair like this:

and a curved back one like this:


oh, and maybe a queen anne style like these:

where am i putting all these chairs? i really don't know the answer to that. like i said, i have a problem. maybe one day when i'm a millionaire, i'll have a chair annex. and then i'll live there and stare at all my chairs all day. don't judge.

thonet chair image, chippendale image, chippendale armchair image, french country chair image, other images from here, and here

family recipes

isn't this the sweetest idea? it's a recipe scrapbook with old, handwritten recipe cards and notes and family photos to correspond. i've long had the idea of putting together something like this with the help of my grandmother, mother and sister and i think this image just put me over the edge.


while martha's version involves the original cards, the creation of slots and probably more DIY skill than i have, my idea is to create multiples of the book i make using great images of the originals. by doing it this way, we'll still get the original handwriting and the color of the weathered paper and ink, but we can make several books and give one to each home in the family. of course, the originals will be kept safely where time won't hurt them.

i don't know if there could be something more special in the kitchen of any home than a carefully bound curation of the recipes and meals that have traced the history of a family, in handwriting generations old, on paper that has seen other centuries.

take me to lisbon

i'm a little fixated on martha stewart's lisbon collection at macy's. i love the chaos/control situation of the staid stripes and the splashier floral. i first fell in love with the blue set in the macy's window because i'm having such a blue moment.



but then i saw the black and white option and it took on a whole new cast - such a classic, traditional combo but so fresh.


and then, i think my most favorite is the taupey gray set... so calming and soothing, even in the floral.



it's really hard to decide which i prefer in this collection - the stripes or the florals. i don't know. i love both. i'm always a fan of mix and match, in pretty much every arena and it totally works here,but what i especially admire about these dishes is how different they each look alone. the stripe is so one style and look, and the floral is so another, and then together, well, they're another. so it's three distinct looks. i fear if i were registering for dishes right now, i'd have to register for both. full sets of both.






the stripe is really calling my name. it evokes something in me...a feeling of order and propriety underplayed. especially the gray makes me feel like all is okay and under control - granted it's just coffee or cereal but isn't that why we buy things? because they speak to us in a way that feels good?

do you love?