Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts

Tidy, Tidy, Tidy


January is one of those months, when the weather is usually awful and we don't have any money, so staying indoors is a much easier option.  Its the perfect time to sort out all the post Christmas clutter and tidy it away freeing the rest of the year up to hopefully, spend more time out and about.  

Sorry can't wait .......


I've never been the most patient person.  If I want something, I have to have it now.  If I need to do something, I need to do it now !  This has had varying degrees of success in my life.

It's finished ! The kitchen / dining room Renovation






 When we moved into this house ten years ago this month, life seemed like it couldn't possibly get any worse.  We had lost our main source of income, I was on maternity leave with six month old twins

Joseph Joseph Review


Joseph Joseph products, what can I say ! Absolutely divine.  Inspired design and colour combinations. You will not want to hide these beautiful items away in a cupboard.

Scandinavian Style - Get the look

  

 Beautiful Scandinavian home decor has always been a firm favourite of mine. Decorating with cool whites and pale colours, pared down furniture and home wares.  It never fails to make me take in deep calming breaths.  Must be something to do with the state of my mind, I need a clutter free home because my head is full to bursting with thoughts, ideas and plans most of the time.
 
Having lived in our home for 10 years now and finally some spare funds to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room, we were able to  create the large open plan space I always dreamt of.  It is almost finished, just the new flooring and comfy TV seating area to sort.  Its a lovely bright space, furnished with a combination of reclaimed hand painted furniture, modern pieces and local independent artists.  All coming together to create a bright, light Scandinavian style space.

  Above is a hand painted chest of drawers (the only piece in our home I didn't actually paint)in palest grey.  A bowl and glass ball both found at a local boot sale.  The sand encrusted SEA letters were bought on Etsy.  The painting was very generously given to me by local artist Linda Bartlett whose work I used to sell in my shop.




The dining room view of the space.  Huge white table purchased from Ebay is solid wood with great leg detail. If all white is too much for you to contemplate, the Scandinavian style is also very much about beautiful blond woods.  This look is appearing everywhere on the high street at the moment.



 Pic Danish design store

After much thought and changing my mind I decided to go for the classic Eiffel style chairs in white.  I initially bought a blue Eiffel chair with blonde wooden legs but when we decided to go for a dark floor I felt the metal leg style would suit it better.  I'm really pleased with the look.  We also have  clear Philippe Starck Armchairs for each end of the table.  Not really Scandinavian style but they compliment the look.  I think its important to not just follow a look blindly, but to inject your own personality into your home.





Getting the builders in also gave us a chance to re-think the heating.  I have always loved the old style cast iron radiators and actually, considering they add to the decor and are not designed to sit unnoticed on the wall they were really good value for money.  Ours were purchased from B & Q but you can find many around these days from just £100 each.




What my heart really desires is the traditional Scandinavian style stove (below)  but they are WAY out of my budget.


 pic - pinterest


I really hate to have lots of "stuff" cluttering my work surfaces which is an ongoing trial with four men in the house.  Still its a great game of hide and seek I have !  Storage is important but also has to look good.  When I found these great ceramic house storage jars in the sale in Debenhams they reminded me of the tall house you see in many Scandinavian countries.  I've used them to store the tea, coffee and sugar.







pic - escapisttravel.com

Due to lack of money we decided to leave the existing kitchen units in place for the time being.  We changed the tiles and gave the walls a lick of paint and it looks fine.  A beloved find from my bootsale obsession is the set of beautiful plates and soup bowls displayed on a plate rack found at TK Maxx.   Have to admit they don't get much use but they look LOVELY !  Although they are Vintage English, they look very Scandi to me and fit the space beautifully.




If you want more inspiration for the Scandinavian style please pop over and follow my Pinterest board HERE.


Deck the hall (and everywhere else)



 I LOVE Christmas ! I love the anticipation, the excitement and the decorating.  I love the decorating!  This year as I'm no longer self employed I'm not so tired and distracted and it has become a pleasure again. We were really lucky to be sent a Christmas tree to review from Pines and Needles so the decorating started earlier than our usual week before Christmas, but today I finished it all off and I LOVE IT !

Knocking down walls







Taking inspiration from this picture I found on #Pinterest, I always wanted a wonderful bright spacious kitchen come family room in my home.  Unfortunately we never

Unique Stock instore

One of the best parts of owning my own little business is the shopping for stock !  I am asked on a regular basis where I buy from and of course I couldn't possibly tell !  But it is a selection of new and immaculate quality used items.  When I source new stock I will always sell it for below the RRP as I firmly believe in showing people you can have a beautiful home on a budget.

I found these gorgeous pieces this weekend and feel for sure they will not hang around for long.





Hand crafted in Portugal.  I have two sets of bowls, side plate and dinner plates.  All beautifully decorated in turquoise and cream, made from ironstone with a high shine glaze they are truly beautiful.



 

The bowls are £6 each (RRP £11)  the side plates are £6.50 each (RRP £13.50)  and the dinner plates are £8 each (RRP £16.50).



Some Kitchen pics

I am duplicating this post from my All About The Boys Blog  as it shows how my kitchen looks now.  A detailed post on the before and after will come soon. 

I still think they sent me the email by mistake and will at any minute realise and withdraw the invitation.  Those who know me will know that cooking is not my *cough* strong point or rather something  I can, but prefer not to do.  I blame years of being waited on in the Army Mess.

Anyway until I'm thrown out of this exclusive and rather imposing club I will continue to masquarade as someone who cooks and reveal my kitchen as requested.


Can you spot whats missing ?



There it is !  The essential cooker and hob.  Apologies for the microwave, we really don't use it that often .  If you look closely you might spot the Marie Claire cookery books ontop of it, never use them, just bought them because they have pretty cover pictures that match the colour of my kitchen.   The sign on the wall ?  Says it all really : Coffee, Tea or ME !



I love vintage and thrifted household items.  Here are a selection I have out on display.   You can follow the progress of the renovation of our home on this blog with a post on before and after transformation coming soon.


So there you go.  My kitchen. Take a minute to pop over and like the WORLDFOODS fusion of flavours facebook page and you will also be able to follow us as we cook (or attempt to) our way to Asian cooking heaven !