::Goodbye Old Kitchen, Hello Someday Kitchen::

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

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Let's talk about kitchens, shall we?

Today I want to show you my old kitchen in my previous house.

I never did a post about my kitchen because it was just weird. 

Functional, but weird. 

It had mismatched, old appliances, crappy laminate counters, nasty vinyl floor, orange oak cabinets

.....well you get the picture.

Actually you get this picture...taken the day of our inspection in 2008.

Here's another beautyshot from that day:

I was working with a limited budget and overwhelmed with the amount of wallpaper and brown we were dealing with throughout the home, so I just used the magic of paint mostly.  Oak cabs turned white, hardware replaced with black, walls became blue....

Then brown.....here's the shot from our realtor's camera in January, taken for the listing.

And how 'bout that oak ceiling light box, eh?  Fabulous.  

What this doesn't show is the beast of a stainless fridge we got secondhand from a friend remodeling her kitchen as ours was 25+ years old and falling apart....and I loathe stainless steel, btw.  Hated it from the moment it started popping up in my country/cottage mags 15 years ago.  To me it's cold and sterile and the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve in my cottage look.  

But hey, it carried the mismatched vibe I had going on in there already....stainless fridge, bisque oven/fan, black dishwasher, white sink. *rolling eyes*.  I like eclectic, don't get me wrong, but really?

I did love how my valance fabric looked with my walls....

 Anyway, in case you missed it, we're hoping to build a house next door to the small home we just bought.

So now I'm plotting and planning my next kitchen.....and because I'm drawn to so many different cottage looks, it's been quite an exercise in frustration.

Still trying to differentiate between my likes and loves.

 Here's the builder's take on 'modern cottage' with our floor plan (this was their offering for last year's 'parade of homes')

Terrible picture...it blurs when I try to enlarge it. Here's a link to the page where you can see better shots of the interior of the home.

Anyway, not my style.

So what am I shooting for?

Well, if you've been watching my 'Yummy Kitchens' Pinterest board blow up, recently, you'll see ideas and looks I'm trying on for size.

You'll see lots of blue cabs and white appliances with warm wood floors.

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This is my mama's kitchen, Christmas 2011.

Missing her so much on this new decorating adventure (she's been gone 6 month now....)

Then I see beautiful white cabs with pale blue walls and go *sigh*...

I've shown this kitchen previously, but I just adore the beachy hues (but not the stainless fridge, lol)

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This awesome space comes very close to vibe I love....

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Seriously considering glass front upper cabs with blue backs like this:

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But I adore open shelving too, especially if beaded board arrives on the scene, like these:

(Chris' kitchen is AMAZING.)

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Other ideas I'm kicking around:

Mixing finishes/colors...

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love the warm wood touches....

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This kitchen has so much of what I love...white uppers with blue backs, blue lowers, wood island (and beadboard, planked ceiling, mixed counter surfaces....not sure how I feel about the subway tile, and I definitely don't like the lighting.)

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Other touches that caught my fancy (like or love?  Still trying to decide!)

Interesting trim detailing under cabs, awesome aqua ripple glass and fabulous knobs.

I even kind like the baby subway tile....hmmmm.

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farmhouse sink....

(no link from pinterest?)

I know this isn't kitchen cabs, but I love the color Diane used on this hutch/dresser and I'm seriously thinking of going with brass hardware on my lower cabinets.  Diane dulled the shine a bit...I actually like both the shiney and antiqued versions of brass...but not plain shiney gold a la 1980's.

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And how 'bout an antiqued brass pendant light?

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with a vintage-look antique brass faucet?

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Then again I love oil-rubbed bronze too....and we'll prolly use that on all the doors around the house.

I took this elcrapo pic with my phone from Country Living's 500 Kitchen Ideas book last night at B&N:

I think this comes very close to what I'll do....it combines many of the elements I mentioned in this post:

White glass-fronted upper cabinets with colored glass knobs and corbels beneath (perhaps paint the interior backs with my pale blue wall paint color)

White Beaded board.

Painted lower cabs and island (I'd do some darker version of my pale blue wall paint with brass bin pulls)

Butcher block counters (may just do this on the island), and I'm digging that warm wood corbel on the overhang....

I also like the Shaker style cabs and white appliance(s)

Donuts.

Did you notice how I took a ton of images and began pulling the common denominators out to define my style?  Then when I saw the above image, I recognized 'the look' immediately, even though my kitchen will still reflect ME.  I actually spent several evenings deleting many kitchen pins from my board, so I could really focus in on stuff that I know I can commit to long term....my loves.  

And of course, many of these elements will be grafted in to our builder-grade kitchen over time as we can't afford to do everything at once, even though it's tempting to mortgage the cost of that antique brass faucet up there....

Thanks for walking down the long, windy path toward my dream kitchen....I'll keep ya posted as we wait on word from the lender on whether they'll even finance this undertaking next door.

I'm curious...do you go thru and delete pins now and again as your preferences change or become more congealed?  I'm working on cleaning up my inspiration files both on Pinterest and on my decorating books/mags shelf.  It's a great way to walk thru that sorting and sifting exercise, that honing of your personal ::cottage instincts::

::Brave Color, Brave Bloggers::

As I tenuously dip my toes into the idea of decorating a new house, I find I'm challenging myself to be open to what colors really make me happy.  Ya'll know I already have an obsession with blue and brown.  

Duh.

my current fabric stash...only half-way organized because the house was on the market.

But I also love pinks and reds with yellows, bright aqua and spring green.
I'd even throw a little purple love in there too....

Source: cocorosetextiles.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Maybe it's just because we're on the tippy edge of February's demise, listing heavily into March, which means spring is coiling itself up like some sort of seasonal slinky, ready to burst thru the surface in an array of tulipy, hyacinthy, crocusy goodness.  Not that I planted any, or would be in this house to see the show if I did.
 But, the gray drearies are destined to melt away leaving wide open patches of lovely.
Believe you me. 

As I consider what I already own, what the style of house will be, and our budget.....basically my ::cottage instincts::, I'm listing heavily myself into some rooms full of infused color.
Fun, happy, bright-ish, pastel-ly goodness. 

I do love a frenchy farmhouse look, all grain-sacky and greige and rusty market baskets.  I follow lots of gals who carry that look off to the moon and back.  But I've always craved more color than that, and I will always love the splashy English flowered Ralph Lauren fabrics....which don't really jive with grey.  Call me way off-trend, but I don't like gray/grey/greige.  Love it in other's homes, but wouldn't work for me. Same for chevron.  Over it.  Actually,  skirted around it.

With my mom's passing last fall, I'm itching to use a set of colorful dishes she gave me, and grey DEFINITELY won't work with these babies:

And this shelf from her decor stash, and the rose dishes that were her grandmother's:

Anyway, along those lines, I wanted to highlight a couple bloggesses who are severely inspiring to me with their fearless use of color.

First, Jen of {the cottage nest}, (a fellow Hoosier I might add) pins some really inspiring, colorful cottage stuff (for instance the first shot of the dishes above).  Really adorable.  She lives in a wee suburban village in an old farmhouse and blogs THE most beautiful shots of her interiors. Not that I stalk her or anything.  

Behold this shot from her most recent post about her studio:

That wall color is eerily similar to the color of my cra(p)ft room (which happens to be Spring Melt by Martha Stewart, go figure):

She's all about girly flowers and brights frolicking with pastels and pinks and aquas and vintage yummy-ness. Here are some of my repins from Jen's Pinterest Boards (and I also highly recommend her blog for a plethora of eye candy).

Source: husetvedfjorden.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: suziebeezie.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: lamaisondannag.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Seriously fun.  And girly....and living with 4 males (including my male dog)....I need me some girly.

Another Hoosier blogger (yeah we got some style up in here) is Shannan of Flower Patch Farmgirl fame.

She just built herself a new farmhouse cottage and filled it with swoony swatches of flea marketed swag.

And aqua.
Shut the front door.

'Ole Farmgirl also just happens to be one of the best blog writers out there, so hecks yeah, there's way more than corn in Indiana.  Here's a few more shots of Shannan's decor skillz.

Source: flowerpatchfarmgirl.blogspot.com via Cindy on Pinterest

She does color fearlessly (which also happens to be the way she lives her life).  

Both Shannan and Jen are also crafty mavens of the highest order.  As I visited their respective corners on the web, I suddenly realized the other reason I'm inspired by them.  They're the gals I wish I could be, and I'm awed by their ability to live their dreams in the face of real skepticism and fear.

Source: thehomebarn.files.wordpress.com via Cindy on Pinterest

See, it just so happens that they both strapped themselves and their families into an unpredictable rollercoaster ride to make their house dreams a reality, often going against the standard advice, facing stubborn fears, dealing with regrets, backpeddling into their hearts to really connect to their cottage instincts and make their current homes a reflection of their families values.

I dig that.

And in light of our current home trajectory, I soooo need to know others have walked this road too.

Something about company in misery or some such?

Maybe they'll share their 'braves' over the cyber net to be my house birthing doulas?

Ok, that was weird.

I may just begin a series featuring bloggers who I feel follow their cottage instincts in the face of trends and conventional rules of decorating (or house finding).

They won't absolutely HAVE to be from Indiana, but bonus points if they are.

Kidding.

Have a suggestion?  Do you have your own story of bravely following your guts to make your home a reality even if it goes against common sense sometimes?  Or common decorating rules?

Do you use color fearlessly in the face of a Pottery Barn Nation?

I'd love to hear from you.

And I like pretty pictures.

Perspective.

I'll be honest here, I've had a pretty awful few months. 

And it won't be getting better any time soon.

Inside my heart has been a strange, intense brew of 

excitement, fear, joy, rage, and anxiety.

For many reasons that I won't go into here.

But isn't it funny how right in the middle of it all, 

right when you think you just can't take another moment 

of the unrelenting emotional burden,

you find yourself awestruck by the sublime, stark nakedness of a cold winter day. 

And it takes your breath away.

It makes you stand back from your life a bit, and take in the largeness of the 

regal simplicity that surrounds us.

The history of things that have seen tremendous tragedy 

cozied up to unspeakable joy.  

And yet, still they stand. 

Etched with stories lived and the promise of stories yet untold.

It helps you understand that our lives are small in comparison.

That as time passes, things and circumstances begin to fade with a worn grace, 

a statement of tenacity and endurance thru the storms,

a tapestry of the unique way life weaves itself into us and our surroundings. 

That the cyclical nature of the seasons are just the way of all things, 

and even in the passing on of the old, 

there is immeasurable beauty and elegance.

And hope for the new yet to come.

There is the acceptance that in all things, this too shall pass

....and will come 'round again.

That new perspectives are always just around the next corner.

That an expanded view can bring fresh understanding,

 more appreciation for the simple contrasts that exist 

within the same frame of our lives.

How things that are past being 'perfect' are much more worthy of adulation and a soft glowy focus of remembrance and appreciation just because they continue to BE.

These things remind us that life goes on.  

And on.  

And three weeks, three months, three years from now...

...the landscape of my life right now will gently fade 

to pixelated, grainy snapshots, like old newpaper clippings.

A stark testament to an incredible, messy, difficult, glorious season of my life.

Lived.

These images were captured quickly, 

with the intent of simply documenting the grounds of my daughter's upcoming wedding venue. 

Instead, I was later astonished to find imprinted upon my memory card some rather inspiring shots,

and felt compelled to share how they shaped my heart and breathed on my spirit 

this dark December day, 2011.

cindy

Linked to Laurie Anna's Farmhouse Friday
Katharyn's White Wednesday
Debra's Vintage Inspiration