Cookin' up something good...

I'm not much of a cook... I like to cook -- I LOVE to watch cooking shows on the Food Network. Somehow, my cooking never turns out quite like I'd expected.

But that doesn't mean I don't love my kitchen.  I do love my kitchen.  I have always loved my kitchen.

When Lovey and I married nearly 20 years ago, our first apartment kitchen was decorated with strawberries.  We had strawberry dishes, strawberry curtains, strawberry rugs, strawberry drinking glasses, strawberry canister, table cloths... if it was in our kitchen, it had strawberries on it.

Then when we bought our first house, the kitchen counter tops were country blue.  What can I say?  It was the early 90s and everything under the sun was country blue!  So I tried to work around that.  I found beautiful wall paper with fruit and little blue flowers on it.  It was a way to incorporate the ugly blue counters with my strawberry obsession.

Then we moved -- and we built our second house.  Everything was neutral.  I desperately wanted a change.  So with my new neutral colored kitchen -- and my newly found coffee addiction -- came my coffee shop kitchen.  Oh, I loved it.  I painted the walls a burnt orange, the oak pedestal table and chairs looked like a large bistro table, and everything had coffee related items on it.  Every time I went into the kitchen I felt like I was in a cafe.  Ahhh.

But then, we added to our family, and our lovely little house was suddenly a lovely little house.  So we moved - again.  


Wow!  How many times have we moved??? Lets see (1) we moved into our apartment (2) we moved into our first house (3) we moved into a rental while our second house was being built (4) we moved into our second house (5) we moved into our current home.

Goodness... That's a lot of moving for 19 years, huh?  I didn't realize.  But I digress, again.

Which leads me back to our current house and the kitchen I love so much.  It isn't perfect... There is so much I still have on my "to do" list.  But here are the pictures.  I hope you'll enjoy the little tour.

While you're here, why not pull up a chair and share a cup of joe with us.  Maybe I'll bake some scones.



I love autumnal colors.  I use them throughout our house -- even when it isn't autumn.
This is our breakfast area.  We eat most of our meals here -- sometimes, when the kids have school or art projects in progress, we'll eat in our dining room.  For the most part, we spend our dining minutes gathered around this table.

The place mats are cheetah print -- got those for a steal.  $3.00 at a local furniture consignment store called Annie's Attic.  It is a treasure trove of goodness!

The floral arrangement was a happy mistake.  When our bedroom was decorated with this same orange color, I used these florals in our Christmas tree as filler.  When I redecorated that room, I just put the stems in this urn for storage.  They actually looked alright -- so I kept them in there.

The dinner plates are part of a fun set.  8 large dinner plates, 8 square salad plates, 8 soup bowls, and 8 berry / cereal bowls, and 8 cups.  I love the black outside and the red inside.  I also love the artisan rim.  They look almost like hand-thrown pottery.  Got those babies at Sam's club.  

The orange napkins were a gift from my wonderful brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  The napkin rings were from Old Time Pottery.  8 napkin rings for $4.00!  Love a bargain.

Just realized my knife and spoon are in the wrong positions -- oops.  Guess y'all know I'm not perfect now.  Shucks!

From this angle, you can see a small glimpse into our living room.  That room is huge to us: 19 ft x 27 ft.  The living room in our last house was 16 ft x 13 ft.  It honestly was big enough for our sofa, one chair, and the television armoire.  We squeezed in a rocker for the babies and a couple side tables, but boy it was tight!

Love this plaque.  Found it in a little town called Brown County, Indiana.  I walked in the store, saw it, and immediately teared up.  It is at the top of my list of favorite things.  Now you see this phrase everywhere... it always makes me smile!

This is only a partial photo:  The painting was done by my husband's aunt.  She is extraordinarily talented!  If you would like to see more of her work, check her out at www.carolreesor.com

The little black floor shelf was made by my Lovey.  When we first married, we were broke!  I mean broke!  We had cardboard boxes for end tables!  Our sofa had 3 legs and we used old books for the 4th leg.  But I went to a Home Interior's party and saw a little shelf that I loved.  It was $24.00 -- oh dear!  I could never afford that.  So he took some old 2x4s and built me the exact shelf.  The shelves were stained and the sides were painted hunter green.  Since then, I've painted it black, but I can't seem to part with it.  It was made with love - by my Lovey!  Today, it's shelves hold little baskets.  I like how the natural color of the baskets pop off the black.

Here is my $25.00 yard sale baker's rack.  It was brand new.  The woman who was selling it told us her story.  Her husband waited until the children were grown and graduated from college to pursue his love of cooking.  He enrolled in culinary school and was ready to graduate when he had a heart attack and passed away.  But before he died, he had ordered this baker's rack.  He never saw it -- it arrived in the mail after his funeral.  She kept it for several years but never used it.  So she wanted it to go to a good home.   It makes me happy to know that it will be well-loved here at our house.

This is a little lamp that sits on the top shelf.  The angel is a pewter ornament I received at a ladies gift exchange at church.  She says "peace."  I could use a little angelic peace now and again.  So she gets to stay out and remind me every day to be content with such as I have.

The basket beside the lamp on the top shelf hold my dinner napkins; they are red, green, yellow, orange, and black.  I also have some antique luncheon napkins that are off white with yellow and black edges... 

The picture on the middle shelf was purchased at --- wait for it -- Big Lots!  Can you believe it?  I love it!  And unlike the last picture I had there, there is no glass to break when it falls off the shelf as my children run past.  "Stop running in the house!"

Here is the close up of the print...  Each new day is a blessing -- why, yes!, yes it is!

Bottom shelf is the coffee shelf.  Our coffee pot sets on the counter adjacent to this baker's rack, so the cups and other necessities must be in arm's reach, don't you think?  So here are the mugs that match the dinner plates, in a sweet tray purchased at Annie's Attic for $2.00.  The sugar bowls and creamer set are from Target.  The french press is from Home Goods.

So here is the bottom shelf.  It hold my turkey platter -- not that it has a turkey on it -- but it's what I serve the turkey from at holidays :)  It also holds a couple of baskets I use frequently to serve.  And, of course, you can see my "taters and onions."  It's handy to have those on hand!

So that's one side of the kitchen.  Want to see the functional side?

My fruit "basket."  The kiddos can just reach right in for a healthy snack.  The glass cutting board behind it is used for a hot pad... I don't cut on it.  Glass cutting boards will dull your knives.  But they do protect your counter tops.

To the right of the fruit basket area is my rooster corner.  I found this rooster platter at Annie's for $3.50. The rooster lamp was a valentine's gift from Lovey.  It came from Cracker Barrel.  The rooster is from Garden Ridge.  The basket I've had since the beginning of time.  But I love the chicken wire look... fitting, huh?

This is my little creation.  The plate is clear glass with a rooster napkin decoupaged on the back.  I used one of those paper plate holder baskets behind it and then an orange square plate behind that.  I like the look, I really do!

My canisters are from Kirklands!  Love Kirklands!  Think it's da bomb!

So above the cabinets we have roosters and chickens at roost.  Pictures aren't great, but we'll share them anyway.  

And the details:

Mr. Rooster - good morning to you!

Hope you've enjoyed your visit.  I feel like I talked your leg off.  

Can I get you another cup of coffee?

See you again real soon!

Billie