November 23, 2011

on monday

I woke up at nine o'clock this morning.

9:00.

Nine in the ayem.

I am discombobulated on so many levels by this turn of events. Usually, I am a wake up at six without an alarm kind of girl, and on a rare day, my alarm wakes me up at seven. This morning, I woke up with a wrinkle in my cheek that I fear may never go away, and an instant axe in the noggin caffeine deprived headache, so it's probably best if we all keep our expectations of this post making any sense at all to a minimum.

I know I've blogged about my kitchen and its remodel before, but two things happened on Monday that have led me to blog about it again today.

First, I pulled something off one of the open top shelves in my kitchen, and a shower of dust bunnies came down with it. It was time. Time to take everything down, wash it all in hot soapy water, wipe down the shelves, and then put it all back and feel good about the cleanliness of my kitchen shelves for at least a week. I remembered that I planned to do this particular project right before the wedding, but along with about 267 other projects that I planned to do right before the wedding, it didn't happen.

Since everything was all bright and shiny and clean, I might as well take a picture or two.

Secondly, again on Monday, (I feel the need to point out the Monday part again, in order to justify my post title), I was digging out my stash of Christmas magazines, and in the process I found an old and extremely tattered issue of Country Living magazine that brought me straight back to our pre-remodel, pre-Montana move days.

It features a kitchen that served as very heavy inspiration for our soon to be new home.



It was fun to look through the pages and see the ways our kitchen turned out to be similar, and also the ways it is different.


Obviously, one major difference is my heavy handed addition of lots of aqua....my favorite color ever.

Ever, ever.

But the pink was a little trickier. If it was not for the fact that I found the pretty pink bowl for a whopping five dollars, I probably wouldn't have even gone there at all.

For a while, I was really hung up on the pink. In my mind, you either go more primary with a color scheme by leaning to the red side, or more pastel by going to the pink side.

But then I took a closer look my two very favorite vintage tablecloths, and noticed that they each had a touch of pink mixed in with red, and as I love these particular tablecloths more than a person should love any sort of fabric object, I decided to follow suit and add a few pink touches here and there, and therefore overcome my pink and red issues once and for all.

(Can someone please fix that sentence/paragraph? I still have a bit of a headache, and therefore am in no condition to cure it of its run-on-ishness.)

In case it's not clear, my first favorite tablecloth is the cherry beauty in the above collage, and my second favorite is this little fella.


Believe it or not, this cloth was a bonus that the seller threw into the package when I purchased another tablecloth on Ebay. Pure craziness.




(Does anyone know what that little aqua chicken is supposed to be? He is about the size of a salt shaker, but has a hole in his back that is filled with some kind of plastery substance. I don't know his purpose, but I love him anyway.)

Almost everything in my kitchen is vintage, but back when we were remodeling, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware were really doing some fun reproductions.

Speaking of which....

Dear Restoration Hardware,
What has happened to you?
I don't even know you anymore.
Sadly,
Teresa

The wall phone was a Pottery Barn find. I also have a reproduction desk phone that I love, and while I don't miss all the sales calls since we canceled our home number, I do miss talking on the old school style tellies.

Thanks to Martha, jadeite was also making a big comeback, and everyone from Sears to Linen's and Things, to Marty herself were selling new versions of the old favorite. Butter dishes, batter bowls, ball pitchers and cake stands were a few of the new things I added to my collection of vintage goodies.

It took years and years of antique show hunting to totally outfit my kitchen, and I truly enjoyed every minute of it. I'm still on the lookout for fun tablecloths and dish towels, but other than that, I feel like my little cottage kitchen has totally come into its own, and I love it.

And now I'm off to snuggle up to my Costco sized bottle of Ibuprofin, because I have to go to the grocery store this afternoon and we all know the grocery store on the day before Thanksgiving is its very own headache inducing experience.

Have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!

57 comments:

  1. Lovely kitchen! I am adoring all the pastel dishes. So pretty!

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  2. Adore your kitchen! I would feel totally at home there! About Restoration Hardware...I KNOW! I won't even go in the store anymore because I don't like anything in it anymore. That used to be one of my favorites to go in...especially around the holidays, but I can't get past all the washed out & weathered looking everything they have now. So sad!

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  3. Teresa-Misha: We totally have the same bowl. See? http://sally-drinkingfrommysaucer.blogspot.com/2011/10/chair-full-of-bowlies.html Because, of course you need proof.

    Hope you managed at the store this afternoon. I went for my last(?) trip this morning, and it was fairly quiet, I thought. Vowed that I would not be back. Today, we (which may or may not mean Shelby did all the work) made an apple pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, and some m&m-pretzel-kisses. Tonight, hubby will bake dinner rolls, and I'll make a jello salad & peel potatoes. Dinner is at 1:00 tomorrow - just the 4 of us and my parents. Hope you feel better for the big day, and for heaven's sake... set your alarm girlfriend! Love, SallySue

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  4. Oh, and p.s. The day after Thanksgiving, I am coming to have a cup of tea/coffee/sugar/all of the above in your kitchen (pretty, pretty!!). K? {hugs}

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  5. I love your kitchen and love this post where you've told how it came to be. I hope your headache is gone, but if you hit Costco today, maybe it's even worse by now. Those stores get crazy!!

    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Pam

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  6. I just adore your kitchen, it is full of all my favorite colors and and vintage style I love! Do you like the designer, Cath Kidston (cathkidstonusa.com)? She mixes lots of pinks and reds together with the other colors you like. I love her stuff! Your writing always cracks me up, by the way...you are a funny gal! I woke up with a headache too...excedrin is my friend, although I am sure my liver would disagree. Good luck at the grocery store, I'm afraid I may have to go today too...maybe I should go at midnight or something???

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  7. I just returned from a grocery store trip of headache inducing proportions.
    Love your kitchen. I think it's because I don't have the patience (or the money) for it that my kitchen has never been what I dreamed of. Sigh. I can still look at beautiful ones like yours, though. ;)

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  8. i'll never tire of staring at beautiful pictures of your kitchen.

    i completely agree about restoration hardware, my giant catalog came in the mail this year & i was so confused.

    ps ~ what camera would you recommend for this girl to put on her christmas list? is it still the canon rebel t2i? i want the best of all worlds, as far as i want to shoot - landscapes, closeups, people, so if i need an extra lens...please tell me.

    Thanks in advance for your assistance & please feel free to answer after the headache subsides & the turkey settles.

    Thanks again & Happy Thanksgiving!

    Rebecca

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  9. Your kitchen is so happy looking. Love the colors. The only thing I can think you chicken might be is a toothpick holder.

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  10. Teresa! I truly love your kitchen... I have the same phone, from Pottery Barn, purchased just so that I could talk on the kitchen phone while HAND WASHING dishes since we didn't have a dishwasher at Red Gate Farm for the first 5 years! So many of your things are just the same style and color that I gravitate towards (some are actually the same items). I'm obviously a pastel lover and lover of old stuff too.

    I too do not know what Restoration Hardware has become... we were just there at U Village a couple of weeks ago and everything is, well, sort of fake and french inspired....

    Hope you're feeling better so that you can tackle the day before Thanksgiving grocery adventure!

    ~Chris

    PS I see the new le creuset! Looks fab!

    PSS I will be showing this post to my family... they think I'm the only strange person that buys "stewart" pop just for the display factor... I did it in my prior house and this one too!

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  11. You got a blue LeCreuset! Woohoo!! The color is A-MA-ZING!

    And you KNOW I love your kitchen. It is for sure one of the top 10 happiest places on earth! It is just so much fun!

    Oh, and about Restoration Hardware. Where the HECK doI begin!? They use to have so many fun things! The first time I walked past their "new" store I was sad for a moment because I thought they had gone out of business. The windows were dark so I just assumed. As I got closer I realized that it was supposed to be like that. WHAAAATTTT?? Walking in I didn't have my usual happy elation at crossing the threshold. I was so depressing. Ugh. I am sorry to say I no longer have a use for my beloved store. So sad.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you, my friend! I hope it is filled with happiness!

    Mary

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  12. I absolutely adore your kitchen Teresa! Lucky girl! Have fun cooking tomorrow in it. I know I would. Wishing you and your family a wonderful Happy Thanksgiving! :)

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  13. Absolutely LOVE your kitchen!!

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  14. What a beautiful kitchen! Again, will be filing away many of your ideas for my new-home project! Your chickadee might be a toothpick holder???

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  15. I think you know your kitchen is one of my absolute favorites evah!! It makes me happy just to look at it. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  16. I love your kitchen~ especially the big "EAT" sign and the old phone. -- and the colors, of course.
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  17. Based on the full sized photos the R.H. guy has of himself displayed in his catalog maybe he's too focused on the wrong things? Anyway totally agree about that.
    One word strikes me in regards to your kitchen: cheerful!
    Happy Thanksgiving-and thank you to your boys and girl-in-law for serving our country.

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  18. I love the kitchen photos! And the aqua chicken is too cute! I'm now a follower.

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  19. You could post photos of your kitchen on a weekly basis, and I pinky-promise that I would not tire of them. You were inspired by Country Living, and I was inspired by you. I get new ideas every time I look at your pictures. Although I haven't incorporated pink. I absolutely love it in your kitchen, but I'm not brave enough. And my hubby might also raise an eyebrow or two. ;)

    Hope your headache is better!

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  20. your house and particularly the kitchen, is my dream one...one day i shall pull out your pics on my blog with my version (Lord willing!) how fun would that be?

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  21. OMG. I have that same tattered Country Living in the drawer beside my bed. I too started with same green walls. Then went to buttercream. Pink, red n yellow are my fav colors. I covet the yellow tablecloth. I have so many of the same accents but without your knack for display (and we won't even mention my poor pics).... Please come style me. It'll prompt me to wash my goodies too!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Leslie

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  22. Right now my kitchen is green and aqua. Back when I had pink and yellow in it also, I thought I had to stay away from red (just the opposite of you). Now I really love them all together like you have yours. So cute! I may be moving before long and I'd can't wait to try that!!

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  23. You could post anything from and about your kitchen, home, Meadowbrook Heaven, . . . on a head ache sort of day and I would LOVE IT!
    Be well and enjoy a Happy T . . .
    Love, Lynne

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  24. I adore your kitchen. It's very, very similar to what I would have (if I had the time, oomph and money to sand and repaint my cabinets, buy those gorgeous glass knobs and lots of pretty red and green accents). Ahhhhh! Someday!

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  25. Hope you are feeling better Montana friend! I love your kitchen, my favorite in the world in fact. I was thinking that little chicken may have been a toothpick holder but the plaster threw me. You kitchen is perfect--don’t ever change a thing :) I have the pottey barn tellie --in silver--in my kitchen. Would you believe it’s the only reason I haven’t shut off my home phone? Silly!!
    Hugs from your biggest fan in WV
    Amy

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  26. My Grandma had a few of those same chickens. She always used them on her Easter table with the yellow Fanny Farmer ceramic egg holders, but the ones that you're asking about always held a candle, the bigger than birthday candles, but smaller than a tall taper candle. The plastery substance held the candle in an upright position and kept it from falling over.
    Just my two cents. I absolutely adore your kitchen and your collection of vintage towels and cloths. Love them!

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  27. Hi Teresa!

    What a gorgeous post today!

    I just want to thank you for permission to use a photo or two from your posts. I will be posting by tomorrow afternoon, and I most certainly will link back to you. Many thanks and I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving today! Anita

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  28. Ooohhhhh I see you got the Le Creuset! I have one in that colour too and just used it to make bread the other day!

    I've loved your kitchen from the very first time I've seen it. Amazing.

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  29. I LOVE your kitchen T! Also you and me are soul sisters with that whole lovin aqua thing. I miss you by the way. I hope you are having a lovely Thanksgiving with that heap of boys you live with.

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  30. Love, love, love your kitchen!
    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  31. Beautifully done....love it:

    PS - the little blue chicken/rooster with a hole in the back is called a wall pocket....the hole is to hang on a nail on the wall. It can hold a small amount of water and a flower or greenery will be there for days! Enjoy

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  32. We have the same Le Creuset! I absolutely adore it!
    I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you too are now in full Christmas-music-cinnamon-candles-cozy-blankets-warm-fires mode that we are~
    xx

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  33. Pink and red is my favorite combo. If it were up to me all my Christmas decorations would be pink, red and white. Some day I will have a cozy little hide away, even if it is just a tiny room, in those colors, with a touch of pale aqua thrown in for fun. Your kitchen is one of my favorite kitchens of all time. Love your cabinets and all the vintage (and repro too, nothing wrong with that) goodies.

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  34. Dear Teresa,
    You make me smile. I love reading your posts, especially your letter ones to companies and such. You seem so great. I hope you have a great holiday season! :)

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  35. Oh dear kitchen heaven, at last we meet!

    I need to allow my blood pressure to come down......there, that's better :)

    And I fully agree about R.H. ! I was thrilled beyond belief when they finally made it to my neck of the woods, SLC Utah. And now....? I emailed them awhile back, called them sellouts :(
    Nice to meet you, I'm Life In Red Shoes

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  36. LOVE everything:) Elma elma2179@yahoo.com

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  37. Teresa,
    How clever of you to reveal that you got the turquoise Le Creuset in a photo! And I know what you mean about RH. I just could not identify with anything in their big catalog-so dreary! If we ever get to do a remodel of our kitchen, I plan to use some old boards that are turquoise (from the back porch that would be removed in the remodel) and put them on the island. I'm already buying some small aqua/turquoise items. A girl can hope, can't she?

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  38. Your kitchen makes me happy! Love it! I would want to put on an apron, all June Cleaver like, and bake and cook up a storm! I don't know if anyone answered your question about the little aqua chicken with the hole in the top, but I've seen similar little chicken things like that that are supposed to sit on top of a pie, I think. But I don't know why or what it's purpose is. If I think of it I'll google it and get back to you. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!

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  39. Your kitchen always makes me smile. Maybe even grin.

    And thank you for alleviating my same red/pink fear. They DO work!!!

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  40. Of all of the beautiful things you just showed us, here's me..."Ohhh, I love that big can of lard." (haha) Your kitchen is really an inspiration!

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  41. What issue of CL is that? I still have some stored and wonder if I have it. It is so cute. Your kitchen came out wonderful and it makes me smile evey time I see it.
    I really like your old timer. I picked one up at an antique shop that was in bad condition thinking I could do something with it. Then I found one on ebay but forgot to bid on it! I am thinking they must be from the 30's or 40's. Any idea? I think the 50's style was more atomic like we can still buy.
    I hope that your headache is long good by now. Oh on your shopping trip the day before Thanksgiving. That is one of the things I am thankful for. My sweet husband doesn't mind running to the store for me and he ended up making two trips for me!! Doesn't that just say I Love You loud and clear to do that? Or maybe he was saying "You are driving me crazy and I will gladly go to the store for you just to get away from you!" hehehe. Sadly, he probably was saying the last statement since I was so stressed!

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  42. To use one of my young student's sayings..."Your kitchen makes me as happy as a dinosaur in a chicken coop!"

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  43. You used the word "discombobulated". I acually use it as an ordinary word, and when I do, people look at me as if I were crazy! Fun to find someone else who is sometimes as "discombobulated" as me! I love words!

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  44. I think your kitchen needs an agent because it's pretty famous. I also think it's crashed Pinterest's servers a few times.

    But maybe that's because it's stunning. :-)

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  45. Love your kitchen.
    Mine is jadiet and red but now I am thinking of adding some turquoise and pinks. I am loving your pastels mixed in! The red gives it a pop and makes me smile!

    Restoration Hardware is a huge let down! I got their catalog and what a waste! I think we should all write them and express our disappointment!

    Have a Merry Christmas,
    Hugs,
    Miss Cherry Heart

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  46. Is it awful to say I've fallen deeply...madly...in LOVE...with a KITCHEN? Your taste is amazing and I feel as if I'm always saying your such an inspiration to me but this room . . . this kitchen it truly BREATHTAKING! I love your use of color and how you mix and match it all together. The whole effect is lovely and a vintage lovers delight!

    btw, Pintrest is getting a workout today! LOL

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  47. Wow I just love your kitchen!! The little chicken with the hole in it's back ~ the hole is for holding toothpicks at the table :)

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  48. Oh, I could just look at your blog for days - love the photos and just everything! This kitchen entry makes me drool, I love the patina on well-used kitchen stuff, you can't find the colors just like these.

    Thank you for creating such a happy place!

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  49. Just realized - I posted about your post, including a photo of your collage. I did *NOT* get permission. I did give you credit. Let me know if you need me to remove it (though it would break my heart). It's on this post, - http://whitebooth.blogspot.com/2012/01/pink-in-kitchen.html. That is my booth blog. I also do the blog for the store and a personal blog. You are on the blog roll list for those. I have long been a fan of yours and have referenced you a number of times, especially on my personal blog - First a Dream.

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  50. Just found your blog via cottage 1945 sidebar. Loving everything I see, your style and your photography are gorgeous. New follower! I hope you'll stop by the Farmhouse Porch when you get the time.

    ♥Linsey

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  51. I love your kitchenware and colors! Is the egg dish still available or is it old?

    Beautiful, beautiful blog.

    Rose

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  52. Very nice! We also chose to live way out of town on 80 acres. It is a great deal of work, but so worth it! I think the little chicken is a candle holder. I am guessing the plastery substance is irrelevant and was added at some time to sturdy up a candle...like I said, just guessing.

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  53. i love love love your kitchen....you should be very proud of your design abilities !
    and the little chicken....could it hold toothpicks ?

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  54. Everything about your blog is so charming. I love the colors and the vintage feel. Just subscribed and will be back for more! <3

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  55. We all have good and bad days not only with our creativity and productivity but also with our health. I love your kitchen. You can tell you put a lot of work into it. It paid off.

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  56. I, too, have kept a tattered copy of this same Country Living forever because of the beautiful kitchen. Now, I'll have to keep a permanent [though not as tattered :)] link to your blog post as your kitchen is absolutely stunning. I love a calm and clean it looks...I think this would be the case even with dust bunnies! Thank you for this inspiration!

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  57. I believe the chicken is for sugar or cream. My mom has a yellow one

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