I'm a fan of Ina Garten

I am a fan of food network, and while some of the hosts get on my last nerve, there are some that only get better the more I see them. Ina Garten is one of my favorites. And I love her kitchen. My brother is a fantastic kitchen designer, he has designed two kitchens for me now. Sadly, I don't live in either of those houses, but that's ok, our current house may be a work in progress, but we keep at it. This week my attention turns to our kitchen. We'll be removing our current floor and installing a new one, also... a coat of paint is in order... on Everything! And of course lots of details. So I'll keep you posted. And for inspiration here are some photos of Ina's kitchen. The first kitchen photo is her home kitchen, she also has "the barn" and there is one in New York that's very similar although if there is such a thing as "over the top" that would be it!


I like the open shelves! Perhaps when I paint my kitchen cabinets I'll just leave some of the doors off. I also love the details, like the candle sticks and the stools, they have nice lines. The rest of the room seems to be off the hook and the colors and style appeal to me but the scale does not. Too big! The pantry... I lurve the pantry! Everything is so NEAT! I really love order in my house. I told my hubby this evening that the way I packed my stuff into my current kitchen was crazy, I'm going to take it all out and start over! Well... not completely, but there are some changes that need to be made - and soon! It will come, we've only been in this house a year, it all just takes time.

PS, I've never really liked dressing at the holidays but Ina Garten won me over! I made an Ina Garten recipe (added a few things of course) for a Thanksgiving dinner party at my house. I made two at the same time and took the second one to a carry in meal at church and it did a lovely disappearing act! (Thankfully they let me take home my baking dish!) My parents decided that the dressing was the best they'd ever had (so I gave them the augmented recipe) and they served it to guests last week and again when we were at their house this evening. I had forgotten how good it was until I tasted it again this evening. It's her recipe, plus dried apricots, pecans and when it comes out of the oven I throw on a handful of green spring onions. The heat cooks the onion a bit between oven and table and the color and texture that it adds just takes the whole thing right over the edge. (And I actually didn't put any onion in the dressing because there would be plenty on top and in the gravy.) It was Yum! And suddenly our family has a new tradition, thank you Barefoot Contessa!

Another Bathroom Facelift

Our small bathroom had a bad case of ugliness so we gave it a little facelift. Nothing major, we didn’t move any of the big stuff.

Vintage 1975 blue shower, blue vinyl floor with glitter in it. Can't believe anyone ever manufactured that stuff.
The light and mirror get the award for the worst things in the room. And the sink... well... it is what it is.
So I went shopping and when I got home it was time for the real work. First, that med cabinet was out of there, it had been installed way too high on the wall and I wanted it lower. Which wasn't as simple as it seemed like it should be. Never is.
Some fancy drywall patching, a coat of paint and the new light fixture installed and it's already looking like a different room. There he is, looking pleased with his work! And I love the extra space inside this mirror/med cabinet!
I put down a new floor, vinyl tiles go down fast and are pretty easy to cut if you have the right cutters. Hubby put the baseboard back down and that finished up the floor.
On the window I used a piece of vintage textile from my collection and it fits beautifully on the window. I hung it from a tension rod on clips and the hand work on it is a nice detail and a touch of color in the room. A new white shower curtain, and a nice new extra long towel holder. (curtain rod)
I painted the vanity "Italian Leather" and was surprised with how much I liked how it turned out. Removing the old hardware and patching the holes and some new hardware from the Restore and it's a big difference. A new GFI outlet and white switches and plates were more nice details.
We visited our friend John Sproul to make some bracketless shelves in his woodworking shop and for the price of a sheet of MDF we built some serious shelves. Hubby is putting the finishing touches on them after he'd attached them to the wall.It didn't take me long to fill those shelves after the paint dried. Three of my hand painted vases look great here, and a landscape photo taken from our front porch when we lived in the artist/witch's house. Of course there is a bowl of beautiful soaps. The fleur de lis are a theme with me, have been for a very long time. I don't know if that plant will make it there or not, I guess we'll see.

I found this great clock at Big Lots and it even has storage space inside which tickled me pink.

There are a few more details I will to attend to at some point in this room but for now I'm really pleased with how it is turning out.