cooking kharma

As I was cleaning up dishes this morning, my mind wandered to a ragged old pot that belonged to my grandmother.

Its blue, from Sears and has seen better days, as have the two other pieces from the set that was purchased in 1972.

I wondered whether I should keep it.

It was part of an "out with the old" remodel of a red 1950s kitchen that my grandparents did when I was very little.

Her very french, gray cabinets had sleek modern lines and she had only lower cabinets. The floor was green and blue and just about every accessory had to be a lovely Provencal, cornflower blue.

That is where the pots came in. I guess that color was difficult to find outside of France at the time, as American styles tended to be avocado green and harvest gold.

I have wonderful memories of that kitchen and the delicious smells that lived there.

All of my grandmother's dishes seem to have good cooking kharma,

producing more than warm, fuzzy memories for me.

They have seen me through many culinary first tries with smashing success.

So I keep the worn and the beautiful alike.

Pimp My bathroom-part 1 in which I spend more money and find out my entire family hates this color

So I painted the bathrom pink,

taking cues from the recent House Beautiful edition that proclaimed it fabulous beyond all belief.

My husband, who professes to like pink, hates this color. Too intense, he says.

I added a stand alone TP holder thinking its about as inoffensive as it gets for such an item.

The accesories are all blue and white.

I need more but many of the items are boxed up in another state at the moment.

I removed ugly towel bars and realized that now is the time to change the light fixture above the vanity.

This is actually the same only larger in another bath in my house. I hate them but I must confess they are cheap and I used one to replace a very dated fixture at my old house in Pennsylvania.

This is where the more money part comes in.

I spent

$53 on accessories-- shower curtain, rug, and TP holder.

$35 on paint and supplies

$125 on this new light fixture

I think the $125 price tag was very reasonable but it busted my $100 budget.

It goes here..

The faucet and vanity aren't great but they are there and are staying for the time being.

I also need to figure out the hand towel situation.

What do you think? Thumbs up or Thumbs down on this unfinished project.

Part 2 coming soon... I hope.

pink weekend ahead

My home is, at the moment dull, dull, and more dull.

Its not that I have no ideas, just ya'know "Rome wasn't built in a day".

Well, the bottom line is that I'm sick of it.

Sick of the scuffed white walls and builder grade finishes and accessories.

So for about $100 I am going to pimp my bathroom.

My main inspiration is this month's House Beautiful.

I have always relegated pink to sunporch slipcovers and cushions but I have begun to rethink it.

My scanner is misbehaving so check out some photos HERE.

The photo above had a pink that's a bit too intense for me.

The pairing with white wainscoting and the blue and white ginger jar had me thinking and this is what I found...

Sherwin-Williams 6576 Azalea Flower.

I was concerned about the undertones being too blue and becoming a sickening muddy mess next to the

orangey wood of the floor.

I also didn't want to swing too far in the direction of peach, ampicillin and Pepto.

I found the above shower curtain for $20 bucks at Target. I was surprised after my last post "Shower Curtain Hell"

I also got this small rug at Target for $20.

I removed this dreadful medicine cabinet too.

I also have to remove this towel bar above the toilet, eww.

It is no where near the sink and the TP holder is matching and, also, less than convenient.

Wish me luck.

Final photos coming soon.

Shower curtain hell

Why are so many shower curtains trite, cutsey, or just plain awful?

Seashell themes are all too common.

I found some that are blatantly shocking and...

some that require a closer look to reveal their tastelessness.

Note the handcuffs above. I thought, upon first glance that it might be an option for me until I noticed the randy looking ladies.

Many shower curtains are just boring. Stripes, Yawn.

I have a full size bath on the main floor of my house. No powder room so I must consider covering the bath even though it is never used.

I want to paint the walls pink and use black and white or blue and white accents.

I'm leaning towards blue. It'll be a good spot to hang a few of my antique Chinese export plates.

I could be convinced to go this polka dot route.

This is very chic but not quite right.

I think this will do.

How do you feel about shower curtains?

Paper roses

I awoke to this lovely handmade bouquet of paper flowers.

My charming husband made them for me while away for the weekend.

The hilarious part is that he got the directions from Sprout, a TV station for preschoolers that we watch with our youngest.

Happy Valentine's Day

Isn't it romantic?

Paris in the 1920s sounds so romantic.

This postcard was sent to my great-grandmother, Jeanne Camille from my

great-grandfather, Maurice, not long after they met.

The story goes that they met at a street fight.

I find the postcard a bit confusing as he was asking whether she had arrived at the beach in Paris. Having just arrived from Colorado, his French was not too great.

I have a handful of these sweet little notes that they sent each other before they married.

They remained sweethearts for the rest of their lives.

Hope you have a very romantic day.

 

Who lives in a house with no furniture... Sponge-Pot Strange-gift!

Ok, so no furniture is an exxageration but this sponge is the weirdest gift I have ever opened.

It is about 16 inches high and comes with directions for planting directly in it, i.e. no soil.

If you search images for sponge pot, sponge planter, really weird sponge, etc. Sponge-Bob comes up a lot, along with people using sponges to make pots and a bunch of stuff unrelated to sponges or pots. Maybe they were just smoking pot and took the pictures.

I could not find one picture of one of these sponge pot thingys. I wanted to see what different plants were used and how they looked. It turns out that no one who owns one of these finds them picture worthy.

 

I thought of perhaps using it to house handtowels and washcloths nicely rolled with guest soap.

It needs a dish below it if its used as a planter which kind of ruins the look, I think.

I thought that a dendrobium orchid in its own small pot might be nicely housed in the sponge pot.

I happen to think the texture is great. I can't wait to figure out exactly where it will live in my house.

What would you do with it?

Sunnier mornings--coming soon

This has me thinking of one of those early Spring mornings when the light super saturates your home and gives you the jolt it takes to jump up happily and slurp up every non-dreary minute of the day.

I found it

Today I got a tiny Crate and Barrel catalog. Blah, Blah and more Target looking Blah.

However, my decorating mind is fixated on my barren family room.

I have been coveting a clear acrylic coffee table like the ones above from CB2.com. As a matter of fact, I kinda want that whole room minus the groovy fireplace to end up here.

I have four equal windows that will recieve four equal woven wood roman shades in a natural color.

I am still pondering the drapery panels to finish the windows.

I found these on the Crate and Barrel site and think they are a possibility with pale greige walls and a deep dove gray sofa (that I have yet to find). I'm still trying to convince my husband that we should re-upholster this.