A COTTAGE KITCHEN

Off we go to the cottage again tomorrow. A lot of physical (ouch) work for me waiting, mainly of the outdoor variety. But... this is what I yearned for the entire cold winter. So I will be pulling up my sleeves, pulling out my trowel and getting some real dirt under my manicured nails!!

Last week I took pictures of my kitchen which has been under renovation since January. I hesitated showing them because I really wanted to show the completed project. That is going to take awhile for a few reasons. But first, I'll tell you what I do have. One main thing I wanted was open shelving. That is getting quite popular now, but it is actually very common in European kitchens. I had in mind my friend's Doris and Hans~Martin's kitchen in Cologne, Germany. So that is what I have above. Resident Carpenter first gutted the kitchen completely. He made these shelves and painted them. I have subway tile below the bottom shelf. My counters are quartz, white with speckles of various colors. I wanted everything from the counter up to be white. I ordered my dishes from Overstock.com. They are Basket Weave by Gibson. I am still deciding on coffee mugs, and drink ware. I also need pots and pans and linens, blinds, curtains and rugs. I told you I wasn't done!! If you look to the far right you will see a little glimpse of a deep gray~green color. That is the stove hood and that is the color of the lower cabinets, which I did not take a picture of . RC removed these cabinets, stripped and sanded them and painted them this color, Painted Turtle by Behr. I really liked the old cabinets because the doors were beaded board and I see a lot of that now. the shelf brackets need the screw holes plugged and painted as well as the trim around the windows. Then he is done!!

This picture is to the left of the kitchen sink and window (the above was to the right). The pendant light looks humongous but it isn't. It is from Home Depot. I have them on each side of both windows and on each end of the bar/counter.

Here is a better of view of that stove hood RC made (he has some touching up of the paint to do). I was really surprised that my cottage china went so well with the paint color. The flowers are a bluish~gray. So I am happy that I can display this and it's not going to clash.

So I have some work ahead of me. Okay, I have some shopping and that is definitely not work!!! Now it might sound strange that we had the kitchen renovated but we have nothing to unpack to put back into it. Well, I will tell you why. If you own a lake house or know someone that does and it is a 2nd home, as it is in our case, there is a general rule of thumb when furnishing it. If you don't want it, you bring it up to the lake!!! So we have had over the years horrible, ugly, wretched things up here! I replaced much of course as the years went on, but never let me lead you on that it has been a breeze to own two homes. And as much as I have always loved to entertain at the lake, our focus was to have fun with the kids and keep things simple. And actually, when we decided to renovate, we not only cleaned out a lot of accumulated "junk", but things we just didn't need or never would use. Blondie finally has space that is uncluttered. For now.

So we are off, bright and early. I have to plant pots for the patio and porches. It is supposed to rain all day again, but part of the patio is covered. I went to a garden center today and even I was amazed at some of the varieties of annuals they had, so I am excited to show you pictures of my pots when they are completed.

I wish you all a wonderful, DRY weekend!!! :-)

xoxo
Jane