Kitchen In The Morning

It was so nice to wake up to this, vs. a table in the middle of the room, this morning! I love the sunlight this room gets and I can't wait to make some breakfast now and begin my day eating at my little table near the window. I wanted to show you the wall that I spoke about that had weird corners, it's this one... there are two walls sticking out into the room which made it tricky to install cabinetry there so I decided to buy a tall, slim, wood bookcase -- it's not vintage, it is a reproduction piece made to look a bit older, but it works there. Though, sadly, I intended for it to hold some pretty bits and my cookbooks, but the shelves are not adjustable and too short to hold the books so I will stack a few and use the rest for display and such.



The way you see it now, well, that was done at midnight last night as I quickly unpacked a box of things to just fill it to show you how it might look eventually.

The table near the window may or may not stay, but for now it will stay until I find what I see there in my mind's eye (a wood table, vintage, painted a gorgeous gray) but that could take awhile so for now my vintage table from the Netherlands (via ComingHome in Lindener Marktplatz) will stay. It's a nice breakie table.



Now I'm thinking of ways to make the kitchen look a bit more vintage, I want to bring in some elements now to give it character and age. I have some ideas, so I'll show you as I put them into play. :)

Ideas to bring vintage charm:

* an old cabinet, weathered, with glass doors to hang to the right of where the hood will be (or perhaps to the left, we'll see)
* open shelving that looks or is old on the other side of the hood
* a hood that matches the stove (not white, I'm unsure of how that would look) but that is brushed metal - not shiny.
* Putting things on the bookshelf that have some age and character and unifying the colors (the teas will go into the glass cabinet as I want that to be a tea cabinet since we are big tea drinkers around here and have all the accessories that goes along with being serious tea consumers).
* Find a vintage looking toaster and blender.
* Add some art, I'd love an oil painting (a portrait or animal or something against a black background -- in a vintage frame that is about 5 x 7.)
* Buy something vintage to put in the windows -- a cafe curtain -- I'm battling between old, soft lace and Belgium linen that I can embellish somehow. But only cafe curtains, nothing on top.
* Do something to the walls - wallpaper or paint perhaps...
* Bring in black accents.
* Find a vintage pendant or hang a black one, I have a few in mind...
* Introduce warmth a through rug, perhaps in stripes or something old and vintage with a pattern on it...
* I have to do a moodboard!!!



The countertops look a bit orange-y but they are not AT ALL, they are very light wood with no orange tone to them but my battery was ready to die and I had no time to adjust my settings, hence the glowing counters.

Hope you have a nice weekend! I'm going to see my friend play acoustic guitar this afternoon in Linden, it will be great to hear him play live - he is a musician who tours and is from Philadelphia living in the List near me with his wife and children.

Oh back to the kitchen... Remember, this was before:





The bookcase is now where that ladder is.... See the walls - that is what I meant about tricky configuration for cabinetry!

P.S. I hear my husband doing things in the kitchen, tinkering around, and I love that sound. He is really into arranging things and organizing stuff so I am always so excited when he takes an interest in our home and the new things that we bring in. I have to give him a shout out for carrying that shelf home from Esplanade (a store in List) home on Friday night.

What a sweetie.

We don't have a car here, we vowed to live car-free for a year but now we're here 15 months and still don't want a car so we're going to do it for another year. This means being clever, and for him it means buying furniture, throwing it over his shoulder and walking home with it.

(images: holly becker for haus maus)