French Country Kitchen

Our home was built in 1980 as a model (so my neighbor says), so the cabinets came with the home.  I know a lot of designers like to paint or replace the cabinets.   But..............

Our cabinets are solid oak.  I think they go quite well with French Country.  Our built in shelves hold my wide assortment of cook books and decorating wisdom.  If my cabinets look a bit weathered I just  take out the Liquid Gold and they look like new.

I have a lot of cabinet space which holds an assortment of china.

Our back splash is tumble stone for a natural look.  We replaced the cook top with the flat surface which makes cleanup very easy. 

I found these tiles at the last minute to create a soft design.  

Our French Country Chandelier makes the room.  We purchased this after the flood at Lees Lighting in Frisco.  Our contractor recommended the place and we were very happy with the selection.  It had been reduced in price and the minute I saw it I fell in love.  It felt like a gift from God  I started laughing with joy because it was what I had always dreamed of.   

Our kitchen has a vaulted ceiling so it makes the lighting more dramatic.  We have a little window from the upstairs which over looks the kitchen area.  For many years our sons would call down and peek through the window to ask

 "Is dinner ready?'

My mom made the drapes from a Toile Fabric we found at a wonderful fabric store called, Cutting Corners.  Our favorite thing to do was going shopping for material just to see what was new.  Toile fabric tells a story.  I like the picture of the husband and wife working together on their farm.  Since a hundred years ago most people worked in the rural areas its a little bit of history.  

I also found the same fabric at Calico Corners.  I will probably never replace them because it reminds me of my mom.  I also have a matching French Chair she recovered.

Sue, which means Grace,  was always very stylish and had a flair for decorating.  She was an excellent seamstress and recovered sofas and chairs. I'll post another story to feature her home.  I think decorating is a complex mix of who you are, culture, and colors you love.  

Decorating always tells a story.  There's always a reason why you purchase something.  My favorite thing about our kitchen is the oil painting I purchased in front of my favorite place, Museum D Orsay.

I visited my girlfriend since 7th grade who lives in Germany teaching military students.  After a family trip to Europe i stayed an extra week and my girlfriend and I took a road trip to Paris.  We had the best time watching people at sidewalk cafes  So every time I see this oil painting it brings back a  very happy memory.

Accessories also make a room.  I found the lamp at a special store in Dallas.  I wasn't looking for a lamp but this one cried out to me.  Purchase!!!!!  I've loved it ever since.  The clock is a nice green which brings together the colors.  It's always nice to know what time it is.  

Our table was purchased after the flood.  My husband and I went shopping together and fell in love with the rod iron.  The chairs are very sturdy and we both liked it.  I had my grandmothers table for many years made of solid oak.  But because it was built over a hundred years ago the chairs would break.  He wasn't a fan of the chairs breaking but it was difficult to part with something that belonged to my grandmother.  So he was very happy to find a new table we both liked  It was even on sale so i laughed again with joy.  This was a gift from God.  i believe he cares about the little things.

Our sink came when we purchased the granite about eight years ago.  I enjoy the faucet because it has a strong flow.  The granite is Cecilla Gold.  I had put off buying granite because I thought it might be too porous but it has turned out to be a great decision and will never be outdated.  

It's nice to have fresh basil to pinch for cooking.

It's fun to play with flower arrangements.  I'm always changing what i like.  Blue and white is traditional for French Country.

I also love table cloths and change them frequently.  I am blessed to have white roses outside our window which bloom from April to November.  

It's July and my Christmas Poinsettia is still blooming and alive.  All it needs is a little water and sun.

It's interesting how another photograph from the same space can  feel so different.  I love decorating magazines because i always wonder what the room really looks like in person.   

 

Here is a nice photo of the vaulted ceiling.  I think the architect was very creative when they designed our home.  The window makes me happy.

Tile Over Brick Fireplace

It took courage but we decided to tile over the brick fireplace.  It was very inexpensive and easy maintenance since the tile I chose was Travertine look alike.  If there is soot on the tile all I have to do is wipe it off.  It also created a nice flow with the tile in the entry hall overlooking the living room.  The big issue my husband and I had was to replace the mantle. My husband did not want to put it back up. Without the mantle it gives it a more contemporary look.  So I call it Country French With A Twist.

The other issue was hanging our oil painting.  My son was so sweet to hang it as I was visualizing how high to hang it.  We had to put a special hook with a special glue as not to damage the tile.  So far it has not fallen so all is well.

Our wonderful contractor added a spotlight to shine on the painting every time we turn on our light switch.  I use to have a little light attached to the picture frame which was very inconvenient to turn on and off.  I think it also detracted from the painting to have the light on top.  Not sure what the trend is but its nice to have lighting to show off things you love.

My next job was to find a fireplace screen.  I went to my favorite Consignment store and found a screen with scrolls of gold on top for a French Flair.

Oil Paintings Make a Home

Oil Paintings make a visual statement in a home.  I went to several galleries to find the perfect choice.  It is a very personal decision what you decide to hang on your walls.  We have traveled to Italy and France so the pics on this page reminds me of the quaint cobbled streets, beautiful poppies, colorful harbors, and still life found in museums.

Finding A Place for Cherished Toile Fabric

Fabric speaks to me.  My mother and I picked out the toile fabric several years ago.  She made pillows, recovered a chair and made drapes with coordinating material.  Since my mom is ninety years old she will not be sewing a new set.  So i wanted to keep something to remember her by.  I also shopped for another toile and didn't see one I liked better.

My mom and I  found this chair at an estate sale with cane sides and curved legs, very French.  It is sooo comfortable our cat, Crystal loved to curl up in it.  The chair was saved in the flood so it was a sign to keep it.  My son called it the people fabric.  Every toile tells a story.  The story seems to be about a husband and wife working in fields for survival.  The wife watered the plants in her lovely garden and the husband plowed crops to sell and eat.   Life a hundred years ago was mostly rural.  Husband and wife worked as a team to provide food on the table and sell what was left over.  My mom grew up on a farm in rural Oklahoma and remembers what it was like to grab eggs from the underbelly of a chicken.  It  wasn't romantic at all because the chickens pecked at her.  But it was her job and she did it.  She watched her mother ring the necks of chickens for Sunday dinner.  The toile is a reminder of rural America.

I purchased the book, Country French Living by Charles Faudree to educate me about French design.  As I was thumbing the pages I couldn't believe my eyes.  The same fabric was on page 123 in Charles book.  In fact it was displayed at the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at the University of Oklahoma.  The same University my elder son was attending.  It's a small world.  

Shopping

Before I could make an absolute decision on anything I had to know if what i wanted existed out there.  So it was time to shop.  I found these furniture items at Dillards Department Store.  I went there because twenty years earlier I had purchased two nice floral sofas at Dillards and had a nice memory of the store.  Plus  it has great clothes to buy.  But that's another day.  I found this wonderful leather sofa with brown trim.  I thought it looked very elegant but wasn't sure if it had enough color.

Dillards had a nice chaise lounge that I scooted over to the leather couch because I thought they went together.  The sales person was very nice and aloud me to do so.  Since my theme was Country French I liked the French language on the chairs.  I sat there for a good while and wondered if this was a fit?  In my imagination I imagined the furniture in another place.  Perhaps in a French Villa with fountains in the view.  I only had limited space so wasn't sure if it was the right pick.

Bare Bones

Our home was bare bones. The dry wall came down because we didn't want any chance of the dreaded word mold.  It is sooo strange to see your home as it was in its birth.   This is what it looked like when it was being built I thought.  All of the memories you have seem so distant.  I remember Alex crawling on the floor in a circle as we chased him laughing.  This is a picture of our bedroom without the bed, bookcase, and dresser.  It seemed so surreal that our bedroom was still our bedroom but in a different state.  It was an out of the box experience.  It was like we had a chance to do over.  It was a fresh start to try new things. 

Paint Color

It wasn't an easy decision to pick out paint color.  I knew I wanted soft colors from the landscape of Provence. I wanted our dining room to be a natural green from the countryside, but not so pastel it looked like a nursery.  So I went to Sherwin Williams to pick out possible colors of green.  During this time I had consulted some decorators and contractors.  They all wanted me to do beige.  Kiln Beige was the most popular color.  I know because I asked the manager of Sherwin Williams.

"What is the most popular color?"  No matter what store I went to it was Kiln Beige.  I reverted to conformity and used that color for our guest bathroom.  It does look warm and inviting.  Let me show you all the colors I tried.  I think I must be an analytic thinker because I tried quite a few paint colors.  The colors on the family room wall were all shades of beige.  All the decorator books say to try the paint colors on the wall to see if they change in the light.  Our home was vacant after the flood and the walls were ripe to experiment.
It was a daunting task to pick just the right colors.  

After the Flood

After the flood 

Our family had a wonderful vacation on a cruise.  But while we were away our upstairs bathroom toilet sprung a leak.  Thanks to our neighbor she noticed a river of water coming down our stairs.  I found out while we were on the cruise that everything was submerged in water.  My neighbor Jos said on the phone over seas,

"It's bad Sandra, really bad."  

The tone of her voice made me wonder how bad was it?  

As we arrived home I opened the door to see everything moved out of our home.  Luckily Servpro had been busy with fans blowing to dry the structure to keep it intact.. The next six  months was a journey to what to buy?  What was my plan? Who do I follow?  What is my style?  Do I follow my instincts?

I was raised with a mom who loved fabric.  She could cover her couches and make drapes from her sewing machine in her bedroom.  If she was about to change the living room or den it was countless trips to the fabric stores to see what was the perfect covering for her devan.  If we weren't decorating we loved to go to fabric stores just to see what was out there.  Cutting Corners was our favorite so it was the first place I went to study my plan.

I've always loved Country French so I was so excited when I found this fabric by Alex. It went with Comfort Gray paint color by Sherwin Williams.   My neighbor was so sweet and held it up to get a vision of how it would drape for my dining room.

The other choice was a favorite color but didn't stand out as anything special.

Before I decided on the dining room drapes I needed to have something to coordinate for the living room.  So I went on another trip to Cutting Corners.  The aqua fabric stood out as a friend.  I think of pieces of material as friends because you live with them for quite awhile.  It's not like you can have a fight and say I  won't call you again. (Not that I do that ) The fabrics you choose must feel right.  They are apart of your life.