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.

A Home Can Be Full of Surprises

I was just sitting in our family room when an unexpected visitor started flying around.

Our cat just looked at the owl as it was perched on my French Country Drapes.

Its funny how your home can seem so different when an unexpected visitor arrives.  Every detail seems exaggerated.

The owl probably was scared and wanted to fly away.  His home is in the trees.

The owl flew across the room to our oil painting.  It didn't know it held a memory for me.

I put the cat in our laundry room to calm the bird.  He flew closer to our entrance and perched on our French Country Chandelier.

The owl flew out to safety and felt free again.  Nature is fun to look at when its outside our home in its proper place.  But it gives it a different perceptive as something wild comes in.  I'm glad it was a happy ending and all is safe. 

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.