Hooray for Kitchen Decor

My kitchen is the most-used room in my home. I spend more time in there than anywhere else, and I like it that way.

It's also the most neglected room in my home as far as interior decor goes. I have a lot of excuses for it - it's a very small kitchen. It has virtually no wall space. It's so full of useful kitchen objects that there simply is no room for decorating. And I have, truly, the ugliest cabinets I've ever encountered.



Peach? Seriously, what decade was peach the "in" color? I've tried really hard to let the color of my cabinets grow on me, but it still hasn't happened.

At one point in the history of the home, the owner attempted to begin sanding the paint from the cabinets. They encountered that fantastic shade of robin's egg blue that was popular for awhile, and white beneath that. I know this because there is one cabinet that has one big spot sanded down on it. Clearly, that owner decided it wasn't worth the effort of removing three layers of paint, so they just left that spot. How nice.

Anyway, I finally gave in and decorated the only actual wall in the kitchen.

And it makes me happy.

Because antique cooking utensils thrill me.

It needs a few more, but so far, I'm pretty darn pleased with the result.

And now I have another excuse to keep attending auctions. And that makes me happy, too.

Weekend Treasures

While I do try to avoid supporting the slavery of Chinese children in sweat shops, there are time that I enjoy shopping as much as the next girl. I just try to keep it more in line with my moral values.

I found some wonderful "treasures" this weekend. These are the most exciting of the lot, from an auction on Saturday:

Antique canning jars - paid $11 for all five of them. The two without lids will probably be filled with flowers, the other three I'll use for storing dry goods in the pantry. Because storing things in glass jars in my cupboards makes me happy every time I open them.

This one is especially neat to me, because it still has the sticker from the last time it was used in 1958:
And can I just say - bidding at auctions is thrilling. Seriously, it makes my heart race a little each time I bid. So much more fun than clearance shopping at the mall.

Other treasures from the auction include an old fashioned hand-crank meat grinder for $2.50 and a rustic looking woven basket for $1.

At a neighbor's yard sale I paid two dollars for a box of adorable little 1/2 pint canning jars (modern ones that I can still use for canning), a Kerr Home Canning and Freezing book circa 1970's, tea towels embroidered by his wife, one for each day of the week, and a kid's book of ABC's (also 1970's). I have a kind and generous neighbor to give me such a great deal on those treasures!

Overall, I'd say it was a satisfying weekend of "shopping".

Shopping list - the update.

I bet you're dying to know how my shopping trip went the other day, aren't ya?

At one thrift store I found a fantastic, huge wooden cutting board and a wooden chair that'll be perfect for Chloe's room once it's refinished. I spent $3. (Granted, the chair has no seat, hubby will have to create one for it, and I'll have to upholster and refinish the chair, but for two bucks? Heckuva deal.)

At an antique store on Main Street I found myself an antique cheese grater and a heavy duty rubber spatula - $6.

I still need to find a lamp, but that's something that can wait until I find just what I'm looking for. After not finding a used watering can, I had to give in and let Hubs get one at Lowes because I needed one right away.

So I consider it a mild success. I saved a ton of money, I acquired a new craft project (the chair) and I gotta tell ya, there's something kind of fun about using an antique cheese grater. (And there's security in knowing it's not going to crack and fall apart while I'm using it.)