Day 929: making kitchens livable

Since I posted this Montgomery house, I've been thinking about kitchens that are less-kitcheny. Some of you were concerned about that kitchen for utilitarian reasons, and believe me, I'm all for a useful kitchen. But I still want it to be beautiful. So unless you can completely start from scratch like Mark and Richard did, how can you make a normal kitchen feel a little more like the rest of your house?

How about adding some artwork (like above)? These are well out of the way of potential spills and splatters, which is an obvious concern.


Kitchens are full of so many hard surfaces, a little fabric goes a long way to soften them up. Pretty shades or curtains, skirted tables, or even skirted chairs (like these, from Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles) can help to break up the expanse of horizontal and vertical lines.


I've posted about this before, but I still love the idea of borrowing a rug from another room. The oriental rugs in this Barbara Westbrook-designed kitchen are an unexpected touch.


Lighting is another element of the Montgomery kitchen that set it apart. Instead of the usual pendant, why not try a chandelier? Or even two if you've got the space (like this kitchen, photographed by Chris Little for Southern Accents).

Have you done anything to your kitchen to make it less kitchen-y?

Day 928: favorite HomeGoods goodies

Last night I stumbled onto the HomeGoods Openhouse blog that invites HG enthusiasts to share their favorite finds. My love for HomeGoods is well-documented, so it was fun to see what others considered the "find of a lifetime." I have to admit, some of the items were the type of things that make me wonder "who buys this stuff?" when I see it in my local store. But to each his own, right? I'm glad that even the most obscure accessory can find a happy home even if I personally wouldn't want it in mine.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my favorite HomeGoods finds (and TJ Maxx, too). My most prized find is the 8x10 braided seagrass rug in our dining room. It paid under $200 for it (Pottery Barn's version is $249) and was elated! It used to be in the living room until I found a 10x12 version for $20 at a thrift store (by the way, my sister found PB's 9x12 version at a different thrift store for $20 last week!).

The only other HomeGoodies (yes, I just made that up) in this picture are the the platters on the wall. I loved the look of vintage ironstone, but have yet to find any in my price range. For now I fake it with whiteware, and I don't think that these four together cost more than $25.


When we outfitted our guest bedroom from scratch, HG was the first (and really only) place I looked. I bought everything for the bed -- mattress pad, 4 pillows, white sheets, and white quilt -- for just a bit more than $100. The starburst mirror is an old TJ Maxx find (I have three of them, actually) that I paid $7 for on clearance.


For me, the most dangerous aisles are the tableware. Almost all of my "accent" dishes came from HG or TJ, including these blue and white plates, which are my favorites. In the summer three of them hang in the guest bedroom, but I swapped them for these when I changed the room for fall. They are also from Marshall's and I bought them in college. Just this fall I found eight of the same plates in black -- we actually eat off those.


And speaking of faking ironstone, all of my white pitchers hail from HG, too. I have five or six in different sizes and use them all the time for everything from flowers to warm syrup. All were less than $15.

These are the highlights, but I have also bought lamps, a couple of small rugs, books, vases and probably more than Wes would like to know about. I usually steer pretty clear of the decorative accessories area as I prefer to to buy that sort of thing antique or vintage (if you'd like, most of my antiquing adventures are here). I have learned the hard way to snatch things up when I see them -- I'm still sick over losing this rug.

So tell me: Do you love HG as much as I do? What are your favorite HomeGoodies?

Day 927: Alabama house to love

As usual, I have kitchens on my mind. As of late, kitchens with gray cabinets are really doing it for me. And this one -- which doesn't really even look like a kitchen at all -- has my mind positively spinning, it's just so pretty.


The Montgomery home (featured in the February issue of House Beautiful and photographed by William Abranowicz) was looking a little like a time capsule with owners Richard Norris and Mark Leslie bought it. To bring the kitchen up to date, they converted the dining room. The marble-topped oval center island stands in for the previous owner's dining table, and the range is topped with a silver-leaf Napoleon III mirror. That wonderful chandelier is made from a pair of antique sconces.

Edited to add: Decorno also posted this kitchen to mixed reviews, and Mark the lovely owner (who by they way is writing a cookbook and tested all the recipes in this kitchen) replied. You can read it here if you like.


The room still opens to the garden, and (top photo) the sink stands in for a sideboard.


The rest of the house is so wonderful and interesting. And the best part is that neither of the owners are designers or architects. Though Richard is the business manager for the architecture firm McAlpine Tankersley, and admits that there was "a steady supply of advice."



I love a little humor in a house: The wonderful screen was a gift from a former Auburn University (yeah! my alma mater!) architecture professor. Along the bottom are lyrics from the musical Oklahoma! in Latin, 'The corn is as high as an elephant's eye and it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky.'



There is something worth noting in every caption. You can read the rest of the story here.

Day 926's confession

We're eleven days into the New Year; how are you doing on your resolutions? I admit, I'm off to a rocky start already! One thing I wanted to do in 2010 -- not so much a resolution, per se -- was learn more about and use my camera more.


I planned to join this group on Flickr, until I read the rules and discovered that it is a self-portrait every day, not just a photo (I'm not-so-interested in self-portraits). I have been taking photos, though not quite every single day (battling what felt like the flu didn't help).


And now I have discovered this version of the project, so I'm trying to jump back on the bandwagon.


Eventually I'll get everything into Flickr and organized, but I'm also going to share my photos here on Mondays as sort of a week-in-review.


I'm sure there will be plenty of shots of boring things like old books on a shelf, and more than plenty of a certain mischievous Border Collie-mix. Hope you don't mind.

Day 923's pretty

I'm Atlanta this morning and "snowed" in. Really, more like driveway's-too-slick-to-drive-up, so I'm working from my sweet friend's sofa with a stomach full of homemade waffles. Not a bad way to start the weekend at all.

Happy Weekend!

(last Tricia Foley photo of the week, promise.)

Day 921: back to normal

I was a little sad to take our Christmas decorations down, but I suppose it's nice to have the house back to normal. I picked up these pretty tulips for a birthday party for my mom (she and my dad and my dad's mom are all New Year's babies) and they are sitting one of the pewter julep cups my father-in-law gave me for Christmas. Can you tell he reads the blog?! Thanks, Ed!


I think I cooked breakfast almost every morning we were home. It's a nice treat, but not-so-great for the waistline.


I finally packed everything up on the second. I'll miss my ornaments while they're tucked safely away.


These are some of my favorite Christmas things.


This corner of the dining room looks kind of bare now, and I miss having this chair in the living room. But, it is nice to get back to normal I suppose. Which reminds me, I'd better get ready for work!

Happy Birthday, Wes!

Today is my dear husband's birthday! Unfortunately, he's traveling for work and I can't give him a birthday hug and kiss for the first time in four years. Luckily we celebrated early, and I'm sure he's proudly wearing his cool new birthday belt. Happy birthday, honey. You're a blessing to me everyday and I hope you're having a great day.

Day 920

In the fall, I attended an event at the Birmingham Museum of Art celebrating the 250th anniversary of Wedgwood and the BMA's recent acquisition of a very large collection of Wedgwood (it now holds the largest inventory outside the UK). The lecture was very informative and interesting, and the collection is absolutely stunning, if you're ever in town. All this to say, I also got my copy of Tricia Foley's At Home With Wedgwood and it is easily now my favorite inspirational book.


The book features the Wedgwood tablesettings of tastemakers from Charlotte Moss to Thomas O'Brien to Martha Stewart, and even Lord Wedgwood himself, but Tricia Foley's own collection of black basalt is my favorite.


Her Upper East Side apartment is set for a casual winter gathering featuring white flowers, a roaring fire, and her beautiful black basalt.


I really love Tricia's carefully edited style. Sometimes neutral spaces can be boring, but Tricia's illustrate that even a well-edited home can be warm and filled with the things you love. Personally, I don't have the discipline for such a strict palette, but I think it's lovely. Maybe one day.


And of course, I love black basalt. Wes surprised me with a little piece of black Jasperware for Christmas and I love it!


It has just enough modern sensibility (this one isn't mine, by the way).


But the classic white is pretty great, too.

Photos are by Jeff McNamara.

Fun Atlanta Event

If you will be in the Atlanta area this weekend, Eddie Ross and Larson-Juhl will be hosting a framing workshop and tea party on Saturday, January 9. He'll also be headed back to Scott's for a flew market shopping trip on Sunday. I did the shopping trip last year (see it here and here) and had a great time meeting Eddie and Jaithan and other bloggers from around the Southeast. The framing workshop is free for bloggers ($10 for the general public) and space is limited. If you're interested, e-mail Jaithan (jaithan@eddieross.com) to reserve your spot!

Day 919: inspiration for a new year

Can you even believe it's already 2010? I for one, cannot. Though I'm not sure how the year sneaked up on me, as I spent the last days of 2009 doing basically nothing (and it was wonderful!).


I do have a few personal and professional goals for the coming year, of course. Mostly, they involve the usual out with the bad and in with the good, but the goal that encompasses them all is to enjoy, daily. Enjoy. Enjoy my life, enjoy my family and friends, enjoy the home we've been blessed with, enjoy my job. To enjoy every day more than the last.


So one of the first things I'm going to do is enjoy my kitchen. I have admired so many in photographs, and it's high-time I enjoyed my own. It's a bit rough-looking at the moment, and this will be a small over-haul to tide us over until the big renovation, but I think it will make a difference.


In the interest of honesty, I actually started this little project something like 6 months ago, and the blue painter's tape still hangs from that first go-round. But, it's a new year, so I'm not dwelling on my past indiscretions!

Isn't this kitchen lovely? It's by Margot Austin and the photos are by Donna Griffith.