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| Bunny plate from Emma Bridgewater. |
I finally finished decorating the kitchen and while it's quirky as ever and I probably did a horrible job with the painting, it is at least Cheery.
The wallpaper took forever to remove. Granted, we were using a cheese knife to scrape it off the walls, real tools being unavailable to us during this pandemic time, but twenty five years on the walls, and perhaps a very strong glue, were also to blame.
In the end MrBP spent an entire Saturday removing the most stubborn portions. The walls underneath were a mess!
Finally after a month my Amazon order of a wallpaper removal kit (too little too late), sandpaper and paintbrushes arrived. You wouldn't know I'd just had a delivery from Hermes.ca I was so excited.
I spent a couple of hours sanding the walls before priming them with the Farrow & Ball mid-tone primer.
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Primer starting to go on along the top.
Look at the former wall colour! |
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This wall was in terrible shape and needed so much sanding.
The primer is finally going on here too. |
As the actual colour went up, Farrow & Ball's Cook's Blue, I thought it might be a bit too much.
The fortunate thing is there's not very much wall space in the kitchen that needed painting, just snippets here and there. As my Lil Rascal said, it's sort of an "accent wall situation".
The bench below the coat hooks turned out well I thought, and this is with no sewing. Rather than ruin my beloved Schumacher "La Menagerie" fabric I decided to just wrap it around the cushion and hire a real sewer to stitch up the cover when the lockdown lifts.
I really love this little bit of wall leading into the back stair, the juxtaposition of the Cook's Blue next to Farrow & Ball's Green-Blue is my favourite.
Also that bunny plate is my favourite!
Here is a bigger view of the kitchen from the bottom of the back stairs, above and below.
The whole kitchen seems brighter and fresher, also in part due to removing the window coverings of course. The trim needs painting, as does the tin ceiling, that will improve things further.
I like that the cheery Cook's Blue sets off my colourful items from Emma Bridgewater, like this strawberry apron above.
The skirt sink in the powder room didn't turn out too badly even though I sewed it up myself.
In the end we did three simple things with this kitchen: we replaced the blue counter on the island with a wooden butcher block, removed the window coverings, and replaced the wallpaper with Cook's Blue.
(We also replaced the refrigerator after it just went kaput and stopped working about a month ago. Due to Covid19 we had to bring the new fridge into the house and get rid of the old one by ourselves... we made Fred and Barney look like geniuses.)
I also love the way Cook's Blue sets off copper cookware.
The views outside to the cedar hedge are much brighter without the Roman blinds, and it's easier to spot the cardinals and the blue jays.
Of course my absolute favourite thing about this kitchen is the built in pantry cupboard with the glass fronts.
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With some copper tools hanging on the side.
I bought those at a Brocante in France. |
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| Polish pottery, Emma Bridgewater and a jug from Aunt Deb. |
In other news I am having a difficult time with the blog admin, I can't leave comments on my own blog! I'm considering just removing the comment form completely until I can sort it out. In the meantime if you'd like to chat please email me at mopphilosopher@gmail.com
I've been thinking over a post on my Home Uniform of dresses or a skirt, as well as some good frocks I found at Brooks Brothers a month or so ago. Stay tuned, and be well.
xoxDani
