The Big Kitchen Update

So you may or may not have wondered where the hell I've been these last three weeks ? Well, here's your answer: slaving away on yet another kitchen update.

I think this time around we definitely have a winner. Now before the kitchen turned out anything near as fabulous (if I dare say so myself), it underwent several stages.

Let's recap.

Uh oh, way back when I still liked bright colours and messy kitchen tables. Although you may notice the paint samples - help was on the way...

Earlier this year, I eventually made up my mind about what colour to choose (Farrow and Ball's 'Pavillion Gray') and went to work.

Decor wise, I tried out my English antique bookcase for a while...

... in combination with a modern painting and some bright ceramics.

And then the inevitable happend : I didn't like that light gray anymore...

During the summer holidays my painting utensils made an appearence - yet again. Since I couldn't be bothered to repaint the whole room, I focused on this somewhat larger wall opposite the windows. I stayed faithful to Farrow & Ball - which I cannot recommend highly enough - and chose their über cool 'Down Pipe'. The most amazing dark gray I've ever come across.

Sorry for the annoying reflections on the poster. I need to get some sort of filter for my camera to take proper pictures of my art.
But just this much : it's only a plain old exhibition poster, but such a nice souvenir of my trip to London. And btw, if you're lucky enough to be in London right now, go check out the 'Eyewitness - Hungarian photography in the 20th century' exhibit at the Royal Academy. It's on til October and SO worth seeing !!!

Sometimes you just have to come full circle.

Yep, I went back to my original idea for this area and chose wall mounted shelves to host some of my collections. Except this time around I didn't go with my usual Tomado shelves, but got some bigger ones from ebay (where else ?). I don't know the name of this particular system (feel free to enlighten me), but they do pop up quite regularly on ebay Germany, so I'm suspecting that they might be of German make.

In any case, I think they're rad.

Let's take a closer look at the accessories, shall we ?

I got a little English and Scandinavian theme going on, to which I'm of course planning to add to. So far, we have : Hornsea owl and cat pepper shakers, two Orla Kiely storage jars, Kaj Franck and Catherineholm enamel bowls...

... Arabia Finland vase, Hornsea jam pot and - just to stir things up - a lovely retro plastic watering can.


A few close-ups for good measure. Aren't they cute, my Hornsea finds ?

Somebody, help me ! I can't stop myself. On top of being totally addicted to West German pottery and starting to be hooked on retro glass, I'm now also completely obsessed with vintage British ceramics. I've been cruising ebay like a maniac.

So expect more crazy posts about thrifty finds in the near future !


PS. For the record, I would also like to state that during these last three weeks, I've also accomplished the following:

• painted the kitchen windows, doors and radiator white;
• cleaned and decluttered the whole place like there's no tomorrow;
• schlepped a ton load of stuff to the goodwill;
• got rid of numerous pieces of furniture on ebay and freecycle;
• and most of all, I started to deal with my giant black hole of a basement. That space is like the fucking Bermuda triangle: stuff is absorbed, never to be seen again...

Like I said, stay tuned for upcoming episodes.