department of the interior: home decor

i still need to take photos of my kitchen! it keeps changing. and by changing i mean "fully manifesting the experience of grandmothering during the late 1970s"

Want to see. Now.

laurel i promise promise pinky swear i will get some photos up soon. but you can look forward to:

crewel embroidery of woodland vignettes
mrs butterworth
ducks!
boy scout mugs
pyrex pyrex pyrex

among other things

I am very excited to see your work, elmo.

ooh those are the best hotel uniforms!

okay, here are some things that exist happily in my kitchen

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6206/6050881449_fe34bcb6ba.jpg

chrome cafe stool!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6070/6050883891_796b0f4f21_z.jpg

behind the sheer curtain is a little galley pantry with cupboards, dishwasher, and sink. top left and top right are crewel embroidery; yellow frame is a culinary print from the late 60s; propped on the door jamb is a photo diagram of ~spices~ taken from one of the time life nature books

oh and those ducks are a cool screenprint on canvas

love!! i don't really have a kitchen that can be decorated, but i'm fixated on expanding counter and storage space. i found a crappy kitchen cart/butcher block thingy with extending sides, and my husb has kindly been "antique-ing" it for me.

thanks! it took us a really long time to figure out how to hang stuff on the (infuriating horsehair plaster) walls

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6197/6050883487_0830dba2fc_z.jpg

some plates over the stove! (the floral one is a tiffany dessert plate that i found for 70 cents)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6208/6050883357_7786679e57_z.jpg

where the magic happens. i made the curtains. right are ikea shelves i stained. spices and pyrex and the beloved dutch oven!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6087/6050883111_0fcba65c17_z.jpg

a map! and coat rack, which is urgent & key

ha, i think those are the same ikea shelves i'm planning on getting! probably gonna paint them a smokey lavender to match the sage-green kitchen cart.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6080/6050882975_4ddc2d7738_z.jpg

raccoons made out of yarn! schlitz! mrs butterworth! animal crackers! some cow-headed creamer thing!

THE RACCOONS. I like everything else okay but I am SLAYED by the raccoons! Also we had like 6 of that animal crackers tin when I was a kid.

So lovely and lived-in overall! I yearn for a kitchen this kitchy.

Do you find that the plates above the stove collect aerosolized oil and need washing every few months?

the plates have only been there for a couple months and we honestly don't do as much cooking in the summer, so idk, they are a bit dusty but that's it

anyway i will stop spamming the thread, you can see more stuff on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eo2/sets/72157627327172741/

My word, I love that your kitchen is CURATED, which is basically IS, and everything is so dear. But what about a photo of the overall layout??

elmo your kitchen is awesome! We always have grand plans but never get round to doing anything.

the kitchen is basically the result of 4 years of frequent thrifting and yard sales etc etc. laurel i will try to get some wider shots when the kitchen is more tidy than it is now!

oh i didn't get any photos but you should know that we keep plastic animals in the fridge, iirc there is a t-rex guarding the butter dish right now.

your kitchen is so adorable, elmo! aw! kitchen of love and cute

Apartment Therapy routinely makes me huff and roll my eyes, but two different tours today have given me really specific ideas for making things work WAY BETTER or look way cooler in my room.

http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/assets/0279/5694/Shannon_Kaye-005_rect640.jpg

This is a thrifted piece of furniture, I think a dresser, with cabinets added above it later and painted to blend into the wall. So ODD if I think about it too much but really perfect for making the shelving not LOOM OVER YOU when it's so high.

http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/assets/0279/5874/Shannon_Kaye-0023_rect640.jpg

And this technique of painting large squares on the walls and leaving the corners white? GENIUS for my entryway.

And this is not, like, the world's greatest stroke of genius or anything but I like the wine bottles as boot trees. :)

http://g-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/2738064/IMG_2245_rect640.JPG

Also the pic with the dresser + shelves reinforced to me, via that closet door on the right, that the crappy cheap contemporary woodwork in my room is going to be painted the same color as the walls so it will recede, while the old, ornate, original woodwork is getting a fresh coat of semi-gloss white.

Painting the trim around my (modern-day) closet in the wall color will keep that whole area from being WAY too busy. Cos there's a closet with trim around the frame but no door, and above it, a storage cabinet with more trim around it, and a door is that isn't the same color as ANYTHING else. It's all going grey.

I am loving grey so much these days. Were it not for an opinionated cohabitant, this whole damn house would be various shades of gray (except for our bedroom, which is gray-brown).

I love love grey walls and spent about 6 months trying to pick grey paint for my bedroom. But then I kept looking at apt. therapy for inspiration and got exhausted by all the grey bedrooms. I kind of compromised and did a benjamin moore blue with grey undertones.

Now I just want some kind of saffron/yellow color duvet cover or possible bright plaid. And am also looking for a huge leather reading chair that I can fall asleep in. Something chesterfield-y.

Years ago this apartment in warm gray tones in Martha Stewart Living BLEW MY MIND and it still does. Love the coffered dining room ceiling especially. Gustavian furniture is always a good look.

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/home-tour-eric-pike-apartment

totally agree about gray! i had been looking lately at some pale gray things for whenever i finish up this loooong process of getting rid of stuff/paying off credit cards and can move to a nicer apartment

that place @ martha stewart is amazing

grey comes into fashion in uncertain, disconcerting times, because it is the colour of stability and security

i have a lot of grey clothes. and a grey couch. but i think painting my walls grey is, personally to me, not a good idea.

i just want to paint my walls cream or something

I am a sucker for primary colors, so I love how all colors look against a grey background.

Yeah, I want to sneak in some kelly green, as it happens.

Bought a detail sander today, the rest of everything I need can be picked up at Home Depot!!

Step 1: Spackle holes in walls, wood-fill wooden trim, sand.
Step 2: Prime all.
Step 3: Paint ceiling.
Step 3: Paint woodwork & trim.
Step 4: Paint walls.

This is the plan, anyway!!

you are an inspiration

Let's hope I don't end up as a object lesson or any other kind of cautionary tale.

haha i doubt you will!

I have a lighting problem. I want a pendant lamp on a long plastic cord for swagging from the ceiling and hanging down wherever I want light. Problem: I don't want to plug them into a wall outlet, I want the other end to have a SCREW-IN attachment that can go into the original ceiling socket, like a light bulb.

All I can find are ones that plug in. Help?

The reason is that one of my rooms has ZERO outlets but two very attractive ceiling sockets.

OMG I FIGURED IT OUT. Will take some jury-rigging, but will use something called an "eyeball socket adapter" and one of those cheap IKEA drop-light things, probably!!

http://www.commerciallightingsupplier.com/mm5/graphics/400/EYEBALL-SOCKET-ADAPTER-NRA-11_1.jpg

you could also turn off the circuit/power to that light/area in the house and proceed as: http://www.wikihow.com/Replace-a-Ceiling-Light-Socket - undo the wires to the light socket, not so hard - also as in like http://www.do-it-yourself-help.com/installing_ceilingfixtures2.html

Thank you! Yes, I could, but the one in the ceiling now is a) ornate and kinda pretty, and b) presumably original to the building. I don't want to take it out, I just wanna screw something else into it.

ah, i see!

I really want

http://images.craigslist.org/3n73ma3od5Y15Z45S4b8t62bfdd132a8b1d56.jpg

Yeah, it's a little crazy. I want it anyway. And it's FREE!

But I don't have a truck or access to a truck and so far no one has volunteered to loan me their truck, so another awesome deal down the tubes.

I am renting a truck this weekend, but it will be in DC/VA and not NY, sorry :(

Said truck will be picking up restored pressed tin panels from a 1909 high school gym ceiling. We're gonna do our dining room in tin! Anyone know how to install this stuff?

i love tin ceilings! no idea how to do that but best of luck & post pics!

Thanks, elmo, will do!

I'm trying to picture *my* high school gym with presed tin ceilings. I wish!