Hot Out of the Kiln!

It doesn't have the same ring as "hot off the press" but it's just as newsworthy to me! Our fabulous tile installers emailed me a photo of my tile shipment today and it's just too good! I'll be stopping in this week to see it in person and approve the shipment, but here's the teaser: 

The picture is, admittedly, not so great, but knowing what this will look like installed is good enough for me. This raised arabesque pattern comes in a rainbow of colors and can even be mixed with stone, see exhibit A:

Gorgeous -- the marble is flat, the ceramic is subtly raised.

Or as we chose for this project, a glass crackle that puddles on the outside edges and creates oodles of depth and dimension for just a hint of color. Exhibit B:

Not my color

Yes,  my color.

AND I'm so excited for this tile to live next to its grasscloth neighbor -- I think they'll be quite happy together:

Exhibit: Awww Yee-Ahhh!

Set to be installed next week. In the meantime, I'm tracking powder room wallpaper shipments and wrangling floor re-finishers. 

Unconventional

Lazaro Rosa Violan's Barcelona kitchen made me rethink the American standard of a kitchen: Why can't it look like a great, interesting space as long as it can still function as a kitchen and gathering space?

It's been crammed down our throats that a kitchen has a working triangle, it has to have a laundry list of "super durable" things like solid surface counters (although a lot of people can't even imagine a marble counter as they've been incorrectly told its too high maintenance (they actually get better with age and wear -- it's why they've been putting them in for hundreds of years!)), a tile or stone floor ("heavens no on hardwood") and a huge island with lots of seating.

Our kitchen blueprint has become gigantic- literally everything, including multiple kitchen sinks, multiple dishwashers, multiple eating areas. And it makes great sense until, well, until it doesn't. When you see how others live and you realize it can be unnecessary and all-consuming.

This kitchen has soul and it reflects the lives of the owners. It breaks all the rules and I love it. Herringbone wood floors (I DIE) and a wood counter island. No upper cabinets - just lower shelves with all the necessary tools in reach. An island without bar stools -- what a refreshing sight. A funky support column that adds character instead of being dressed up to look like a theater set. An unfinished open beam ceiling that marries beautifully with large scale crown moulding and a tabletop lamp instead of pendants. But the piece de resistance - the Asian screen that is the backdrop for the entire room. The room is stunning in an unconventional way.

This is a kitchen I want to cook in, celebrate in and just hang out in. It's so beautiful that it makes you want to create beautiful food. Maybe we should re-think the rules of what a kitchen is supposed to be and start creating kitchens that reflect who we are and what we need.

Everyone, meet my soapbox, but I'm a woman inspired.

Butler Pantries

(I'm getting super creative with my titles, aren't I?)

I thought I'd post some photos of my favorite "butler pantries". I feel like the whole idea of a butler pantry is the epitome of livin' the dream in the States. I mean, if you have a butler pantry, you don't have a butler anymore (well... most of us don't) but it means if you did, then you could stash them there. AND if you have one, then you've got space to spare in the house for a hallway between dining and kitchen... i.e., you've finally made it. Well, you know what I mean :)

Traditionally, a butler's pantry is the space between the kitchen and dining room and it was meant for staging and stashing -- dumping plates after being cleared (so as not to get in the way of whoever was making the next course in the kitchen) and having new plates from the kitchen within quick access so there wasn't lag-time between serving guests.

Now, you see a lot of variations on the idea of what that pantry is. In some houses, it's a large second pantry that is accessible to the kitchen and dining, but it's not necessarily a thru-way. Other cases show a large second storage area with additional appliances and counter space. These are great, but for all intents and purposes, it's not a "butler's pantry" as a design professor would allow you to call it.

Regardless, if you have the space to devote to beautiful cabinets and accessory appliances, by all means, have at it.

All images are from my Pinterest

Falling for Grey Kitchens

Summer finally arrived for Labor Day Weekend and just in time for the kids to go back to school - go figure. While it's finally hot, you can feel Fall in the morning and evening air. While I'm not quite ready, these grey kitchens help set the mood for Fall. So beautiful and dramatic - just like the approaching Fall weather.

Grey, calcutta and mirrors. What's a girl to do.

Beautiful combination of wood counters with the grey cabinets.

Paltrow's kitchen is more black than grey but I had to include it in the bunch.

That hood and mullion detailing combined with the white shiplap walls...

I love the range hood and sconces in this kitchen.

Kitchen by Graciela Rutkowski Interiors - one of Seattle's own. A classic, old world kitchen that will never age.

Martha Stewart may have started the grey craze with her kitchen and rightly so - it's pure perfection.

Her espresso area with two-toned/mixed material cabinets below and open shelves above. Love the white counter with this combination.

A more country approach with the free-standing cream island to warm up the grey.

While this Tracery Interiors kitchen is mostly white, the grey island and dark floors create the same drama and impact without having to commit to an entire grey room. Great if you live somewhere like the Northwest where light is precious.

So while I'm hoping Summer will stick around for another month, these kitchens make me excited for the cozy Fall months ahead.

A Closer Look: Banquette Seating

I've been taking longer looks at banquette seating lately for some projects, so I thought I'd share some of the images I've been percolating on.

I've always loved them and I think they are such a smart solution to so many casual eating areas. All at once they are functional and good looking and what I really love about them is the effortless transition they make from a place where your kid does homework at the kitchen table, to soft, cozy couch-like seating when I finally get to sit down and flip through a magazine with a glass of wine. I have hard chairs around my table and really, I don't want to sit in them. At. All. What I want are some pillows snuggled around me and a place to set my glass and glossy mag!

Another thing I've found is that both houses big and small have a use for banquettes. In small houses, usually the older ones that were built before the "great room" era, there isn't a place to have someone sit and chat with you while cooking. When my husband and I bought our first house in the city, we had a kitchen that was screaming for a banquette, but we weren't there long enough to do it -- it was on the bottom of a long list and then we moved. It was from 1911 and the kitchen was separate from everything else in the back of the house. How nice it would have been to create a little spot for people to hang out with the cook? In big homes, they have the ability to cozy up the joint -- counter-acting the hugeness of all our mega homes by adding in softness and the unexpected.

*All images on Decorpad or otherwise noted in the file name :)

Still Crushing Hard

on Suzanne Kasler. I know I'm not alone in this, since loving her is as unique as saying I think George Clooney is the bee's knees. But, I am what I am, and what I know is that her rooms make me want to crawl right in to that photo. A friend lent me her copy of "Inspired Interiors" and after I promised not to let anything spill on it, I've been pouring through the pages.

What makes me love her is the restraint with colors and how conscious every decision of her's is -- It really feels like every piece is there for a reason, while still being traditional and warm and refined. None of that "don't you want to curl up on this 2x4 and watch a movie" thing, because I'm convinced people really don't LIVE in some of those rooms we see in the contemporary magazines. I'm all for layered rooms (it's usually what I live and breathe by), but the restraint that Kasler has is like a big sigh of "ahhhhh".

Those stairs just make me want to cry, they are so gorgeous.

Seriously. Beautiful. Kitchen.

I've got a thing for bookcases and these are the design equivalent of the aforementioned George Clooney on Oscar Night (Sans Italian girl with the armband tattoo)

I mean really, that sofa and seating area combined with the bed is out of this world.

*All photos courtesy of Inspired Interiors, Suzanne Kasler, (c) 2009

Big on Style

I had to post this two-storey 1,100 square foot townhouse as it has flawless flow and appears larger than the square footage implies. The designer, Kelly Deck, wanted to create a luxe, elegant and ever so slightly french feeling.

Paint:
For the foundation of her goal, she used a soft dove grey on all the walls and then varied the shade to aid in the flow of the rooms. The kitchen cabinets were done in a flannel grey to enhance the french feeling of the space. I love the warmth and coziness of this room

Woodwork:
The use of wainscotting throughout the space also gives it a classic feel and adds the necessary detailing to a standard townhouse. I love how she used a X-panel to modernize the built-ins in the living room. It adds an unexpected and modern touch, yet still blends with the rest of the house.

Furnishings:
Kelly used clean, slightly modern silhouettes to furnish the space. The most unifying element is that she stayed with a single color palette and then used pops of colors in flowers and pillows. Even the drapes are a tonal variation of the sofa and chairs. Since it's a living room - dining room combo she chose a low-backed sofa to define the two spaces but still unify the room as a whole.

Well done. This space is beautiful and functional.

All images via Canadian House and Home.

Wonderful flannel-grey kitchen. Great use of space with cabinets to the ceiling and built-in wine rack. This is a great idea when you have a small space left due to cabinet layout. The white quartz countertop is a great balance to the grey cabinets and helps lighten up the space.

Love the use of a mirrored coffee table to add some light and reflection to the room.

The living room conveys elegant french style at its best.

Love the use of doilies for art on this entry wall. (And I don't like doilies) It's so graphic yet simple.

Great Kitchen

This kitchen is great on many levels. First, the lamps are classic yet whimsical. I can't get enough of them. The antique butcher block second island adds charm and great storage for cookbooks and extra seating. The thick marble countertop main island is beautiful and offers incredible counter space. The chairs add my favorite woven texture.

I love the idea of the double islands - that way you can cook with company in the kitchen but not on top of you. Also, it gives you the added storage space for all your entertaining platters and items you don't use on a daily basis. How can you not love extra storage! Give me a double island any day of the week.

The colors were selected to complement the views of a South Carolina river where the house resides. The best interiors always take the location into account.

To sum it up, this kitchen is warm, cozy room - not just a functional kitchen. Wonderful.

Designer Deborah Van Plew

One of the best from Traditional Home...

Usually, Traditional Home is a little too formal or old "traditional" for lack of a better word for me. But this month's house by Suzanne Kasler left me inspired. It's beautiful, simple, approachable, and best of all, livable for a family. Something that you don't see very often in shelter magazines.


Beautiful neutral living room. Sophisticated, yet casual and inviting. I could curl up in here an read a book or have a glass of wine with friends.


Family dining room off the kitchen. Love the nature inspired chandelier - it's an incredible, casual focal point. Too bad it's been discontinued.


Chic, young dining room. I'm in love with the aqua grass cloth wallpaper.


Kitchen is perfect blend of classic and contemporary. This kitchen will age beautifully.

My favorite part of the house. The bluestone patio and pool is resort worthy. I would love to spend my nights around this pool with friends and family.

This house also has a great kids wing and bunk room. A must if you have a large extended family like mine. I will include it in future posts. Right now, I just want to dream about this pool.....