I really enjoy reading some of the posts on Julia's Hook On Houses blog each Friday. People go there and just link posts about anything that makes them happy. Check it out here. This post is also being shared on theinspiredroom.net on Melissa's Happy Life blog event today. And don't forget to check out Kelli's House for her Show and Tell blog party today.
Today I am hooked on the remodeling we have been doing lately. Not only do I love the new look we are creating but I love the unity it brings to my husband and to me as we work together to create a home we enjoy. Day by day things are getting done. Jim has been working tirelessly on all the aspects of making this a great place to be. The process has been slow and laborious and so worth it. Here are a few sneak peeks as we are still working on the cabinetry. Double clicking will enlarge any picture.
I have used a lot of copper in the room so decided on the burnished copper hardware. I really love it. It compliments the Silestone, brick tone counter top and white cabinets nicely.
I got this copper tray with the black leather liner from a client that was moving. If you love garage sales and thrifting you would love my job. People are so generous when they are moving and delight in getting rid of a lot of their things to lighten the load. This happened to belong to my friends, Helen and Larry, so it has added meaning to me, plus it has the colors and textures I was working with to create an old world Italian look in the kitchen. I actually used three things they gave me, I'll point them out to you.
I have a rather extensive pear collection and they go great with the colors I used in the room. The jar I have showed once before and it was my thrift store find for $4.99. I went online and researched pears in Italy to see if it could work in with my Italian theme. Much to my delight I learned that pears were grown extensively throughout Italy until about 100 years ago. So Voila, the authenticity was there, so I brought them into the kitchen.
The fruit on the copper plates in these art pieces were my inspiration for the room. The cat on the shelf is for all the cats that inhabit the Vatican area. I heard there are more cats than residents there. The sculpted bust is representative of all of Italy's beautiful art.
Last year we made our first trip to Italy and loved every place we went. Venice was a real favorite and I happened to find this wall art with the perfect colors. When I see it I remember that enchanting time and can just see our grandsons, Spencer and Ross making a silly face, standing on the bridge getting their pictures taken. I love to accessorize with things that bring wonderful things to my remembrance.
I love this little wire covered tray and decided to make a little bird cage out it to give these little wooden birds a place to live. These little birds were purchased on a very special shopping day with our daughter, Laura, when they were living in CA near us.
"I also love this because it says to my brothers.."Yes, we do like pets..here are ours!"
I was able to take a lot of the accessories out of my home decor inventory from our design business. That was helpful. I think these flowers are perfect in the room.
We a had our first company for dinner last night~a couple of great young missionaries and Barbara and Alex came. It was fun and has been quite awhile since we have had people over.
Loved these dishes that came from our inventory as well.
The large wooden mortar and pestle was a gift from my last client and is actually from Italy. She is a professional chef and I will treasure this gift. I had actually been looking for one online at the time she gave it to me. The large terracotta urn was a purchase made on a great shopping trip with my dear friend Michelle. I think of her when I see it. Now she is living in Canada and we all miss them! The black metal garden element on the hearth was captured from the front porch and painted black by Jim.
More pears!
I like these bottles and again, they came from the warehouse.
This is one thing I did buy new. When I saw this table it just seemed like it was made for our room. The colors on it could not be more perfect and the old world look is fabulous. The copper rooster...warehouse find. I'll show you the cabinet side of the room when it is done~soon hopefully!It is so much fun to accessorize your room in a theme and yet still make it eclectic and make it you. If you don't love something, don't use it. Find a way to re-purpose things that are fun and unique or combine things for a little whimsy~like the bird cage and pets. Every room should have a little fun in it someplace. Pick something fabulous as your inspiration and then let it happen!
The old broom and the copper plate that holds the crock on the table with the vines are both from Larry and Helen's home. The grandkids call that broom the Harry Potter broom! I just love its gnarly old broom handle.
The large copper clock is from our library. I use to have a regulator clock in here so I just switched them out to bring in more copper. Jim painted our ceiling fan blades black to go with the black appliances and black fireplace. Shopping the house makes sense as we all tend to have a thread of similar things that we collect because we like them.
I had a coppery, metal wall art piece of an olive branch so I put that over the window. I bought it to put over a couch in a home we staged once, and remember thinking I'd probably never use it again. Now we enjoy it everyday. We have complete privacy so we are not putting window coverings in the room. Until next time~enjoy the home you are creating each day! I think I said "love" way too many times in this post! Each was heartfelt, however!
