Fun Monday # 2 - My Kitchen

Many thanks to A Spot of T for hosting this week's Fun Monday.

Simple - show everyone your kitchen !!

When I bought my townhouse 6 years ago, the kitchen was one of the main features that reeled me in (that and the porch on the side - I live in an end unit and the entrance is from the side).

Sorry, I got side-tracked !

The kitchen and dining room is the full width of my townhouse - lots of space! Unlike anything I had ever had before. Before becoming a real home owner, I lived in a 60' X 12' mobile home (don't even want to go there ...). That is where I raised my two sons. How we ever made it, I don't know - but we did. The kitchen and dining room (if you want to call it that) were at one end and there wasn't much room to even turn around much less sit down and eat together as a family. The appliances and decor were very 70ish - avocado, gold and orange. There wasn't much you could do to change it, so we dealt with it. Only good part was that the stove was GAS and how I do miss that (but nothing else). The boys left home, got married and Mom saved her money by continuing to live in that dump - uh, mobile home until she had enough cash (and credit) to buy a real home.

And this is what I have now - I LOVE IT !



Maybe not the color scheme - it was here when I moved in - but the space is heavenly. And I have managed to fill up a lot of that space!!

The picture above is standing in the dining room, looking straight on. The counter tops are hunter green and the wallpaper is a hunter green and beige plaid. The walls above the chair rail in the dining room are beige with the plaid wallpaper below. It's tolerable !! Not bad at all, but I would like to someday brighten it up a bit !



This is the wall to the left. The refrigerator sits back a little at the end of this wall. You can barely see it and yes, the frig is full of pictures and magnets! But, nothing like the refrigerator in the old place! There were so many that people used to kid me that if I added another one, the refrigerator would tip over. ( They were - and still are - from places I had been plus ones my kids made and I couldn't part with them so they now have the proud home of being on the washer and dryer (the sides) downstairs in the laundry room). I haven't a pantry, so the cabinet has to suffice. Honestly, there isn't much food stuff in it - baking dishes, casserole dishes and the like plus some god awful ugly orange Tupperware canisters that I wouldn't dare let anyone see!



This is the wall to the right. The cabinet/hutch is full of cookbooks (and teacups with saucers on the top shelf) and sits in between the sliding glass door that goes out to the deck and "the psuedo bay window" in the corner.



The "pseudo bay window" !!

It is a perfect place for more plants - like I don't have enough already throughout the house !!



The counter in between the "bay window" and the sink ....



The counter in between the stove and the refrigerator ...

Can you tell that I like decorative bottles ?? Many are purchased (great buys after the Christmas holidays), some were gifts and quite a few are homemade. I used to scope out thrift stores and flea markets to purchase bottles of "unique" shape and fill them myself. There are oils and vinegars (with fruit, peppers, herbs - all kinds of possibilities), pasta of different colors and shapes, dry beans, olives, popcorn and spices. There is even a glass "maple leaf" filled with authentic Vermont maple syrup. None of the purchased ones have ever been used or even opened !!



AND if that isn't enough, some have even found their way to the top of my late grandmother's dish cabinet in the dining room !! (the sinful stuff - nuts, candy and sugars). The two small ones in the right front are colored sand - you know, like what the kids make at the stands at the beach and places like that. Yes, TWICE I had to be like one of the kids!

The wine bottles are FULL and waiting for someone to come over and have a glass with me. One is an awesome Italian wine ( a former co-worker brought it home from Italy -first tasted it on a cruise) and the other 3 are Virginia wines from the Oasis Winery in Hume, VA. Virginia Wine ROCKS !! (I have volunteered at quite a few wine festivals over the years and this winery is one of my favorites). You can't always drink the cheap stuff from the grocery store, now can you? So, come on over anytime and we can sit in my dining room (with a view of the kitchen) and have a few sips.

But before you do that, go over to A Spot of T and check out everyone else's kitchen !!