Thursday, March 25, 2010

Corners

The last few weeks have been busy weeks. Like fall-in-bed-at-night-and-sleep-soundly kind of busy. It's been a good busy, though. Matt and I have a lot of projects we're working on these days, both together and separately. One of the many things keeping me busy is my continued effort to make this house a home. And though I'm a slow decorator, something I recently came clean about, I am making progress. Spaces throughout the house are gradually being assessed then thoughtfully organized and decorated. And when arrangements prove to be inadequate, well then there's a little bit of reorganizing and redecorating being done to better fit our needs.

As I move about the home these days, I'm please with the progress we've made. There's still much to be done to freshen up and regenerate this old home, but for now, I want to celebrate the progress. I present a tour of a few of my favorite corners around the house, the ones that make me happy when I walk past them. Enjoy!

The funky tea set (enjoy, Lindsay!) and other glass/porcelain items sitting in my china cabinet. For the most part I prefer a clutter-free home. Since I've acquired a number of adorable, vintage items, I've relegated them all to one place. My china cabinet feels like the one place I can let things stack and collect. In fact, it feels a little like an antique shop in that small space, and I love it.

Some colorful felt birds my mother also gifted to me. They hang from a branch I found while on a walk, and the whole thing is nestled in a milk glass vase on the fireplace mantle.

The kitchen nook in Karis' room. Sidenote: The babushka dolls shown here are special. I bought them for my mom when I lived in Europe in college. The last time I visited her, she gifted them to Karis. I love that they've come full circle, and of course, Karis loves them...especially the littlest doll.

Every time I peek out the kitchen door into the mudroom I smile. I recently transplanted a bookshelf from another part of the house where it was underutilized, and now I have an organized, streamlined system for holding our household supplies. Is it weird that I love seeing an army of paper towels just sitting there waiting to be used?

I'm not in love with my pantry, but like many old homes, you have to make do with it's quirks. The house actually doesn't have a designated pantry in the kitchen. Instead we've re-purposed a small, built-in corner cabinet in the dining room and made it into our pantry. The space it tight and triangular (since it's a corner), but I love when I find a system that works within the confines of the space. And pictured here, mid-spin, is a lazy susan which helps this space work. (Oh, and don't judge me by the SPAM you see here. It was a gift. Long story short, I'm planning on making this recipe with it one day.)

9 comments:

Rideout Time said...

I love what you are doing with the little areas of your home. They are so original!

kelly said...

umm...I do judge you b/c of the SPAM. I clicked on the link to the recipe and almost gagged at just the title. pregnancy-induced likely, but judging still. :)
love the little white birds under the dome. and love the dolls on the shelf.

Lindsay said...

Hooray for tea cups! I love 'em. :)

Anonymous said...

I, too, love a good gaggle of paper towels at the ready. There's something so fulfilling and visually satisfying about getting a space in order. Thanks for sharing with us!

Megan said...

No, I actually gagged so it can't be entirely a prego thing - yuck! Enjoyed the photo tour, even though I got to see most of it in person the other day :) I've been rolling around some ideas for Karis' room in my head and I saw a really cute kelly green w/white polka dot comforter at Target. you want, I would love to help you finish up in there, I have some ideas using the things you showed me. Let me know!

Joc said...

True confessions: I grew up eating Spam. My mom used to put it into macaroni and cheese cause that's how my dad liked it. So I didn't even blink at the picture...only after reading the comments did I realize how strange I am! Hah!

And I too get SO much pleasure from an entire shelf of paper towels. Do you think our husbands have rubbed off on us? :)

Alina said...

Ha! I love that my little spam remark has received the most feedback. And I'll give you this much, spam fries sound gross to me too. I mean we are talking deep fried spam here! But I trust the blogger who wrote about it enough to give my lonely little spam can a run for it's money. I'll be sure to take a bunch of close up shots of the fried spam sitting in pools of oil and being dipped into some gross, oily concoction of a dip just for you girls. :-)

(Did I cross the line here?)

Anonymous said...

I love the look of the basket with the collection of cups, tidy, yet practical because when you pull out the whole thing the cups remain safe inside. It adds a lot of organic interest to the sterile white 40's hutch.
mum

Anonymous said...

Oh, and great idea for the birds, what a neat milk glass vase, who gave that to you?
mum