Around the House Saturdays: Kitchen Edition

One of my favorite rooms in our new house has to be the kitchen. Main reason why? It has a window! For the past 4 years, every place the Hubby and I have lived has not had a window in the kitchen and I always felt like I was missing out on something...especially since I grew up in a home that had a window over the kitchen sink, as well as French doors that led out into a window-filled sunroom. Well now we have a window, and boy is it wonderful! The natural light that floods in just brings a smile to my face. I also love our new counter space and shelving. Here are a few photos of the fun and bright details of our lovely kitchen.


This bright red vintage table is truly an original. It was given to us by my parents and used to be in one of the rental properties that my Grandfather owned. It serves as the focal point of the room and is the main piece from which the color scheme stems.


This corner right by the kitchen table is the perfect spot for our "sassy duck" high chair. I can't wait 'til all three of us sit around this table and enjoy a meal together.


The sunshine through the window just makes these pitchers glow. Believe it or not, the green one was once a flower vase and the blue was was found at a flea market for $2.


These matryoshka dolls are authentic dolls from Russia. Our good friend David, who is a missionary over there, gave them to us as a housewarming gift. Apparently, they have a really unique design that he had never seen before and he knew that we would love them. Umm...yeah!


From the moment I saw these colorful tins in IKEA, I knew we just had to have them in the kitchen. They are absolutely perfect up against the brightly painted walls. By the way, the kitchen was this color when we moved in. Other than the living room, it's the only room that we kept as its original color. I mean, who couldn't resist such vibrant colored walls to accompany vibrant colored accessories and knick-knacks?


Every kitchen must have a collection of aprons. I love all of these because they consist of aprons from antique stores, Anthropologie, Paper Source, and ones made by me and my Mom. I try to rotate which one I wear so each gets equal loving.


I love the placement of our sink. It has plenty of counter space around all sides, making it easy to wash, prep, and serve food. The tiled countertops and backsplash are really nice as well because it's so easy to clean and you can set hot pots and pans right on the tiles without worrying about damaging the surface.


And of course, every kitchen must come complete with Anthropologie oven mits and hot pads. The bright florals and fun applique designs make pulling goodies from the oven that much more fun. Just remember, it's ok to get them dirty. That's part of having a cute, yet functional, kitchen.


I learned long ago that utensils of all sorts should be stored in non-traditional containers (thanks Mom). This just happens to be a large metal pitcher that holds things quite nicely. I've also been told that if I ever wanted to serve beverages from this container, that it would stay chilled much longer than a ceremic or glass pitcher. Whodathunk?


More non-tradtional containers for holding kitchen linens. How else would I show off these great vessels? They can't just hide away in a cupboard somewhere.


This is a not-so-sexy shot of the stove and counters. If you look closely at the bottom of the photo, you can see the hardwood floors that extend into the kitchen from the living room. I absolutely love it! It's like living in an old farmhouse (kinda like this one).

This was a fabulous find from one of our favorite antique stores that sadly is not open anymore. It's actually screenprinted on a sturdy piece of linen and I think it really completes this corner of the room.


This is another print that has always hung my kitchen since I moved outta my parents house (that's going on 7 years now). My Mom found it in my Grandpa's attic, and knowing how much I love Toulouse-Lautrec prints, sent it to me when I lived in Texas. I love how we've been able to make it work in every kitchen that we've had.


And of course, a tour of our kitchen would not be complete without showing off one of our fun cake stands. I think my favorite part about this piece is that it actually gets used and doesn't just sit on the table to look pretty.