Thursday, May 11, 2006

The kitchen ... hmmm ...

OK, here's my latest idea for the kitchen. (Go here if you're not familiar with the debacle project in question.)

Number one, I guess it would help if I shared with you my decorating style (duh!).

Well, the house is 120-140 years old ( a Victorian) and I'm going for an English Country style (not to be confused with American Country wooden-gingham-ducks-and-rag-doll-shelf-sitters style), sometimes called English country cottage or cottage style. Basically a lot of older hand-me-down pieces, rich dark colours, some intentional clutter - a comforting and welcoming look.

I want my house to be elegant but also seem like it's alright to come through my parlour in your wellies with all the dogs in tow after a nice walk, ya know? (Yes, I want my life to be an episode of All Creatures Great and Small.)



I don't want my kitchen and dining room (those pics are really the north wall of the dining room) to be bright. I want it to be dark. It originally had huge dark beams across the ceiling and at the tops of the walls until some moron painted over them. What I really want is those dark wood accents back and deep red or evergreen or cinnamon coloured walls.

Rather like this:


But, alas, I can't get those back so I'll have to make do.

I could paint all the 'wood' dark (like dark brown) but I'm afraid that would look naff.

Bugger it. I don't know what to do!

I will tell you my idea for the walls, though. I was watching the British telly series Ballykissangel (which takes place in Ireland) and I always keep my eyes peeled for decorating ideas while watching these shows. I noticed that many of the interior walls appeared to be rough plaster painted over. I LOVE this look. That's what I want my walls to look like.

Here's an example (NOT that colour mind! holy cow! Just the texture I'm looking for.)

So what would YOU do? I don't have much cash or time (two big problems here) and it's v. hard doing any sort of work with four small curious children about. This was why I suggested the sanding-of-the-doorjambs. It'd be a quick fix.

Well. I'm gonna go be peeling wallpaper while y'all are thinking about it.

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posted by MrsEvilGenius @ 12:39 pm   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 11:03 pm, Anonymous Heather said...

Being the totally uncrafty person that I am, with no taste in interior decorating to boot, I would probably just rip off the wallpaper and paint it whatever colors you want. I have to say though that the rough plaster look is very nice. How long and involved a process is that? What are your walls currently made of? I read a book once that described a house with plaster walls that someone just took a hammer to in various places to achieve that rough look. I personally settle for whatever is easiest to clean little finger-prints off.

 
At 8:51 am, Anonymous Michele said...

My parents got that rough plaster look by reipping off wallpaper and leaving the undercoat of paper on, in ripped off patches. It really worked well.
Alas, if I remember correctly you dont have wallpaper. But you could get some of the fake-o stucco they sell and slather that on with a trowel and then paint over it. Hell, even spackle applied with a trowel and then thoroughly dried would work well. i would just use the old-fashioned kind, not the latex-plastic kind.

 

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