Everyone will be delighted to hear that I am finally on CD1 (though there is an argument to be made for CD2. Either way, I believe by Dr. L's measure I am close enough - and, in addition, and as predicted, not pregnant).
More importantly, despite the hideous lurking prescriptions that lie in wait for me to waken on Sunday morning, life goes on. The air is crisp; though the trees are not flaming red and orange because, for whatever inexplicable reason, I am not in New England where I clearly belong, there are leaves crunching underfoot; the sky is ever so blue, and there is a breeze in the air, enough to justify sweaters sometimes, and it promises, in not too long, of boots. I bought a small stack of firewood today. Many things, even if not all, are right with the world.
And that will lead you, inevitably, to thoughts of kitchen decor. It did, didn't it? I know. I have, as previously noted, largely been biding my time on the subject of houses. I continue to watch
and wait to see whether the tan house will return to the market (I am skeptical that the buyer has been able to sell his current home, the remaining contingency), and to wait pensively on the white house whose owner hates me. Maybe if I wait just the right amount of time, he will forget. Or lower the price again. While I am waiting, I should really be getting my mortgage pre-approval done, but I just sort of...haven't. In the next few days, I should really at least get one of those free credit reporting trial things and make sure everything is ship-shape, before I start the more intimidating process of applying, and comparing interest rates.
In the meantime, I have been dabbling, at a sedate pace, in my side hobby of home decor and remodeling. I had fixed most definitely on white-painted wood cupboards (possibly with an antiqued finish) as the Platonic ideal for the kitchen. Like these, for example:
But as I have pondered many photographs of the kitchens of others, I have found my mind unexpectedly broadened. It may be that I like colored-painted kitchen cabinets as well. The jury is still out on this matter, but I ran several photographs past my DH to gauge his reaction (he is favorably inclined toward a number of different versions), so the potential is there that this may be incorporated into my plans. I have explained to myself that cupboards painted in color are easy to change later to cupboards painted white, and paint is cheap. But here, consider some of my exhibits.
You've already seen my favoritest kitchen, which contains all that could be right with a kitchen, and so I must think seriously about its slate blue cupboards:
Then there's this simple and understated cupboard look, all in a nice light gray:
Similar idea, in a slightly bolder color:
I really like the look of these black cupboards, but I think you'd need to have a pretty big kitchen to get in enough light to balance them out, and I am unlikely to have a particularly big kitchen. But they're still pretty:
Traveling slightly further afield, there's always green:
Then there's the idea of doing more than one color - gives me room not to make up my mind, I suppose, but also requires having a better thought-out idea of the color scheme:
And on the subject of unexpected color in the kitchen in general: I have blathered on before, and at length, about my love for the Chambers copper stove. I still want one. But I am trying to convince myself that I could be happy with a more pedestrian white enamel one, because I am more likely to find one of those, especially at a manageable price.
I discovered that while white is OK, I prefer color (even if I can't have copper). Some colors aren't that interesting - for example, I don't want the butter yellow Rachael Ray stove, because I didn't get the old stove idea from her, hers has become too cliche, and of course the association has driven up the price of all the items in that color. I also don't think I could handle a pink one, although I think it would make a great housewarming present for my sister some time down the line. And while I think the red is very interesting, I don't think I could handle it every single day:
But there are some colors that did catch my fancy. Here's a blue one, for example. And there's also a pastel green - not 100% sure about this. And I think my favorite (after the copper, of course) is the pastel gray. Sadly, these pictures are too large just to paste in here.
Anyway. What better than a little kitchen color to brighten your day?
