Friday, April 17, 2020

Creating A Cozy French Inspired Kitchen

We're in the middle of a shelter in place order and my kitchen is getting a work out.
 I've been at this five weeks. Bill a little less than that because he had to go into work on the 16th of March. 

  
That means that we've made 95 meals in this kitchen since the lock down. 
I've done some fun and cozy French inspired things to make my kitchen a sweet place to hang out.


I made some darling café curtains out of an old and torn tablecloth. 



These are so fun and vintage looking. 


The windows are worn out and don't open but I would love to see these gauzy little café curtains fluttering in the spring breeze. That's not going to happen though. New windows and window repair were on our to do list before the lock down. 


We got two darling Limoges plates from Bill's Granny Vi. They were packed up and had been slated for the give away box but I'm shopping the give away box these days.
I pulled them out to use for our breakfast or lunch. 
I love the sweet blue and green color scheme. 
Correction: The plates are English not French. 



The old dish rack is out since we are washing so many dishes even with a dish washer. 


A fragrant sprig of Rosemary tied with grosgrain ribbon rests on the marble cutting board. I hung up our copper pots. One pot French. The other is Revere Ware.
All the copper got a good cleaning and polishing this morning.




Nothing says French Country Kitchen like copper. 
I clean ours with Bar Keeper's Friend. 


The Salt or Sel box is reproduction because I am too cheap to pay for a real French antique. 
In cold and damp climates, salt could clump. Hanging boxes of this type kept salt near the stove so that it would stay dry and clump free. My Sel box is empty but it's cute.


I've thought a lot of about my grandmother in last few weeks. 
She and my grandfather were teens during the great pandemic of 1917 and 1918. They also lived through the great depression yet they never talked about those times.
 I think that they lived differently as a result of weathering those two trials. 
There were instinctive things that they did to conserve and reduce waste. I want to emulate that instead of returning the some of the wasteful habits of my past. I was very convicted that we have thrown away a lot of uneaten food over the years. I cannot even be trusted near a roll of paper towels. 


We are using cloth dish towels and napkins instead of paper.  
Different napkin rings help us know whose napkin is whose in between meal times.  
Most of the time we use placemats but we've enjoyed a table cloth or two the last few weeks. 
I think this vintage one was a thrift store find. 
Clipped wax leaf ligustrum in a crock is the current centerpiece since I can't get to the store for flowers.




An old white linen dish towel with pretty embroidery is draped next to newer IKEA dish towels.


Since we are home all the time and I'm not working, some French inspired details have made our kitchen a warm and cozy place to be.
It has gotten a lot of use the last few weeks.
It brings me joy to be in it.
How about you? Are you doing a lot of cooking?
Katie

Linking with:
Common Ground 
A Stroll Thru Life 

2 comments :

  1. LOADS of cooking and loving it. I have to say I haven't minded lockdown one bit, except keeping six feet from Rick. And he may even finish painting MY kitchen, which means I can put it back together! I thought I was the only person to have a sink in the corner like yours and it made me very happy to see yours! I love the curtains. All your touches are so very pretty, Katie. I like it all very much!

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  2. So pretty... do you know the name of the pattern on the blue floral dishes? The curtains are lovely, too.

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