Friday, July 12, 2013

Green

Acacia echinula (or Hedgehog Wattle to you and me), picked locally.
 
By day,
 
and night.
 
Gorgeous, but you could do yourself an injury (or catch a fish!) on those leaves - best left for the truly dedicated local picker.
 
A lovely blogger, this one (although she doesn't blog that often these days - which is a pity because I loved her simple words and beautiful pictures) sent me these last year. I've been loathe to use them because I didn't want to wreck their pretty packaging. A couple of nights ago I was cooking moussaka for dinner, the recipe called for bay leaves, so
 
 
in they went.
 
I wish this was a little green corner at our house...
 
I'd be a copy-cat and pop one or two on the sidey,
 
and hang another from the ceiling.
 
From onefortythree. You should check their lighting (and their plywood furniture) Speaking of lighting (and ply) I've got my eye on a pair of Logan's tripod lamps for our new ply bedside tables (designed by me and built by Anth - pics soon).
 
Kitchen Bitchin - a few notes.
 
Yesterday our kitchen was stripped bare. It's surprising how much better it looks without those Tassie oak doors (the white melamine shelves, ugly as they are, look much better naked - even though the mess inside them isn't hidden anymore!)
 
This morning I am off to the two-pac man (I'm not sure what else to call him...) to check his colour match to Mr Jason Grant's Dark Night (funny on that, when I did a brush-out to compare colours, my first instinct was to go with Farrier - all I could see was the khaki/olive green tinge in Dark Night. My initial reaction was "Jaaase, what were you thinking?!" Turns out, it's that little hint of murky green that adds depth and makes it interesting. By the time I'd painted three coats, I liked it more and more). The two-pac man, however, reckons I should go white. He says no-one is getting dark kitchens anymore. According to him dark is out. White is in. He also says interior designers are a pain in the you-know-what! (in saying that, he is a perfectionist and does beautiful work) I wonder what he would've said if I asked him to spray my cabinets apple green...
(something I seriously considered doing - even now it's in the back of my mind. Which is not a good thing at this point in time. Ahem!)
 
One more thing on the kitchen: in her Style Surgery remedy Abigail suggested we replace our "stumpy" upper cabinets with elongated doors made from MDF. She said not to worry about the carcass behind the doors being smaller because no-one would notice, but the thing is: I would notice! and it would drive me crazy! Also we wanted to keep the oak and not replace it with a cheaper material - so those cabinet doors are staying put. What we have done instead, is boxed in the space above them with gyprock - I suppose if you were talking fancy you would call it a bulkhead (it kind-of sort-of is). The plan is to paint this Dark Night like the cabinet doors underneath it, which we're hoping will give the illusion of longer doors. At this stage I think we're onto a winner, because even undercoated it looks much better. The big test will be when the cabinet doors are back in situ. Time will tell.
 
I'm looking forward to writing a post called Bitchin Kitchen, it's some way off though...these things take more time that you think they would...or I think they should!
 
A sight for sore eyes, but strangely, much better than before.
 
(we are installing a wall to ceiling pantry in the space next to the oven - it will be painted Dark Night like the rest of the cabinetry. Btw it is my job to paint the oak trims you can see in this pic - that's gonna be fun! NOT!)
 
Thanks for reading x
 
p.s. one more thing, I'm planning to leave that 'box' above the rangehood as is (i.e. unpainted). Do you think it's a good idea, or do you reckon it would look better painted?
 
 
 
   
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

18 comments:

  1. Kylie i am so excited about your kitchen! It DOES look so much better without the doors! no idea what this bulk head thing is, but very excited to see it all come together. i cleaned my kitchen today. it looks like it has been freshly painted!!! white is a freaking mare unless you have OCD and i don't!
    happy (busy!) weekend x

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  2. Oh my gosh.....your kitchen is going to be amazing.....can't wait to see it.
    Also the ply side cabinets sound fabulous.
    The wattle is just so cute all those little pom poms....love them.
    Love V

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  3. Yes filling in the gap between the cupboards and ceiling give it a much more custom made look. Plus you wont have to worry about that yucky greasy, sticky, dusty surface anymore.
    and the addition of a floor to ceiling pantry is a wonderful idea.x

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  4. The wood plant pots are amazing. Looking forward to seeing your finished kitchen. :) x

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  5. Lovely pics, Kylie (unlike mine..). Oooh your kitchen. I'm excited too. Yes, I thought the suggestion about elongated doors was slightly odd but yours about the boxing in is sooooo much better. Max is right about white. Our kitchen cabinets show up every dirty finger print. Boring. I have so many better things to do on my day off than wipe kitchen cupboards. Er hem. xx

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  6. Love those yellow flowers! Can't wait to see waht you do to your kitchen, I really waht to paint our cupborad doors but I'm scared incase I make a mess and wreck the whole kitchen! (plus the work involved !) I already wrecked the tiles a couple of years ago when I painted them with blackboard paint!! Good luck with the makeover xx

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  7. That Hedgehog Wattle is gorgeous.

    Bah to the two pac man. My kitchen guy said exactly the same thing – suggested white bench with white cupboards. Personally, I didn't really care what everyone else got ... I just knew what I wanted! Good luck with the painting. x

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  8. yes to leaving the box as is! i love wattle...although its amazing i still love it as my mum dressed me up once as a wattle bush for an australian themed dress up event.green tights and skivvy, covered in yellow pompoms!

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  9. Howdy. Kitchen's looking grand. Can't wait to see it at the end. Those wattles look dangerous but beautiful. WA appears to have some magnificent natives.

    And I checked out the onefortythree site. Very funky and very well priced. I loike their magazine rack.

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  10. That wattle is so pretty. Its so simple yet looks amazing. And how lovely to recieve and use the bay leaves! You must share the recipe, Ive always wanted to try moussaka. xx

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  11. wow, kitchens are such a big job, pours is teeny and I've just painted over the cupboard doors a few times in various colours, I don't love white kitchens, I prefer darker, the cupboard looks good as is... cant wait to see the post Bitchin Kitchin haha

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  12. White has been "in" for ages and they are about to do a change. Probably to natural timber Kylie LOL what a laugh! But seriously, I'll bet apple green is the next big thing in kitchenware....I can't wait to see what evolves but I do understand that it takes a long time. I like Dark Night too btw.

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  13. Nearly talked myself into a white kitchen then realised that was a dumb idea on the cleaning front. Don't mind wiping the worktops for food hygiene reasons but hope to only clean cupboard doors about once every two years! We're looking at an Ikea kitcen that looks like it's made out of rough sawn oak boards - kind of Swedish yodelling chalet style. Think it's called Nordje (or soemthing similar). Our kitchen guy says he 'prefers not to fit ikea kitchens'. *sighs heavily* Look forward to Bitchin Kitchin x

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  14. Oh, that wattle looks beautiful, I absolutely love those little pom poms!
    I'm so excited about your kitchen, Kylie, go for the gut feeling when it comes to the color! Your choices sound great!! Over here, everything is white. When we remodeled our kitchen, it was hard finding anything else. Wood is slowly coming back, but only the very light Scandinavian kinds, not darker ones like teak.
    I'm so excited to see more:-)

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  15. Can't wait to see how it turns out. I think your idea of boxing in the top is a better solution than longer doors. That bit puzzled me when you specified that you wanted to keep the existing cabinets. Dark night, good choice! Now who is this two-pac man with all the opinions?

    Those wooden planty things are pretty darned funky. Looking forward to bitchin kitchen! xxx

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  16. Love those wooden plant pots. The kitchen is going to look so good, can't wait to see it finished & accessorised - lots of luck!

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  17. Your kitchen is going to be amazing. I can't wait to see it when it's finished. I'm not sure I understand about the box above the rangehood. You're painting all the oak cabinetry and the soffits above them Dark Night, but that box has no door and will be left oak? Is that right? Maybe I've missed the point completely.

    I love the wattle, and I'm crazy about those wooden planters!

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  18. I hope they still had some flavour. I still have mine a should open them next tomato based feast. I am not blogging so much but still visiting and yours is always a warm and bright place. I have some pics on my camera I will blog soon. Happy kitchening x

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