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I'm the worst blogger EVER.

The kitchen has been a delightful Jadeite/Pale Mint Green for a year now, and I still love it.  I tricked out some Walmart curtains by hand-sewing cherry-red pom-pom trim on the hems, it really pops against the mint.

Our counters are still in SAD shape.  Part of me wants to replace them with that quartz composite, but that's not exactly retro and more expensive than replacing the laminate...but also more durable.  This is something we're still trying to figure out.

My next project is the living room and I am struggling with the fireplace.  The previous owners of the house painted the GROUT between the bricks a sea-foam green which matched the walls.  Not the bricks, just the grout.

I am considering painting over the entire fireplace with the "Pot O' Cream" color that I am planning to paint the walls, make it monochromatic. Part of the problem is that our fireplace is off center.  Well, it's exactly in the middle of the house.  It's off-center to the outer wall of the living room.  It's jammed all the way to the left, next to the wall between the living room and the kitchen.  Very bizarre.  But it is what it is.  It's not exactly a focal point in that spot.

My eventual hope is to put up shelves along the wall, mantel height down to give it that great "built in" look that I adore so much in some classic capes and cottages.  Right now our big honkin' TV is in the corner where my dream shelves will one day be. 

Yes, the living room is next.  I planned the whole color scheme around these "retro" curtains that I fell in love with:

But I haven't bought them yet.

Halfway Done!

Before...beige.

Halfway through ---"Mint Hint" on the right.

I utterly love the contrast with the tile.  Of course, I need to scrub that tile down until it shines, but so far, I am very pleased!

Halfway Done

I painted half the kitchen this weekend.  I LOVE how it turned out!! It's VERY pale but a great contrast to the tile.  Plus the kitchen already looks cheerier.

I also enlisted the boys to do a hutch swap.  I had a larger hutch down in the basement in my scrapbooking area that I used as a bookshelf.  The hutch we had in the kitchen was smaller.  I had them drag the larger hutch upstairs and put the smaller one downstairs (I have yet to reload the smaller one with my scrapbooks and other books).  I now have more storage for my tablecloths and "entertaining" dishes.  Plus all my cookbooks fit on the second shelf and I was able to take the bookshelf out of the kitchen opening up more space.  Yay!

I need to get the rest done this week.  There's a lot going on next weekend:  someone is having a birthday, I'm getting my hair done, and I am jumping into the freezing waters of Candlewood Lake in a "Penguin Plunge" to raise money for Special Olympics of Connecticut.

A Devil's Bargain

I was swooning over some milk glass cake stand featured in one of those women's family oriented magazines last night and Randy said, "Hey, I will buy you a cake stand if you make me some cake to put on it."  JOY!

I just need to decide if I want pink, blue or green milk glass. 

I AM painting the kitchen a color similar to this shade of green.  So maybe I want PINK! 

Or 40 of these!

Got a good cake recipe?

My Collections (And A Major Digression into a Family Tradition: Pfaltzgraff)

I used to be a "collector"...I collected elephant figurines and funky colored glass bottles and bizarre religious kitsch often found walking down 14th Street in New York City.  However, living in a microscopic studio apartment for a few years sort of cured me of collecting.  Space being very precious, I had but one marble mantle to display my collections...I weeded out my favorites and displayed them and wrapped the rest up for storage. I still don't know where they are - my best guess is my mother's garage.

My Partner In Crime Randy seems to be collecting small 1970's era Honda motorcycles as well as Honda Scooters.  To date, we have 5 motorcycles and 4 scooters.  I made him promise that he won't buy any more until our kitchen counters have been replaced, and so far he's done an admirable job of restraining himself despite his daily scouring of eBay and Craigslist.

I do have a collection, however, and it's something I kind of share with my nuclear family.  I have my Grandma Brenner's Pfaltzgraff "Nordic Green" dishes and servingware.  Grandma gave my sister and I the dishes over a decade ago - we split them in half and promised that whoever got married first would give her half to the spinster.  I am the spinster.  But lucky me! These dishes are simple, sturdy, and (in my eyes) gorgeous.  Right now they are wrapped up and safely stowed in my basement, but once I re-do the kitchen, I plan on using them.

These were my grandmother's "every day" dishes.  I find the coffee cups hilariously small, but have such vivid memories of Grandma sitting at the kitchen table in her housecoat, having the first of many cups of coffee from these exact coffee cups. 

Pfaltzgraff was a big deal growing up -- my mother's family is from York, PA, home of  the Pfaltzgraff stoneware factory - and more importantly - the Outlet.  As a child I had been dragged to the outlet so my mother could check out the "seconds" which enabled her to purchase additions to her set of dishes at a huge discount due to minor flaws.  Her pattern? "Gourmet":

My Aunt Marilynn had a set of Pfaltzgraff, too - but her pattern was "Yorktowne". 

When we would all visit at my Grandparent's house, "the ladies" would go to the Outlet and leave the men at home because the men in our family had very little patience for looking thoroughly through the "seconds" for some good deals.  My grandfather in particular was a disgruntled "shopper" and would pace outside whatever stores we went to in the mall, so it was best for all concerned to leave him home. 

I was torn between wanting to be with my mother and Aunt and to go shopping and being stuck in that "boring" dish outlet.  I was afraid I'd break something - tempted TO break something.  Quite a conundrum.

Despite my misery at being dragged through a huge store full of dishes just to get the chance to hit up a drug store for candy or a Bonne Bell Lipsmacker, I have huge sentimental love for Pfaltzgraff.  My siblings must, too, because my brother's dishes are "Radius":

My sister chose Pfaltzgraff for her wedding dishes.  Her pattern?  None of us know the name.  It was a mix and match pattern that has been discontinued -but they're adorable!  And sturdy.

That's what I personally love so much about Pfaltzgraff's stoneware.  It's heavy, it's durable, it's middle-class china!!!  What makes it so collectible, though, is the fact that they introduce patterns and then discontinue them.  So, when I see some "Gourmet" stashed in an antique store, like the one I was in in Bolton's Landing, NY ...I get all excited.  Of course, my mother isn't really collecting it anymore.  She has it tucked away in her hutch.  She pulls it out for special occasions, like Thanksgiving, but she's said that it's too "heavy" for her daily use.  She sticks to her plain white Corningware for her daily use. 

So I am going to be on the lookout this spring for my Nordic Green - I think it will look great in my future kitchen. 

By the way, one could get Pfaltzgraff Replacements right here.

The other thing I'm looking for is the old green Pyrex:

While I'm waiting for the Winter Doldroms to pass and the flea market/estate sale season to start, I have begun shopping for paint colors.  Thanks to a great email from Pam at Retro Renovation, I have explored the idea of painting my walls a Jadeite Green to make the salmon tile pop. I have my work cut out for me.  I need to really wash the cabinets and tiles.  I need to paint, sand and prime.  It would be great if I could have this project done by the middle of March. 

I don't want to install the counters until the paint is done.  Knowing me, I'd get paint on brand new counters and hate myself.  

Taping It Up!

So I begin our journey!  I drag my family with me.  They aren't as excited as I am about it, but that's okay, they'll dig it when I'm done.  I figure this will take me a few years.

I have been promised new kitchen counters -- they will be black, I just don't know if they'll be Corian, laminate, or (I HOPE I HOPE) Silestone.  Silestone isn't exactly period, but it IS pretty fabulous.  Especially if I get the color I want - Stellar Night.  I am also contemplating doing a mosaic backsplash behind the stove myself. Many ideas will be expressed than discarded.

I am planning on photographing a lot of the progress.  I've been doing exhaustive research before taking this on - that's the kind of nerd I am. 

This weekend I'll be taking all of our vintage signs and other decor off the walls of the kitchen and taping up the edges and woodwork in preparation for spackling/sanding/priming.  I'll also be washing the curtains.