More Kitchen Inspiration Pics

(bhg.com)
Subway tile backsplash

 

Same kitchen-different view(bhg.com)
Love the contrast of black chairs and white cabinetry

(bhg.com)
We plan to do cabinets to the ceiling like this.

(countryliving.com)
I want glass front cabinets like these on my window wall.



(countryliving.com)
I love the blue accents here.  I have similar kitchen towels, but I don't think I'll use quite as much blue. 



So pretty...



Downton Abbey

Period dramas, especially English ones, are my favorite form of entertainment.  I loved the BBC series "North and South," and the 80s Sherlock Holmes episodes.  I think I have seen every single film adaptation of Jane Austen's novels.  Every. single. one.

Friday night, Fabulous Husband and I were clicking through the Netflix Watch Instantly offerings and decided to watch Masterpiece Classic "Downton Abbey."  I enjoyed it so much that we watched seven, count 'em, seven episodes.  It was 2:30 a.m. when we went to bed.  He indulged my interest and stayed up with me. Now THAT'S a Fabulous Husband. 

What I'm Reading Now

Ed Dobson, an evangelical Christian pastor, read The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs and was inspired to do his own experiment with biblical living. While Jacobs, a secular Jew, followed both Old and New Testament instructions very literally; Dobson chose to concentrate on the Gospel accounts of how Jesus would have navigated everyday life. 

So far in my reading, Dobson's biggest challenge is eating kosher, especially avoiding meat and dairy together.  No baked potato with butter and sour cream to accompany his steak. Bummer.  I wouldn't like that either.  I'll post regularly on my reactions as I finish the book.

Kitchen Makeover in Progress

                             



my kitchen-before



We're remodeling our kitchen, and like a lot of people, it's taking a very long time to do it.  It started when the oven died.  After replacing every appliance but the fridge, we decided to throw out the crumbling thermafoil cabinet doors and reface the cabinets and drawers with solid wood shaker doors. We have an estimate and are waiting to do that last.  We have already replaced the stained white 1996 laminate countertops with tropical brown granite. We also painted over the pastel yellow walls with Benjamin Moore Bennington Gray.  Lovely. 

My sister, a design GENIUS, made roman shades from a lovely tone-on-tone blue (of course!) stripe. I said "goodbye" to the yellow floral valance. So far, so good.  Here's a close-up of the granite, the new roman shades, and my son's chocolate cake.

Then came undercabinet lighting.  The electrician opened up the dry wall to wire the things, and now we're waiting for the moolah to repair the wall and install off-white subway tile.

forgive me for the dark photo-I'll post a new photo in natural light soon.

Here are some of my inspiration pics:

jbrodie's kitchen - gardenweb's kitchen forum

garden web kitchen forum

Thanks for looking!