Parquet Floors and Other Business

Veranda

Pardon the Christmasy picture.  I would actually like to direct your attention to the floors. It's ok to stop and linger on the giant bowl of Veuve for a moment - I did.  Anyway, we have some orangey parquet floors in our kitchen that we need to deal with.  I actually love the parquet floors just not the color.  We're thinking of having them stained the color of the floors above.  Thoughts? Our kitchen is white with cream cabinets, an espresso wood table and gray painted windsor chairs.  The color scheme is very much like the one above.  (I also love the marble backsplash and the mirror ... next house). 

And in other bidness, I have about a million loads of laundry to do.  It's amazing how much laundry two and a half people can accumulate.  If anybody wants to come over with a bowl of Veuve and help me fold, I'd be a very happy lady.  

Country Home

If I had a dutch door, blue and white curtains and a pretty pup (I actually have that), I would happily do laundry and sing so the birdies, bunnies and deer would come to the door to keep me company.

via Pinterest

If I had a wash basin like this, I would most certainly hand wash my delicates instead of employing the wash 'n' pray method.  OR, I could fill it with ice and use it to store my Veuve! That sounds way better.  

Suzeday Tuesday: Kitchens, Butlah's Pantries and Storage

Morning Y'all! It's been one of those mornings if you will.  Edward's all, "I'm one now Mom, I don't need to sleep and you can't make me" and I'm all "GO TO SLEEEEEEP" (like when Bethenny yelled at Kelly Bensimon on Season 3 of Real Housewives of New York).

Ok, first things first, I've only heard from a small portion of y'all (that would be one) who won the Hadley Pottery giveaway.  Click HERE to see if you won & then if I haven't contacted you, email me so I can tell you how to claim your prize!

And now for some Suzeday Files! For those of you who are new to my blog, The Suze is my mama who has been collecting magazine images for about 20 years.  They are all in boxes and folders and drawers and under her bed and thus I am attempting to sort of organize them by sharing them with y'all!

So here are some pretty blue and white kitchens, a couplah Butlah's pantries, and some kitchen storage inspiration for you.

First, zee kitchens ...

Traditional Home 2005 

I'm going to guess it was the blue & white that warranted this tear-out and not the hanging dried flowers. 

Mr. Belvedere's Office 

And, finally, wouldn't it be nice to have a special place for everything ... 

She likes the floor, y'all. 

And just to reiterate how I feel this morning: 

Have a lovely day! 

Kitchen Love

From my bookmarked files.  Many of you have probably seen these before, but I consider them pretty enough to repost.

I first saw this kitchen on Things That Inspire blog.  I love the detail on the cabinets and the fireplace, the chandelier and the antique french flooring on the french blue island.

Beverly Ellsley

Beverly Ellsley

I love this gorgeous white kitchen from Elle Decor.

Darryl Carter 

They're calling this a French Catering Kitchen from Inspired Design.  Is that a thing? I like it. 

This breakfast area inspired me to paint my windsor chairs (at least until I can get monogrammed slip covered parsons chairs) - I went with a pale gray - they'll be finished in 2012. 

via Between You and Me

I love the color of the next kitchen and the way they used the bright suzani rug under the island.  

Garrison Hullinger via House of Turquoise 

Of course, I have to include this blue and white kitchen I found on Willow Decor.  Hi awesome stone pizza oven! 

Oak Hill Architects 

A pretty white kitchen courtesy of Decorno.  I can imagine any one of my good friends sitting there with a glass of wine discussing important celebrity gossip with me while I cook. 

Miles Redd Love.

Miles Redd 

And finally, very different from the crisp white marble and stainless steel, this romantic kitchen I first saw on Boxwood Terrace.  I love the windows over the sink.

For an excellent post on kitchens, I'd encourage you to visit this post from Cote de Texas.  Every image is inspiring and she walks you through the details that make them fabulous kitchens.  

I'm almost finished painting my kitchen.  It's taking forever because Kip has been out of town and Edward leaves me exhausted by the end of the day (we play hard) 

Country French

Morning y'all! Yesterday, Edward decided it would be okay for me to go to Lowes (then he was all, psyche I don't really want to be here Mom!).  Anyway, I was there to pick up some primer for the armoire and some tools with which to paint it.  I also impulsively grabbed the Fall/Winter 2011 Country French magazine at the checkout, and I'm very happy I did.

Country french is my first love. Taken to it's extreme, it can be a bit much, but I love so many elements of the casual elegant style.

This first kitchen is my dream kitchen designed by Julie Charbonneau. Ahh, I love it.  I wish I could find a better image.  I'm sure a digital image will pop up online, and when it does I'm going to show it to you again.

White. Natural Light. Black Island. Brass Hardware. Copper Pots. It's perfect. 

I still love the classic look of toile, especially when it's repeated all over the room like it is here.

I actually love a simple, sparse bedroom like below.  I'm contemplating removing all of the pillows from my bed and keeping it simple like this one.  I want to maximize the time I get to spend actually sleeping and removing 45 pillows does not help.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the bedroom below has a gorgeous royal blue velvet bedskirt and pillows.  I love the color combination of blue, gray, black and white here.

To me this kitchen shows a great example of french blue.  People are always trying to define french blue and I think it's more how you use the color and less the actual color.  The blue is so much more delicious in the actual magazine picture, this scan doesn't do it justice.  I also love the leaded glass windows and the ship lanterns over the island.

In a different kitchen, a vintage french wine cage is used to store tableware.  

 This is a little girl's room.  Très sophistiqué.

I love the leaded windows on the armoire in this bathroom. 

An adorable, simple blue and white kid's room.  

There are a lot more pretties in this issue so if you like the country french style as much as I do, this issue is definitely worth picking up.

One last note, next Friday will be my 200th post and I have a very fun giveaway for y'all that I'm super excited about.  Here's a sneak peak ...

Have a lovely weekend y'all!!

No White After Labor Day

yes.

Today we are heading to the paint store to get some paint for our kitchen.  White paint.  Thank the Lord above.  I've been subtly suggesting that we paint the tannish kitchen a clean white since I moved into to this place about 3 years ago.  Suddenly, today my husband's all, "I have an idea, I think we should paint the kitchen white." Re-he-heally? Whatevs, I'll take it.  He's in a nesting mood.  I love when he gets like that 'cause stuff gets done.

Thanks y'all for all of the playroom paint color suggestions!  From pale yellow to orangey-red, they are all great ideas that I'm going to keep in mind as I start to pull things together.  Tomorrow I'll have another fun playroom inspiration post.

Enjoy your Labor Day!

Suzeday Tuesday: Kitchens

Since we're on the topic of kitchens, here is some kitchen inspiration from The Suze.  This goes back 30 years so I don't have sources for everything, but when in doubt, it's probably from Southern Accents.

I love the next kitchen because it belonged to one of my best friends growing up.  My mom saved it for her files before I met her (I met her when I was in first grade so that should tell you how old it is!).  I had a lot of yummy meals in this kitchen after playing mermaids in their pool and making up dance routines to Annie Lennox.

Love this range and the classic subway tile

This is a great kitchen for a small space.  Love the barrel vaulted ceilings, Sub-Zero refrigerator and reclaimed wood floors.

I tried to put two pages together so this may look a bit wonky, but I know the Suze loved the built-in storage in this kitchen.

This looks familiar.

 Love the openness of this kitchen.  It's so clean and white and airy.

Other Kitchen Elements from The Suzeday Files 

Colefax Wallpaper

Special Flatware Drawer 

Lots of Special Storage Spots 

Blue and White Tile 

Coffee Bar and Banquette

I would like a coffee bar in my bedroom so as to minimize the time between waking up and getting the caffeine into my body.  In fact, if I could have an intervenous drip of caffeine actually wake me up from my sleep that would be ideal.  

*This post took me four hours to write because I have an 8 month-old whose brain is telling him he can walk, but his little body is obviously not developed enough to actually balance on those tiny toes.  He is my new exercise plan.  I just hover over him trying to mitigate some of the bumps and bruises that he's going to get.  We are soo not ready for this.