Kitchen Decor

When I go clothes shopping (which I despise doing), I find it extraordinarily difficult to pick out anything that isn't in black or white. I am drawn to the combination. It is high contrast. Clean. Simple. Neat.

I sometimes make myself branch out, and look for other colors to purchase. Typically, I pick out --- gray. Off white. Cream. I am incorrigible, I know.

NO

YES

This is not a post about clothes. Oh, no. This is about Kitchen Decor.

DH and I live in a rental. Let's call it a Cottage, to be charitable. A whole 750 square feet. We live there to be near my elderly father. This not a post about living near dad.

Now for the Kitchen part.

The kitchen in our lovely, small Cottage is small. My friend's dog kennel is bigger than said kitchen. It has the stove and refrigerator NEXT to each other (don't get me started). The wall cabinets were hung 4 inches lower than normal, which is cause for many scraped and bruised hands and fingers...and leaves about 5 inches of counterspace that will fit my stand mixer. Or a slow-cooker. Considering there is only two linear feet of usable counter for prepping food, that doesn't leave a lot of room for my mixer or slow-cooker. Half of the counter space is in a stair well. Yes, really. IN the stair well.

Did I say there is only one electrical outlet?

Black and white... yes, yes, I'm getting to it.

I swoon over toile. I want toile all over my house. Pillows. Chairs. Curtains. OY. I love toile. Especially this toile:

Waverly "Rustic Toile" in Black and White

Imagine my disbelief when I found a significant yardage of this very pattern at a local close-out retailer. My reaction was something like this:

(...except I am not a cat...)

 Surprise changed to glee...when I saw the 50% off sign!

...it's mine, all mine...

I scooped it up and ran (well, quickly walked) to the register to pay and flee, before someone told me they had made a mistake, and the cloth really wasn't $1.99 a yard. $1.99 times 4 yards and some ... carry the 2... it wasn't a lot!

Decor part: So now I will make over the little kitchen with the lovely b/w toile. New valences for the windows, new potholders, maybe some new placemats. Maybe a new apron for me.

All fresh and clean, and black and white.