Wimping Out

Ok, I admit, I am a color wimp......I bailed.....backed out.......panicked......and then called it off..

I had been inspired by these colors......

Nautical colors.....Turquoise...Agean Sea....

Pale, beachy blues.......

I thought I could paint the cottage kitchen cupboards blue....to capture these beautiful colors that we see from the cottage windows...

But, having a fear of color, I did a test patch.......and another....I dithered and faffed around...I had a couple of drinks to loosen me up..........then I BAILED........I just couldn't do it. 

This is what I was going to do. Martha Stewart Enamelware.....As some of you know, I not only have a thing about white paint, I have thing about paint color names. If I don't like the name, I can't use the paint.......YEP! This totally sucks being a decorator with such a fear......(I did paint one room at the cottage Farrow and Ball Pale Blue)..........I LOVED the name of this paint and the color, but it will now be relegated to a wooden chair.

 

This was the image that started it alll....image from www.retrorenovation.com

Painter on Hold, I need to make a decision quickly.....

It's all about White!

What is it about white?  It really does seem to be always right!  We have noticed that anything white sells twice as fast as other colors.  We had some gorgeous yellow farm chairs for sale recently.  I had a least 10 emails about them.  Was the paint in good condition? What type of paint? Was the paint lemony or pineapple-y? Or is it egg yolky... Was there paint under the paint?  Blimey....ENOUGH.!!!  The emails went back and forth.  They were lovely, sturdy 1950's chairs much cheaper than Ikea chairs.  They finally sold.  JUST before I was going to paint them white.

Our Pine Cone Hill Order came in.....all white and ruffled....

We picked up an old white cabinet......

And Filled it with white bits.......

A white Farmhouse Washstand.....

A fun little white stool......

So.....why am I whinging on about WHITE......because I am about to head to the cottage to organize the kitchen re-do.......and as a huge departure for me and my beloved white.......I am painting the cupboards a color.  Yes, I am going to embrace the fact that I am a designer and once in a while I should use color.  So I am using Martha Stewart Enamelware........

......And THAT scares the crap out of me.

The Cottage is Beachy.....this is my inspiration..

Blue Lowers,  White Uppers.  Glass knobs.

Pretty Bits for the Shop

We have a load of new Bits at the shop this week.  Most came right from the country-authentic farmhouse finds and some vintage treasures.

A beautiful Calamine Pink breakfast tray with back painted glass liner...

Ready for your boiled egg and toast fingers......

Rusty Crates......these will be perfect for displaying

our new Dash and Albert rugs when they arrive...

A pretty white console table and farmhouse stool.....

Client Basement

This client had a very tricky basement  room.  It was 18' Long and only 8 1/2 ' Wide.  Due to an ill-placed furnace in this townhouse, she had no choice but to make this room narrow.  It is actually L-shaped, with ther office around the corner.  Not only was it narrow, it had a fairly large corner fireplace which was quite bossy.

The carpet was existing and in good condition.  She had 2 leather club chairs, a red leather bench/coffee table and a large dog to work with. She called me because she had already bought a sofa that wouldn't fit down the "crazy builder" staircase. Plus she had had the room painted to go with her new "wouldn't fit" sofa and needed help before spending any more money. 

 Because this room was her primary a lounging and TV room we invested in a custom Gresham House sofa that we had made to fit down those stairs, and added feather wrapped seats to make it perfectly mooshy. We tested the fabric samples by rubbing them over the dog and scraping his claws on them as we knew he would be using it regularly and we didn't want his hair to show too much or his claws to pull threads.

 I added a red wool Indian rug in front of the sofa as that is where the dog lies when he is not lounging on the feather wrapped sofa!.  She can easily roll it up and take it to be cleaned. It also gave the sitting area some definition and visually detracted from the bowling alley length of this room.

We re-used her round mirror as it was lovely and we needed to relect more light and space into the room.

I added a large mahogany cabinet with a bit of an ethnic feel to hold a rather modern clear ribbed glass lamp and a huge Indian silver vase full of pussy willows.  Because we has splurged on the sofa, we saved on accessories and feather filled red stripey silk pillows that I found at Home Sense.  I loved this client and especially her dog who always took my shoes or tape measure when I was there.  At first she was embarassed when her dog would jump on me and lick my ears, but felt better when I told her I had 2 labs also.

Cottage Country

I headed to the cottage on Thursday for a 2 day reno blitz. I needed to get the kitchen sorted for it's makeover. Right now it has maple cupboards a la Home Depot and a newish, but hideous hunter green laminate work surface. In the process I moved around this cabinet and found a new, better spot for it.

Because, the kitchen is such an Ugly Duckling, I can't show it yet, but this is the view from the island looking to the newly positioned cabinet.  I have an existing electrical panel on the left there, with the same cabinet doors.  These will be painted out in a couple of weeks.

To balance out the cabinet, I hung a little oil painting that I found on the way up to the cottage.  It looks like it was painted around the cottage as the landscape is identical.  Lorraine offered to go with me to the cottage to help paint and source along the way.  It took us almost 6 hours to get there, we stopped at every haunt along the way.  The perils and joys of our work are many, and this weekend we were in a place so awful, we were literally gagging.  There was also a dog that found my leg extremely attractive.!!!  We came out, got in the car, and when we were out of view from the place dug out the Purel and lathered ourselves.

Sorry...back to the cottage. We painted the island Rhubarb, and I am having an old pine "Slip Cover" made for the work top. I love how the chenille on the bar stools stand out now.  I found a lovely old scrubby ladder that I leaned on the wall next to the cabinet.  This balances out that nasty electrical cabinet too.

I found 2 of these clay pots embellished with seashells.  I think they are quite old and I absolutely love them.

They look pretty with the blue glass jars.

So, I think I finalized the kitchen plans (maybe blue cabinets) and have the painter lined up.  Island surface being built as I type in my neighbors garage. ( he is building it in his garage, I am not typing in his garage) I have ordered a ton of Pine Cone Hill linens for the shop and plan to use some in the master bedroom at the cottage, which is also being painted and will be a blog post soon.(it is the Smallest Masterbedroom you have ever seen)  Oh.....and it is going to be pink.......(sorry B----)  .

Church Salvage

I spotted this magnificent cross last week in a Salvage Shop.  It was so beautiful I had to snap a photo.

It was massive. Over 6' tall. With the most lovely details in the ironwork. Saints and leaves and biblical references all intertwined in the metal works.

 It got me thinking, not only about who would buy this ($2900.00) and where it could be used......

But who could let this go....It came from France.  How did it come to be in Canada?  Why would a church get rid of it?  Why would such an artifact end up in a Salvage Shop?

I wonder what building or roof top this was once on in France............

It has a story.  But we don't know it..

It even has the Original French Pigeon droppings still on it.  I love this piece.  I imagine it on a cathedral in France with a view of the entire country side.  Pigeons resting on it.  I wonder what wars and battles it has seen, and what parades and festivals, and all the people that have passed it.........It is so compelling to me.

Farmtable

Lorraine and I abandoned our poor husbands again last weekend to pick up this gorgeous baby for the shop.  We first saw it a few weekends ago at a new haunt  where we charmed our way into his attic!

While touring the back and side yards of this place, we spotted this under a tarp.......The fellow was going to get around to sanding and staining it......but we begged him not to do so, and to let us buy it from him.  Some guys are funny.  Just as we all know men don't like to paint wood, they also don't like raw wood.  Always keen to slap on some Puritan Pine Minwax, leaving it naked seems horrifying....

But our fellow (we call him ours now) is coming around.  After we told him how much we like things, rough, raw, chippy and scrubby, he thinks we are nuts, but now he GETS IT.  He shows us stuff and says "you gals would probably like this, it's all worn and faded"  YES!

He gave it a light sanding and we may put a bees wax on it, just to even it out, but I love it, and think it is perfect as it is.  I think I would add industrial castors and make it an island.  I am throwing it on Craigslist soon, so we will see how it goes........but I hate to part with it...

New at Razmataz This Week

Having a shop is a bit like being a hoarder without the social stigma.  We can collect hundreds of BITS and pile them up and never get on TV or have an intervention from our families!

This week, we noticed, as we often do with new Finds, a certain color scheme emerging... that 1950's retro green prevailed, with splashes of red.......

There was this great old door which we adorned with a driftwood garland...

Stacks of Green Hotelware and chunky ironstone...

Scrubby iron hooks with Chippy paint and a gorgeous Burliegh bowl...

A cute little scallopy edged night table, vintage Babka dolls, a milking stool....and (this is for you Tamarah) a vintage red toolbox marked #21.

A little painted glass lamp with rosebuds around the shade...and a scrubby wooden divided box that could hang on a wall to house a collection, hold cutlery or organize your Bits...

We braved a bit of snow this weekend on our "Expedition" (where has Spring gone) as well as the worst breakfast potatoes EVER in a country diner, which shall emain nameless as they could be related to our new best source for farmhouse Bits.

The "Cupcake Cafe" Vanilla Cake Recipe

Photo credits http://www.lunchstudio.com/, http://www.marthastewart.com/, http://www.mccormick.com/,

 http://www.labonnebouangerie.com/

 http://www.cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/

A long time ago, I was in New York and happened upon "The Cupcake Cafe".  This was long before Cupcakes shops sprang up all over the place.  It was a novelty.  I had the most incredible Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream icing.  It was heavenly. 

After that, I set about finding the perfect Vanilla Cake Recipe.

Photo credit: www.labonnebouangerie.com

I even bought the Cupcake Cafe Cookbook.  But their recipe was way to large, and I had trouble scaling it down and getting the % and # exact.

photo credit:www.cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com

Then one day in the Globe and Mail, I found it. The Cupcake Cafe Vanilla Cake recipe, scaled down for home use (not bakery) It was perfect. The best Vanilla Cake Ever. With the best Buttercream. Not icing...but real ....buttercream..

photo credit: www.marthastewart.com

It does make a huge cake. You can feed 16 people with this recipe......

I thought you may like the recipe for Mother's Day!

Cupcake Cafe Recipe reproduced by The Toronto Star

image from www.mccormick.com

My version-for my daughters birthday

image from www.lunchstudio.com