Here! Have some more kitchen inspiration: repurposed/antique kitchen cabinets.
I spent the weekend failing to get a handle on life… instead, I took a trip to Fabric Row; beginning the rapid decent into rhinestones, parking tickets, and indecision-induced-paralysis: where I got a glimpse of my project as madness, but plowed forward anyway because the other option was sanity… which goes directly against my principles.
Then I had to scour the internet for the imaginary pattern that lives in my head… then I got distracted by this faucet which is small but fascinatingly practical but maybe too industrial? Then I started looking at faucets. Then I found this kitchen.
It is my second favorite kitchen ever… Pilar Guzman’s is still my first, but only by a small margin.
Clearly, here is a person who understands the true meaning of life AND has adorable-mini-tartlets always displayed and available! Look at them!
WHAT have I been doing with myself that I have not advanced to this level of existence?
I am not even sure any cooking occurs here… not that it matters! If this is your kitchen, you probably just exist on beautiful thoughts and refined dishware.
Why did I not think of that? So much simpler!
Go ahead and click through so that you may accurately judge how horribly lacking your own home/life/existence on earth is.
Be sure you take the whole house tour, otherwise you will not be appropriately saddened by your personal deficiency in the curated whimsy and antlers department.
The bathroom has an antique pommel horse!!! I spent all day Sunday trying to find one for myself… How else can I go on living if I cannot display my guest towels in such a stunning exhibit of fanciful-design-one-upmanship?
On the bright side, I figured out why these kitchens make me so itchy: it’s because they show me I am doing human wrong!
It’s very scientific… These people look different under a microscope than I do!
I am doing life in the animal-muck-living-floundering-organism sense.
Vs.
Life of controlled-refinement-and-not-flailing-around.
Whoops!
These are people who spend their Sunday reading Donne, and eating scones.
(but not ALL of the scones!)
And just one cup of coffee, instead of drinking the whole pot and then being jittery and irritable but still mysteriously unenergetic.
And who never wonder if they should just go watch an entire season of The Sopranos, because the father of metaphysical poetry is simply too stimulating.
These are people who never procrastinate small tasks like moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer. And then again from the dryer to a folded state.
These are people who do not have a 5 gallon spackle bucket for compost in the kitchen… Which they are occasionally, frequently, always slow about taking outside to the actual compost pile.
Ok. That’s it. Abrupt end.
I have to go now because I have to continue my search for an antique pommel horse and go back to the fabric district a lot of work to catch up on because I squandered yesterday splicing myself into Dirty Dancing.
Please enjoy a few more photos of kitchens that illustrate my gauche Americanness: that I would look at this and even CONSIDER cabinets that came from the cabinet store.
I realize this may be disappointingly un-holiday-ish for some of you, so HERE! Enjoy some Christmas-themed West Coast Swing.
December 9, 2015 @ 1:32 pm
The cabinets in the first kitchen remains me of the old bakery cabinets that were u.in my dads grocery store. Same style, doors, height. Just a darker finish. Now you will be combing craigslist for those, I guess? And I want to see you and Paul dance the whole song to Dirty Dancing – it was great!
December 9, 2015 @ 1:39 pm
You are truly evil. I have now gone down the CL rabbit hole and am contemplating driving 2 hrs away to pick up a $600 antique display cabinet to replace the Hoosier in my kitchen.
December 9, 2015 @ 1:56 pm
GAWD…..how I LOVE LOVE LOVE your audience COMMENTS!!! except of COURSE sad sad Alexis…poor thing.
December 9, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
I need to improve my ‘search’ skills. These kitchens are great and I’ve never seen them before. I don’t think I could have a lot of glass fronts – I need order and I can only guess how quickly my cupboards would be terribly disorganized.
Karen
December 9, 2015 @ 2:22 pm
None of then have the door to Narnia, though.
Or Elvis.
Or Paul!
They deserve our sympathy.
December 9, 2015 @ 2:32 pm
Oh dear – you’ve just ruined my day. Now I will spend the rest of the afternoon clicking through to all of those links and kitchens…..which will make me most sad and uninspired. My kitchen doesn’t look anything like any of those………
………and I can’t dance either.
December 9, 2015 @ 2:48 pm
Good luck on the fabric….it honestly took me two years the find what I was looking for…and of course that included the wrong! Fabric at least twice. But when I found the right one, the angels sang.
December 9, 2015 @ 3:22 pm
DANG…..now that’s some fine holiday swing moves. Is there anything sexier than a dancing cowboy!?
December 9, 2015 @ 3:33 pm
Victoria:
Love your blog because it’s funny and so positive. Good luck with finding the fabric. Your kitchen will be a glorious beacon on a hill for us mere mortals, with hilarious, fun-filled stories and memories to boot.
To the sour and dour who seem to want to invade this space with their negativism, take a time out and come back when you can be more positive. Misery may love company, but you won’t find it here.
Merry Christmas to you and Paul, and an abundance of love to Elvis.
December 9, 2015 @ 3:58 pm
Ok, I clicked over to Martha Stewart’s website (mistake the first). Then I clicked through the collection of photos showing decorating with color (mistake the second). When I read “…[t]his room in Martha’s home at Lily Pond Lane was inspired by the colors of her collection of stuffed tarpon fish” I knew I had to leave that site NOW before I threw up.
December 9, 2015 @ 4:11 pm
VEB, My Southern heart literally skips a beat when I see a new email from you! You and that dreamboat of a husband have done a splendid restoration of your house. I live in a small, but charming Sears kit house c. 1928. Along with an addition, I redid my kitchen 10 years ago. I am certain you know that form follows function, especially in a room where you will be working! Your space must work for you. The best thing I did was use big drawers instead of cabinets. Because I do not share your great height, far from it at 4’10”, I reclaimed pantry space added two roll out windows and eliminated overhead cabinets. I LOVE my big drawers. Also, have you seen Christopher Peacock’s kitchen designs? He does some mighty fancy, over the top spaces! Thank you for your great blog. Warmly and Merry, Merry Christmas to you.
December 9, 2015 @ 6:53 pm
The good news is…for the low, low price of $2000 THIS VERY GYM HORSE can by yours!!!
http://alexmacarthur.co.uk/catalogue_detail.asp?nShopProd_ID={9DE7934F-B97C-4FEE-BA38-AE2032631631}&src=catalogue_list%2Easp%3FnShopProdCat_ID%3D%7BAEAA2CAB-F769-4C6B-AA62-141A097F86AE%7D%26nPageNo%3D1%26src%3Dcollection%2Easp
December 9, 2015 @ 7:10 pm
Victoria, another stellar post!!! OMG, I had heart palpitations looking through Alex MacArthur’s website……I truly was born in the wrong time and place……I wanted to go and live in his house…..but I’m stuck in my nice little 1972 home. I live vicariously through your blog! haha. Keep up the good work and have a blessed Christmas season AND keep searching Craig’s List!! 🙂
December 9, 2015 @ 8:18 pm
They are utilizing wall space with mirror backed cabinetry rather then a mirror that takes up space. It’s okay to experiment…you haven’t committed yet? Liking this path you are on better!
Lenora ; )
December 9, 2015 @ 9:40 pm
Check out http://www.blackdogsalvage.com/ for the antique pummel horse. They had one last time I checked
December 9, 2015 @ 11:25 pm
Aargh! Why doesn’t my kitchen have a library ladder? Nevermind that I can touch the ceiling…
December 10, 2015 @ 2:27 am
I knew that the Alex MacArthur house was a little dark and spooky for my taste. Then I got to the pics of the third floor–the rope, chain and socks at the end of the bed just Creeped. Me. Out!!!
December 10, 2015 @ 11:15 pm
the rope is a necessary fire escape tool-the only thing that will get you out cause the stairway to a 3rd floor is a chimney with the fire rushing up to it-the socks I would opine are a frost bite preventative for the freezing floors on the 3rd floor of an old mansion…remember these were servants quarters and their tootsies being warm was not a priority. And the chain? to place on the bottom of rope to give it weight and less tendency to swing? I doubt the third guess but thought I’d throw it in as a possible. Wonder if I’m right…
December 10, 2015 @ 9:39 am
You should put up a disclaimer over the link to these posts “Abandon all pretense of reality and enter with a whimsical heart”. It looks to me like those drool worthy “kitchens” have 13 ft ceilings. And an unlimited taste for baked goods. And room service because they’re surely not doing anything so sordid as cooking !
But they are yummy eye candy. I don’t think the faucet it too industrial; combined with your victorian house and giant fancy things, it would come off as “Steam Punk”. I totally think you could rock that vibe.
December 10, 2015 @ 11:58 am
I truly look forward to each new blog post, thank you.
I have always loved the types of things, GFT, that you do so your posts make me drool, and lust after each item. Alas, I have had to come to terms with the fact that my home will have to remain ho hum uninspired. Keep up the good work of encouraging us to dream.
December 10, 2015 @ 4:32 pm
As if you need GFT encouragement or another $4500 flowing out of your bank account… http://mobile.craigslist.org/atq/5321995934.html