kitchen appliances ~ does color matter?

  I recently posted an article from the Wall Street Journal

on Facebook titled, "Is This the End of a 25-year Run for Stainless Steel"?

http://shopping.yahoo.com/news/is-this-the-end-of-a-25-year-run-for-stainless-steel--.html

It stirred quite a debate on my Facebook page. Quite a few posters

preferred white appliances - like myself - while others claimed to love

their stainless steel.

When we moved into our house 22 years ago, all the appliances were beige.

When we eventually had to eventually replace appliances,

I didn't even consider SS. For one thing ~ SS is quite pricey.

Secondly, I don't even really like SS appliances. I've always

thought it looked industrial. Just doesn't fit in with my decor.

Call me old-fashioned, but with my kitchen's oak cabinets and dark wood

floors, I much prefer my white refrigerator, dishwasher, and range.

I think the white off-sets the dark wood.

There's also white wainscoting on the walls, so the white 

appliances match nicely.

 

I did find a couple of pictures of kitchens with SS appliances that I thought were really pretty.

This one's from House Beautiful.

The SS range and hood, though modern, looks lovely with the 

more casual white cabinetry and open shelving.

 

I also like this kitchen from Country Living. 

The cottage look of the beaded ceiling and open shelving

with white pitchers and blue bowls, softens the look of the stainless steel.

 

 

 I had another friend on Facebook say that she likes her black 

appliances. I found a kitchen photo on google images where

black appliances happily fit in with the white cabinets, black granite countertops,

and a black island and chairs.

What color appliances do you have in your kitchen?

Are you satisfied with your choice, or would you change them if you could?

feeling overwhelmed and inadequate

Sorry that it's been awhile since I posted.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the stresses at work,

housework, decorating, grocery shopping, bill paying,

laundry, planning meals, pet care, finding time to read or

scrapbook, keeping up with email....on and on and on!

I know - it's life. 

But when I look at most other blogs, it seems like so many other

people decorate like a designer, have ginormous houses,

are busy turning pine cones & twigs into perfect wreaths,

and have a money tree in their back yard.

Then I feel inadequate and that I have nothing to blog about.

Why are us women so hard on ourselves?

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here's a little of what I've been up to...

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend in Galena, IL with my mom

and my aunt. It was my belated birthday celebration.

My aunt is so sweet. She actually brought flowers, candles,

a little cupcake, and birthday decorations to our hotel room!

In my home, the bathroom remodeling progress is going

very s-l-o-w-l-y.

Mainly because we go to Home Depot and Menards

and find sinks, vanities, and flooring that we like,

but there are so many choices, that we are overwhelmed.

We come home and discuss things but are terrible about making

a final decision and purchases.

In the meantime, in the main hallway bath, hubby put up

three white floating shelves above the toilet

and I decorated them.

Another little thing I did was to buy new switch plates and outlet covers

for the living room and hallway. These were a little pricey for

such things ($7 each), but well worth it, I think.

They are wood and leather and really put the finishing touch

on the entire look of the rooms. I consider things like this

(as well as vent covers) "jewelry" for the home.

PS - Not ready for the autumn decorations just yet. Still hanging on to summer

as long as possible! :-)

lovely goodwill finds

Beautiful blue and white Delft candlesticks (99 cents each)

Lodge cast iron sandwich press ($2.99)

Gorgeous, feminine bowl (I'm using it in my bedroom to hold pearl bracelets)

made in Germany ($1.99)

 Plaid-lined Boundary Waters coat for hubby ($4.99)

 Anne Klein boots ($4.99!) in perfect condition...

 Have you found any wonderful deals lately?

cookbook crush

Look what I found at Goodwill for under $2 -

 Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook!

I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I adore Ina and her cooking show on the Food Network.

I added Ina's cookbook to my collection - some of which I haven't even cracked open yet, 

such as the other two underneath Ina's cookbook - Looneyspoons and The Art and Soul of Baking.

Besides the great recipes, some cookbooks also offer culinary knowledge and tips,

gorgeous photographs of food, and even stories.

Yes, some cookbooks are made to be read.

I have more cookbooks stashed in my china hutch.

 

And here's a clever idea for cookbook storage ~

stick them in a cute dish drainer!

 

Do you love cookbooks as much as I do?

What are some of your favorites?

 

happy 25th x 2 ~ to me!

I turned the big five-oh yesterday.

Yikes!

I didn't have any problems turning 40...when you can say you're

40-something, it still sounds pretty young.

But 50? Doesn't sound so young anymore!

I spent the entire day - and way into the night - with the two loves of my life:

my husband and my son.

We spent the day at Navy Pier in downtown Chicago,

walking around and relaxing under shade trees, listening to bands.

It was SO windy ~ as evidenced by our hair and the choppy waves.

 

Check out the ferris wheel - 150 ft. up! 

It was closed due to the high winds, but there was no way I'd go on this anyway.

Big chicken!

 

There was a stained glass window exhibit inside Navy Pier; all so beautiful.

I took a lot of pictures, but these are just a few of my favorites.

 

OK, so this one is bizarre, but also kind of cool.

 

The highlight of our day was going on the Star of Chicago boat cruise.

Dinner buffet, cruise on Lake Michigan, and dancing.

Tim insisted on buying his mama a drink for her birthday.

It was really good! And a pretty blue-green color, like the sea.

 

The views of the Chicago skyline at night from the boat were stunning.

Sorry for the low quality of this picture - I don't have a fancy camera.

 

I'm shy in crowds and don't like to dance in front of people,

but Tim got me to get up and dance with him for the last dance of the night.

Appropriately, they played Donna Summer's, "Last Dance".

Brian took this picture of us (he's not a dancer) and we laughed so hard

when we saw it. It looks like Tim is about to give me a karate chop!

He was doing some kind of dance move called, "The Sprinkler".

 Today was a pretty mellow day.

I think I'm getting too old for this party stuff. ;-)

family room rearranging

In my last post, I showed where I put the IKEA cube in the basement family room, 

under the Chicago picture.

I decided while I was changing things around down there, that 

I'd move the treadmill. It used to be here - in front of all the books.

The floors are painted concrete, so to cushion and "warm" the area,

I used a rug that used to be in the living room.

Now I'm on the hunt for a little wooden table and chairs for this area.

I then moved the treadmill to the space on the other side of 

the basement where my son's drum set used to be.

The black and white tree picture on the wall was formerly in my living room.

 

The Dreadmill fits perfectly in this awkward space ~

and I thought by leaving it unfolded with my gym shoes nearby,

it would spur me to use it more often.

HA!

new living room shelving

I'm still working on redecorating the living room...

Previously, I had the 4-square IKEA cube on this wall

but after looking at ladder bookshelves online, decided that

one of these would be the better option.

I ordered this ladder bookshelf online from Home Decorators.

I moved the IKEA cube downstairs.

I think it looks much better in this space.

See? Sometimes you just need to "play" with different

furniture placement to find the perfect fit.

So, back to the living room.

It was hard picking out artwork for the wall space 

between the bookshelves and vertical pictures over the fireplace.

While shopping in Lake Geneva, WI, I found this

artisan made HOME sign at Refined Rustic and fell in love with it.

It's made from old barn wood.

The turquoise candle holder below the HOME sign is just a "cheap"

find from Hobby Lobby.

 

I think the HOME sign would've looked better right over

the bookcase, but if I told my husband that (he hates when there's nail holes

all over the place, especially after a new paint job!), he'd kill me, lol.

And then I'd be back to the same dilemma - what to put in the wall space

 between the bookshelves and the fireplace wall.