Kitchen Inspiration

My kitchen has been looking blah lately. We remodelled it a few years ago and never quite finished everything either because we became busy, ran out of money or energy and then became busy again.

I have always loved big old houses and farmhouse kitchens but, alas, we had to make do with what we had, i.e., a small house and small kitchen. Other than painting the cabinets and replacing the formica countertops, the old kitchen hadn't been touched since 1961, if you can imagine. The kitchen is small but I wanted a farmhouse look that we could afford and insisted on having an island even though our contractor said it wouldn't work in such a small space. It works just fine and we use it a lot. The room gets a lot of light but we still choose vanilla-colored cabinets to make it look even brighter. I actually love my kitchen despite the size.

The walls are painted that Martha Stewart blue/green.

I've been puttering around a lot, trying to catch up with organizing things at home. I can't remember the last time I cleaned out some of the cabinets. Oh my.  I went to a Home Goods store yesterday looking for a gift. Well, guess what? I came home with some pretty new dishes! My old everyday dishes were looking pretty sad and I've wanted new dishes for a long, long time. I did not want to keep using my other pretty English Garden plates that I bought last year for every day. So, as I told my husband when I got home (Surprise! New dishes!) , we really, really needed them. Right.

I bought this pretty floral china last year but only use them for  special dinners, not for everyday dining. At least not while the kids are still home, LOL.

The colors in the new plates are very similar but they're much more casual. Perfect for every day!

Buying new dishes was just the thing to get me inspired and motivated to clean up the kitchen and possibly think about finishing up some of the things we never finished, sewing some valances for the windows, cleaning those blinds, yuck, organizing the Tupperware, pantry, etc.

The floral pattern is so cute and almost reminds me of applique.

Look, the dishes sort of match my rugs too!

They already match all of my other kitchen accessories so it was destiny - they were just sitting there waiting for me to come along and give them a nice, new home.

It's funny how something like this can really motivate you to clean things up. The kitchen is looking better I think and it makes me feel so good now that it's cleaner and more organized. Can't have pretty new dishes sitting on cluttered counters, LOL. Plus, it looks like they will also inspire me to cook some healthy dinners. Someone asked about recipes in the comments for the last post and I think I will add some of my favorites soon. A bonus to these plates and one good reason I chose them - the center area is smaller than my other ones so perhaps that will help me with portion control as I try to eat healthier and lose a few pounds.