Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Spiritual Home


It's true.  I have, for the most part of the last decade, been the kind of person who favored the ALL WHITE country style kitchen.  With stone countertops.  That we see so much of but NEVER get sick of.   (Do we?)

Marie Claire Maison

But ever since I saw this kitchen on Corine's site, I have been, to quote the Mister,  obsessed.

Recognize that stainless steel countertop?  Seen it anywhere else lately?  Check out the yellow-ey green paint on the walls.  SO TRULY MY COLOR!  

When I lived in the greater New York metropolitan area, my first home was a former stables about 12 feet wide and 25 feet deep.  The kitchen, which we inherited from a nice Calabrian family was

1) unheated

2) had the sink against a CORNER

3) swathed from top to bottom in Italian-immigrant style faux marble and terra-cotta-tile VINYL-AND- FORMICA

4) the cabinets were so ugly I have completely eliminated them from my memory banks!

IF ONLY!!!!!!!!  I HAD THOUGHT OF THIS!

I had that color already in my living room.  It was called ACACIA - by Pratt & Lambert, a paint company to whose "Vapex" I was once unduly devoted.   If ONLY I had just pulled all those nasty cabinets out, bashed in some Ikea ones, and instead of a GEANT Marmite jar, I could have super-glued together all the little ones that Mr. Paradis has collected into an enormous croquembouche type edifice.

If ONLY Vika stainless steel tabletops had been available then.

But they weren't and I did not.   I just spent all my waking hours making a postage stamp garden instead.
And you know what?  There's not much in the way of DO-overs in life.

BUT.  Now, I have a very nice, but kind of boring kitchen.  What if instead, I had this picture (of my spiritual home) made into wallpaper, and plastered it around the joint.  Madly custom, ME-styled wallpaper, from here.  Wouldn't my multi-colored tiffin carrier look the bomb in here?


DARE ME?




10 comments:

  1. Joy of Joys! That kitchen reminds me of a fanciful, fabulous, fantastic kitchen we shot in in New Orleans when I was down there doing a Mardi Gras show for the Food Network. I loved that kitchen, even thinking about it makes me smile, so does this one. We are in the planning stage of our new kitchen and I can see a shift in my color choices after seeing this and being reminded of that magical places from years past. Ah.... dare me?

    ReplyDelete
  2. now i´m obsessed! game on sister!
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. ça fait du bien de se promener sur ton blog tout en couleur, ça ne veut pas dire que l'on doit gommer ( d'ailleurs c'est impossible..) toutes les images étonnantes et terribles vues sur ton avant dernier post (N.Y.Times)sur le japon.il faut moral garder. Merci pour tes petits mots Miss Paradis, ils me font du bien au coeur, je t'embrasse, béatrice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes dare! Oh how I love the gigantic Marmite!

    ReplyDelete
  5. beautiful. the decoration was inspired by the African pop culture. Happy colors. lovely greetings from Germany

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dare you! Yep, it must have been the stainless steel "butcher block"... no? I am jonzin' over that one, and the humongous marmite jar.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Double dare! We have a green walled kitchen and are yet to tire of it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So beautiful :-) I'm just starting to feel better and it was lovely to see these gorgeous colors. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. definitely go for it! i am crazy for bright colors, so it seems really necessary that you SHOULD go for it. xoxo

    ReplyDelete