Saturday, January 9, 2010

This time of year makes me crave white, as if the blanket of snow outside isn't enough white for anyone, I need the clean simplicity as the new year begins. I need to repaint my dining room after the unfortunate Thanksgiving ceiling incident and since it connects very openly to my kitchen I want to paint them both the same color. I have light oak cabinets (bleh) that I am dying to paint white. I may get to those during the doldrums of winter.  Here are a few photos I have been saving in my inspiration folder. I love them all. Sunny, bright, and white makes a great background for any color accessory. Black seems like my go-to color for things like curtain accents and such. I have black and white toile valances in the kitchen and DR already so I wouldn't even have to swap those out.  So right now I am dreaming of the perfect white. 


I also wanted to alert you to a beautiful deal I found last night. Primroses at Home depot for 79 cents each! A huge rack displayed in the store that I just couldn't resist. I got three pure white ones and popped them into a big silver bowl for my table.  I tried to take a picture but I got a new camera for Christmas and the first thing I did was misplace the media card! Arrgh! I was sitting at the computer making my new header, removed the card from the slot in the computer and set it on the desk and an hour later it had disappeared. I had been sitting there the whole time. Earl and I tore the office and desk apart the next morning and still couldn't find it. Office gremlins obviously.  My new card is supposed to arrive sometime next week which should give me a chance to sit down and try to figure out the manual for this camera.  It a Sony a100 slr that we found at an incredible clearance price and is a big step up for me.  I NEVER READ INSTRUCTION MANUALS, never, but I am going to have to read this one, or get a digital SLR for dummies book, (do they make those?)  So that is all the news for now. It is bitterly cold but sunny today and I have a slew of projects to start/finish. I hope you all have a fantastic winter weekend:>)  Are you all enoying the whiteness of January?

P.S. I have been tweaking things and my list of favorite blogs is now located on another page that can be reached by clicking on the button on my sidebar.  I have more to add and update.  Click over and visit someone new:>)

38 comments:

  1. I just know we were separated at birth, you and I!!! :) I too am thinking/craving white...not because of the snow (the little that we have here in Toronto - still!!! Did mother nature forget that we are on the map?!? lol!!), but for the freshness. My living room is dijon yellow and the one wall in the dining room is a gorgeous red. But now it's time for for white or even cream to go with that red...and this is the perfect time to do those "freshen up" projects.

    I love all of these photographs Kathy -- I can't wait to see what you choose to do...we can compare as the winter progresses!!

    And the new camera?!? Oh me too -- I will need my manual for sure -- too many knobs, bells, whistles and gadgets to figure out on my own as I am discovering!!!

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  2. What a beautiful post! I agree with everything you have said about the white.

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  3. Love your pictures of the white rooms. Your style is great. Also, the previous post looks DELICIOUS!

    Happy New Year from Houston,TX

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  4. I LOOOOOOVE the new look of your blog and the tweaks, honey. BUT I adore and lust after your kitchen. If I had a kitchen like that we might not eat out so much! Just darling and cheery and white. Beautiful...
    xoxo,
    Connie

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  5. I love white because not only do I have color phobia, but because I like to decorate with color accents. I did my kitchen at the lake in all white with open shelving (I wish I knew how to direct you straight to that post, but I don't). The lower cabinets I did in a mossy green paint. I love the clean look. And I think we all love the simplicity white evokes.

    I laughed about the camera manual. I promised myself when I got my last (better) camera that I would read the manual. Well I think I got up to page 5!! Then I complain when my pictures come out poorly. And yes, there is a Digital Camera for Dummies!!

    Have a great weekend, Kathy! :-)

    xoxo
    Jane

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  6. I can't wait for you to paint it mom!!! It'll look amazing. I love you!!! xoxoxoxo
    ~V

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  7. Hey Kathy....good to see you sweets!
    I have been dying to paint my cabinets white and replace the ugly tiled counter tops....right now we have light hickory cabinets and hubby loves them! Said it would be a sin to cover them with paint!
    I am dealing with them but one day I may paint them when he is away! :-)

    Enjoy your weekend,
    stay warm
    Hugz, Dolly

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  8. holey moley, give me one of each! i adore your inspiration photos, Kathleen!

    also, thanks for your kind comment today, you threadaholic! hehe.

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  9. Yup, Another sister for sure! Everyone of those white kitchens is calling to me also!!!! I have really ugle yellow piney cheap cupboards that I am having painted white.....I just hate them! I have a 1940's feel in my heart and want it in my kitchen! LOL Doesn't it make you crazy when you lose something like that? Gosh! I am mad for days!!!!!! LOL

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  10. No winter white here in south Alabama! :( Of the kitchen pix you posted I love #1, (looking top, left to right) All white with that pop of bright color like the red. It looks so bright and clean! Plus I love that sink. I always say if I ever get to build another house, I'm going to buy that sink and build my house around it! :) Thanks for your visits as always. Happy weekend to you!

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  11. I love every single one of those pictures! You can't go wrong with any of them.

    I can't wait to see your kitchen after you paint your cabinets!
    Hugs,
    Penny
    p.s. cold and sunny here too...

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  12. Ohhh yummy!! I would take any of them Kathy!! They are all so pretty. I am loving white too right now. But not the snow, lol!
    Love ya,
    Amy

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  13. I agree with you a white kitchen is always lovely and your black accents will be spot on. I love the countryish one with the wooden floor and the pretty windows
    Cheers
    Helen

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  14. Kathy

    Love your white mosaic! I am glad for the sparseness of January!

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  15. Oooooo Yes! I love white kitchens with little touches of black. It's so clean and fresh and bright!
    Patricia :o)

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  16. Hi Kathy,
    I like the photos so much, I am glad that someone is motivated to change their cabinet. I too have oak cabinets, and would love to have them painted white, but am just such a chicken . Maybe I will change my mine after I see yours. Good luck ! Am looking forward to seeing the changes.

    Sue

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  17. Hi Kathy....I love white kitchen too...you might remember that i did a post a few months back with all white kitchen pictures....and you just have to have that little touch of black. it's just so perfect....Oh I can dream....I have the worst looking kitchen ever.....and I don't read instructions either...drives the Boss crazy and he would have gone nuts if I lost the memory card....
    Your lucky to have Earl....

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  18. I love your new look! And your inspiration photos are to die for!!! Can't wait to see what you do. I painted my cabinets white and I've not regretted it for a second - you won't either.

    Last year I took a series of photography classes from a local area photographer who is one of the best. Our assignment at the first class? Come back to class next time having read your entire manual - every single word of it. He said we should sit and read and try everything explained and demonstrated, mark and highlight, fold down important pages we might need to find again easily! Not exactly the homework I thought he would give us but it was the BEST thing he could have done. When we returned to class we had all learned so much about our cameras - and photography in general. You can't go wrong if you read yours. You got a nice camera and so glad you got a great deal.
    ~Adrienne~

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  19. I love each and every one of those white kitchen pictures. So gorgeous. Makes the red stuff really pop doesn't it? Mimi

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  20. Wow! I missed the whole Thanksgiving ceiling incident. Glad Earl's ok!

    Very classic kitchens! Can't wait to see what you do.
    Hugs,
    Dawn

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  21. Those are all kitchens I could be very, very happy in! Fresh, crisp, clean, white!!!!

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  22. Those are some of my favorite kitchens of all time. I long for a white kitchen too. I think you should go for it!

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  23. Great minds think alike!!! I love the calmness of a clean neutral pallette. So easy on the eyes and senses. Of all the photos, I love the two with the black and white Harlequin diamonds..so chic! My living/dinette/kitchen are also one big area..so I also need to carry the same color all the way through. Now my walls are a wonderful paprika and we are getting ready to go neutral...I can't wait. Good luck with your renovating/decorating project.
    your friend,
    Janet

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  24. I like all those inspiration photos! I always gravitate to white in the summer (I guess cause it's so HOT here and white seems so cool).

    I was at Trader Joe's yesterday and they had the most beatiful primroses-I had to buy some too. It's nice to have some living plants when everything outside is frozen and dead!

    Manuela

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  25. Everything you do with decorating always inspires me. The white primroses in the bowl is beautiful! As for your new camera, I also have a Sony Cybershot. I really like the quality of pictures that it takes and find it quite simple to use(after I finally got used to it). I smiled when I read about the card disappearing because I could relate to stories like that. Hope you get your new card soon.

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  26. I love all those inspiration photos! We've been redoing our kitchen with white cabinets - right now they're still unfinsihed wood, but SOON (I hope) we'll get around to painting them. ::Jill

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  27. OOO, I love white cabinets, too. And white walls. Right now, my kitchen walls are a light sage green but I am tired of it and ready to go W.H.I.T.E....
    Seems a lot of bloggers are hugging white right now. I can't waait for you to get started so I can copy you!! ;)
    hugs, bj

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  28. I would love to paint my cabinets white..but my husband shudders when I speak of it. They really are a nice dark oak with beautiful grain, so I am trying to contain myself! Your saved pictures are adorable! Lots of wonderful ideas! I am just getting started on my home redo and it is staggering how much it can cost for a house full of high grade carpet and pad. Wow! Wall piant is coming but floors are first. Choosing paint is making me crazy! Only the trim will be "Moonlit Snow" and that took days to decide. :) Tomorrow it could change! I can't wait to see what you choose.

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  29. Yes they do make those "Dummies" books... mine is on its' way!

    ;-)

    I have no doubt that YOU will master your new camera - your photos are always so gorgeous and inspiring. But everything you do is.


    xo,

    Kim

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  30. Love the post! I sounds like you have a great plan in mind. I wish my daughter would let me paint her cabinet white!

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  31. Hey Kathy, I love painting the kitchen cabinets white! We did in our last home and we will in this home too - your picture inspirations are beautiful too! Have a great week, friend!
    xoxo
    Marilyn

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  32. Kathy,
    White is so lovely, and each one of these is really beautiful. I use Sony and I love it. Your photographs are always so gorgeous. Winter white my favorite.

    Karen

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  33. That picture in the top left...oooh! Love that one especially! I DO understand the need for sun...and long days of gray can leave us all in a funk!
    Even odd ducks like me who love Winter!! But today the sun cam out here and it *warmed* to 25! It felt like Summer!! *laugh*
    I SO love white too...with reds and blues and black...oooh!!

    Love,
    Sue

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  34. Good luck picking the right white. It is always exciting to redo a room... like having a new house. Blessings!
    Gwen

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  35. I painted the kitchen cabinets in a previous house....it was exciting as it completely changed the whole room! Go for it!

    Congrats on the new camera....and I hear you on the subject of not reading the manual. It is something I don't do either. Go figure!

    xo,
    annie

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  36. you will LOVE the white on your cabinets! In fact you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner! Good Luck!
    Have fun with the new camera! So exciting!

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  37. Hmmm.... how will you ever pick. These are all lovely.

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  38. Adorable post!i agree with everything you've said about the white,inspiring blog,thanks for posting.

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