kitchen inspiration

 It's taken a long time for me to fall in love with my kitchen at Red House. Firstly, I inherited the units, a kind of light wood I have promised not to paint! the tiled floors are cracked where the previous owners dragged their dishwasher out! the cooker is like a school cooker it's so big!!! and it has a breakfast bar and bar stools - just not me. So Steve and I sat down last weekend to do our annual list of  'jobs in the house we are doing this year' we always do this and fix a budget, when the work is done we always make sure we can spend a bit on ourselves for a mini break or something. Big old houses certainly eat your money but we've always loved transforming them into homes for our expanding family. This year is the turn of the kitchen , phase 1, the floor will be sorted, a new kitchen table will be made from the old breakfast bar, chairs repainted from the shed and dare I hope phase 2 will be a paint job!!! Phoebe and I often sit at the kitchen window watching all the birds and squirrels  it just feels like time to wave a bit of makeover magic!`

To encourage my kitchen efforts I have invested in this book with my precious Waterstones voucher. I love Nigel Slater and drool over his house as much as over the food, so a diary of month by month food from the garden and cooking  seems right up my street although I have to admit I might have something similar from River Cottage, mmm might keep that one quiet. So I am anticipating a pleasant evening reading and planning (got my Farrow and Ball swatches in the post) creating my renovated dream kitchen ! can't wait!