I have found my inspiration!

Hello!  It's me!  Hello...Can you hear me? Hello, from the outside!  Yes friends, I do believe 2016 is going to be a wonderful year because I have found my inspiration again.  Sorry for the tease, no this post is not about being inspired by the beautiful voice of Adele.  Though that could be partially true because I  have found myself pulling towards music quite a bit lately and feeling quite inspired by it.

This post is about finally feeling inspired and finding some direction with a few changes I want to make in my kitchen.  I absolutely love my kitchen, always have.  It's very large and very pretty if I must say so myself.  In fact its one of the rooms our guests gush over the most and want to congregate in as well.  Now mind you... all is not perfect in kitchen land, there are flaws.  Some of the flaws I just have to live with others not so much.  

Over last few days while waiting to take down the rest of Christmas I have found my inspiration.  Yes that's right, I am waiting. While I have taken down the kitchen Christmas decor, the rest of my house is still full on Christmas.  I have this crazy idea about taking things down before New Years.  I usually spend New Years day breaking it all down.  Last year I took everything down before New Years and let's just say, it wasn't a great year, Okay?   Sooo, this year we're sticking to New Year day breakdowns.    

Now back to my topic at hand before I bore you to tears.  I have spent the last few days thinking of ways to improve the cozy factor in my kitchen. I decided what I needed was curtains in the kitchen.  I need some textiles!   I love the Country French look I see in so many photos, blogs, pins, instas,etc.  I really want that look.  However, I think my look might be a bit more Country French Mediterranean, if there is such a thing.   I love florals and checks and such but I also love patterns and the colors of the sea.  My husband and I are sailors, so my heart also leans towards nautical as well.  Crazy mix huh?  Yeah, I know.  

Here are two different options of curtains I've been playing with that I could use in my kitchen. I've tacked them up to see if I would like having curtains before I invest in rods.   Both would work very well.  The lighter florals are some panels I had made for my dining room some time ago.  While I do like them I would need to alter the tops some as I'm not crazy about the plaid on them.  It's not a problem because the french doors are shorter then the window were so I've got the fabric.  The darker floral is yards of fabric I purchased years ago and never knew what I wanted to do with it.  I can see real possibilities here with both fabrics.  What do you think?  I also plan on strolling through some stores soon to see if anything else catches my eye now that I know exactly what I have in mind.

I have moved the smaller table over on the wall where the bakers rack used to be and love it.  I've got plans for shelves above this table.  I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and found some brackets that I just adore and they were on sale too.  I think the rustic brackets will go well with my chandelier and a few other accessories I have throughout the kitchen.  I chose brackets because I want to make a shelf that is deeper then most of the standard prepackaged display type shelves you see around.  Also they will be less difficult for hubby to mount.  Less difficulty means less fussy, and I like that!

Here's part of what has gotten me so bogged down with figuring out which direction to go in here.  I have these beautiful frenchy looking swivel bar stools that I just adore.  I have been searching for a way to bring them into the whole look without totally having to redo everything about them.  I would love to repaint them and my first thoughts were to paint them black.   

However, If I repaint them black then the seat cover is just not going to cut it.  I really don't want to have to redo the seat covers because well they are fantastically done.  They are a vinyl coated fabric and piped out and I just will not be able to recover these myself and don't want to spend money on having them redone professionally right now.    So how to mesh this look together has been the big question in my head for some time.  That is until.....I found my inspiration piece!

Did you notice it earlier?  I had it right in front of the drapes.  Ladies, I am so excited about this piece!!!   I also found it at Hobby Lobby.  I bought it fully intending to put in the den above my TV.  I had it sitting here in the kitchen and suddenly, I knew I would need to bring this color in throughout the kitchen to pull it all together.  I even think I can use this color of sea blue green on my bar stools and it will coordinate with the seat covers beautifully.  Can you say....Eureka?  This was definitely a Eureka moment. That's how I feel!  I already have several small splashes of this color throughout my kitchen but it's so drowned out by the black.  I just need to pop it back out again in a few larger splashes!  

Of course, now I've got to also find the right paint to use that matches this color.  Lucky for me this little iron piece will be easy to haul to the paint store for the exact match. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself to get started.

I love when a plan comes together, don't you?  Yes, you do too....I've seen yours and they are beautiful!  I just want to thank all of you again who inspire me so much with what all you do.  I love seeing your photos and getting inspiration for myself. That is so much of what this blogging is all about for me.   I hope maybe to share a little inspiration as well from time to time.  

And because I thought you might like to hear the music too....

Now, if you don't mind, I've really got to run because you know I just can't hold back any longer.

Have a beautiful and blessed day friends, even if it is cloudy and rainy outside.

Hugs and Waves!

Mary