Creating a New "OLD" Kitchen - Part 1 - a Bit of Historic Background

As my regular readers know, we live in a Mediterranean style house, totally unlike a typical Cape Cod house (and yes, we do live on Cape Cod!) As a couple of francophile dreamers who have always fantasized about living in Provence or the French Pyrenees, we knew this house was for us the minute we walked into it for the first time.

We are just beginning to renovate/decorate the kitchen here, and we are making our already Mediterranean style room into an old-fashioned version of itself ...so I thought I'd give a little background history first.

Above are two photos I took before we bought the house, with the previous owner's furnishings.

Our previous house was an early American antique (300+ years old) which had reminded us of old French homes with low ceilings, antique fireplaces, wavy glass windows, etc. When we redid the kitchen in that house, we wanted it to look like a French country kitchen, even though we were starting with all new construction (including new ceiling) and new appliances. I painted just about every surface in that kitchen, to make it look rustic and antiquated.

Here are some photos of the kitchen in our old house:

An overall shot of our former kitchen showing painted walls, cabinetry and ceiling. The idea was that you felt you were in a dilapidated French farm building (specifically, a dépendence of a mas provençal), with the beamed ceiling broken away in areas, revealing the sky, and wild herbs growing on the roof above. The cabinets above the countertops were painted like windows looking outside to fruits, vegetables, olive branches, etc., and the lower cabinets were painted to look like animal pens, housing pigs, a lamb, chickens & rabbits (all edible, bien sûr!)

(Photo by Nan & Monty Abbott)

Smooth walls were transformed into faux bumpy stone ones with paint. I also added trompe l'oeil postcards, business cards from France and a French recipe, just for pure fun. People used to run their hands over this wood post to see if the items were real...and just to tease people, the Van Gogh postcard WAS real!

One corner with Italian majolica plates and an old Venetian floor lamp

 The breakfast nook with French wheat-back chairs and French linens

(Photo by Jay Elliott)

Another view of the breakfast nook with my husband, Jack Dickerson's painting, Il Contidino, a portrait of an Italian farmer at the end of the day, waiting to share wine and bread with a friend. The table, covered in an Italian tablecloth, was set with Italian and French items. The silverware is French; the plates were from a visit we made to San Gimignano in Deruta pottery country, Italy; and the glasses were some we picked up on a trip to Biot in the South of France, near where I used to live - so many happy memories!

Jack and I designed this dish rack in the breakfast nook, to hold some of our French, Italian & Portuguese plates. There's a Moroccan plate in there, too, from one of Jack's mother's voyages; a vintage carved wood German bread board; and an antique copper mold inherited from Jack's ancestors in Amsterdam.

These two photos (above & below) show the kitchen after years of use - rather worn out, but still charming.

The drawers above the animals all featured herbs. Note the chicken with a special plaque - "Poulets de Bresse". I also featured these fabulously delicious French chickens in my murals at PB Boulangerie Bistro. I wrote about them here.

The real door to the basement was painted to look like a door out to a French garden, with a pear tree and rows of lavender in full bloom.

Above the door was a Della Robbia plaque we had brought back from San Gimignano.

We hung real garlic to further trick the eye (what trompe l'oeil painting is all about.) I even had to nail the antique square nail into the door at a distinct angle, so that it would seem to be in the correct perspective!

The goose waddling around the corner of the door is a foie gras producing goose, famous in the Dordogne region of France. Again, this gourmet bird had a special place in my PB Boulangerie Bistro murals. I wrote about it here.

I took this photo as we were moving out. The shelves had been full of cookbooks. The grain sheaves depict wheat, barley, oats & rye. The quote, which continues around the top of the room, is from one of my favorite French cooks, Madame Lulu Peyraud, owner of Domaine Tempier vineyards in Provence. The quote is, "You know, my food is nothing but plain old cuisine de bonne femme [traditional housewife cooking]. What makes it different from restaurant cuisine or recipes in cookbooks, is that I am always cooking for someone I love." Jack painted the lettering.

Another quote on our woodwork, which has great memories and meaning for us, is this one by our friend, Patricia Wells: "What grows together, goes together." A prolific cookbook author, Patricia also teaches fun and informative French cooking classes in both Paris and Provence. We once took a week of Provençal cooking lessons from Patricia, and learned this quote during that week.

Notice my window valences, above, and then the very similar one, below, in Lulu's kitchen. Both are traditional, hand-block-printed cotton indiennes from Souleiado, in Provence. 

Above is an absolutely charming photo of Lulu Peyraud with her dear friend, Alice Waters, photographed in Lulu's kitchen. For more about Alice Waters, see my posts here and here. Our Lulu quote came from the book, Lulu's Provençal Table, by Richard Olney, with a forward by Alice Waters.

Another picture of Lulu in her kitchen, shows the wonderful Souleiado border fabric in color. This border fabric, called La Grosse Rose, is available online here. Old French farmhouses often have a fabric valence like this one, to keep smoke and ash from going into the room, in case of a strong wind.

A third quote in the old kitchen was from Julia Child: "Life itself is the proper binge." Since Patricia Wells, Alice Waters, Lulu Peyraud and Julia Child are all culinary heroines of mine, I may have to include quotes from all of them in our new kitchen. Click here to read my post about a cooking class I once took with Julia Child.

 The tiles used for backsplashes and stairway were ones we had purchased on our honeymoon in Portugal. The marble countertops were made of slabs that had been rescued from an old bank building in Boston.

Detail showing the gorgeous ochre marble, which Jack installed himself (very heavy!!)

I went out one day and came back to discover Jack installing leftover tiles on the stair risers - I just LOVE this! Our original island, which Jack also had built, was covered in these tiles, with the floral border all around. Unfortunately, that had to be sacrificed when we had the new kitchen built. The flooring was Portuguese cork - a lovely warm color and so soft to stand on.

The new island was covered in tumbled Botticino marble, which beautifully matched the marble countertops and our faux painted walls.

This old kitchen of ours was photographed numerous times for various magazine and newspaper articles. Here it is, as featured for Christmas, in Better Homes & Gardens magazine, December 2003:

Better Homes & Gardens Christmas '03  (I will upload a better PDF, soon, I promise!)

Confessions of a blog-aholic

Oh, how I wish time would stand still while I'm blogging! For the past three days, I have set out to write a post on the Italian design house of Missoni, only to get side-tracked right from the get-go, and have spent most of the rest of each day looking at other people's posts. Here's a typical chain of events: I start by reading my email and my Facebook wall, both of which will have updates from several blogs I follow. My morning coffee is always accompanied by at least two excellent blogs, Cote de Texas for decorating, and David Lebovitz for food. One that I get on Facebook, every week or so is At Home with Patricia Wells, about food and French living.

Attractive pictures like these, from the three blogs mentioned above, always entice me into the stories they accompany.
(top to bottom: David Lebovitz, Patricia Wells, 
Cote de Texas)

Okay, so I start by going to one of these blogs to read the entire post, and my eye gets drawn over to the sidebar, where I see a list that is typically called something like "my blogroll" or "blogs of note". I click on one of these and read it's most recent post, but of course, I get side tracked into looking at that author's favorite blogs, and click on links out from there...so it continues on and on. In fact, sometimes I get so far off the beaten path that I wish I were Hansel and Gretel, leaving breadcrumbs, so I could follow my path back to where I started! Since most of the bloggers I like are interested in various different aspects of lifestyle and design, I go from cooking, to art, to interior design, to crafts, to table settings, back to cooking...you can see where I'm going here: in "no time at all" I realize I have burned up half of my day!

Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. In so many ways, other bloggers have opened up new ideas to me, and I count lots of inspiration as having come from them. The only thing is, I'm not writing my own blog while I'm reading everyone else's. Do other bloggers set a time limit on how much surfing they do? Or do they set aside a specific time each day when they do nothing other than write their own posts? I wish I knew, as I am positive most bloggers spend a lot of time, just as I do, looking at what others have to offer.

My own blog list is divided (as you can see in the left column) into various categories, to make it easier for people (moi included) to find certain subjects. Even so, my lists are all growing to the point where I have just decided to list them all in alphabetical order. That way, nothing gets lost in the shuffle. I have to say that I really enjoy all of the blogs I have listed as my favorites. Each and every one is superb quality in terms of written descriptions, as well as photography (in my opinion!) If I decide I don't care so much for a blog after a while, I delete it from my list.

Some blogs are so gorgeous they practically make me weep with pleasure. Others have great DIY advice, and a lot of the food ones make me incredibly hungry - usually at a time of day when I shouldn't be thinking of eating (actually I think about food most of the time...but still!)

I want to highlight all of my favorite blogs/websites, over time. For today, here are some of the ones that I consider to be so beautiful and inspiring, I could practically eat them up (and I'm talking about the photos and styling - not necessarily food.) I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. (Click on the name to visit each blog.)

ada & darcy

Australian interior designer with lovely photos, happy colors,

and DIY projects.

Canelle et Vanille

Written by a Basque chef/photographer, currently living in the United States. Gorgeous photos, interesting commentary and fabulous recipes, such as Lavender and Orange Macaroons.

Carolyne Roehm

Carolyne is, bar none, my favorite book stylist and author. Her site will have you hooked at the opening peony. (You'll see what I mean.)

I own all of her books.

Charlotte Moss

I have met Charlotte and she is as charming as her photos. Her blog has beautiful decorating ideas, and is a great source of inspiration.
I also own all of her books.

Chez Loulou

Lovely French recipes and photos that make you long to be there!

Cote de Texas

An interior designer with a modern take on old French sensibilities, Joni often features other designers, as well as in depth reportage on specific houses. She puts an amazing amount of time and thought into her research - always worth reading. Tons of pictures, too.

David Lebovitz

An American in Paris and former pastry chef at Chez Panisse (I'm jealous already, David!) who is also the author of several terrific cookbooks, and has a wry sense of humor. His food posts and recipes are always good, as are his other posts involving subjects such as travel and flea market finds in the countryside.

Eddie Ross

Eddie is incredibly talented, and not just because he worked for so long with Martha Stewart and then House Beautiful. He has an innate sense of design in everything he touches, plus he styles such pretty photo settings! To top it all off, he's an alum of the Culinary Institute of America, where my son is.
(I soooo want to meet this guy!!)

Forking Delicious!

By a private chef and cookbook author. This picture just about says it all. Divine recipes to match.

Graham Rust

My favorite muralist of all time, Graham Rust has also written and illustrated some of my favorite books, such as The Painted House.

Kiss My Spatula

A picture is worth a thousand words, but I also love the descriptions and recipes. Too beautiful!

La Tavola Marche

Italian cooking, recipes and local photos. Includes podcasts in English.

My French Country House

Basically, I want to move right into this place in Normandy. The owner, Sharon, is welcome to stick around, too, as I know we'd have such fun together, creating table settings and other vignettes.

Oliveaux

Written by an interior designer from Australia. Interesting pictures and commentary on international locations.

Room Seventeen

Dutch site with monochromatic styling. Very peaceful interiors.

Styling by Coty Farquhar

Coty started out at a young age, working for Vogue Living Magazine. Her incredible styling talent is evident in all of her photographs. Truly charming commentary, as well.

SW Design

Nice photos, and interesting ideas, such as this post on closets.

The Selby

Real life decorating! This site features diverse creative thinkers from around the world, in their own homes - all highly personal and generally eccentric. (I also adore their book.)

Sunday Suppers

British blog with mouth-watering pictures and great recipes. Unusual plating combinations.

They Draw and Cook

This is my latest discovery - so much fun to see everyday! What could be better than different artists describing their recipes in their own style? Drawn or painted, they are all different and all tickle my fancy!

Trouvais

Features mostly French Flea Market style. Every post is simply a

joy to look at.

Vignette Design

From Northern California. Beautiful photographs, with a focus on even more beautiful table settings! Apparently, Delores has a china/tabletop accessory obsession like me.

White on Rice Couple

This California couple loves to photograph, travel, cook and write - and share this winning combination on their beautiful blog.

Lastly, I simply must mention Donna Ruhlman Photography, although I can't grab any of her food photos to display here. She has the most outstandingly gorgeous pictures of food that anyone could imagine. Her lighting is spectacular. Check it out!

How anyone writing in the blogosphere gets much work done, without detouring off the path constantly, is a mystery to me. I love looking at all of my favorites, even reading the ones in foreign languages, (as well as trying to figure out what the ones in languages I don't speak are saying). This is a daily journey that I adore, and I hope you will have picked up some new blog diversions, here, as well.

Happy reading!