La Cuisine (the kitchen)

The kitchen of our house in Montagnac was what first drew us to the house. The picture, on the realty site, of the medieval stone vaulted ceiling and the four stone columns seeming to hold the ceiling up, was absolutely magical. It was that picture that led us to call and set up an appointment to see the house for the first time.

Funny though, once the house was ours and we actually lived here, the kitchen was the one room we really felt needed our help. It was dark! The first thing we did was to give the walls a coat of fresh white paint - quelle différence - what a difference!

While we were painting the room, we decided to remove the cinderblock bench that had been built against the far wall.
We also painted the dark stained wood shelving, which had been only recently installed where the fireplace had been (evidenced by the soot stains on the ceiling).

We also changed out most of the furniture, which we had inherited with the house. One chair was still in beautiful shape, but not our style, so we gave that to our friends, who have others like it. A few others we gave to an antique shop owner in Pézenas, who said he would donate them for us, to someone in need. The first thing we purchased for our house here were six vintage provençal chairs for the kitchen table - almost identical to the ones we have around our French farmhouse table in our Cape Cod kitchen.

The previous owners of our house had decorated the entire place as if they were still living in the Middle ages. Yikes!
Not cozy, to say the least. This heavy, dark tapestry-like curtain in the kitchen had to go, ASAP!

I snapped a quick picture of the curtain fabric just before gleefully tossing it into the dumpster at the décheterie (dump).
Even though the photo makes it look like a red background, believe me, it was black!

After finding the chairs for our kitchen table, the fabric store was our next stop, to replace the afore-mentioned offending curtain that closed the kitchen off from the front hall. A curtain here is necessary when it's cold outside, as the all-stone front hall retains a chill. (The temperature of the ground floor is apparently one of the nicest features of this house in summer months.)

We found the cheerful yellow gingham fabric and my friend, Muriel, gave me her sewing machine to use.

I trimmed the drapes with a Souleiado trim I had already owned and brought with me in my suitcase.

Still in in my PJ's, I couldn't wait to get to sewing, right after breakfast.

We also needed to add some curtains at the windows for privacy.
The old shades with time-worn holes, that had been there for many years, were the first things to go after the tapestry.

Sheer curtains like these grace kitchen windows all over France. Pre-made and ready to cut to size,
they are wonderful at letting in the light, while also providing a sense of privacy. 

Jack found this great fabric, which matched our ochre and green tiles perfectly...and it went with the provençal theme we had in mind for the kitchen.

Note the charming brass fleur-de-lys hook for the tie back - found at our local hardware store.

I made a curtain out of the same yellow gingham, to hide the electronics and wires on the shelves (wi-fi, etc.)

The beautiful provençal paisley fabric is another that I had been saving for just the right spot. I brought it with me to France,
and decided to hire a seamstress to make the needed cushions for me. She did a beautiful job! (above & below)

This fabulous antique bench from Arles, replaced the former built-in cinderblock bench that Jack had removed.

We found it at La Brocante du Siege in Pézenas, where a charming father & son team redo old chairs with rush (paillage) or cane (cannage) seats.

The poster is one we had bought many years ago at La Petite Provence du Paradou, near St. Rémy. It is so perfect for this room.

We knew immediately that we wanted to replace the existing boring cabinet doors (white fiberboard with cheap mismatched hardware).

We found the ideal pair from Benjamin Boularand, also in Pézenas. (We later ended up buying quite a few pieces from Benjamin,

whom we now consider a friend and who came to our house to deliver a bed - story for another time).

The doors are from an antique armoire and what is remarkable about them is that they still have their complete original hinges.

Usually only the top or bottom of each hinge is still intact.

The walnut doors are so heavy that we had to hire a carpenter to help install them.

Two pillows I bought on Etsy and brought to France.

I love this exquisite chair (also provençal), which features the traditional chair back motif of a wheat sheaf. Its original rush seat is woven of three colors of straw: natural, red and green.

These antique plates were another of my favorite finds. They have their original brass hangers - four of which are shaped like rooster claws!

We bought the charming green pot, for utensils, at the potter's shop in Anduze, an hour to the North of us.

We also painted the lower cabinet doors white and added fun new handles. (They had been stained a very dark brown.)

Our Anduze pot. We also got one for the terrace kitchen.

(I'll write about this pottery in another post.)

I couldn't resist hanging a garlic braid and herbs from la garrigue, the wild, hilly terrain that covers much of the Languedoc and Provence.

Herbs - thyme, rosemary, lavender, laurel - grow wild all over these hills, and the air is permeated with their aroma.

These herbs and garlic are staples of southern French cuisine.

Our "new" old chandelier replaced a small one that we eventually moved to the front hall. It reminds me of a Dutch still-life painting.
It's actually made of turned wood, although it's painted to look like metal.

Finally, we gave the door to the stairway a coat of green paint, an added a curtain to the back.

Our first purchase in Pézenas was the set of six vintage provençal chairs for the kitchen table.
And the last purchase - the night before we left - were the two faux bamboo chairs on either side of the door.
The two rooster giclée prints, below, are copies of paintings by Jack. We brought them with us, since
no kitchen should be without a rooster! They echo the antique rooster plates on the opposite wall.

The finished kitchen, for now...
I found one of the key items I had been searching for,the night before we left - a heavy old copper jam pot, to hang on the wall above the shelves.
We didn't have time to hang it, so that will be on our to-do list for the next visit.

Moving forward - new house, honed sensibilities

We are still unpacking boxes at our new house, and I already have paint swatches on several different walls. Truth be told, I started thinking about the decoration of this house months before we actually moved in. But going even farther back in time, I have to say this house is a continuation - a moving forward - of the design and lifestyle sensibilities I have been garnering and building upon since I was a little girl. And after 25 years together, it's like Jack and I are constantly honing our desires and needs for a perfect home, and getting ever closer to our absolute dream. For me/us the ultimate would be a house similar to this, but at least 100 years old, and in the south of France (or possibly Italy, for Jack), with the simple addition of a small vineyard...not too much to ask, huh? Frankly, this new house, while stateside, is pretty darn close!! (No vineyard, but...)

I've been thinking about what contributes to the quality of life I want in my home - that joie de vivre I adore. Well for starters it includes living in a pretty area and being surrounded by nice people. That may sound obvious, but, hey, we all know this combination does not exist everywhere. Brewster, our new hometown, is charming and laid back, close to the ocean, and seemingly populated with genuine, good people. Everyone we've met so far has been so friendly and helpful. There are certainly many artists and organic farmers around, so the deck is stacked in our favor!

Next, my home and garden should provide everything I need to live, work and relax, including home-grown food, just outside my door. My home is my comfort zone and should fulfill as many of my needs as possible. Also, I seriously consider interior and exterior decoration to be a necessity, as well as a pure joy. I have a need to think about it, create it, and constantly tweek my own decoration, practically 24/7. (Yes, I do dream about it!)

When Jack and I first saw this house online, we laughed since it was so unlike a typical Cape Cod house. It is, in fact, loaded with Mediterranean style inside an out. The previous owners' taste was dramatically different from ours, yet we could imagine our furnishings here so easily, once we actually saw it in person. Most importantly, the house just felt right. Thank heaven we sold our house in Hingham so quickly, as our lawyer and dear friend, Dan, hastened to tell us that we were going about things all wrong by falling in love with a new house even before putting our current house on the market.

I invite you to join me on my continuing journey, making a new house into a home that suits our style and our needs.

Since it's July, we've decided to start with the exterior of this house, which is so important! Well, okay, I admit that I have already bought paint for both the living room and Madeleine's room (I just couldn't wait!), but I am forcing myself to get the outside trim painted first, while it's sunny and warm. Whenever I arrive at my house, I want to feel welcomed by the colors and the landscaping. And we want our guests to feel the same way.

Here's the deal: neither of us ever considered that we'd live in a pink stucco house, but now that we are here and living in the house, we are growing to like it. It's really a pinkish version of taupe, and the paint is even named "Montego Tan" so I feel it's not really PINK. Mary and Robert (of Bloomy Rind) say it reminds them of houses in California, where they used to live. Other friends find it reminiscent of Spain, Italy or the Caribbean. The only thing we find off-putting about the exterior is the trim color - a deep brown, which seems heavy for the house, and certainly too dark for our joie de vivre style. So, we are repainting the exterior trim to a soft lichen-y green.

Choosing a paint color is always easy for me in my imagination and yet, involves so much persnickety choosiness to get just exactly the perfect hue. We knew we wanted a trim color that was soft, Cape Cod-y, friendly, and welcoming, not just because this is our home, but also since the front part of the building is Jack's art gallery, so we have to project the right kind of welcoming feel that will go with his paintings and colors, enticing passers by to stop in.

So many possibilities - only one perfect choice

Green seemed to be the perfect color, but we didn't want the house to look "pink and green" (read Lily Pulitzer). Even though I have been known to dress that way, I don't want my house to scream it! We ended up with a lovely greyish green, called "Garden Path" by Benjamin Moore. To me it says understated, but still cheerful...pretty in all four seasons, without being obnoxious.

The front doors here were the first thing to be changed. They were a bright violet, with dark brown outlines, just not at all what we are about. The color we ended up with for the doors is actually in a different green family from the Garden Path, but still works. As it turned out, the darker version of Garden Path contained too much grey and didn't have as much of a welcoming feel as the "Cedar Path" we ended up using. I did also try using the companion to Cedar Path for the trim, but even though the difference was minute, it still felt more Lily P than the Garden Path. (Tip: it saves a lot of money and aggravation to start with pint-size sample pots of paint, rather than leaping into a full gallon.)

A note about paints: As many of you know, I adore C2 paints. Their colors are rich and complex, and they cover in one coat, in many circumstances, besides being low in VOC's; ie, good for the earth. However, I couldn't find it near me, so I thought I'd try out the Benjamin Moore Aura paint, and I am very impressed! While I will be putting a second coat of paint on the doors and trim, the first coat has really covered well, something I would not normally expect from a light green over a dark brown. I have the feeling that paints have all improved dramatically in the past few years, due to consumer demand for superior quality and earth-friendliness.

Here's a peak at the new softer trim and door colors. I hope to get the rest of the trim painted by this weekend, so the house will look uniform and say "welcome" to passers-by.

* * * * * *

The other project I wanted to get done right away is planting some herbs for cooking. Next summer, we will have a full vegetable, herb and fruit garden, but it's too late to get that going this year, since the New England growing season is half over.

So here's what I planted in pots, just outside the kitchen door, for easy access:

Italian basil, French tarragon (from my mom's garden), lemon thyme, lemon basil

German thyme, silver sage, Italian oregano & dill

Red patio tomatoes, yellow grape tomatoes, lemon verbena,

applemint & chives

Normally, I wouldn't plant these so close together, but, as I said, I'm late getting a garden at all for this year, so I'm trying to squeeze all my favorites in for a few months. I got loads of rich, dark, organic potting soil at a local farm supply store. I never use chemicals with the plants I am going to eat!

Last night Jack made farm fresh ratatouille, heavily seasoned with some of the fresh thyme. It was out of this world with grilled chicken!

I can't wait to make lemon verbena ice cream with a recipe I got from Patricia Wells, when we cooked with her in Provence, years ago. This is the first time I've had my own lemon verbena to pick from. In the past, I've purchased the leaves dried from an organic purveyor, but this will be so much better. Stay tuned for recipe and photos...coming soon!