Wednesday, January 28, 2009

My interior designer self

In my next life I will work with design and color and not words.  Maybe I shouldn't wait for the next life.  This is one of my all time favorite creations: this corner of my kitchen on Prince Edward Island.  The cupboards were all a terrible dark brown, much too dark for someone like me, a greedy light hog.  The walls were yellow like pee.  A terrible yellow.  We painted everything white and added stars and enamel pots and pans and a checker board from the Folk Art Museum and a cow sculpture from one of the island artists.  There is a black chest that anchors the room on the right and above it are black and white photos of my Dutch ancestry and some kind of boat gauge that looks like a clock and STUFF.  All of it good stuff.  We took down the immense and ugly fan and put up those hanging lights (eight dollars a piece from Ikea).

Out of that window was a wide open field of hay surrounded by trees, and mid-summer, someone came to cut the hay and roll it into bales to dot the landscape and catch the evening's magic golden light.  Down the road  a mile was Blooming Point Beach which went on forever.

I think the reason I like to move so much is that each house, each apartment is like a canvas to create a personal space.  Now I'm going  through this house room by room.  I've painted five doors this week.  It's a project that should last many years.

Seeing my PEI kitchen again has made me completely happy.

8 comments:

camille said...

i can't wait until i have a house to call my own personal canvas.

p.s. i am in your husband's writing class. laura sheffield is my 2nd cousin... she got me hooked on your blog. i even read one of your books! i am stalking you.

lulu said...

I love how you decorated that space. I had one of those in my last apartment here in Saint Louis, but I don't think it's come in my new place. Probably because I didn't have my mom here to help decorate. Maybe she'll have a couple of pointers when she comes to see the new babe in May.

Louise Plummer said...

Welcome all stalkers!

dede said...

That is really cute. You do have some serious skills. Maybe you would like to come out and help me sometime.

Louise Plummer said...

I'd just like to come out. Period.

ann cannon said...

GORGEOUS!!! I thought I was looking at a shot from a magazine.

SWILUA said...

LOVE it!

Darlene said...

If you run out of canvases, come on over. I have a nice house that is very plain (beige, white) inside and I don't know how to fix it! No talent whatsoever!