Still Dreaming of Pink!

I have been coveting a pink shabby chic kitchen for weeks now. This after I have already embedded our kitchen with a modern edge and embellished it with a touch of Tuscan . I have always loved earth tones, those very rich and warm colors, and I have been especially attracted to Fall colors of gold, amber, clay, burgundy, purple, and I also love many shades of green.
And for years now I have been drawn to the style of Tuscany decorating, I find it peaceful, comfortable, and simple. I have read that "Tuscan decorating is the European version of Shabby Chic, with it’s Old World feel, and a love of all things worn and timeless". And I love the Shabby Chic style too which is similar with a comfortable decorating style only with a much softer, paler palette, so this was a way for me to marry the two.

But with Spring here and Summer just weeks away I am tiring of my warm, dark, earth tones and I am longing for the light, bright, and pastel colors of Shabby Chic. No longer do I want to be surrounded by earth brown and Autumn gold harvest, I want ocean blue and Summer beach sand to abound. Right now I have a touch of Shabby Chic in my home, but I need to find a way to bring some brightness and airiness into our surroundings.

Someone told me that slipcovers and paint will do the job very nicely. I am not opposed to slipcovers (in fact I love the look of slipcovers and this way I can go back to Tuscany and my cocoa and khaki colored upholstery when Fall revisits), but in pricing custom slipcovers we found that we could actually buy a whole new living room set for what it would cost (and Ray was not jumping for joy at either of those expensive prospects). And while I’m certainly happy to give the walls a much-needed coat of paint, (and I already have a few painted pieces of furniture), but as far as the furniture that is not already painted, well, I would have a hard time taking a paintbrush to beautifully worn wood. And there is no way I would paint my still new kitchen cabinets (at least they still feel new to me)! So I’ll just have to think on this awhile and see what I can come up with. And I know if I can get my husband aboard this latest design ship I will have the living space of my (most recent) dreams! Ray is very innovative when he wants to be! Plus, he's very handy, he's a jack-of-all-trades and in fact he's a master at most things, he's even made furniture for me, and I've posted about the sink project he and his brother worked on for me, and also the little cabana he made for our back deck, and he sews!! ( I have all the grand ideas and dreams, but unfortunately, not much talent as far as making them come true, therefore I rely heavily on my partner here.)

So I will be envisioning my home with thoughts of sunny days, beach cottages, sand dunes, ocean waves, pastels, and faded floral, but I will be shopping with a strict budget in mind, and relying on the mercy of my husband for his help (resourcefulness, toil, and labor) in these plans of mine! Let’s see how I do. Wish me luck!


On a side note:
I was so happy to read that the reason I had been seeing so much pink in kitchen supplies is because it was designed to support the cause of Breast Cancer research, and a portion of the purchase price on a lot of the items is donated to this cause. That made me want pink in my kitchen even more. Unfortunately, I’m always behind the times, or as my Mom would say “A day late and a dollar short”! For as I went to fulfill my quest for all things pink, there wasn’t much left on the store shelves, except for a very expensive mixer (a beautiful shade of pink though!) and a few smaller items. I’m not giving up on my mission yet, and I was able to scrape together a few things.
Here’s my progress so far:

This pink box is actually supposed to be used in a baby girl's nursery, I use it to hold paper, pens, pencils, markers, kitchen scissors, and other odds and ends I like on hand in the kitchen. And I found these pretty pink rose napkins in IKEA!


These belonged to my two grandmothers. The vintage pink rose kitchen towel was my Grandma's (my Dad's mother):

The pretty pink and white doily was crocheted by my Mom-Mom (my Mom's mother):

A pretty pink spatula that I couldn't pass up:


I found this tote bag and I hung it on a kitchen door, it holds extra rolls of paper towels:



The roses on this window valance look a little more pink during the day with the sun shining behind them:



I also incorporated my grandson's artwork into decorating my kitchen with a pink motif!

Ray and I were lucky to find some old tiles at a local antique warehouse. I display these behind my little prep sink in a plate rack along with a picture I found at a yard sale.



I like the fact that this picture not only has pink and pale blue in it but it also has the yellow, gold, and orange colors of my kitchen:


I wrote about my Grandma's everyday dishes in another post. I love these dishes with the pink roses. Here's the teapot, creamer, and sugar bowl from that set, along with a pretty rose plate I found at a church sale:


I'm still in search of more pink for my kitchen, and I've already purchased some pale blue pillows for the living room, and a blue and cream rug for in there as well as cream sheers for the windows (all from Target!). And Ray and I will be painting the living room and dining room a cream color (in a washed/sponged blend finish, well, Ray will be taping and prepping for me, I'll be attempting the faux painting), the walls in those rooms are hand plastered and they are already painted a light blush color but they need freshening up.
It will take awhile, but I'll post some pictures of the end results when we're finally done!