Febrero 23, 2005
Mi cocina
We’ve lived in our house for a little over four years now, and I finally love my kitchen. Our first house was a St. Elmo “fixer upper”. We loved it’s character, but I really never got to the point of decorating it the way I wanted, particularly the kitchen, because repairs took priority over décor. We found out we were pregnant with Ethan two weeks after closing on it, and were pregnant four times in the almost six years we lived there, so decorating took a back seat to cleaning in addition to the repairs. So when we bought this 3 year old house 7 months into my pregnancy with Joseph, I was thrilled with the newness of it. I could hardly believe that I had closets (can I get an amen, St. Elmo people??)!
Anyway, to make a short story longer (or something like that), for a long time I just really didn’t know what I wanted to do with the kitchen. The one thing that I did know is that I did not want to leave it the way it was. First problem, off white eggshell walls. Five kids eat in there. I needed semi-gloss. Second problem, fruit motif. Not me. Not at all. So last year it finally hit me: Mexican. Stephen grew up in Mexico, and we’ve always had Mexican odds and ends that I didn’t know what to do with floating around the house, and since we were going to Mexico in the summer, I decided to use my trip to get ideas and then come home and decorate accordingly, which is what I did. As Stephen and I drove from the coast into the mountains of Oaxaca, I noticed lots of burgundy, and lots of cobalt blue. And then we stayed a night in Tlaxiaco, the “big city” nearest the village where he grew up. 
I fell madly in love with the color scheme which was everywhere, beiges, burgundy, and cobalt blue. I decided that the front of Hotel Portal would be my inspiration. 
I picked up some adorable little salt and pepper shakers and other accessories at the market in Acapulco for $.50-$1.00 each. 
My biggest dilemma for almost a year now has been the light fixtures. I have searched lighting stores, the internet, etc. Couldn’t find any light fixtures that really looked like something I would see in Mexico. Most looked Southwestern, not truly Mexican. So then one of the light fixtures in the kitchen got broken, and in his quest for a “quick fix” til I made up my mind, Stephen struck upon pure genius. He used a $2.00 light kit and a $1.50 terra cotta pot. I added a little paint to match the walls. 
We liked it so much, we went out and found another pot for the other ceiling fixture, and a larger azalea pot for the hanging fixture over the table. 
I am finally happy with my Mexican kitchen. And the best part is, we spent about $20 on all three light fixtures. Now, I’ll admit, if they were truly authentic, there would be live wires sticking out of them, but that would be a bit much. . .
That is so creative! The kitchen was the second part of our home renovation in St. Elmo. Fortunately we found the light fixture first and that drove the color scheme. Our biggest pain with our St. Elmo fixer upper is the windows. Trying to keep the originals is a labor of love, of which I am running out.
Posted by: mrscrumley at Febrero 23, 2005 10:49 AMYou've added a new dimension to the term "pot lights." That is very creative. Are you going to stencil any words above the doorways? Maybe a little Dt. 6:9?
We're just now painting our kitchen after about nine months in our new house. We couldn't put up with the drab flat beige any longer. I used an eggshell, but it was Benjamin Moore's premium product. Hopefully it'll stand up to two kids ;)
Amen to closets! We only had two phone booth sized closets in our St. Elmo bungalow, both of which were in our master bedroom. Our walk-in in the new place is big enough to be a home office or nursery. I don't know about you, but the change for me was so dramatic that for the first few weeks I kept feeling like 1) it wasn't real, 2) I didn't deserve all the space, and 3) I was in a hotel.
I actually have been thinking about stenciling something over the doors. I've thought about "bienvenidos" over one and "la cocina" over the other. I'm all about Deut 6:9 decorating, though. I painted Proverbs 31:30 on Syd's bedroom wall. I have Joshua 24:15 planned for the entrance hall, but can't decide on color. I've repainted it three times now. I had considered Ps 27:10 in Spanish for the kitchen, since that is Casa Hogar's theme verse.
The first several weeks we lived in this house, I would get up every morning and walk into our great big bathroom with double sinks and plenty of counter space and comment to Stephen that I had to keep reminding myself that this was my house, not a vacation condo we had to leave in a week. I still feel overwhelmed when I think about how incredibly blessed we are to live here. God is so good to us.
Posted by: willa at Febrero 23, 2005 03:23 PMIsn't it great to have a husband that can make your (lighting) dreams come true!?!
Posted by: Mom at Febrero 23, 2005 09:51 PMHey, I see you added the wrapping code on the pics. As you can see, deciding where to place them in the text can be kind of a challenge. I should have added in that email that their not always the best solution.
One thing I've seen people do, which I have yet to learn, is have little thumbnails that you click on which become full size pop-ups. If I ever figure it out I'll let you know.
Posted by: Scott at Febrero 24, 2005 09:47 PMI can't get my pop up images to work properly for anything. They come out huge no matter what size I try to make them. The size of the window will change, but only show a portion of the pic. My sister does it successfully. Any advice, Lynnie?
Posted by: willa at Febrero 24, 2005 10:10 PMI just noticed, too, that your index page has a different font and line spacing than your individual post pages. Looks like maybe Verdana 9px or 10px on the front, with Times New Roman 10 or 12 elsewhere. That will make it harder to place the pics, too, since they'll move as the text moves. I was playing around with Cindy Tucker's blog, working on a template, and am amazed at how many templates are part of Movable Type. They don't make it easy on you.
Posted by: Scott at Febrero 24, 2005 11:52 PM