English Cottage Attitude...

Hi everyone! 

I have been in love with English cottage style for ever, but I really embraced it around Christmas as I had found some tartan fabric for window treatments. Since our house is really small, it works very well for us. 

I have wanted to give my kitchen some vintage English flavor so I have added some fabric, painted a bit and brought out some more blue and white and painted ceramic accessories...

I have wanted a curtain under the sink for a while but could not decide on fabric. Then it dawned on me to make a tiered ruffle curtain and use a mix of fabrics. I am LOVING this! Too cute, and I can always put the doors back on. It took about two hours to make.

I used ticking, toile and a floral print. I love that with the striped rug.

I also painted the cabinet above the stove. You can see the burned up microwave is gone. We exchanged it for a $39 hood, then extended it with wood trim because it was too high. I'll show more of that later.

I also added this trim from my great grandfather's house to the bar so I can hang my cutting boards in easy reach.

On the other side I added a rod so I can hang towels, etc. The striped towel is one my mom made from a vintage flour sack.

This is the bar that I want to change into a rectangle shape when we can get to it. We really need more space, and it won't be that difficult a project since we pretty much have all the materials on hand. Remember, my dad collects wood leftover from building sights:-) The marble board came from my grandfather's store.

So the microwave that caught on fire was removed, and I liked the space there so I decided to add ceramic tile. I also painted the rest of the backsplash then glazed over top of that with mocha glaze. I just wanted it to look like a mixture of stone and tile that was added to over time. 

I also took the doors with the glass panels off the pantry, and exchanged them for the ones next to the stove. They were the same size so they fit perfectly. I need to get another shelf for the inside, though. 

How about a croissant with homemade strawberry jam? Sorry, but I did not have any scones made, although I do have a great recipe for them:-)

The "Romantic England" cups are hanging on the cup hooks, (I noticed hanging cups in several of the English cottage kitchens I saw) and the tray is American from 1956.

One thing I really love about English cottage kitchens is the mix of accessories that look as if they were collected from different places in Europe. I am still using some of my painted plates from Turkey and Spain as well as other things collected from different places.

I hope you enjoyed the kitchen makeover! I will go into detail about some of the little projects so you can see how I did everything in different posts. I used mostly things I already had, or were really inexpensive.  I would still love to paint the bottom cabinets black, but it will have to be later. Also, I would love to change out the faucet to black, but that's not in the budget right now. 

Sometimes the little changes can make a big difference and don't cost a thing. I'm all about that these days.

Here is a wonderful book with cozy, quirky English cottages to inspire you...

You can find it at Amazon and probably ebay.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by! I love your comments, and I am so  inspired by all of you.

I'll be joining:

Wow Us Wednesdays
Seasonal Sundays
Inspiration Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Home Sweet Home
Show Us Your Kitchen

Anita