Mike has been hard at work installing the baseboards and crown molding in the kitchen, but until he finishes I don't feel it's time to show the kitchen as a whole. It's the last part of the fix-up project, so I can be patient (but the cabinets look AWESOME and I'm dying to share!).
For now I'll just present my most recent project.
Seeing the kitchen floor and cabinet project as an opportunity to play with the decor, I decided to bring in some vintage elements that reflect the time when the home was built, which was 1959. Those details include a record player I rescued from a school junk pile (ok, that might be exaggerating--it was on a "take me" table in the library), records from the 1950's and 1960's that I bought at a couple of garage sales for $1 or so each (Frank Sinatra came from my other set of grandparents), and a sunburst clock that I saw at Home Goods for $40. I went back after lusting for it for a couple of weeks, a good sign that I won't regret the splurge. I'll share that later on, too.
Like the cabinet door menu board, part of this wall was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest, a wall herb garden by Michelle at Ten June. I knew I wanted a similar design with the herbs in buckets on the wall, but I also wanted to hang some of my record jackets in frames in a graphic grid. It took me a while to work out how to blend the two, but I am very happy with the end result.
Sadly, this late in the season it's tough to find potted herbs, so I'm attempting to grow some from seeds. To make the photo more interesting I cut some flowers from a rose-of-sharon in my backyard. Pretty, no? I'll keep you posted if my thumb turns out to be somewhat green after all and some herbs do sprout, but I'm not holding my breath. Perhaps the buckets will end up little vases until next spring when I can buy some herbs ready to pot?
I was so exicted to find the above record at a garage sale!
Perfect for a mid-century modern inspired dining area, no?
I think of the woman on the jacket above as Betty Draper modeling before she met Don.
The first records I found for this project included a couple of children's albums. I considered saving them for big boy and big girl rooms of the future but decided to show our kitchen's kid-friendliness with the one above and "Peter and the Wolf" below. I think he's my favorite.
I've played all of the albums for Michael and Sophie along with others that I bought in consideration for this wall. They've gotten pretty accustomed to eating their Cheerios serenaded by vinyl. They now request "sussic" (music) or "round-and-round" as they get into their seats for a meal. I played some Doris Day the other afternoon and Sophie exclaimed "Beast!" thinking it was music from Beauty and the Beast. Sure, babe, it's Beast. ; )
While I didn't want the wall to be an homage to pop culture, I had to include a couple of icons.
I've picked up several 1960's Christmas records as well to switch out over the holidays. Part of me can't wait! I wonder if I'll have herbs by then...
The pots are from Michael's craft store, but I could only find one white one. The others were an aqua color that I thought might look cool, but I ended up spray painting them all when I did the frames (they were black originally). I hung them by stringing picture wire from the handles and hanging them on picture hooks.
Price breakdown for the wall:
Records - $7
Frames - $45 ($7.50 each during a 50% off clearance at Hobby Lobby)
Buckets - $3
Herbs - $5 (seed packets for $1 each and a bag of potting soil for $2 on clearance)
Spray Paint - $5
Total - $65
While the price isn't impressively inexpensive, I figure a wall hanging of that size from Home Goods or somewhere similar would be roughly the same without the character and potential function. And I just like it, so it was worth it to me!
So there's another glimpse at a kitchen detail. As you can see, there is no trim on the walls in the photo above. Part of me likes the clean lines, but I think the architectural detail will be nice as well.
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