French Bistro Kitchen

For a long time now I have loved the idea of a french bistro style kitchen. Unfortunately for me, bistro and cottage don't mix so I have been waiting (patiently) for the right house/apartment to have it. I tried to bring in the bistro style with the apartment but it is missing some of the key elements which are:

1) an old butcher block island


2) lots of copper and wood accents


3) exposed brick


4) black, wood & metal, round stool (similar to below minus the back)


5) dark coloured cabinetry


6) a large chalkboard


I have already started collecting the copper accents. At this point I have an antique kettle, watering can and candle holder. I also found an old butcher block island at a local antique store for $400... which is a good price for one in that good of condition.

One day...

Even Designers Make Mistakes

I was looking through the July issue of Country Living magazine and was delighted to see that Sarah Richardson's cottage made it in. I watched the show, Sarah's Cottage, a few years ago so it was nice to see some updated photos. Overall, not much has changed, but I did notice one unfortunate thing- the hardwood floors in the main living space have cupped due to differential humidity levels between the inside and outside (crawl space) of the house. This is the exact problem Stu and I have in our house. We installed hardwood floors throughout the house about 4 years ago. After they had been in the house for about a year we noticed that in the summer when the humidity levels are high, that the floors were cupping in response to the humidity. This does not sound like that bad of a thing but if left can really warp the floors. As a result, we have to monitor the humidity levels and have a dehumidifier running all summer in the crawl space. For the most part this has solved the problem but it was nice to see that even experienced professionals make bad decisions when it comes home renovations.