La Maisonnette Kitchen

 

Welcome to a very tiny kitchen!

This little space has been quite a challenge.

No room for appliances in this compact space!

And as you can see from the pic above,  I've used the space right to the very edge of the Maisonette.

I should have probably built that cupboard a bit smaller but clearly measuring isn't a great skill of mine!

Originally I made a marble benchtop but it didn't look right so close to the marble fireplace.

I was making the hole in the benchtop to fit this bowl but the bowl looked too new. 

I prefer a slightly grungy, lived-in, vintage vibe.

You knew there'd be pipework!

I searched everywhere for a better bowl for the sink.

This little bottle of 'stuff' was sitting on my windowsill. 

It was with my mother's art things when she died. I kept it because it was cute.

I had looked at the lid as a possible sink many times and eventually when I couldn't find anything else I tried it in the hole and of course...

it was a perfect fit!

Thanks Mum! xxx

Like I said the kitchen is compact and there's not much storage,

so I made a shelf for above the sink.

There's a pretty pic of the kitchen a couple of weeks ago...but things are always changing!

There's always another idea...

I had the idea to make an old fireplace mantel shelf to go on the other side of the kitchen.

And I thought a French kitchen needed vintage canisters, so I just made those too.

But once I'd made it I decided it looked better here above the sink.

And you may have noticed that in this pic I've added a cupboard door...just because it was too hard to fill the cupboard!

I saw a real life table like this on the internet and I just had to make it in miniature.

This time I measured better!

There's only a little hotplate for cooking here.

I figure as there's going to be a patisserie downstairs the tiny occupants won't need to cook much!

And there you have the kitchen!

We're in Covid lockdown here in New Zealand again because the Delta variant was discovered in the community.

So you know what that means for me - more mini making time!

I'm working on the patisserie already.

A little more of the kitchen renovation...

Things have been moving along with the little kitchen reno...

  That pantry still needs filling...but that's going to take some time and patience.

There's a new sink - made from a little china trinket box.

I'm going for the industrial concrete benchtop look. There will be a tap there soon!

The curtain under the sink was made from an old handkerchief with a pretty edging.

 

I re-used or 'upcycled' some of the old kitchen cupboards (which were one of the first things I ever built myself).  It would have probably been easier to make new cupboards altogether as the china box I used to make the sink from didn't quite fit so the cupboards required a total rebuild.

 

The fridge and oven are the ones I made for the old kitchen.

The fridge could do with a bit of a facelift.

 

There was originally a door where the window above the sink is. I boarded up the door a couple of renovations ago. This time I thought it would add a bit of interest to have an old window there...so I made an interesting old window!

I built the door from scratch - a laborious task...but cheaper than buying one!

I thought about putting cupboards and a bench beside the oven but this house is very deep and having cupboards there makes it hard to see things at the back of the room.

So instead I built an industrial style table - just another style I love!

 

Hope you like the direction the kitchen is taking...there's plenty more to be done!

Mr Nylon is in the kitchen again!

For the first time in a very long time Mr Nylon decided to venture into the kitchen...

 'Sacre bleu!' says Bri, 'What the heck is happening here?

What is that woman doing now?'

'She's even taken the kitchen sink! Surely she can't be thinking of redecorating! It's only four years since the last renovation...come to think of it that's about the same time I was last in here.'

 

 'What the?!?  Things move way too fast around here...I don't think I can live through this again! I need a vacation while this is happening...I seem to remember seeing a caravan in America that would make a good holiday home...'

 Decorators note: Hard to believe this much wallpaper came out of that one tiny room!

An empty room...ready for a new beginning!

 

Mr Nylon is back in the kitchen!

Today Mr Nylon is looking relaxed and worry free.

You may remember when we last left Mr Nylon (quite some time ago) he was in despair over the chaos in his kitchen. (He never did get that coffee he was after.)

Finally the decorator has been by and transformed the kitchen to look more like the country style dream Mr Nylon's wife Silky had in mind.

Mr Nylon is especially pleased with the look of the new picture rail.

Decorators tip: The picture rail is made from a piece of wood with lace glued onto it, then painted.

The decorator has a penchant for gingham...and blue...but was unable to procure enough of that beautiful blue gingham wallpaper to do the whole room. Fortunately the blue in the ginham worked perfectly with the previous wallpaper at the top of the walls. (I always thought that the top wallpaper was perfect for the kitchen but it was a little too drab for my liking.)

It looks like Silky is getting the butlers sink she has always wanted! Bri would have installed a dishwasher but the likelihood of one being constructed in the next decade is very slim. He is standing where the new oven will go...it's been under construction for about 9 months now.

It was a challenge to find something just right for the cupboard fronts...it took many hours of searching and experimenting to find this gorgeous print. It came from the back of a wonderful Mary Englebreit card sent by Katie. The print was just the right scale.

So there you have it, a new country kitchen for Bri Nylon.

As you can see there is still plenty of work to be done. But the good news is the decorator has almost made it to the end of the school holidays...another week and she will have some TIME to finish the job!

Mercedes

Mr Nylon in the Kitchen

When we last left Mr Nylon he was on his way to the kitchen to look for a cup of coffee. You'll be happy to know he eventually found the door, but alas that's as far as he got. Just look at the destruction in this room. 'AAAarrrrggggghhhh!', thinks Bri, 'a man could die of thirst around here'.

Being a man, Mr Nylon is not all that familiar with this room however he can see the coffee pot and coffee (so beautifully packaged by Sabiha) sitting tantalisingly on top of what looks to be the beginnings of a new stove. So even if he knew how to make the coffee he wouldn't be able to do it (that's usually his long suffering wife Silky Nylon's job).

Judging by the stack of decorating books there it looks like the decorator has big plans for this room...hopefully she knows what she's doing. Mr Nylon's main concern is how he will ever be able to afford a new shirt with all these seemingly unnecessary renovations going on.

The Decorator

The Kitchen

And here we have the final stop on the tour, the kitchen. The kitchen before the renovation, the white sink top I removed and used when I made my new cabinets. (Unfortunately I threw out the birdcage, now I wish I had kept it!). The kitchen is on the ground floor with two doors through to it from the lounge. The loaf of bread came all the way from Hanna in Finland and the knife was made by Sabiha. The cake mixer was something I couldn't resist, I bought it at the show.
The sweetest little block of butter is such a perfect replica of the butter we have here in New Zealand it was given to me by a lovely lady at the show.

The coffee pot I bought at the show, it was terribly expensive but I have wanted one for such a long time.
Now, the fridge is still not quite finished, it needs a handle, I have an idea of what I want to use now I just have to find it. And here is what I used to make the fridge...once again from the Japan shop. I couldn't believe my luck when I found this box and it was exactly the right size. I sanded off the top to corners to make it more rounded.

That tiny whisk on the table was made by Sabiha and a lady at the club made the tiny box of cream. The book on the table is titled 'What's for dinner?' The cupcake was from Katie and the basket of bread from Hanna. The cute little board with the primitive house on it was given to me at the show by Carolyn (who gave me the butter) who found my house inspirational! She also gave me the sign by the notice board there, it says 'Just do your best'. Because she said so many lovely things about my house (Carolyn really liked all my primitive and country things) I made her some country canisters to give her on the Sunday morning. But she came to me first with some little gifts! So I even did a swap at the show! The chair came with the house. It was painted shiny brown. I repainted it cream and then sanded it a bit and now I think it really looks like distressed wood.

And here is another example of Anne's genius. This is the chimney breast where an old coal range would have been (the one in there is just temporary - it's all I've got!) As the house has been modernised by the current owners a new stove will one day go in there. Having the mantlepiece there was a great idea for display purposes. I still need tiles in the back of the recess. There's Sabiha's beautiful handpainted bowl on the mantlepiece and Hanna's preserves. The second hand dresser I painted and papered to match the cabinets I built. There's one of Rosanna's teensy teapots on top and a beautiful ceramic French bead from Sans that says 'bourjois'. Sylvia's gorgeous baby plate and bread container, the rooster is a wooden button.

And this cabinet I am most proud of because I made it all by myself, no pattern, no power tools! It was one of the first things I ever made and the door even opens!!! The kitchen handles are little jewellery making things with a pin stuck through them.

So that's how the house looked at the show. Sorry the photos aren't all great, it's winter here and it's very tricky finding the right light to photograph things in. I have made a few new things since the show which I will show you soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mercedes