Damages Dream Realm

THE COUNTRY WITCH'S KITCHEN

Source - Pat Ross, Kitchens: Imaginative Tips & Sensible Advice for
Decorating, Equipping, and Enjoying

Many kitchen witches enjoy creating a rustic feel in our kitchens--the sort of country kitchens that our pagan ancestors would have lived in. After all, pagan does mean country-dweller.) Or perhaps you were enchanted by the magickal kitchen of the Owens sisters in the movie Practical Magic. Transforming your kitchen into a cozy space needn't be expensive or complicated. You can make simple and effective decorating changes to transform your kitchen's mood without resorting to expensive renovation and redecoration. By adding a few warm and inviting details, you can bring a fresh look to the kitchen quickly and easily.

The first step is choosing a favourite country look and deciding on a basic plan that best suits your time, budget, and lifestyle. You can change the colour of the room, rearrange the furniture, recover cushions, and acquire accessories as you locate the perfect combinations. Take your time and enjoy the process! Visit tag sales, flea markets, antique shows, garage sales, and kitchen shops for ideas and great finds.

Three different countries are frequently associated with the "country kitchen" look: France, England, and America. These looks are warm, welcoming, and filled with characteristic touches. Here are some ideas drawn from these three common themes to acquaint you with the possibilities as your magickal kitchen decorating adventure begins.

French Country

The bright yellow of the sun in the south of France and the vibrant blue of the Mediterranean waters--these are the two perfect colours to establish a French country theme in the kitchen. Apply to walls and cabinets; coordinate with fabric and related accessories.

Paint an old kitchen chair bright blue; place a galvanized tin of strawflowers next to the chair. A sweet child's chair will take on a new life when repainted in white and stenciled with a trailing ivy design.

Give a bare wall new life by adding brickwork, reminiscent of hearths in rustic dwellings. There are do-it-yourself brick kits on the market that can help you accomplish this.

Extend a thick wooden pole or dowel across a counter, then hook on a wonderful assortment of baskets. They'll come in handy for serving everything from baguettes to brie.

Plant pots of mums and other seasonal flowering plants in wooden buckets and place several close to the door for a warm welcome.

Add a clever touch with a pleasant ceramic pig who wears a chef's outfit and holds the evening's menu on a small blackboard. Look for this amusing fellow in kitchen specialty stores and catalogues. Pigs are associated with abundance and prosperity.

Seek out kitchenware made of weathered iron--pot racks and a baker's rack are especially homey--to set a country French mood and provide useful storage at the same time.

What would a French kitchen be without garlic? Add strings of garlic to the pot rack or hang it next to the door. A garlic wreath is pretty, useful, and easily made. Garlic will absorb negativity and help to protect your kitchen and home.

There's never enough copper in the French country kitchen. Hang pots and pans and line up plates along a counter.

Place a row of herb topiaries on a bright windowsill.

Fill a tin pitcher with wooden spoons and scoops.

Look for unusual French bistro glasses and store them in plain view.

Use pretty cotton tea towels to make cafe curtains--stripes, florals, or checks all look charming.

Wish you had more open shelving? Consider removing the doors from an old cupboard. Or remove doors and rehinge in an open reverse position with the door fronts showing.

Keep yellowware bowls filled with fresh pears and apples.

A shiny brass bar cries out for a line-up of fresh tea towels in bright, cheerful, provincial patterns.

Freshly laundered tea towels stacked on an island or counter are a welcome sight--and a subtle hint.

Table linens in toiles and checks are de rigueur for this look.

Sheer fabric shirred and hung behind glass cabinet doors establishes a

French country tone--so does cotton lace.

Decorative tiles that speak of things French can stand at the back of the counter, ready to serve as trivets under hot pots and plates.

Remember table linens--napkins, tablecloths, and place mats--in cheerful patterns. Sunflower yellows and cornflower blues go with practically everything.

Place a wine rack in full view (be sure to keep it away from heat).

Large pot racks are popular in many regional decors, but especially well suited to French country.

An old weathered cabinet can be given a second life with a quick stripping and colour wash. Then tack pieces of chicken wire behind the glass doors. Or replace the glass panes entirely using chicken wire, plain or painted.

Faux-finish your walls to give them a timeworn feeling. A ragged or sponged design can be accomplished easily by the beginner. This is a case where neatness doesn't count--the irregularity is part of the charm.

Vintage kitchen utensils--mortars, pestles, rolling pins, choppers--can still be found for reasonable prices. Hang them in a line along the wall or use them as accents.

A country stepback cupboard that looks at least a hundred years old is always a perfect touch! No one need know it was picked up at a flea market and lovingly refinished by you.

Cover your young plants with hothouse belles, or cloches, for an authentic French garden look in the kitchen.

Add a high shelf to display the objects you'll collect for your French country kitchen, such as pretty plates and small copper collectibles.

Consider stain-painting the shelf white or soft green.

Plate racks come in many sizes and have a variety of wonderful uses--from strong iron racks that sit on the floor near the table to pine racks that are often large enough to act as room dividers. If you have pretty dinnerware it's a shame to keep it hidden behind cabinet doors.

Stack terra cotta or other colourful plates on open shelves for easy access and attractive display.

English Country

English kitchens cry out for blue and white china--for the table as well as hung on the wall. Antique dessert plates, chips and all, can be hung above the door, over the stove, or anywhere that shows them off. Larger pieces, such as dinner plates and platters, make more dramatic

statements on the wall. Be certain to hang them with plate hangers and hooks of the appropriate size and strength.

Pine in a well-scrubbed room says English country. Either plain pine or colour-washed pine will work, with a show of knots and graining adding to the appeal. A handsome sideboard or just one special pine chair may be all you need.

Botanical prints in simple gold frames are a wonderfully unexpected--and slightly formal--touch in the English country style kitchen.

The clean lines and ageless purity of white ironstone make it a wonderful selection for tableware. Or display individual plates and other pieces on a kitchen wall, in a narrow adjacent hallway, or over a door. If you build a collection of white ironstone, you'll never run out of serving pieces, display pieces, and decorative accessories for the kitchen and dining room alike.

Use romantic, cotton lace curtains at the windows and make simple tiebacks from a cheerful chintz fabric.

Consider hanging ruffled lace or chintz fabric behind glass cabinet doors to give your kitchen an English Victorian feeling.

Place an extra shelf or two on a lonely wall, apply white paint or colour wash, and fill with assorted china and crystal.

Place a tall handmade broom in the corner (what witch wouldn't be without one?).

Some kitchens have plenty of space for a comfortable easy chair, slipcovered in a shabby chic style. This might be a great look for your power place. Try an overscale cabbage rose pattern; it promises to be as at home in an English country kitchen as in the parlor.

Flower arrangements should be informal, loose, and mixed. A pretty white ironstone pitcher makes the perfect container.

The English have a penchant for eclectic collectibles placed informally throughout their country homes. It's never too much when the objects are special and tastefully arranged.

Look for decorative accessories that double as serving pieces and kitchen utensils--everything from old painted boxes for toothpicks to Wedgwood teapots used to hold fresh-cut flowers from the garden.

An iron cauldron and old oversized pots are a must for any kitchen witch. Fill them with dried flowers or herbs.

Bulletin boards can be decorative as well as useful, especially when you cover a piece of thin plywood with a pretty chintz or vintage floral fabric and then create a latticework design over your entire fabric area with lengths of elastic cut to "weave" over the surface--the plastic holds messages in place. Nail the elastic strips to the bulletin board.

It's a perfect place for helpful reminders, souvenir postcards, greeting cards, and thoughtful notes from friends.

If you're considering wallpaper (always a great tool for change), look for a motif that doesn't necessarily scream "kitchen." An elegant botanical or other print meant for a dining room could also be stylish in the kitchen. Stripes and ticking designs can make a low-ceilinged kitchen look larger. You may want to experiment with floral designs that have the feeling of an English garden. Before you invest in dozens of rolls of a design you've just fallen for, tape a large sample to one wall and live with it for a while.

American Country

American folk art quickly establishes a characteristic look. Consider hanging a hooked rug on the wall (away from cooking odors, of course), placing a whimsical whirlygig on a country cupboard, using a spongewear bowl to hold shiny green apples, or arranging a wooden watermelon collection atop the counter.

Braided throw rugs cushion those long hours spent chopping and mixing or doing a sink full of dishes. They're colourful, durable, and they shake clean. Be sure to use a thin skid pad underneath to prevent slipping, especially if your floors are tile or polished wood.

Wrought-iron trivets--whether vintage originals or reproductions--can make an artistic statement when hung on the wall. To show off a handsome collection, hang large pieces of pegboard, paint them the colour of the wall, and attach trivets with peg hooks. They're easy to remove and place in service. Single trivets can be hung on a long nail.

Wreaths made of softly coloured everlastings find a home in the American country kitchen. You might also try a simple grapevine wreath trimmed with a pretty plaid ribbon.

A row of spongeware bowls is always fresh and appealing.

Fish decoys painted in soft colours--found at antique shows and shops--are fitting art for the kitchen. Hang in a row, or make them swim across the wall.

Dried herbs can be tied onto a hanging or standing rack along with dish towels made of homespun fabric. For party occasions in the kitchen, tie a small bunch of dried herbs on the back of each chair.

Place a colourful old penny rug in the centre of the kitchen table with an old-fashioned lazy Susan on top.

Cooking utensils are easy to get to when they're stored in a decorative stoneware jug on the counter.

Find the perfect oak rocker for your kitchen, and set it by a sunny window. The perfect power place to cozy up in!

Fill a wooden bucket with dried flowers and place it on the floor.

Fake fruits and vegetables--trompe l'oeil objects made of wood, marble, ceramics, wax, or papier mache--make lovely permanent arrangements.

Place or hang folk-art objects and American country antiques related to the kitchen on a shelf or window ledge: carved dolls and barnyard animals, old medicine bottles, decorative butter molds, or antique utensils.

A floor cloth stenciled in a quilt or theorem painting design is both attractive and sensible in the American country kitchen.

Use old checkerboards to make graphic wall art.

Swag a country-check fabric across the top of your kitchen windows.

Rustic twig-style bars stools with animal-hide seats can turn any workstation into a western-style place to gather for a meal.

Consider a brass candle chandelier in the kitchen. The romantic candle glow in the evening will transform your family dining area.

Primitive country benches are as at home in the kitchen as they are in the rest of the house. A bench not only offers family and friends a place to drop their things and sit for a while, but also provides additional storage space underneath.

Cookbooks by the dozen become decorative objects in themselves. Stack them in a line, on a shelf, on a baker's rack, or use several oversized books as a pedestal upon which to set a lamp.

American baskets are light, attractive, and always ready when arranged on top of kitchen cabinets or in the lower portion of open shelving.

Here's an inspired new use for wonderful old flatware if your drawer handles or door pulls are worn or just plain dull. Have small holes drilled in antique knives, forks, and spoons--the odd bits of flatware found at tag sales and flea markets, rarely two of the same--to match up with the existing screw holes in your drawers or doors. Then remove the existing hardware and replace with your whimsical new pulls. Most silversmiths suggest looking for flatware that is sturdy (avoid the more delicate patterns) so as to prevent bending or loosening of handles.

Wooden spoons provide a rustic variation on this clever idea.

Begin looking for graters and sieves at flea markets. Then hang them from you pot rack to add interest and ward off negativity in your kitchen.

An unusual and fanciful hanging lamp can be made from a tin colander--old, new, standard size, or chef's size. Select from several graphic punched designs (stars are fun and magickal), then run an electrical cord through a hole drilled in the top. Electrify it using an adapter kit found at most hardware stores. Hang it by the cord from the ceiling and plug the cord into a wall outlet. You can also wind the cord through a metal chain.

Painted watering cans are meant to be seen in the American country kitchen. You'll need them to water your many pots of herbs and ivy, of course!

Because of their rare and fragile nature, old quilts and other antique textiles present a tricky question for kitchen use. A smart rule of thumb: seek the pretty yet truly "timeworn" textiles that have outlived their collectible value but still have much to offer in terms of adornment and use. Then keep them away from heat, kitchen odors, and bright sunlight.

It's reassuring somehow to keep a small light turned on in the kitchen after it's dark. Small table lamps with soft pink bulbs of fifty to eighty watts provide a cozy atmosphere as well as supplemental light on gloomy days.

Mirrors can expand the size of a small kitchen. Try a pine mirror on a wall behind the kitchen table or have a long piece of mirror cut to fit the space under the kitchen cabinets. A grouping of whimsically framed small mirrors becomes a bright and artful arrangement on a dark wall.

You'll be able to keep your children's so-called refrigerator artwork neat and clean for posterity if you buy inexpensive plexiglass clip frames. Choose a "gallery" wall and change the show frequently. This idea has many benefits. Children's artwork adds cheer and colour, and your children will feel very important when you praise their work by framing it.

Start a collection of cookware, utensils, linens, or other items for the kitchen. Old salt and pepper shakers, for example, come in every imaginable motif from pink flamingos to wishing wells. They're bright, useful, novel, fun to display, and even more fun to find.