Having Fun In The Kitchen

How does that title strike you? As an oxymoron (fun and kitchen don't mix) or maybe as a little naughty (reading too much chick lit)? Anyway, my fun in the kitchen comes from creating new decorative tableaux. So when the Christmas stuff finally got put away, I had some fun rearranging things. Here's what I came up with.

After all the reds and golds of Christmas, I love to play up the greens and creams in my kitchen wallpaper. This means adding a battered green tole tray, a pale green ruffled Carnival glass bowl, and a few little hand-painted plates.

A tumbling mass of green ivy replaces the Christmas tree in the big stoneware crock. Two more tole trays, black this time, ground the grouping.

The green and cream flowers of early spring burst forth from a green lattice windowbox, used here as a centerpiece on the kitchen table.

The centerpiece is joined by a small vintage platter, with a lovely spring bouquet in the center. This is a recent thrift store find -- $1.

I realize that I'm trying to create a sense of approaching spring in the middle of January. The afternoon sun just pores through the windows here, so on a sunny day, you can almost imagine the sound of birds and the smell of the garden.

Almost.