if there’s one thing (ok, two) that we love around here, it’s good design and good food. in honor of it being “in the kitchen with” friday, béatrice peltre’s sneak peek was a natural fit as food stylist and photographer extraordinaire. i swear she makes everything she does look incredible, and her home fits in that bill too (more images here). in case you missed it the first time around, you must check out her recipe (and styling) for chocolate nut muffins and vegetable soup, and stay tuned for a special recipe from our favorite design blogger up next (hint: she was featured in domino this month)! [thanks, béa!] -anne
[above and below: The kitchen is an important piece of the house since I spend so much time there with my job -- of course, it's never big enough. We liked the idea of adding a chalk board and colored shelves, and made an opening with the dining room by creating a counter top -- a friend of ours actually made the counter top from purple wood, the original natural color, and my husband P. made the shelves and chalk board. These elements helped to provide a much better flow between rooms, especially as we love to entertain, and hang out in the kitchen too.]
We’ve been living in this house for about a little over six years now, and when we moved in, we spent a lot of time renovating, every day, after work! Truth being said, there was a lot to do! This is the first house we own, and we looked at it as a learning project. And we learned indeed! We tried to bring in as much light as possible, which is not always an easy thing in a typical New England house. So the colors on the walls were chosen light for that purpose, with darker touches here and there, to bring in contrast.
Since I am a sucker for colors and patterns of all types, I also mixed them in the decoration we chose. Our sofa is from Ligne Roset, and since we like the mix of contemporary with old, more antique looking furniture, we have pieces from all sorts of origins. Of course, as a food stylist, I have objects everywhere, from bowls, plates, glasses to vases. I don’t have enough space to store them either! But that does not stop me from looking for things, and buying them!
We ordered the sink and bathroom furniture from Duravit, a German company — it took over 10 weeks before they arrived, like our Ligne Roset sofa in fact!
The art on the wall. for the most part, is paintings I made a few years ago, when I tried my hand at it. I have a lot to learn, but it was something I really enjoyed doing, and it was also a nice way to personalize our walls.
