Sunday 13 April 2014

My Fabulous Pink Kitchen

vintage 50's housewife apron pink kitchen baking dress red high heels turquoise

A little while back I finally got around to doing something I had been planning for ages: paint the kitchen cupboards pink. And didn't it turn out fantastic! I have been thinking of having a vintage-inspired pink tea party...

The original plan was to paint the entire cupboard door pink, but that would have meant taking them of the cabinets and taking them to the garage and then painting first one side and after it had dries the other and it became an overwhelming and very daunting task. But then I thought, hey, why not just paint the middle bit. And so I did.

Ikea kitchen pink vintage
This is how it looked before.


The doors are made of painted MDF and therefore didn't need to be sanded or primed in any particular way. I just gave them a thorough wipe down using a rag and a surface washing liquid specifically designed for the job.

vintage pink kitchen 50's florida tray Pihlgren Ritola Tapettitalo Kihlaruusu


I also took the opportunity to completely get rid of the door above the stove so that the spice shelves could be used for display. I also lined the shelves with leftovers from the Pihlgren & Ritola wallpaper from the opposite wall. It's called "Kihlaruusu", BTW.

vintage fifities kitchen pihlgren ritola tapettitalo Kihlaruusu


I also put up some valances I sewed from Marimekko's "Kippis"-fabric. It has a lovely mid-century feel, even though it was designed by Maria Louekari in 2008.

Vintage kitchen 50's mid-century valance Louekari marimekko kippis


Vintage kitchen pink valance marimekko louekari kippis mid-century


Marimekko has been creeping in to my decorating schemes more often now that my taste has slightly moved away from the mid-fifties and gone towards the later fifties/early sixties and mid-century modern. I find that the simpler patterns and bolder colours suit my taste better.

Friday 4 April 2014

Knit one, purl two, knit...wait...What??

vintage knitting pattern turquoise red nails bakelite bracelet yarn 50's fifties


A couple of weeks ago I started my first real knitting project. Yup, that's right, the first. I had learnt to knit at school when I was around ten, but it never really "caught on". I mean, I did knit the obligatory scarf and dolly blanket back then, but as far as I was concerned, knitting wasn't something I did. I would drool over vintage knitting patterns and items made with vintage patterns, but that was it. It always seemed like too much faff to even begin a project.

But when I was looking at vintage patterns a while back, I suddenly realised "Hey, I could do that. How hard can it be?" Bahahaaa. No but seriously, it's not hard. There are only a limited number of things you can do with a knitting needle and yarn and they can all be learnt.

vintage knitting pattern 50's fifties
Easy peasy...


With me it was always a lack of motivation that stopped me from beginning. I wanted to knit something I'd actually use, like a cute vintage cardi. This meant I'd look at patterns calling for a thin cotton yarn and teeny-tiny needles. Sometimes, I'd even get as far as casting on and knitting a few rows. But then...couldn't ...quite...get...further. And stopped. I know quite a few knitters and it always bugged me that I wasn't one of them. It was like a club I wanted to join, but couldn't quite muster up the inspiration to fill out the application form, if you get my meaning.

The beginning of a.....err...Nope, can't remember.


Luckily, like I mentioned, I know knitters and they guided me towards a suitable pattern. And I found one on Subversive Femme's blog: The Target 'Quick-To-Knit' Cardigan from the 50's. The size is right (no alterations to width needed), the yarn and needles are a reasonable size ( which means I'll make quick progress despite my slow knitting speed), it has some flourishes (which will be a nice challenge) and it's QUICK-TO-KNIT. Perfect!

Targer quick-to-knit cardigan 1950's knitting pattern


So this is what I've been doing with some of my free time. Only change I'm making is that mine will be shorter so that it will go nicely with full skirts as well. I've already finished the back and am currently knitting the left front. Look, I even did popcorn! The whole popcorn-border-bit took some figuring out to begin with but it looks so cool that it was definitely worth it. Anyway, I'll show you how it turns out once I'm finished.

vintage knitting pattern 1950's fifties target quick-to-knit cardigan turquoise
Popcorn!