Last week I was all about purging and cleaning and the kitchen was definitely on the list.  I thought it time to spruce up this space with some spring touches and snap a few fresh pics of our kitchen since it’s been over a year since I did so.  I get a lot of questions about our kitchen, especially about the appliances and the countertops and how they’ve held up over time.  Now that we’ve lived in this space for almost six years, I’ll try to provide some answers to those FAQs. 

As for the spring touches, greens and blues are my favorite colors, so when I spied these little striped pots at Lowes last week for $3 each I brought two of them home to sit in the garden window.  

The bay window is wood and we ordered it from Jeld-Wen when we built the kitchen – it brings a ton of light into the space.  That faucet is Price Pfister from Home Depot.  Our kitchen is west facing and because of that we don’t get a lot of morning light, but in the afternoon on a sunny day it’s the place to be.  Plants thrive in the window, and I’ve grown just about everything here from herbs to succulents.  

The cabinets were semi-custom by Kemper, they’ve held up really great over the years and I only have to wipe them down about once a month or so.  I’m still loving the off-white color which is officially called “Toasted Almond” by the company but the closest  paint color matches are “Floral White" by Benjamin Moore and "Ivory Dust" by Valspar.

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Hey everyone, thanks for all the thoughtful comments on the purpose filled home post, I’ve read every one, I really appreciate your fantastic insight!  I finally got that patch of sun I was waiting for all weekend long, so I was able to get my hands dirty with some new plantings for the front porch. 

I replaced the dying Italian cypress with these pretty blue Potato Bush topiary trees and some ‘Glamorama’ pansies.  Out of storage came the outdoor medallion pillows I’ve had for two summer seasons (found at a local garden department).  The striped ones are these Esther pillows found on sale at Joss & Main.

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Most of the time, I’m in charge of my weekend, but not this last one – it was in charge of me.  I had high hopes of spending my Saturday gardening after I spent $60 at a local nursery on new plants and annuals, but the rain kept me from my plans, and I was forced indoors.  In hindsight, it was a good thing, because instead I set the plants aside and concentrated on some much needed interior spring cleaning, and in the midst of that purging and organizing I came to a conclusion about my home.

I think a lot of us seek purpose in our lives, I know I do.  In my later years, I want to look back and hope I made a difference, especially my family’s lives.  It came to me during all that scrubbing and dusting that our homes need purpose just as much as our lives do, and I started to think about all the ways a home can serve a purpose beyond just the shelter of four walls and a roof.  As I cleaned and decluttered, tossing out the unnecessary, polishing and displaying the lovely, I concluded that there are several elements in a purpose filled home.   

A purpose filled home tells a story.  Have you ever walked into a home that’s clearly been decorated by an outsider and it felt a bit… cold?  I have, many times.  Don’t get me wrong, I think interior decorators serve a necessary purpose, the best ones help people pull together a look that suits the resident’s lifestyle and tastes.  However, my favorite homes, the ones of friends and family, the ones I recall from the past and love in the present, aren’t fancy or pretentious, instead they tell a story of those who live within because they’re so personalized, from the pictures on the walls to the books on the bookcase.  I want our home to tell our story too. 

We all know the famous quote by William Morris, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”  Every season as I clean and purge, I think of those words and ask myself, is this thing Useful?  Beautiful?  Sentimental?  If not, out it goes.  It’s important to love everything in your home and I believe it’s better to live in a sparsely furnished space than to fill it with meaningless objects.   

A purpose filled home is one which reflects the resident’s style, and without apology.  We’re inundated with images from shelter magazines, Pinterest, design blogs, and other publications, it’s easy to fall prey to the notion that your home isn’t up to snuff.  Nonsense I say.  I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go, and I know which ones aren’t for me.  I respect and admire all great design, but at the end of the day I know what I like and I’ll stick with it through all the trends that come and go.

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I’ve been in a funk for the last week and I think it’s a combination of too much rain and daylight savings time.  But I decided to thumb my nose at all the dreary weather and create a little bit of spring indoors instead. Over the weekend I brought in a new umbrella plant to replace the wintery branch that once stood in the corner and bright pink ranunculus bring a breath of spring to the living room.

I also added some touches of blue in the form of those paint swirl vases on the mantel, a bold but cozy throw, and some new blue and white pillows I scored at Joss & Main.

Today is spring equinox, derived from the Latin meaning “equal night” so that today (and only once more in autumn) we experience equal parts daylight and dark – the bonus of spring equinox for us in the northern hemisphere is the longer days of spring and summer are just ahead. 

I think I enjoy the spring season even more than autumn now.  Is it age?  Perhaps, but the idea of everything growing again, of nature coming back to life in all its marvelous ways, gives me hope of great things in the days ahead.  

Linking up to Layla’s Spring Mantel Party today!

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