Show Us Where You Live Friday

I have been following Kelly's blog since the birth of her daughter, three months ago. She has started "Show Us Where You Live Friday" as an opportunity to share design and decorating ideas as well as to share a little bit of information about yourself with the blogging world. I am a BIG HGTV watcher and love decorating shows; therefore I thought I'd participate. You don't have to participate to peer into the houses of other bloggers out there. Just go here and click on the name of a person to bring up a blog. Enjoy! Welcome to my kitchen.
We renovated our kitchen two years ago...what was once four rooms became one large room with the kitchen in the front and a family room in the back.

I love to cook and before the renovation, I had a small double oven and a gas cooktop. It made cooking for 50 (some of our family gatherings are that large) a difficult task. I love, love, love my Wolf range.

This is the worst part of my new kitchen...the pantry. It is not nearly large enough for all of the junk I have to buy to feed 7 people on a daily basis. Prior to the renovation, I had a walk-in pantry. Miss that in a big way.

The best thing about this kitchen is the two dishwashers. I run both of them every day (and sometimes twice each on a weekend day.)

I love my bar stools. They are a combination of red, brown, and yellow leather.
I have an old farmhouse table with a bench and a built-in bench. We can seat a bunch of people around the table when necessary!

The built-in bench with the pillows that end up all over the place.This is the fireplace in the room. It used to be UGLY white brick. My husband had the idea to use the stone and it totally transformed the fireplace. We use it all the time in the winter.

This is the view from the working side of the kitchen. The sliding doors lead to the back yard and a covered porch.
This is a painting that my friend, Kelli Nemer, painted for me. I gave this to my husband as a Christmas gift the day the kitchen renovation was completed. The painting is personalized for our family... there are five kids in the painting, they are playing sports, the dog looks like Bosley and the places represented (Hawaii and New York) are places that we have traveled as a family.I love the bright colors and have several other paintings in my house that Kelli has done.

This is the sign that hangs above the door from my kitchen to my mudroom. In light of the fact that all 7 of us hang out in this space all the time, it is appropriate.

This is a sign that my best friend, Alden gave me for my birthday. It has become my motto!

I hope you enjoyed the tour. Now go and see the others ...