For two years — yes, two! — I’ve been blitching about my kitchen. The clutter. The cracked tiles. The apple green paint that’s a bit too garden-y for my tastes. And the roosters:
Oh, how I’ve hated those roosters. They were, in fact, the first thing I intended to change when we bought the house, but somehow I’ve just never quite made the time.
Until today.
Remember: friends don’t let friends put wallpaper cut-outs on their kitchen cupboards!
Monday, February 26th, 2007, 6:18 pm | 
My Venomous Life | 
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February 26, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I wonder what made the previous owners think that the roosters were complimentary to that shade of green? My grandmother collected roosters. My mother-in-law also collects roosters and has rooster wallpaper border in her kitchen. It really is sort of creepy.
February 27, 2007 at 10:27 am
So often it’s difficult to find the time and energy to redo something that isn’t causing massive problems. Bad decorating is awful to look at, but doesn’t keep you from cooking… that’s my excuse for all the years of living with the “kitchen from hell” in my first house. LOL.
Good job! Especially since you haven’t been feeling so hot lately.
February 27, 2007 at 11:25 am
I’m not sure what prompted the roosters, to be honest. One thing that picture doesn’t show is that some of the roosters were surrounded by a brick red border: another color that definitely does not work with that green!
To make matters worse, one wall of the kitchen had wallpaper with pictures of grapes, peaches and lemons on it. Again, no idea why.
February 27, 2007 at 12:12 pm
The single worst, and only comparable thing, I’ve ever seen was a house owned by a fire-fighting agency in southwestern Oregon and used to house their head forester and his family. It had been liberally and thoroughly redecorated several times up until the early 80′s, at which point all of the decorating apparently stopped. Mind you, the whole house wasn’t done, just one room at a time. It went thusly….
The kitchen had the 50′s gilt star-pattern formica in a lovely pale green and gold on all of the countertops, which complemented the standard beige checkered linoleum nicely. Both of these contrasted with the fire-hydrant-yellow cabinets and the wallpapered ceiling that was originally a cream color (but had faded with years of cigarette smoke to a dingy mustard color), liberally decorated with enormous polka dots in all three primary colors.
Down the lime green-painted hallway (with attractive mahogany hardwood floors), one would find the living room, again done in the fire-hydrant yellow and brown with a natural rock fireplace. Up the stairs (again, lime green, but with dark green carpet), one would find the upstairs area, painted rose-petal pink if one went left and the same lavender color as Kate’s background if one went right….all with the same dark green carpet.
I was working the fire crew that summer, when they had a new guy move in with his wife and two daughters. She took one look at the outside of that house, went inside, and came out to have a quiet word with her husband. He came over to us and said, “Boys, here’s the deal. We’re moving in here in 3 weeks. You have until then to finish everything on her list she’s writing now.” We got it all done, and it looked very nice afterwards if I do say so myself – we even redid his lawn. lol
February 27, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Damn. That kitchen looks waayy better without the birds.
February 27, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Is that a pot rack over the sink? What a great place for one!
February 27, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Rooster room? You haven’t seen roosters until you see the powder room we had two houses back. Floor to ceiling, baby poop brown. It was SO bad we couldn’t ever do anything about it. We sold the house with the room intact. Perhaps that’s why it was on the market for a year.
February 28, 2007 at 3:53 am
Kim, yes, it’s a pot rack. Well, actually, it’s a strip of cheap wood painted to match the cabinets and fitted with mug hooks. VH has put one in for me in every house we’ve had, and I love them. Like you said, it’s a great place for one, and it not only saves cupboard space but ensures my pots don’t get scratched when not in use!
Punctilious, I’ll see that baby poop brown room and raise you an acid green one painted with one coat, the majority of which appears to have been wiped on with a rag… then topped with a border featuring red cabbage roses. Two years I’ve been looking at that. Two long years. But the end is near…..
March 1, 2007 at 9:19 am
I could always send you the leftover wallpaper scraps and the lovely ceramic rooster head hook! Oh, wait, a rooster collector friend took those. Seriously!
Our rooster room was SO bad we just had to celebrate it. But then it wasn’t a room I had to see everyday either.
March 1, 2007 at 10:00 am
As strange as it sounds, every time I walk into my rooster-free kitchen I start smiling like an idiot. I can’t believe how much more I love this room — even the paint color — now that they’re gone!
March 4, 2007 at 4:52 am
Nice Cat!