The Lake cottage, White kitchens and the Wedding painting

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The lake house is in the beginning stages of planning!

 Our rustic unheated 1910 fisherman's shack is

going to get torn down and a year round home will take it's place.

I haven't blogged at all about the lake cottage, but that soon will be 

making its way to my blog as we get ready for the next phase of life in retirement mode,

as we plan to move into it after selling our Boston area home.

White kitchens have always been a favorite of mine. 

 I think they are timeless and 

so the new cottage will have white cabinets.  While looking for inspiration 

I found some pretty examples on Traditional Home magazines website,

so lets take a look!

Rarely do I see a French Country kitchen anymore, so this was surprising to see.

However our kitchen and cottage will likely be less "Frenchy", and

more of a blend of traditional, craftsman and cottage styles.

 Another white kitchen from Traditional Home with color on the ceiling.

This kitchen is actually on a lake, and I love all the choices I see here.

 A creamy white cabinet color with marble and butcher block.

Views to the lake is driving the design of our cottage

so we can take advantage of having a home on the water's edge.

You would never getting tired looking out of the window at the kitchen sink.

Double islands in a fun color in an otherwise white kitchen.

Our kitchen will be modest in size, but in an open floor plan

to the living space which will give it an open feel. We will have

an island and have toyed around with color ideas.

This is our current kitchen as seen in Nora Murphy's Country House Stye book.

Because it is in a contained space it feels small. 

I painted my maple cabinets white years ago and still love the look.

They say you can tell the decade a house was built just by looking at 

the kitchen cabinets.  Knotty Pine, Golden Oak, Cherry, Thermafoil...

they all have had their time being popular, and then falling out of favor.

White kitchens are timeless!  A quick change of accents and hand towels,

and you have a whole new feeling for your kitchen.  

 Last but not least,  the wedding painting!!

I wanted to show you the finished painting of my son Brandon's wedding

to his bride, Mimi.  Live event painter, Sheila Foley started this painting during 

the outdoor wedding we held in our courtyard under a tent,

and finished it in her studio and called me about a year later to say it was ready.

It was worth the wait!!

We now have a unique memento of a special day for our family, and it 

captured the wedding festivities and mood so well! 

The attention to detail, and capturing peoples likenesses was unreal!

Simply amazing!

This was taken an hour before the guests arrived for the wedding,

where Sheila had started the background of the painting.

To see more about the wedding day 

and the painting in progress click here.

For more information on live event artist  Sheila Foley, click here.