A French Copper Bakers Rack for Dollhouse Kitchen and Nora Murphy's Book Winner

 The dollhouse has seen many improvements since I last blogged. 

Mostly, I have concentrated my efforts in the large servant's kitchen.  

(Hehe, why not, I am imagining this home to have a staff of servants, much like Downton Abbey.)

I planned to build my cabinets and stove from scratch.  After seeing my own kitchen, I 

decided to build a copy of my wall baker's rack that I bought at the Martha Stewart auction.

This rack is now part of a wall of copper in my kitchen, and excuse the dark photo,

but I no longer have time to take out a fancy camera as I am working hard on the dollhouse.

Priorities! I measured the bakers rack and then converted it into the 1/12th scale that is 

the most common for dollhouse builds.  (1inch = 1 foot.) You can design things for a dollhouse

just using this simple formula.  The rack measured 3 feet by 3 feet roughly, 

and that meant I would build it to be 3 inches by 3 inches.

 This is a quick progress shot of the build.  I was also working on 

a European style range, that I built from balsa wood and jewelry bits

(but more on that later).  For the rack I used BBQ sticks that I had in 

the kitchen, along with thin strips of balsa wood and some easily bendable wire

and some tiny jewelry beads with holes on the ends.  I shaped the wire to simulate 

the design on my real wall rack, and then finished each edge off with a bead, then

glued in place. 

 Next I sprayed the entire thing in a box (my spray booth).  

After it dried I held it up to compare to the real thing in my kitchen.

 Wow! Not bad for a few hours of effort.  

 No other dollhouse would have one of these! Next

step was to use gilding wax to make some areas look brass,

and add a central feature like the shaft of wheat that my big rack has.

I used a tiny rose from the arts and crafts department, which is where you can

find many tiny things.

 It turned out quite charming and I just stuck it on the wall over the range to see how it looked.

I wanted to make a big stone hood for ventilation, and still may do so, and move the bakers rack

to another wall. More copper is on the way, so I can fill out the kitchen to mimic my own.

Brick floors were to go in, as well as aging the walls, after all this is servants quarters.  

It should be a bit dreary and work like.  The French door has been officially installed and the 

dining room got wallpaper and its chandelier electrified!! 

The other side of the kitchen has the cabinetry I made that just got installed! 

I will follow this post up with those two improvements and more.

And for all those that wrote in asking to win a copy of 

Nora Murphy's Country House Style book,

I am so pleased to see such a HUGE response!  

 Sadly only one winner on this giveaway,

but check out Nora's book on Amazon or

 in your local book store or on Nora's website. 

But before you do.....

There is also another book giveaway you can enter at my friend

 Shirley's blog at Housepitality Designs.

Now for my giveaway winner.... the drumroll please......

The winner of the book is Jane Pickett from Worcester, Mass!

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The Best Price on Copper Kitchen Aid Mixers

The iconic Kitchen Aid stand mixer. 

 I have never owned one and I do a fair amount of cooking and baking.  A hand mixer was the way I  handled mixing up batters and whipped cream and pie fillings for decades!  But once I spied the copper colored Kitchen Aid mixer I decided it was time for me to get one.  My sister has one, my son and daughter-in-law have one, and even my grandmother had one. Nana had the old Sunbeam Mixmaster,  a stand mixer that predated these more powerful mixers by Kitchen Aid.

Once I decided to get one, I found that it wasn't as simple as picking a color, I had to pick a model first,  as there are many models to choose from.  

 The engines that run the mixers get more powerful as the size goes up.  The mini Artisan has a 3 quart capacity, the Artisan Tilt Head holds 5 quarts, and the Professional model holds 6 quarts.  The capacity is what helped me make up my mind, as I might be mixing up a box cake mix, a batch of cookies or maybe even two loaves of bread, so I chose the Artisan Tilt Head model, which is the most popular choice of home chefs.  The largest size would be more difficult for everyday mixing of normal size batches of ingredients.  Next I would look for the copper color I loved. 

 Turned out there are more than one copper finish offered by Kitchen Aid. 

The prettiest shiniest copper finish is the "satin copper".  

A search on  Kitchen Aid's website shows two mixers in copper.  

 The largest was a 7 quart  Professional Limited Edition Pro Line Series.

 The price tag was a hefty with  $999.99 and was unavailable on their site, 

but I did find it at Williams Sonoma. Below you will see what Kitchen Aid 

shows when searching "copper mixer".

The same pretty "satin copper" finish is also available in the Mini Artisan,

 but this model is just too small for my needs.  

After more searching I found the 5 quart  mixer in the "satin copper" at Crate and Barrel for $599.00

However the price was also too steep.  The other range of colors were offered around $399.99, and an upcharge of $200 seemed unfair.  Amazon revealed a Copper Pearl finish in the 6 quart size for $399.99, which is a great buy, but I wanted the Artisan 5 quart model.  Still determined to find a Kitchen Aid mixer in copper at a price I was happy with, I pressed on and continued my online search.  

Everything Kitchens

Everything Kitchens, an online retailer for many major brands, carried most of the Kitchen Aid models and all of the copper finishes in the 5 quart sizes.  They had it in the "satin copper", the "copper pearl" and the "antique copper" finishes.  Ultimately I decided upon the Copper Pearl finish. The price was right at $299.00!  I hoped the color would be coppery enough.....I would just have to wait and see.  From everything I researched I had read nothing comparing the copper finishes, only that the metallic series featuring the shinier "satin copper" was it was showing wear and scratch marks after repeated cleanings.  Not a good thing.  So I placed my order and waited....

The day it came, I excitedly got it out of the box and set it up on the kitchen sideboard. 

I was really happy with the color!  These mixers are usually too tall to put on the counter if you have upper cabinets, so make sure you have a place to put your beautiful mixer.  I wanted to look at it as a part of my kitchen decor, so that was important that it have a place to sit everyday.  This quick Instagram pic shows the finish, and although it is not as shiny as the real copper items you see next to it,  its pretty darn close.  

And here under the glare of kitchen lights, it gleams with the copper look I was hoping for....

Reeve loves to sit and watch me cook in the kitchen, and now with my new copper mixer, it gives us more reason to have fun in the kitchen together.  

I am very happy with the Artisan Tilt Head mixer in Copper Pearl, and was excited to find the Everything Kitchens website that offered such a great price.  ( This is not a sponsored post by the way, its just to help anyone who like me, was obsessing on the new Copper colored Kitchen Aid Mixers!)

Do you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer?   What color and how do you like it?  Was it a gift or something you decided to buy for yourself?  I would love to know!

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Copper in the Kitchen

Copper cookware and accents used in kitchens is nothing new in design, but as trends come and go, this is one that has stuck around.  My first kitchen in my very first apartment was outfitted with copper accents.  I had a big copper pot rack and it hung above a second hand copper colored Tappan range. Copper canisters and a copper colander and a few other copper accents made my kitchen the country kitchen of my young dreams.

Fast forward through a series of house moves and over time the copper disappeared from my kitchen decor.  Maybe I just switched my attention and copper lost its fascination for me.  Well, I am here to say I have fallen in love with copper all over again!  It seems as if I am not alone, as it is appearing in kitchens of some of my favorite designers and bloggers.

Martha Stewart has led the way in setting trends and making certain antiques popular once again when she uses them in her own kitchens and on her baking show.  I spy two (!!) copper Kitchen Aid mixers and measuring spoons and copper molds on the wall.  The copper looks beautiful with the marble and the breadboards and the rustic potted herbs.  I developed a fixation on Martha's copper Kitchen Aid mixer, and the next thing I knew, I was researching the models, the color finishes, and am happy to say I found one at a very good price. My next blog post will be about my mixer and all that I discovered, as soon as I take some pictures of it in my kitchen. Until then I am sharing some amazing copper in amazing kitchens that hopefully inspire you as much as they did me.

Martha Stewart's Bedford, NY  Kitchen

In Martha's  New York kitchen she has a wealth of copper molds and pots and pans displayed on the walls in this huge industrial space.  I also did a lot of research on copper cookware, and was surprised to learn what I found out...you might be interested in learning that good copper cookware is expensive, and the copper will discolor when used on the stove.  Reading the reviews that are posted about different manufacturers will tell a lot about a product line. Copper cookware from different manufacturers vary in quality. I love the look of copper pans hanging in a kitchen, it is very French, so that adds to the appeal for me. (More on that in my next post, as I share the cookware I did purchase and the reasoning behind my decision.)

Martha Stewart's Turkey Hill Farm, CT Kitchen

In her former Connecticut kitchen, an oversized pot rack matches the equally oversized island

and holds a shameful amount of copper pans. It is both obscene and inspiring! If you look closely you will see a stainless pot sitting on the cooktop, making one wonder if this collection is purely decorative.  Even so,  I have to say the copper looks amazing!

French Country Cottage 
This cottage kitchen belonging to Courtney Allison of the French Country Cottage blog, is
just beautiful!  The copper pots appear to be new and hang from a rod suspended inside
the range hood positioned over her blue French LaCanche range.  

French Country Cottage Blog

Another peek at Courtney's kitchen....just a few well placed copper accents give this kitchen the French cottage charm I love.  Her kitchen also gave my obsession over copper fuel that I was on the right path.  My collection has grown after searching online antique listings, antique shops, thrift shops,  Marshalls and HomeGoods, which are all great places to find copper.  Target and Kohls carry copper accents, so if you are like me, once you start looking for it, you can be certain you will find it.

Switching over to copper has me taking out things and playing around with some of my "new" pieces, like this tin lined copper mold of a pineapple.  I brought it home from the thrift shop and hung it up above a ceramic mold and loved the shiny coppery color.  Now I have a big collection of old and new copper including mixing bowls, shovel scoops, measuring cups, colanders, pans and molds of many shapes and sizes....

and that fabulous copper Kitchen Aid mixer!

I promise I will be back soon with some photos as soon as I finish hanging things where I want them.

Having a lot of fun with my on again off again obsession...can you tell?

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