Cleaning Up the Kitchen-Adding Some Blue

This is really the end picture but I thought it looked better than the next picture so I started with it.

 I got all wound up yesterday and emptied all my counters, and cleaned the backsplash, window and counters.

 Armed with simple green and glass cleaner

As I attempted to pull out my behemoth Kitchen Aid mixer and thought why am I struggling with this.  So I got out some 1/2" felt pads and applied them to the bottom.  Now it slides in with ease.  This mixer is a lot heavier than my previous Kitchen Aid and it's just too hard to move when I need to use it.

 I put the coffee maker and grinder back over here.  I had the coffee center here a while back.  I grind coffee every day and make a fresh pot.

 At this time of day I couldn't get a better picture of the window.  I cleaned it too and wiped everything down before it went back.  This is my little farm window complete with pigs and cows!

 I wanted to add some blue in the kitchen so I have been taking away the Tuscan accents.  That basket loaded with wine glasses came from Juliska on a sale a little while ago. It's really more of a bread basket but on a whim I put these wine glasses in there and decided to keep it.  The plate with the blue shells is one of a set of 4 and I just never thought about using it like this but it brought in the coloring I wanted to that's good.  The towel is new from a set I picked up at Williams Sonoma (I believe it's a new line they're offering).  The canisters were gifted to me from Betty several years back.  She was blogging but due to health issues with her husband she's all but disappeared.

The utensils are in a piece I got from Pottery Barn on one of their clearances.  It's made for wine but I adopted it to be for my spoons and spatulas.  The bread drawer is close by so the toaster stays here.  My kitchen is too small to hide all of my small appliances.

 This is from a couple of years ago.  I kept the coffee maker in the center for a couple of years but today I decided to move it back over by the window.  

This goes back a ways.  That plate on the stand with the Tuscan scene was hanging where the blue plate is now. 

I cleaned the glass on the doors too.  I had a water glass put in them so it softens what what you can see inside and I don't just display things for prettiness in them since it's a functioning area of the kitchen.  Our cupboards are solid hickory made in Tennessee.  I was very proud of this when we remodeled in 1996.  I still like it.

This counter on the right is that spot where everything gets piled…mail, groceries, etc.  I have a few things that didn't go back in the kitchen and one is a basket I keep on this counter that is where misc. stuff is supposed to go in.  Somehow it builds up for a while and has a strange collection in it. I am going through it again to thin it out.  

She's a narrow galley kitchen which actually works quite well especially for one person in the kitchen. 

So that's my clean kitchen with some blue added! 

Ahh… a surprise ending to today!

I was in the office loading pictures for this post when the door bell rang…. Dan was standing there holding these flowers for me!  I was so surprised and didn't even think to take a picture of him holding them!

They're gorgeous big flowers.  We had yellow roses for our wedding so I love that he remembered!

I had this pitcher in the kitchen before I started cleaning so I decided to use it for the flowers instead of the traditional crystal vase.  

Today is our anniversary!  We'll be going out for a dinner in the evening and beyond that I don't know what we're doing!  

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