There’s A War On in This Kitchen

So, I have a vision for my kitchen.

And it involves submarines, propaganda, and war.

World War II, to be exact. As a graphic designer, sometimes, I get attached to funny things. Like propaganda posters. WWII had some of the greatest propaganda posters of all time. And I would like 2 of them in my dining room. I got the idea watching the credits to Captain America.

Because I do stay and watch the credits of every movie I go to- they’re cool, I sort of want that job. In that I’d love that job if it weren’t absolutely certainly in either L.A. or New York. Because I hate L.A. (It’s ok to visit, but living there? No.) and I don’t do snow. I just don’t. I can take high heat with aplomb, but cold hurts my ears.

Anyway, there was this cool credit screen with planes on a yellow sky. Unfortunately, it was riffed from a poster involving a rather sinister-looking Hitler caricature (as if there were any other kind) so I can’t really have that one. (I can’t take things staring at me from the walls.)

Instead, I found 2 posters I do like, that have no one at all staring from them, and plan on putting them on either side of the rather magnificent wall cubes that I refinished.

Inside the wall cubes, incidentally, are also WWII-themed things. I love vintage soda bottles, so there some of my burgeoning collection up there, and my husband wants to put together a WWII model airplane (he’s into models, I’m into this idea- magic).

The chairs and dining table were cast-offs from a family friend, as were the rather-awful chair covers. They didn’t even like the chair covers. The only beings who like the chair covers are my cats, who will be very sad to see them go.

We would have just taken off the chair covers, but the chairs, well…

So, time for another DIY project! I found the "perfect" fabric to go on the chair seats. Just the right mix of Americana (the colors) and not (everything else about it). The chairs themselves are going to be sanded and stained with the same stuff used on the wall cubes and the microwave hutch. It’s gonna be sweet.

The kitchen, which I was pondering painting (and am not gonna just now, as it’s a HUGE project of sanding, masking and painting), is getting a little pick-me-up with new, red cabinet and drawer knobs. Got ‘em at ACE for 1.50 or so per pair and a can of Rust-o-leum in fabulous shiny red for $3 and so for $23, my kitchen gets a perk.

I also saw this great rug version of the now-ubiquitous “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster at Anthropologie.

But it is EXPANSIVE(I want a kitchen mat, not an area rug) and EXPENSIVE ($498.00- are you serious?). Plus, when reviewed, apparently it falls apart.

CostPlus World Market has this one for $30….

But I kind of hate that it’s sideways. So… I think I’m going to make one. I’ve made the stencil in illustrator, now I just need to print it out using my Silohuette and paint the $3 rug I got at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart may be destroying the economy, but they’re just so… irresistible.

Then I just have to decide whether or not the utensil-holder gets repainted candy-apple-red as well.

It does look nice its as-bought, black-bronze state, but it doesn’t really GO with the theme of the kitchen. Which is shiny red. And other stuff. It’s like a theme, only looser and less directed. (Kind of like me…)

Anyway, that’s the plan for waging a war in my kitchen.

Stay tuned…