Tea Inspiration

Ya'll, I love decor books; cannot get enough.  I've been tagging my way through Grace Bonney's Design*Sponge, oohing and ahhhing all the way.  It is also helping me to put together my very own Inspiration Book to help me nail down my own personal style.  I know I am "eclectic," but what does that really mean, anyway?

This kitchen gave me an idea:

   Copyright 2011 Grace Bonney; Photo by Tec Petaja

It belongs to Genifer Goodman Sohr of Nashville, Tennessee (a fellow belle) and not only do I love the painted white brick and the delicious yellow upholstery, check out the hot pink kangaroo to the left.  That's a tea towel!  Since I am  always looking for ways to keep my budget in check for this kitchen renovation, I looked to Fab.com for help.

Well my tea towel finally came in right before my trip to Atlanta and I hit up Ikea to kind a frame that would fit.  In hindsight, I should have opened the package before buying the frame, but it was wrapped up so delicately with a little brown paper strip that I left it to bask in it's cuteness for a few more days.  I took the measurements though and it was off to Georgia.

See? It just looks too nice to open.

When I opened the towel *gasp* the pattern faced short ways, not long ways.  I really need to pay attention to the fact that width is listed first in dimension specs, not height.  No biggie.  Instead of floating it over the mat board as I had originally planned, it would have to go under.

Here we are with a freshly ironed tea towel that is most definitely too wide to float.

I laid a piece of end roll newspaper behind the sheer towel so that the brown frame backing doesn't peek through.

Skipping some really boring shots of me screwing everything into place ...

Et viola!

This will eventually hang over the banquette seating (part of Phase 4) in my kitchen reno.  I just love the illustrations (by Claudia Pearson) and red is my accent color so this will fit in beautifully.  It is a little askew due to the fact that it is a tea towel, but I think it adds to it's charm! 

More on the way!  Mrs. Goodman's fabulous dining chairs have inspired me to try my hand at re-upholstery...