Friday, February 28, 2014

How Many Shades Of Grey, Again?

The Kitchen Cabinet Saga - 3 - 


The black kitchen cabinet idea seemed brilliant ant and elegant to some of you and a complete mistakes to some others.

Le moins que l'on puisse dire, c'est que l'idée d'une cuisine noire a divisé mes lecteurs!

Many of you suggested in the comments (and I really thank you for leaving so many comments that are delightful to read) that grey might be lighter.

1.
Certains d'entre vous ont suggéré qu'une cuisine grise serait plus lumineuse.

2.
So of course I went to check some inspiration.

Bien sûr, je suis partie à la recherche d'inspiration.

3.
Now, while you drool over those pictures, let me just tell you some good news. Tomorrow is my last day at school before a little winter break. I have made a list of things to do during that break that is so long you'd think I have a twenty-eight week long break!

4.
Pendant que vous vous admirez mes photos, laissez-moi vous annoncer une bonne nouvelle. Demain est mon dernier jour d'école avant les vacances d'hiver. J'ai fait une liste de choses à faire tellement longue qu'on jurerait que ces vacances durent vingt-huit semaines! Je suis sûre que je n'en ferai pas le quart!

5.
So what do you think of those kitchen? Gorgeous, aren't they?

Bon alors, que pensez-vous de mes cuisines grises? Superbes, hein?

6.
Isn't grey elegant, timeless and very French? Exactly like me? I'm bragging a little, especially about the "timeless" part. The doctor appointment I had today just confirmed that I wasn't timeless!!!

7.
Le gris n'est-il pas une couleur élégante, intemporelle et très décoration française? Tout comme moi! Enfin, là, je me vante un peu, un rendez-vous médical a prouvé aujourd'hui même que le temps avait bien prise sur moi!

8.
For some reason, my guts can't agree with the above statement. Grey isn't me!  I fell in love with all the inspiration pictures I'm showing you today and somehow I can't imagine myself living in them.  It's like falling in love with a famous actor you know you'd never truly want to live with.


9.
Eh bien, je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais en fait, malgré toutes les qualités citées, le gris ne me correspond pas. Je tombe amoureuse de ces cuisines grises que je vois en photo, mais je ne m'imagine pas vivre dedans.

10.
Grey just isn't me. I talked sheepishly to Cottage.

Le gris n'est simplement pas fait pour moi... Ou moi pas pour lui. J'en ai parlé à Cottage.

11.
Me: "You know about that idea of a grey kitchen... I'm sorry, but I think it's not going to work..."

Moi: "Tu sais, cette idée d'une cuisine grise... Je suis désolée, mais je ne crois pas que cela soit possible..."
Grey kitchen
12.

Cottage: "Well, I didn't want to upset you after our last disagreement, but I don't think grey is very fisherman's cottage-y either."

Cottage: "Ouf, je n'osais pas te le dire après notre dernier désaccord, mais je trouve que le gris ne fait pas très maison de pêcheur, de toute façon."

13.
Me: "I'm a little lost here you know."

Moi: "Je me sens un peu perdue, tu sais."

14.
Cottage: "Maybe you should start again from the beginning? What's your favourite colour?"

Cottage: "Peut-être faudrait-il reprendre du début? Quelle est ta couleur préférée?"

Now if you don't mind, I'll tell you the answer to that in a next post, because I can't keep my eyes open anymore tonight... I hope this won't keep you awake all night.

Je suis désolée de vous laisser sur cette question pleine de suspens... Mais mes yeux ne tiennent plus ouverts ce soir. J'espère que cela ne vous empêchera pas, vous, de dormir!

So, what's your favourite colour and how do you use it in your kitchen?

Et vous, avez-vous une couleur préférée? Comment l'utilisez-vous dans votre cuisine?

See you soon for my own answer.

A bientôt, pour ma propre réponse.


PS1: All the sources for the inspiration pictures can be found on my Pinterest board.
Toutes les photos d'inspiration sont sur ce lien Pinterest.

PS2: Either I'm nearly cured and I'm no more a PS-aholic or I'm too tired to think of PSs.

PS3: On second thought, I have a PS. For the hapiness of two of the furry members of the household, I need to add that I can live with grey cats!

Pour le bien-être de deux membres de la maisonnée (cottagée?), je tiens à préciser que j'aime le gris sur les chats...

PS4: I still have one! Here are the parties where you can find me. I'll be the one sleeping on a couch while everyone is dancing.


Rooted In Thyme          Photobucket                       http://makinmyaptahome.com/2014/02/meet-the-neighbors-9.html                        

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.fr/2014/03/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no-202.html          

44 comments:

  1. I hope there is nothing serious with your health. ♡

    I love blues, soft greens, whites, and light grays. My spouse would not tolerate pink, but I do like certain shades. A shade of white is very versatile. I also like natural honey colored wood with nicks, nail marks, and knots. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Magali, again I am so fond of the grey kitchens. And of grey cats of course. You dont seem a grey type pf person to me, more the bluish type, but perhaps this is because my favourite colour ist blue, all shades of blue. I do have a grey kitchen though and my favourite colour does not appear at all in my kitchen, but on my china. As I prefer sitting at our table to working in the kitchen, this is not so bad as it sounds. And as I am over forty, my plates are quite empty, to avoid buying new clothes every year. So the blue on the china is allways visible (and the small amounts of food are hardly visible, they are so tiny and gone too fast...).
    Have a lovely day, an nice weekend and 28 weeks of vacation!
    Yours Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  3. Duck egg? Aqua?
    My French kitchen was cream, my English kitchen is white....the only way I would have been able to have a pale aqua kitchen would have been to go way up my budget.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Magali,

    We have found you via Elizabeth at Cornish Cream and could not help but be drawn in to your debate over the colour of your kitchen.

    Well, of course, all the kitchens you show may have a special charm for someone but it is our firm belief that one should not spend over long in the kitchen and so the colour is immaterial. There are so many better places to be in a house than the kitchen which, in our view, is rather intimidating with all it's equipment, gadgets and hot surfaces.

    No, far better to have plain white....cheap as chips......and concentrate on the Drawing Room or being at the seaside which looks so lovely where you are!

    Happy weekend when it comes

    ReplyDelete
  5. My favorite colour is true blue which I have used generously in the pantry and laundry room. In my old kitchen I stained the bottom cabinets blue and limed the top ones. Thinking about your fisherman theme I thought of limed wood. BTW my new kitchen is dark grey on the bottom and white on the top. Jo @ Let's Face the Music

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm off to check that new kitchen of yours. It sounds so promising.

      Delete
  6. My favorite color changes, of course. It's been gray for quite a long time now, but I never considered having gray cabinets. I think I would tire of them very quickly, so I just painted the walls gray instead. :) Looking forward to the next installment! And I hope your PS doesn't turn into PMS!!

    -andi

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have different favourite colours at different times... so hard to choose! When you find the right look, you'll know!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the gray. I painted my bathroom cabinets gray and love them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Pas empêchée de dormir, mais j'ai rêvé de cuisines grises, & pour cause, oui, j'ai opté pour le gris dans la maison au bord de la rivière, je pense même que la couleur des murs sera d'un gris très très clair pour ne pas faire total look. Je suis donc de parti pris.
    Pour la gentille Dame ce sera clair, du plus clair des couleurs claires. L'essentiel bien entendu est que tu te sentes bien dans ta cuisine.
    Plein de bisous & un excellent weekend. Babette

    ReplyDelete
  10. I can hardly wait to see which route you go. Hope you have a happy week off with a lot of progress on your reno! And I must say I'm with Andi on the PMS thing...lol.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Magali!!!

    I hope you're doing well and had a great sleep!!!!

    I find grey a hard color/shade to like. I like my grey to have more of a blue tinge to it. I know the color you choose will be perfect, so, hopefully with your week off you can complete the task of deciding what color you want!!

    Have a great weekend!!!!!

    Pam
    xox

    ReplyDelete
  12. Go with your gut Magali. My fave color is blue but I did not put that in my kitchen though. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Je vais t'avouer qu'une cuisine noire ne me branche pas, gris à la rigueur, j'aime beaucoup les cuisines blanches je trouve ça plus lumineux et on ne s'en lasse pas!
    Bon week end . Tinou

    ReplyDelete
  14. There you go teasing again!

    I am over the top in love with kitchen #6, but in white for me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. teehee...Love your humor, Magali.
    I love colors, but not for decor. For decor I've come to prefer neutrals. I love grey, just not on cabinets or furniture. I prefer it on fabric. I love the black cabinets in the previous post, but knowing me I'd get tired of them FAST. My conclusion after having white and many wood finishes throughout the years, white cabinets with wood countertops. Such as this one here: http://www.countryliving.com/homes/house-tours/contrasting-textures-colors-0206#slide-2

    Have a lovely weekend.
    xoxo's

    ReplyDelete
  16. I agree with you, Magali. I like the look of grey, and I do have spots of it in our home, mostly in stonework in the living room fireplace, but we have so many rainy days where we live that come with grey skies that having the inside of the house grey as well would just depress me. I like more color! I use blue and yellow with a little sage green in our kitchen. I am a lover of blue and white, and to me, that says nautical, beachy, fun. Green and white is also nice because it helps to tie the outside gardens you can see from your windows inside, and green and white work well in every season for decorating--I'll be using that for my little office off our kitchen, hopefully soon. A beautiful, creamy white is always lovely, and has the advantage that you can switch out your accessories in various colors to go with the seasons very easily, and it makes a smaller space look bigger--we have a lot of creamy white walls and ceilings in our home. Maybe the trick is to paint the cabinets a neutral like white, but then add an accent color to them in a smaller way, like maybe just in the center of the cabinet doors, or even with the cabinet knobs, or through your kitchen accessories, towels, plates, etc. It's a big decision, but if you choose painted cabinets or shelves, you could always repaint them if you don't like the color at some point. Try painting some big spots of colors that you like on large white paper, and tape it to whatever you eventually want to paint, and see how it looks in the light in your kitchen and if you like it or not. Ultimately, you are the one who is going to live with it, so you should choose colors that make you smile when you walk into your kitchen:) I'm dilly-dallying over choosing the exact shade of green paint I want on my office walls, but I've got it narrowed down to 3, which are all really similar, so I just have to trust my instinct and go for it! I'm sure it will be beautiful whatever you choose!

    ReplyDelete
  17. too funny, we both titled our recent posts with "shades of grey."

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are right, grey is often like bad weather all the time :-) What about a vanilla kind of white? It is bright and warm at the same time. My brother has vanilla coloured kitchen cabinets (too light to be yellow and too dark to be white, he says) and it is a truly ligt and cosy space. Hope you find that too :D. Have a nice weekend, Marcy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I brought back home the door of a vanilla kitchen that looked great in a store... But it turned to a buttery yellow with the light in my kitchen. Colours can change so much depending on the light that it's tricky!

      Delete
  19. I must add that duck egg blue as well as the lightest shade of green, make beautiful cottage-y style kitchens... Marcy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love those two colours you mentionned and I'm trying to find a way to introduce them in my kitchen. Stay tuned for the next posts, you'll love them!
      Magali

      Delete
  20. I have to go with white as you can add your pops of color, change or do whatever. But it's your kitchen so you should decide, because you have to live there and it must make you happy.
    Have a great holiday and I hope you got a good report from the doctor.
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  21. I personally do not see cabinets in your kitchen at all - no matter the color. I would shop for what we call pie safes - wooden cabinets with tin or screen doors, old kitchen cupboards, and old hanging racks in various degrees of chippy white, cream, and the palest of blues.

    PS You should have photo-shopped your pic on the Bathing suit and we would not have known the difference.

    PS2 - Love the conversations with your cottage.

    PS3 Kitchens should not match your cats :>)))

    ReplyDelete
  22. To be honest I only recommended grey because I didn't want you to do black! I think i would tire of grey. for you kitchen I would go white! Or a combo, dark on bottom white on top. somehow in a fisherman's cottage I would think of a wood tone cabinet. wood tone cabinets as well as white cabinets go with anything!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I think you're happy to know that grey is out of the picture... Still a few colours to test before making the final choice!

      Delete
  23. I can't do gray either. I look outside at the gray wintry days and just want them to go away. I like bright colors in the kitchen, like red and yellow. I like white cabinets.
    Brenda

    ReplyDelete
  24. All look so wonderful, it make me so confuse. How do if we mix the styles...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think balancing the different styles is the most difficult thing... Maybe the first thing to do is eliminate what we don't like!

      Delete
  25. Dear Magali,

    Please forget gray kitchen cabinets! Gray reminds me of "winter blues and gray moods", and of a very sad film "Gray Gardens". Hope that you'll choose something very light, bright, French country style.

    Looking forward to your next post, Nada

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Grey is out of my list now! I think in Brittany where it rains quite a lot, grey would be depressing.
      Next post is in writing state!

      Delete
  26. I love pictures with gray cabinets, but don't think I could do gray. Can't wait to see what you choose...
    Blessings,
    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love gray walls, and white cabinets! But thats just me!
    Hugs,
    Jemma

    ReplyDelete
  28. I love your gray pictures, but I am not a gray person, either, much as I do admire it in other people's homes. I love white kitchens!

    ReplyDelete
  29. How about a blue-gray or duck egg blue? One of my favorite colors is turquoise and then after that shades of yellow.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Here is a Robin's Egg Blue kitchen cabinet idea http://www.housekaboodle.com/category/kitchen-talk/colored-kitchen-cabinets-kitchen-2/

    ReplyDelete
  31. I do love these grey colours...but I have a feeling that grey kitchen cabinets will date quickly so good choice, I say!! I'm looking forward to hearing what your pick is!!!

    Sarahxxx

    ReplyDelete
  32. Dear Magali,
    I like all 50 shades of grey. No,just kidding. I like light shade greys only. We have light wood kitchen, a very small one. If I may ask, why you went to the doctor ? Please take care of yourself. I hope you're having a good weekend. Love, Izabella.

    ReplyDelete
  33. My heart skipped at "The doctor's appointment proved I wasn't timeless..." I pray all will be ok! White is the cottage look now...everyone loves white cabinets..me inlcuded..but history show's...every Era has there thing...think outside the box..pick the colors you love...In small spaces that are dark..i love County ivory...it is a very light creamy yellow...in fact you dont realize it is yellow till you have white trim or cabinets...I like antique white as well...Grey is fine, everyone is using it...but it depends on your space. You can accent with any color...any you choose. Your pics on kitchens..are like mine..the styles I love...but I also like finding antiques and vintage things to make up my kitchen..not just standard cupboards..there is no right or wrong...take a bit of everything and create..who you are and your dream...and please let us know..how you are.... everything else really got lost to me....after reading that line. Blessings to you Sweet Magali!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peggy Sue,
      that is so sweet of you to worry about me. It's nothing really, just normal signs of age that I refuse to deal with in an artificial way!
      As for the kitchen, I'm really close to making a decision you'll probably be happy about!
      xoxo,
      Magali

      Delete
  34. The pictures are great but mostly the greys would be way too dark for me. I like a really really pale grey, and have considered painting my kitchen cabinets in a pale grey, but keeping all the walls, ceiling and other woodwork in white. Actually I've almost finished the mini makeover on my bathroom and I've painted all the wood in white and the walls in a very pale grey. I love Farrow and Ball's Lamp Room Grey but with loads and loads of white added, so I mixed a colour to match my test piece.
    I have actually always imagined your kitchen cabinets in white Magali and I definitely suggest white for any wall units and maybe a pale colour on the bottom units, but whatever you chose will be right for you and that's all that matters.
    Enjoy the much needed rest x

    ReplyDelete
  35. I love coming to your blog, Magali.#6 is charming. That's my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Oh my I love the gray.
    Can't wait to see what you choose.
    Sherry

    ReplyDelete

It makes me so happy to read your comments! Let me know you stopped by!
J'adore lire vos commentaires. N'hésitez pas à vous joindre à cette discussion multi-lingue.