blue in the kitchen

Blue in the kitchen could go forever. Seriously I only just recently got some placemats that were not blue, after having friends around for dinner and struggling to set the table in a way not to cause a serious case of 'retinal colour exhaustion'. We had blue placemats, blue dinner plates, blue salad servers, white bowls with blue stripes, it all looked very un-appetising. But I've got it sorted now, the ridiculous blue saturation has calmed right down now, we can eat safely without smurf-like flashbacks. The new table setting (with only blue accents) features these great stenciled tin napkin rings, from Ikea believe it or not.

Apart from the blue tin I posted last week, the kitchen "blue tour" features plates, bowls, and a complete tea-set in this amazing Lotte design from the 70's. I was lucky enough to be left it by a flatmate who moved overseas, (she left me loads of stuff from her glory box). She never liked them, I love them. It's a pity we don't have a quicktime VR thingo going, otherwise you'd be able to see the cute man on the other side of the sugar bowl with a moustache and checkered pants.

Finally we come to the finale of the blue tour with these blue painted tiles all the way from Portugal. These were a very touristy souvenir purchase on my behalf, but something I wouldn't have left the country without. I made sure each one had washing hanging in it somewhere; seeing washing hanging in the most inventive and unexpected places was something about Lisbon that I found completely charming.
One of my funniest memories was turning a corner in a small cobbled street to come face to face (or pant) with a makeshift line hung across the footpath at head height. The line had a modest load of intimates hung out to dry - giant white undies, hankies and socks.

Consider these mini tiles a nifty segway to the real thing. Soon to follow...