Here is what has been happening at Maisonvogue

  Here is what has been happening at Maisonvogue 

It's been a long hot summer here in Alabama ....we have had massive heat most days getting near to 100ºf sometimes higher and most days drenching downpours from the angry thunderstorms ..their gargantuan winds bending the mighty 70 foot Carolina Spruces in half making them look like they are submissive to the storm's ..then as quickly as they came they have gone leaving behind a welcoming cooler air and fresh bright green grass and happy flowers dancing in the remnants of the wind 

Because of the weather and being unable to enjoy the outside as the searing heat does not allow you to sit out and enjoy the efforts I have put in to making the garden look so pretty ..
I decided it was time to do a much needed project in the cool of the air conditioning 
So here I am midway to making the kitchen fresh and new and exciting to be in ...I was tired of the decoration of 16 years ..it was tired, old and dated ...as seen above it was very country and my painstakingly hand painted grape vines were to be no more 

So I got some Kilz Paint , a stain blocker and painted it over my vine ..I also have vines above the laundry doors ..now it is ready for the new paint to go on
If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will, needless to say, know that I just love French Country ..but to refresh our kitchen I have decided to enter in to the unknown realms of FRENCH INDUSTRIAL 
So I will keep my French but I am going to Shabby Chic it in an Industrial way ...that is the plan anyway ..I hope I don't sway too much back to the French Shabby Country again 
I started it with the new light fixture ...no longer the big chandelier that was so impossible to clean properly without committing to a huge effort and at least a half an hour of my precious time mainly up a step ladder 
The majority of all of my fussy Country wall hangings are going to be gone to make way for an Industrial wall hanging that I am working on at the moment involving old, very rusty tin roof tiles ...watch this space !!!
Yes I am excited about it and it's going to be the only one in the World a Maisonvogue invention 
Yes I am a tease ...ha! ha! 

I have also been taming the Jungle of flowers on the back deck ...with the Alabama thunderstorms each day it had turned in to an unsightly Jungle mass so I have worked on it and tamed it a little 
A lovely feast for the eyes  to wake up to on a continuously , almost promised, yet again super sunny Alabama morning

I just LOVE my super sunny Black Eyed Susan's ...they never let me down and you can just pull up some and replant them in a lovely sunny spot and soon you will have another large display of golden joy 

They love to be cut and come inside in the cool of the house to say 'good morning' to me each day 

The Rose of Sharon trees are suffering in this endless unforgiving sun ...I try every day to put them out of their suffering but am failing miserably ...I think come Autumn time they will have to be repotted in to larger pots or found a lovely sunny permanent place in the garden ...
The Humming Birds and Bees love them 

So here is the start of the Kitchen transformation ...we will be carrying on again this weekend with Danny kindly doing the area's I can no longer reach due to my surgery last year 
I LOVE the grey but I also really loved the old yellow so we have decided to keep some of the wall area the old yellow ...it's in perfect condition and as you can see in the photo below marries wonderfully with the new bold grey 

We are also going to go boldly where we have never been before and together will attempt , no succeed, in putting in a new modern wooden floor ...I am too excited for words to have a new floor ...I have wanted and disliked my present kitchen flooring for many years ....
Lots of hard work ahead but slowly and surely the new gently French Industrial will emerge

Enjoying the Alabama weather with it's high temperatures, 100% humidity and afternoon monsoons are these lovely sunflowers ....I planted them from seed and they are slightly different to normal sunflowers as you can see ....they have a brown fluffy centre ....I just LOVE them 

Black Eyed Susan's and my first picking of my Lime Light Hydrangea's that we planted last Autumn ...I am thrilled with the bush, it's grown enormously in it's first year ...peeking out of the yellow are some of my pink Cone Daisies ...these also never let me down ..popping up every year in increasing numbers 

Thanks for popping in and checking on what is going on with Maisonvogue 

I will keep you informed as to what is happening with our kitchen transformation

It's going to be a slow process as I can't work for long periods using my arms and shoulders any longer but we will get there 

Do you have a special project that you are either doing or going to do ??

Happy Days to you all

Janet