So I was hoping to share the final worktops this week on the blog but alas, we didn’t get quite as far on them as we’d hoped. All the pieces are now cut to size and sort of just ‘resting’ on the cupboards but we still need to do all the joining work so that’ll be next weekend now. We managed to paint the end panels, however we hit a bit of a snag there which I’ll share with you soon – it’s nothing detrimental, it’ll just take a little longer than planned!

white kitchen with gold sink and tap and wood blinds

Oh and you’ll notice, due to my incredible impatience, I decided to swap out the handles to my new ones despite the fact the cupboards aren’t painted yet. It’s a sickness,Β I tell ya.

Speaking of sicknesses, I can’t stop shopping for the kitchen. In preparation for the new and improved space,Β I’ve kinda been hitting my Paypal account hard (seriously, I need to slow down now) but shopping for the kitchen is just way too fun.

The thing is, I firmly believe that even the most mundane things can still be pretty or to borrow Marie Kondo’s phrase, ‘spark joy’. No, I haven’t read the book but I like the idea of being sure the things I surround myself with are useful and pretty but it’s even better when they are both.

So I already shared with you the pretty gold dish drainerΒ (Β£29) that I got to coordinate with the new gold sink. I used to have a rather ugly silver drainerΒ which, yes, was totally practical but not exactly inspiring, ya know?

gold dish drainer

I know that so many people said the gold sink was far too pretty to do dishes in but the truth is, I actually quite ENJOY doing them these days. I know, I know, that’s weird. But still. It gives me an excuse to go over and ogle my sink without anyone thinking I’ve actually gone off the deep end. (You understand, though, right? I knew you would.)

gold sink and tap in white kitchen

To add to that, I decided to upgrade the usual ‘Fairy Liquid’ bottle of washing up liquid that used to hide under my cupboards. I recently purchased a set of Meraki dish soap (Β£10) and hand washΒ (Β£17) from Trouva that use all natural ingredients and smell absolutely gorgeous. I love having pretty bottles by the sink and the fact they use natural ingredients makes my hands (and the environment) a lot happier as well.

Meraki dish washing soap and hand soap

I’d been eyeing up this fabulous brassΒ pepper mill (Β£45)Β for absolutely ages but when our cheap and cheerful plastic one finally bit the (pepper) dust recently, I decided to just go for it. It wasn’t cheap, clearly, but my goodness, is it beautiful. It also works incredibly well (at the price, you’d kind of expect it to, let’s be honest here) and is so much heavier than you’d think. But I adore it and it makes making dinner just a little more special too with the very satisfying ‘crunch’ of a flourish of pepper.

brass pepper grinder and hand forged bottle opener

I also found this fabulous hand forgedΒ gold bottle opener (Β£8). I’ve been looking for a gold one to replace my old silverΒ one so I could hang it from the rails in my kitchen alongside my other gold utensils. This fit the bill nicely and it has a wonderful hand-made quality that I love.

open shelving with gold pepper grinder

If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don’t, what are you waiting for?), you may have seen my recent post sharing a new set of dishes and mugs I recently purchased from H&M. Black and white animal print mugsΒ (Β£7 each) and plates with gold trim (Β£7 each)Β and some small side plates (Β£5 each) with the cutest hand-drawn leopards. There was just no way I was going to pass these up. I MEAN LOOK AT THEM.

black and white leopard print mugs and plates with gold trim from H&M Home

I adore the little message inside the mugs!

black and white leopard print mugs and plates with gold trim from H&M Home

My little ‘message center’ in the corner got a little upgrade as well. I used to just throw any old ugly pen and pencil here just for convenience sake but I suppose the ‘back to school’ vibe is getting to me too. So I purchased a new planner as well as a few new sets of pretty pencilsΒ (Β£3) and pensΒ (Β£7) from Fox & Star and chucked out the old, broken, dried up pens that used to reside here. The pretty patterns look lovely peeking out from a glass mug I’ve had for a few years.

kitchen message station

If you’re wondering, no, that’s not Meisha on the calendar there! Ha! But I do love bengal kitties.

And lastly, we had boringΒ white Ikea box that used to live on top of the microwave. Wayne used to leave all the dog paraphernalia all over the worktops being the chief ‘dog walker’ in our house and it used to do my head in. So in a moment of frustration, I threw everything into the box and shoved it on top of the microwave simply to get it out of the way. Wayne liked that it was convenient for him to grab the lead, doggy poop bags, etc when he took Quito out and I liked that I didn’t have to look at the lead or doggy poop bags on my countertops ;)

white kitchen with gold accents

However, I really never particularly cared for the box and it was starting to get a bit ratty. I decided to replace it with this beautiful jute basketΒ (Β£20) that I’m quite happy to leave out now. And it fits all sorts of things including a dog towel, some of his toys and chewies as well as the lead and doggy poop bags! (How many times can I say ‘doggy poop bags’ in one post before people start finding this post when searching for them on Google? Hmm.)

And on that note (doggy poop bags FTW), that’s essentially my ‘kitchen haul’ for the day (or week or perhaps month, seriously, I need to stop it now). Have you bought any entirely practical items lately that were also pretty darn gorgeous as well? Any favourites of the things I’ve purchased? Where do you put your doggy poop bags? The comment box awaits.

 


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