Modern Country Hallway

This picture is so Modern Country. I love it. If you look beyond the details, it is possible to notice that the staircase is rather dated, the walls aren't smooth and are those plasterboard lines on the ceiling?

But you don't see that, do you? You see the Modern Country STYLE:

the mix of photos, cohered by the black frames and consistently black and white photography;

 the industrial vintage touch of the casually-placed printing block;

a tight colour palette:  black, white and the hint of gentle winter-seas on the tongue and groove door;

the use of the scrolled  metal on the mirror brings a little softness, making this hallway firmly Country....

Scrumdiddlyumptious.

image via Ideal Home

Modern Country Kitchen: shelf reveal

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to our completed kitchen shelves. Please try to avert your peeping eyes from the gorgeous paint colour changes....more on that to come! Never let it be said I don't spoil you. ;-)

Take a peek at the 'before' photo below. Do you see that corner with the ugly old boiler? That's the space I was working with for this project. What a huuuuuuuuge waste of potential, as well as a humungous eyesore.

We had the boiler moved upstairs to the bathroom airing cupboard. Then our lovely carpenter came and installed three beech shelves and upstands to match the existing beech worktops.

I've so enjoyed toying with ideas of how to fill this whole space. So, so, soooooooooooo enjoyed it. I loved the whole process. Loved, loved, L.O.V.E.D.....Should that go here?.............Can I fit that in there?.......................I'm not sure about those.............Aaaah, now that's more like it!!

Here's the shelf-by-shelf lowdown. Take it from the top......

And in second place...........

And, last but not least, the bottom shelf........

And, now, a serious moment, if you please. Here, revealed for the first time just for you, is the whole gamut of shelvery (that *so* should be a word):

To be honest, I couldn't really help but improve on the monstrosity that was there before but I really am glad we bit the bullet and got the boiler moved. It was an expense but soooo worth it! Look at all the space we've gained!


I've got lots of my favourite kitchen pieces out on show now, as well as practical items easily to hand. No more fishing around in the back of cupboards for the flour/sugar/ rice (not that my kitchen cupboards are anything but the epitome of organisation, you understand....).

This post is linked to:

Bottom shelf and Nigella......

I know I've plodded through showing you the shelves rather slowly. But that's not an apology, rather, I've done it purposefully. I have a tendency to race through the posts relating to showing rooms. I just get so excited and want to reveal everything all at once. Slow down, Mrs Modern Country. This time round, I'm determined to take the pace slower. 'm hoping your liking sseeing our kitchen gently unfold.

So......now it's time for the bottom shelf to have its time in the spotlight. It's been patiently biding its time.


First up is this platter is from Dibor. Do you remember me mentioning Dibor in an earlier post? It's where I got my top shelf large mugs from. They sell gorgeous French goodies by Mail Order in the UK. Definitely to be checked out if you haven't been there before. You're in for a treat.

It's hand-finished. I love it so much! If we're having some kind of help-yourself meal, then I lay out food on here. Ooooh, so yummy.

It looked a bit odd all on its own there so I put these four jugs in front. Two of them are made by Denby in their Greenwich style. They're such a beautiful colour. A subtle glaucous glaze.

I got this patterned jug from a little ceramics company exhibiting at the Country Living Fair. I love it's gentle monochrome roses, with a toile de jouy feel.




The last jug was a present from my mother (along with some lovely flowers.). It's plain and elegant all at once. Just what I like.

Lastly, is my stash of favourite recipe books.


Yes, you are seeing rightly. You're eyes do not deceive you. I have my very own Nigella shrine in the corner of my kitchen. I thought we all do? What do you mean it's just me?

Seriously, what's not to love about her scrummy recipes? Aaaaah.

Nigella, Modern Country Style salutes you.

Jars, jars and more jars.....

Thank you so much for your lovely comments yesterday. They really meant a lot to me. It was a hard day for me and I greatly appreciated the warmth I felt from readers who have never even met me. So kind. Thank you.

When we last spoke about the shelves. This is how I left you. The top shelf was finished (aaaaah) but the two below looked rather empty.

This is how I've been getting on.


I love the idea of having kitchen staples: pasta, rice, flour, sugar, easily to hand and on display in attractive containers, conjuring up an old-fashioned picture of homemade chutneys and scrumptious preserves, made using carefully-harvested ingredients, lining the shelves. Doesn't even the thought of it make your mouth water? I am drooling even as I type the words. That's what I wanted for our kitchen.


A while ago, my mother gave me two old glass jars, which have cork stoppers. Having things from my mother's kitchen makes my own feel so much more homely to me. When I look at the things I have that have been handed down, I can remember all the (many, many) times I would come home from school to find her standing by the stove, delicious smells through the house, stirring and preparing for our tea. To my eternal shame, I took having a wonderful meal set before me each night completely for granted, as I'm sure my children do now.

But isn't one of the wonderful things about having a happy childhood, being able to take your parents' love for granted? Feeling they will always be there, even though,with age, you slowly come to realise that, of course, they won't.


Yes, I'm still feeling a wee bit melancholy about my own children going off to school. How could you tell? :-)


These lovely glass vessels of my mother's were my starting point for this shelf. I bought Kilner jars, which were traditionally used for jam-making, to stand alongside. I wanted some variety but not complete visual chaos on the shelves so went for several matching jars (also buying three spares....pessimistic, moi?! Having spares definitely makes for a more harmonious family life!).


I added an old crock pot that I bought from a school fair years ago.




All the pots and jars are of a similar heights so I was able to have the shelf built with them in mind. I love the mix on this middle shelf of old and new. Even the new Kilner jars contain echoes of the past. Oooh, lovely!

Who knew shelf-stacking could be so much fun?!

I have two exciting bits of news before I get going on the kitchen in a sec.

The first is that my Homemade Snuggly cushion made from a woollen cardigan was featured last Friday on the brilliant, the wonderful, the amazing A Brooklyn Limestone in Progress by Mrs Limestone herself, who I think of as the queen of interior blogs. Waaaaaah. I was beside myself with excitement, dancing with glee.....seriously! If you want to see Mrs Limestone's post, why don't you click on down to her fabulous site?

If, on the other hand, you'd like see my tutorial, then get clicking here to see some woolly magic turning this cardigan...........

........into this cushion. You really don't need to be a pro for great results. Do please let me know if you've had a go. I'd love to hear all about how you got on. Except for if it turns out better than mine. Only joking. ;-)

My second bit of exciting news is that I have twenty-five Followers! Yay! Well, that bit is exciting to me, anyway! Again, more dancing with glee. I've doing a lot of dancing these past few days, as I'm sure you can imagine!

Along with the dancing and the being beside myself with excitement , I've been arranging shelves in the kitchen,which has bee a very enjoyable task. Remember how they were when Mr Carpenter had been?

All lovely but so very, very bare. They needed some Modern Country Style injected, don't you think? Now, the top shelf, especially, needed my thinking cap on because it was such an awkward space. Part of the chimney breast sticks out over it and the other half, where the ugly old boiler used to dominate, has quite a high space to fill. My mission, which I eagerly chose to accept, was to find beautiful things that would sit alongside each other without drawing the eye to the awkwardness of the room.

That tall space was particularly irksome.........until ......... I found this gorgeous glass urn vase. The colour of the dull sea-grey glass picks up on the Farrow and Ball Blue Grey fantastically. I'm really pleased with it. It's height, its lovely shape. Gorgeous. Ta-daaaaaaaa:


The low part of the top shelf was begging to be filled with these lovely big mugs. They are by Cote Table (with a circumflexand an acute but I don't know you do thoseon here....), a French company but are available from Dibor in the UK. I love them for a nice warming cup of hot chocolate, or a tasty winter soup. They're a really nice design to snuggle with, both hands clasped around the chunky bowl.


Aren't they lush? I think they're top shelf material, don't you? ;-)

Rat tail cutlery

Having young children is a major hazard of my Modern Country world.

That's not to say that I don't utterly adore them but I have three words for you: silver, cutlery and bin.

Yes, I did cry.

When Mr Modern Country and I got married, we were given a set of beautiful silver-plated rat tail cutlery. The 'rat tail' refers to the raised line that is on the back of the heads of the spoons and forks.

I know some people save their best cutlery for...ummm...best. Call me a fool, if you will, but I've always wanted to use ours everyday.


When I was young, my parents had a cabinet full of their best things that never got used (or never when I was around anyway!!) and I always vowed that when I was a grown -up, I'd always keep my loveliest possessions in constant use, for better or worse!

Fast forward eleven years, four children later, and my romantic notions have come back to haunt me!

Our youngest two, who are twins, have, as their house job, the lovely task of clearing the table after tea. They are overseen by yours truly but the job is basically theirs to do. However, I have noticed, since they started this chore, that some of our lovely silver-plated rat tail cutlery has gone missing. Hmmmm. I think they went the way of empty yogurt pots and leftovers. In the bin! Aaaargh! I hope the refuse collectors were pleased!


So, that's the sad news! The happy news is that I've found a fabulous replacement source. Last week, I ordered lots more (remember we have added four extra people to our family since we were given the originals). I'm so, so pleased with them! They are shiny and lovely and beautiful.

And the best part is that they were so much cheaper than our originals because they were from an antiques shop, rather than John Lewis. I was starting to wonder if I was being a bit foolish allowing the children to handle such expensive things everyday, if those things were going to go the way of the others (goodbye Mr Serving Spoon....) but this is a perfect, perfect solution. Hurrah!

Vintage postcards....

Thank you to my lovely new followers! If you'd like to follow Modern Country Style, the super-shiny brand new 'Follow' button is on the sidebar to your right. See it? It just needs a teeny click and you're there!

When I was a little girl, an old lady I used to visit once a week called Mrs Exeter gave me a pile of old letters and postcards. At the time, I thought it was rather a boring present (yes, I am ashamed I ever thought such a thing...) but now I love them! They're not just any old postcards. They are correspondence from 1930s England between my friend and her godson Gordon.

They've been sitting around stored away and I had all but forgotten about them in the hustle and bustle of every day life. Then last week, they suddenly popped into to my mind and set me a-wondering what I could do with them. It seemed such a shame to just have them stashed away. I wanted them, or at least some of them, to be on display. But how to do it?

I found two picture frames that I really loved. I'd bought them a while ago but hadn't yet used them. Do you buy the frames before you've decided how to use them or buy as you need them?

I find if I buy when I need them then I can't always find what I'm looking for. So, if I see a picture frame I particularly like then I often buy it and look out for how I can use it. I will, of course, have to stop this frame-buying fetish sooner or later, otherwise our house will be filled top-to-botttom with picture frames!

They're slightly distressed off-white wooden frames. One is slightly larger than the other, which I like. Adding interest and all that.

I picked out two letters that I liked the colours of especially (no orange stamps for me!!!).


One has a lovely old red stamp and slightly yellowed paper. Aaaah! So gorgeous. Really and truly vintage.

The other is the envelope from a letter in a gorgeous grey-green-blue colour (as you will know, my favourite ever colour, in its many guises).

Then it was just a matter of popping them in the frames. The envelope did need trimming slightlyto fit, which I feel terribly guilty about. But, I decided it was better to be cut and out, than hidden away in a box, so I got scissor-happy....

And putting them out on our console table in our living room, which was looking a little bare.

I'm so pleased with this project! What do you think? Do you like them?

What would you have done with a box of old letters? Ideas on a postcard!! (hoho)....or, much easier, you can leave a comment below....

Well, it's Friday again, which means a lovely weekend ahead! I hope you have a smashing time, whatever you do, enjoying the last of the summer days.