Kitschy Kitchen

I'm often adding "kitsh" to the kitchen but a few of the newest additions have been under some harsh scrutiny.

The first oddity was a divine silver bell I found at Marshall's. (I HEART Marshall's. Like carve our initial in a tree, matching BFF heart necklace wearing love.) Of course the E in Bellom wasn't as overjoyed with this find as I was, Llom couldn't care less. For a measly $14.99 she was mine. It wasn't until a few days later that I saw I was not the only one crazy for the clank of that beautiful bell when I saw a post on The Lettered Cottage about said bell and another doubtful husband. This only confirmed my suspicion that Layla and I are long lost sisters. (Isn't that what all internet stalkers say though?) You can ring, er see, Layla's bell here. Be warned, it's amazing!

The bell to me is just a lovely chunk of eye candy but it does work and I have tried to train L & O to come back in from frolicing in the yard at the sound of it's ear splitting clang to no avail. So to prevent the heat, the fuzz, the 5-O from being called due to excessive bell ringing it is just for looks.

See the bell to the right of the door?

You may also notice the new pendant lamp in the above picture. It has gotten some really negative reviews. I posted pictures of it on Woofboard (a Boston Terrier forum) and out of 30 or so comments only 2-3 were positive. One woman even said it looked like a hampster cage. I've never seen such a divine hampster cage.

I will say at first I wasn't over the moon with it but you have to live with a change for awhile to know for sure if it's love or hate. It's funny, but seeing these pictures made me fall in love with it. What is it you may ask? It's a vintage locker basket and a reproduction vintage light bulb. I removed the yawn inducing builders grade frosted glass (gag) shade and used the existing hardware. I fashioned a hole in the basket and walllllll-laaaaa!

I love the glow from the reproduction vintage lightbulb and the stainless look of the basket picks up the metal of the bell and the sink. I love it, no, I LURVE it and honestly, I don't give a pickle about what anyone else thinks. Decorating, just like life, is about doing what you love and I love it!

Here's a close up.

Another "oddity" I found was one of my childhood (ok, adulthood as well) obessions; Mary Poppins. I was blog surfing one day and stumbled upon a post where a woman found a Mary Poppins spoon at Goodwill. Now, I have found some fantastical things at Goodwill but never a Mary Poppins spoon, what's a girl to do? Yep, check Ebay! I found one and within two days it was mine. Now that I had it I was a bit perplexed about what to do with it.

Put in a magnificent vintage cup? Display in the cabinet in the kitchen? I just knew I wanted it to be seen. I decided to frame it. I found a black $2.00 frame at Joann fabrics and primed and painted it white, used some left over scrapbook paper as a background and some glue and ta....da.....

So what kitchy, marvelous, or not so great things have you done to your kitchen?

UPDATE: I sent pictures of the shade transformation to Young House Love and got a response email from Sherry. Seriously, this to me is like meeting a celeb! I about piddled down my leg when I got the email and I plan on printing it out and framing it, seriously.