The English Maximalista

For the past ten months, we have been living with some slices of bare wall in our kitchen. 

Do you have any idea what the sight of naked drywall does to my psyche? *shudder* Let’s just say that it has been driving me bloody bonkers.

“Why did you leave it bare, English Maximalista?” I hear you ask. The answer to that is simple, gentle reader: it’s because Mr Maximalista and I could not agree on back-splashage, which had the trickle-down effect of not being able to finish the decorating… 

We think we want tiles, just not sure what kind. Then again, maybe we want granite slabs to clad the walls… WE JUST CANNOT DECIDE!!

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Long story short, this week, I finally got around to kinda-sorta pulling half the trigger.

And this was all thanks to my youngest step-daughter, the one who lives in NYC. Several weeks ago, she shared some pictures on our family text thread of the stick-on subway tiles she had used in her kitchen. (She rents a flat with a couple of friends.) Result was, her kitchen looked gorgeous!

Anyway, her stick-on tiles got me to thinking. Maybe I would look into those, as a temporary solution in order to get my own kitchen looking more “finished”?

Next thing we knew, thanks to good old Mr Amazon Prime, a box of stick-on tiles magically arrived on my doorstep. And less than three hours later, I was sitting back, enjoying how sophisticated my kitchen was looking.

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In the meantime, I had already put up the wallpaper. And what a relief that was. 

We started out with three rolls of Hoopoe Leaves by my beloved Cole and Son, who are purveyors of wallpaper to none other than King Charles III himself. Good enough for me! 

I put up one roll… LAST YEAR (!), which is when the stalling began. The two remaining rolls have been knocking about the house since then. Taunting me.

It was worth the wait.

Mr M and I absolutely LOVE the result. It looks so much cozier in here, now. The black “glass” tiles add a surprising element of sophistication.

The only thing left to do is install the new oven hood, and then my middle-class kitchen nightmare will be over. Here is a video I took this morning, giving you the grand 2-minute tour:

Who knows, maybe having this marvelous-looking kitchen will induce me to do a bit more cooking?

Maybe not.

Lots of love,

M xo