Outdoor Kitchens and Reality TV

I finally got home early one day. It was five o'clock and that meant I would get to watch my favorite show, The People's Court. Since I started working again, I've missed getting my half-assed TV law degree, unaccredited, of course, and wanted to see if there were any new precedents I was missing. So I watched the show, keep your dog on a leash, verbal agreements count, and don't sell a car to a minor, and then after did what most lazy people do, I stayed in bed and channel surfed. I haven't watched live TV in awhile so I was just looking to see if I was missing out. I found something called "Unusually Thicke" starring Alan Thicke and the rest of his guh-ross clan. It was so off-putting, it gave me PTSD's. Why is he so mean to his wife? You can tell even she is like, "Wait-what?!" I watched, like, five minutes and then flipped over to anything else. Which happened to be HGTV. HGTV and The Food Network both have a tendency to lull me into complacency. Their programming is so benign, I can sit and stare and not move for hours. And that is how I ended up watching House Hunters International: Nicaragua.

Thanks to Rick Bayless's brilliant show, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, I have decided to retire in Baja California, Mexico. Because gorgeous. But if you have a show with ANY Latin American country, I stop and watch like I'm gettin' paid. And here's the thing I love about Nicaragua, and more specifically Granada, they have outdoor kitchens and it's the norm! Like no one said, in a whiney American accent, "Ugh, why is the kitchen outside?!" She was all, yep, gorgeous, love the space. And I was all, Nicaragua, ehhh?

The pic above and the one below are from homes in Nicaragua. I think I found them on home rental sites. It was hard to find photos of real outdoor kitchens, mostly I found new builds, which are way boring.

Also, that episode inspired me to work on designing my outdoor kitchen. We have no air conditioning in our kitchen and in the summer it's silly to turn on the oven to heat up a pizza for 12 minutes.

Finding smaller, interesting kitchens was hard. Most of them were giant stone monstrosities with the same square footage as my house. I like this one because of the warm wood that was used.

Another tiny one with brick and a fireplace. I will always be attracted to the ones with the string lights.

Traditional Patio by Englewood Architects & Designers Godden Sudik Architects Inc

A small cement grill area with pergola. Simple and small enough for my yard.

Traditional Patio by Novato Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Derviss Design

More wood! And a tiny deck. And string lights!

Contemporary Deck by Brooklyn Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers New Eco Landscapes

This one was very much my style. Lots of color and found furniture and materials.

Modern Patio by Other Metro Photographers Marco Antunio

This outdoor kitchen is stunning! I almost didn't post it because it's quite large and requires an architects eye. But the kitchen is actually small and the mirror above the prep area is genius!

Contemporary Patio by San Francisco Architects & Designers SB Architects

So here's where we veer off course. This kitchen is so lovely, but waaaaay out of my budget. The sliding window and door would probably not be cheap. But its so incredibly creative and bright!

Contemporary Porch by Sydney Architects & Designers Danny Broe Architect

Aaaaand we're back! Purple wabi-sabi house with a tiny kitchen. This would make me so happy!

This outdoor kitchen is actually pretty close to what I want. Grill, sink, pizza oven and all in a small amount of space. And who wouldn't want that bright yellow oven?!

This one is so simple and chic, I am in love!

Another space with the sliding doors. But how amazing would that be?! To wake up on a Sunday morning and open the doors and make pancakes?!

I think this outdoor kitchen is in Spain. But I also think it's from a rental. So it's inspiring both design and travel-wise! Also, I love white appliances.

Here's another little guy, no cooking surface, but still, lovely and small and adds a lot of fancy to a backyard.

Now, one more, before I go. More sliding doors, but is that a hot tub? I love the color scheme in this one, wood and black and white, and the tiny pool. I would love something like that, small and kind of shallow for my boys to play in.

I think searching for all these pretty spaces has nearly wiped my memory of any type of gross reality show that may have tried to infiltrate my brain. And, hopefully, moving to Nicaragua will keep them away from me forever!

Pics are either from Houzz and clickable or on my Outdoor pinboard on Pinterest.

And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and I say, "Sorry, I'm not eating carbs."

Sometimes life gives you a free piano. And I am not one to turn down something that makes music. So in our tiny living room, we have a piano. And it's small-ish, for a piano. So it's not like a giant hulking piece of furniture, it actually looks quite nice. Except that it's the same color as the floor. Which makes it both blend in and loom over the rest of the living room.

People have been painting pianos lately, the chalk paint craze making everything significantly easier. I looked at color options, but since I didn't want to drive to Malibu or Glendora for a can of paint, I talked myself into the French Linen I already owned.

Here's the thing about painting anything. I am always very excited to paint. Most of my clothes have bits of paint on them because if I have to change clothes to do something, it's a sport. And I don't sport. So I started painting. I had a smallish, new brush and I just went for it. No sanding or anything, just paint. And as I finished the one tiny side and then set about taping off the keys, I realized I was about to eat an elephant. The project grew ten sizes that moment but I was too deep in to stop. So I kept going. But that moment, where I see the mountain I am about to climb, I have it every time. But it always happens too late for me to turn back.

Here is the before. It's the only pic I have. Hartwell Concerto in Aaaaaahahhahh!

When I told John I was painting the piano he said to me, "Don't get paint on the keys." He said it jokingly and I thought, "What kind of moron does he take me for?!" So I said, "Oh, I'm painting the keys green and yellow..."
To which he replied, rather incredulously, "YOU CAN'T PAINT PIANO KEYS!"

And then I laughed and said, "You think I am soooo dumb..."

That conversation doesn't quite play out in print as it did in real life. I thought it was hilarious and it's become my favorite thing.

Here's the after, with unpainted keys. Keys that are begging for photoshop.

Noon in the Garden of Good and Chervil*

It's been awhile! I get busy. And sometimes I even worry that what I type is dumb so I type nothing...And that's, like, the worst!
Here are some pics of my tiny garden. John and I spent the last two weekends working on it together. Planting a salad garden and filling in the succulent garden. And finding containers...

I had to make a little mini raised bed out of bricks to house some herbs. And rearrange a lot of stuff so it didn't look crazy.

And here is a collection of random containers I've used in my garden. If they have no holes in the bottom, I fill it half full of rocks, then dirt. That seems to help...

And because the back of our yard is a chain link fence, I have very few photos of the vegetable garden. I have one. And I wasn't even aiming at the garden.

In the pic you can see the marigolds around the tomatoes and maybe even some kale and lettuce? But mostly MeowMeow, who does not enjoy gardening. She does help keep the garden pest free, so there's that...

*Also, to be entirely honest, there is no chervil in this garden...