Kitchen Part 1 - The Floor

The heat is unbearable outside in the real world, so what better excuse than to get on with the new kitchen at Daviot House.  I say new, but we're aiming for the 1920s here, and in an old stable block too, so a little bit shabby.  I can't believe that I had originally thought it a good idea to exclude a kitchen.  I am having so much fun with this room, and the opporunities for accessorizing it are endless!

Of course, in this heat we decided to redecorate our RL living room... great idea!  But I did manage to collect a lot of sample paint pots, and claimed the rejects for Daviot House supplies.  The paint colour here is Farrow and Ball's Pale Powder, which in my RL living room looked a horrible, wan shade of green, but on this scale has turned out to be slightly blue-ish.  So not a compete waste of a tester pot! 

I painted the ceiling an off white and installed some small beams... just like in my RL kitchen. They'll be great to hang herbs from.  Then I made a back wall to house the larder and aga.  I bought this stove ages ago on Etsy and instantly hated the colour and chunkiness, but I couldn't find anything I liked better.  The right hand wall will have a fake door connecting the kitchen with the rest of Daviot House.  It is becoming quite a sprawling property!

Now for the floor.  I wanted terracotta tiles, and so used my go-to material, DAS clay.  I'm thinking of taking out shares in the company, or maybe they could sponsor Daviot House.  I use a lot, because I think it gives the best and easiest effect. 

 Here I rolled out a very thin layer of terracotta clay, and then scored the tiles with the edge of a metal metre ruler.  I had tried making the tiles individually, but without a mould the sizes ended up too varied.  I then discoloured them with several washes of water colour paint to get that individual tile look, and then sealed them with a coat of mod podge.

For all the real life DIY going on, I sadly had no grout to hand, and had to think of things I had that could work.  I used a thick mix of plaster that I have been using for moulding (for another room...) smearing it into the grooves and then instantly wiping it off.  Just like grouting, except it was trickier to get off (and messier), and the plaster did smear over all the tiles.

Not to worry, I just gave the whole lot another few washes of dirty watercolour paint, and again sealed it with modpodge.  I think the excess plaster actually gave an interesting texture, and aged the tiles more.

I love the warm baked colour of the tiles, and I think it goes well with the green/blue/green/grey/green of the walls!  The tiles are nice and uneven, as if they have been well worn over the years by busy feet, and stained here and there by a few cooking accidents!

Next, the larder....

I added a little transom at the top for some interest, and there is a light gidden at the top...  the shelves were made very basically from lolly sitcks, and painted a few times ...  now all I have to do is to fill them up with things!

Next up, wall tiles, stone work and a kitchen sink....!

Jonquil