Could it be the objects in and on top of my corner cabinet? All right, the teacup/pot combination, which my daughter gave me is kitschy. There's a wine glass, also from my daughter, just barely visible in the left bottom of the picture, which you can't really see, but one might say that it's kitschy.
But I think I have found the major kitsch in my cosy kitchen. The Tabasco placemats! - the result of one of Grandpère's rare ventures into house decorating. My daughter-in-law has placemats like those in the picture, and GP insisted that he had to have those very same placemats. He wants them out on the table whether we are dining or not. That's the very table where Georgianne and I talked. I suppose the placemats jumped out at her. Kitsch all right.
Nothing wrong with a few Kitch. It's the Christian tschotcha that will do you in.
ReplyDeleteGrandmere - here in the Hamptons urban "nouveau" pay interior designers piles of money to achieve that look.
ReplyDeleteThey should take advice from you and Grandpere!
Oh Grandmere --I love Grandpere's taste in garments for the kitchen table --they are HOT!
ReplyDeleteAnd, what kitch---I didn't see any kitch.... really!
(Thanks for sharing the pics with us Grandmere!)
Elizabeth, I have a few religious tschotcha from my mother that I held on to.
ReplyDeleteRenz, my house is what it is. I doubt that I'll be doing major redecorating at my age. It's too damned much of a disruption.
You should see the little farm house where GP grew up. It's frozen in time, except for the kitchen, which we had to do over.
RR, we're available. The placemats will stay out for a while and then they'll disappear into a closet.
I love your kitchen.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe Elizabeth will sell you that Jesus bust at a discount, it will go nicely.
No, no..."kitschy" is when there isn't a bare surface in sight. Love those placemats There aren't many savories that a couple drops of tangy hot sauce won't improve.
ReplyDeleteSince I was a little hazy about the meaning of kitsch, I looked it up.
ReplyDeleteKitsch - something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste
Oh dear. Undiscriminating is us.
Hi..
ReplyDeleteYou have a warm and inviting home..it was the placemats..liked the ducks, also!
GN
GN, this is all in fun, you know. I loved what you did. Irony is my middle name, and my delightful readers play along.
ReplyDeleteHave to tell you - I winced when I saw that one in the article. LOL
ReplyDeleteWhy, I just replenished my supply of tobasco about two weeks ago. And I don't call that kitch.
And if she thinks you have kitch, I'm very glad she will never visit this house, fer sure.
:)
Heaven, your kitchen is heaven...heaven and very chic...for those who live in little sterile monochromatic nitches, well, they wouldn´t understand authentic original and good taste...btw, I´m with Lynn, I love the placemats!
ReplyDeletePersonally, Mimi, I think it's the bananas that complete the look.
ReplyDeleteI'm a color person, or I was 26 years ago when we built the house. Today, I'd probably choose a more subdued palette.
ReplyDeleteI don't go for over-decorating, as Lynn said, but through the years, that style has crept in, too, because of collecting too much stuff.
Susan, yellow bananas in a yellow bowl? A few apples in the bowl would have balanced things nicely.
Sounds like you hooked up with another Yankee not familiar with the Southern "Country Kitchen" look. If you fixed this up a quarter century back you were a trendsetter - country when country wasn't cool.
ReplyDeleteHate to tell you but "Gumbo Granny's Cozy, Kitschy, Kitchen" might just stick. We should club together to buy a sign for your kitchen door.
ReplyDeleteIf Ms Georgianne had been writing slogans for McCain/Palin, we might be anticipating a quite different outcome this coming Tuesday.
Or maybe commission an icon of you, with that sub- or super-scription, from Tobias.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I love my house, I'm jealous of your kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI've always aspired to one (seriously!) where such placemats would look right at home. Who wouldn't relish the meals served in such an atmosphere?
But would Tobias do the icon? I'd settle for nothing less. What would be in his thoughts as he wrote it?
ReplyDeleteRmj, we're even, then. I still lust after your stripped down Christmas tree. It was the model for my tree, which is a sorry attempt at copying yours and pales in comparison to the real thing.
Rmj, we're even, then. I still lust after your stripped down Christmas tree. It was the model for my tree, which is a sorry attempt at copying yours and pales in comparison to the real thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a Halloween tree right now. Festooned with plastic jack o'lanterns.
If I ever get the orange and purple lights up on it, I'll take a picture.
On the placemats: oh hell yeah!
ReplyDeleteI wants me some.
"Susan, yellow bananas in a yellow bowl? A few apples in the bowl would have balanced things nicely."
ReplyDeleteIt was a joke, Mimi.
I'm having kitsch envy here. There is no room for the kitsch in my kitchen.
Susan, it's all a joke - except when it's not a joke - if ya know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteSo where is the statue of the Infant of Prague*? THAT's kitch.
ReplyDeleteLove the décor.
And I bet there are some good meals on those placemats.
*That would be a holdover from your RC days.
So where is the statue of the Infant of Prague*?
ReplyDeleteJane, dressed in real clothes? We never went quite that far. I'm glad that you left the footnote, or I'd never have know what you were talking about.
Your kitchen might be kitch but at least YOU LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY AND NOT UNDER SOCIALISM LIKE ME. I never knew how much I suffered until those kind Republicans pointed it out to me.
ReplyDeleteI am now seriously offended!
I am impressed that you were mentioned in the Huff... where have I been?
ReplyDeleteI love your kitchen.
DP, why did I waste my efforts? I was not going to get into the hurling Bible verses back and forth game, even though I started it. Their talking points were right out of the Republican play book. Same old, same old.
ReplyDeleteYou people living under those terrible socialist governments don't half know how truly miserable you are. You could have a kitchen like mine!
Lindy, thanks. We are so fortunate here in the US.
I have thought of other decor in my house, which, if not kitsch, is neo-Victorian house of ill repute style. I'll post pictures. The inner trollop must out.
Tell me, Mimi, just between you an me.
ReplyDeleteDoes Grandpere wear Tobasco ties?
Mike, just between you and me, GP has a Tabasco tie, and he has even been known to wear it. It's a rather subdued Tabasco tie, if you can picture that.
ReplyDeleteAha! I though so.
ReplyDelete(Actually some of those Tobasco ties aren't too bad.)
I like your placemats. I do think, however, that they are not enough by themselves to bring your kitchen into the Kitch category.
I'm quite sure it is the combination of the Tobasco placemats with the duck decoys that kicked you up a notch to that very esteemed level.
Love the quote!!!
ReplyDeleteGN
Mike, here's picture of a tie like GP's. Not bad.
ReplyDeleteNot too bad at all.
ReplyDeleteDo we now have to call you GiGi?
ReplyDeleteLapin, wait until you see the pictures. There's more of it than I thought. And there is funk thrown into the mix, too.
ReplyDeleteCall me GiGi.