17 December 2009

You, me and the kitchen sink

Today's photos are from Vicky and Abby in Melbourne.   

My daughter and I live in Melbourne with my sister and her daughter, so we’re a household of little women! When we first started living together, there was a common idea of recycling, reusing containers, growing produce and buying produce from local farmers and generally living more environmentally and economically conscious. It wasn’t until we stumbled upon your blog that we could finally put a name to the type of lifestyle we’ve grown into. We are now proud to say we live frugally as best we can and we really enjoy discovering new ways to do this, via your blog. You really are an inspiration to us.
Anyway, I’ve sent you two photos; the first is of our kitchen dresser. This dresser is quite dear to us because for as long as I can remember it has been in our family. I assume our parents bought it sometime when we were children but I have fond memories of it, and when we were sourcing furniture for our new house, our parents offered to let us have it! This dresser sits next to our fridge, on the opposite side of the kitchen to the sink. This dresser houses most of our everyday kitchen needs, including bread, muffin and cake tins, plastic wear, drinking glasses and mugs and our everyday crockery. There’s all our organic fruit, the peaches from our garden. There’s also jars waiting to be sterilized, and what’s left of the loaf of bread I cooked this morning. There is also all our teas, which are houses in recycled jars, and a few other bits a bobs. This dresser gets used everyday and survives a lot of wear and tear from my daughter!

The second photo is of our kitchen sink area. Here is where most of my craft work is put to good use as I am thoroughly enjoying making dish cloths lately, There is one homemade dishcloth and one homemade scrubby in this photo, although there are many more. You can also a see a snap lock bag on the drain board drying out. This is one of our more daggy habits, but we just can’t justify throwing out a plastic bag that’s only had cheese, or vegetables in it for a few days. On the windowsill above the sink you can see our Earth dishwashing liquid, some hand wash (because we haven’t had time to try making your liquid soap yet), the eucalyptus and tea tree oils and our spray bottle of tea tree oil solution for general cleaning. There is also a new addition to the windowsill, a jar of pineapple vinegar, well the beginnings of it anyway. You can also see a spice rack which hold a few odd herbs as well as a couple of bits of things from the garden drying out, like lavender and a sprig of bay leaves which I found drying naturally on the bay tree. 

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little bit more about one of your readers, it’s more than pleasure to share this with you who have been such a guiding inspiration in most of the things you see in these photos.
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27 comments

  1. A lovely kitchen! Thank you for doing this series. I have been enjoying it a lot. When I'm feeling lazy, I come look at these kitchen sinks to motivate myself into washing up those few dishes so that I can stand back and enjoy my shiny sink. :)

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  2. Oh i was so excited to get your email this morning telling us that our kitchen was up today. Thank you Rhonda, and thank you for including everything i wrote, even though it may have been a little long winded haha. I was just so excited to share with you all the thing you have inspired us to do.
    Merry christmas to you too Rhonda.
    V&A

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  3. Thank you Vicky and Abby for a peek at your kitchen sink. I love your dresser, always wished I had mum's 'maid saver', it was so useful. Have a Happy Holiday.

    Rhonda wishing you a happy 'Sunday Christmas' with your family.

    Pippa

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  4. Thankyou for sharing your kitchen with us. I love the kitchen hutch.

    Now -- I'm off to clean up my kitchen.

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  5. Just love the kitchen sinks. I have been looking at mine with new eyes lately and imaging how it would appear in photos.
    Have a very happy "Sunday Christmas" Rhonda.

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  6. Vicky your dresser is lovely and it's nice to hear about all the simple and green things you are doing. The original Little Women would be proud. :)

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  7. I must say that I've come to look forward to "You, me and the kitchen sink."

    I really like this kitchen sink too, and especially like the natural blinds on the window - that always reminds me of summer.

    Thanks again, Rhonda, for hosting this series.

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  8. I must ask, what is a scrubby??? I make scourers from old orange bags. Is that similar?

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  9. Its a small knitted dishcloth which has strips of tule or something rough, like orange bags, knitted into it with the cotton. i love them because they're still absorbent but help get off tough things, and they're really quick and easy to make.

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  10. Vicki and Abbey I am a little envious of your situation, you are so lucky to have each other. It seems like a lovely setup. Good wishes to you and your families.
    Marian

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  11. Thank you for the peck into you kitchen Vicky and Abby. Rhonda Jean, I hope you have a great Christmas celebration on Sunday with your family. Emily

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  12. What a comforting kitchen, taken care of by 4 women, who are living, creating and loving in each day they are given.

    Love that dresser and that it has a history and fond memories.

    I also look forward to each kitchen shown. There is a bonding happening and it's a good thing.

    Thank you again Rhonda for starting this thread. It is a real treat.

    Have a wonderful Christmas.

    FlowerLady

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  13. You have a very pretty kitchen. I would love the thought of sharing my living arrangements with my sisters. It just sounds fun! The kitchen dresser is such a work horse, and a lovely one at that!

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  14. I am excited...I just finished my first dishcloth!!! Sorry for all the questions, does anyone know if there are any instructions on making these 'scrubbies'. Just how much tulle etc.

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  15. http://berlinswhimsy.typepad.com/berlins_whimsy/2008/05/knitted-kitchen-scrubbie-tutorial.html

    this is the tutorial i used. Happy knitting! :-)

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  16. Charming and lovely, and oh so neat.

    Shan

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  17. Your kitchen makes one being jealous. Wish mine would be that tidy and nice as well. I'm spending way too much time at the computer at the moment, because I found this great website plantthis.com.au which helps you to set up your garden nicely. I guess you would like the website too. There are quite interesting videos up there as well.
    Hope to read from you soon again!

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  18. I'm really enjoying this series! Thanks for sharing your kitchen.

    And thanks, Vicky, for posting the scrubby link.

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  19. Vicky and Abby, these are such feel good photos of your kitchen area. Thankyou for sharing with us all. Very very hot down here on the South Coast today,
    almost unbearable. The big fella has just gone out to give the magpies a drink, they are wilting to.

    Blessings Gail

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  20. Thanks for the lovely comments today everyone. Its nice to share with like mindd people who can appreciate these photos. :-)

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  21. I love the dresser! :)

    Blessings,
    Jillian

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  22. What a lovely kitchen! The sink is so clean and tidy, mine always has dishes draining on it! The dresser reminds me of one I used to have many years ago and replaced in the days when a fitted kitchen was the 'must-have' statment if you wanted to sell your house,which we did.
    Chris

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  23. I am really enjoying this segment you are so creative thanks for sharing this with us. I also get motivated when I see other's sinks.
    Thanks Rhond for all your good posts.

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  24. Can you give a recipe for the pineapple vinegar? It sound heavenly, especially to use for making salad dressing.

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  25. The pineapple vinegar was one of Rhonda's posts a while ago. If you search for pineapple vinegar on her page you'll find it, other wise scroll through the posts about three weeks ago. :-)

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  26. Great kitchen (again! yoopee!) reminding me (again too) that I should start learning to knit my own dishcloths!

    I also wash out plastic baggies and think it's economic and ecologic so don't loose this habit!!!

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