VIKTOR DONOVAN: A SWEDISH KITCHEN

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A SWEDISH KITCHEN - DOING IT MY WAY

My creative American grandmother Olga loved going to flea markets (as I do now) long before it was fashionable. She inspired me to paint Swedish Folk Art. My kitchen is an expression of all this.

The round painting on the wall depicts the Swedish King, a popular subject for the primitive painters.

I used the painting on my kitchen wall to make trays like this one. It is smaller than the original painting, but on the other hand, one can serve food on it and put it in the dishwasher.
See more about my trays here.

By Randy Schneider of California ca 1974. It fits in very nicely.

I kept the old cabinet frames that were made of solid pine, left some shelves open and made new doors.

This used to be a toolbox before I decorated it. Now it is a perfect place for napkins

This IKEA center working table contains an amazing amount of pots and pans on the lower shelf.
The cabinets under the sink are new.

The East india Company blue china goes well with the Swedish "Dala"blue (some call it Baltic Blue)

I wish I had room for this in the kitchen. It is an old fashioned food container that I finished decorating recently.

I never met an old beater I did not buy. Mostly decorative of course, but what comfort to be able to whip cream during a power shortage.

6 comments:

rikeMay 17, 2012 at 1:04 AM
such a beautiful and cozy room ... so much to discover! i'm sure it's fun to cook there between all those nice things.

rike
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lauraMay 17, 2012 at 8:10 AM
stunning!
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NickAugust 26, 2012 at 12:20 AM
Ah, that beautiful, imaginative kitchen, so full of intriguing objects! I wish I were there now.
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LinaJanuary 14, 2013 at 1:12 PM
This is too good to be true. I would love to have a kitchen like that. I am swedish by the way. Could you tell me some good stores, or is it mostly flee markets and auctions?
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Leif SodergrenJanuary 16, 2013 at 4:28 AM
Glad you like the kitchen.
Most things are from flea markets and auctions, you are right.
I know some people would have torn out all the old cabinets and put in new ones, but the old cabinets were of solid pine and hand built in place, so why gets rid of such fine stuff? There are new cabinets under the sink of course, but they blend in well. I suppose this kitchen is a minimalists nightmare, but I am not a minimalist but a happy collector. if one does not want to collect physically, one can collect images on Pinterest (see top right what I have collected).
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NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

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Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

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A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

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