Welcome to my new kitchen! If you follow me on Instagram (@grainlinestudio) you already know that I’ve been doing a lot of home sewing since I’ve moved into my apartment and finally I’ve finished it all up and it’s time to share. One thing I owned prior to moving was this kitchen table, which you all know as my old studio table. It feels SO nice to have it back to serving the purpose for which I bought it. It’s not a huge table and I’m not really a placemat person but I wanted something to protect it from drinks and the occasional hot thing I may want to place on it so I made this little table mat.
It’s lined with insulated batting to protect from heat and has a nice denim backing as well as binding. You guys know how I love denim…well get ready because its running rampant in my place, ha! I got really into this Alexander Henry flower print at work and thought it would be perfect for kitchen things, and it was. You’ll see…
My apartment has a lot of what we’re going to call quirks, but which are actually oddities caused by people doing construction who probably had no business doing construction. One of these is this really odd non-functional slatted door placed on one wall to vent the heating closet to bring it up to code. Most people would just put a vent in the bottom of the door to the room but I guess this seemed easier, though we’re not sure how. It made for a huge amount of wasted space so my dad built these shelves for me. I think they turned out awesome and give me plenty of room for my tea, plants, and other things I’ve collected.
My dad also built these little shelves to go across the upper part of my window for more plants. You may recall that my last apartment had literally no direct sunlight and very little indirect sunlight either. I always tried to grow plants there but they’ve never been able to survive so when I got this super bright, sunny apartment I wanted to definitely have as many plants as I could! This is the perfect solution because not only do they get their sun, it looks cute and Roamy can’t get up there for a plant snack. That cat is almost always up to no good…unless she’s sleeping.
Again with that fabric I made a slew of coasters. While I may not be into placemats, I am really into coasters. I do not like water rings on my stuff! These were pretty basic – cut squares, sandwich with batting, sew together – but they do the trick and I think they look pretty cute.
Last but not least we have this oven mitt and potholders made from more of the same line of fabric. I have really small hands, like child size, so I like to make my own oven mitts. This one is one layer of quilt fabric with insulated batting and canvas on the inside. The potholders are basically the same as the coasters but giant and of course, they’re backed with denim! One trick pony here my friends. That’s it for the kitchen, plenty more home projects to come though…watch out, I’ve been busy!
Inès
you did great job my dear! i love the way kitchen has been decorated!
xo
Visit me if you have some time here: Dear Inès
🙂
jen | grainline
Thank you!
Jen
your place is looking so cute! can’t wait to see more.
jen | grainline
Thanks lady!
ZoSews
Looks awesome, i’m jealous. In the last photo, is that ‘giant stick’ on the wall a bottle opener? It’s fabulous!
jen | grainline
Thanks! The “giant stick” is a deer antler bottle opener a friend gave me a year or so ago. Pretty sure it’s from Anthropologie
Quinn
Your new apartment looks lovely – congratulations! Natural light is necessary for my peace of mind, I think. Your oven mitt makes me wonder why I never thought of making some – the massive storebought ones always feels like boxing gloves to me.
jen | grainline
Haha, I totally agree on the boxing gloves feeling, they’re SO HUGE! I’m such a happier person with natural light and a back porch it’s crazy!
poppykettle
Now that is a space to inspire even me to cook. Love it 🙂
jen | grainline
Thanks!
lisa g
love the giant table mat! that’s a great idea. all the pieces you made are so cute!
jen | grainline
Thanks! I’d definitely recommend a giant table mat to anyone considering, so handy!
Ruth
Wow! Awesome!
christine haynes
Looks lovely Jen! I’m glad you found a happy spot 🙂
jen | grainline
Thanks lady!
Sarah
Very smart. I love the prints with the denim!
jen | grainline
denim <3 4 eva!
eviv
excellent work!
anna
oh wow!!! I love those projects, and your kitchen honestly looks amazing! beautiful choices. 🙂
jen | grainline
Thank you! It was a lot of work but it was definitely worth it!
Lindsay
What a great table runner, I really like the denim/navy, orange and grey colour combination. I damaged my wood table with a teapot so I just might make an insulated topper too. Thanks for the idea.
jen | grainline
I’d definitely recommend it, it’s been super useful so far! I used Insul-Brite as my batting, if you can find that it works well.
Gillian
Wow, Jen! I can’t believe you’ve got in looking so lovely and peaceful so fast! I love the pint you chose, and all your peaceful little plants… I hope you get to take a day off soon just to relax and enjoy your new space!
jen | grainline
Ha, neither can I! The trick to unpacking and setting up a new place fast is to email all your friends with the date of a housewarming party, haha! I just quit one of my many jobs so I’m looking forward to doing more working from home and spending a bit more time there!
emily marie
Adorbs. The custom mini mitt is definitely my favorite. I’m a huge coaster person too, made a similar set in college and they’re still going strong!
jen | grainline
Go coasters! It’s kind of crazy how long they last, my previous set I crocheted many years ago just bit the dust a few months ago.
Rochelle New
That Alexander Henry fabric is amazing and looks perfect as a potholder! Great colors. I love moving and how it makes me excited to make new things for the new space. How convenient that I’ll be moving this weekend! 😉
kristin
Love this, Jen! I should make a table topper – love that you kept it simple, but it adds so much to the space.
jen | grainline
Thanks! The table topper is super useful, more than I thought it would be! I used Insul-Brite as the insulated batting and it’s been working really well!
Gwen
Love these photos, especially the last one. Shows how much difference a few little homemade touches can make – very inspiring!
jen | grainline
Thanks!
gingermakes
I love your kitchen! It is so bright and cute!
jen | grainline
Thanks, I can’t believe how lucky I got on finding such a bright apartment!
nothy
It takes me a good while to get sorted after a move….congratulations on what I assume was great determination on getting moved in and organized so quickly….
jen | grainline
There definitely was some determination there, I don’t like having things unsettled. Also you unpack a lot faster if you email everyone you know to invite them to a housewarming party 2 weeks after you move. Hahaha!
Kelly
What a cheerful, sunny kitchen! I love all your plants.
Stephanie
Cutest!! You have such a distinct style – I love the modern handmade pieces that you’ve mixed in. Did you use a special thread for the hot pads, etc? I would love to make some of those!
jen | grainline
Just regular poly thread and they work great! The batting I used is called InsulBrite. Now I need to make another one.
Annet M
I had one of those moments of “you can sew an oven mitt?” and another minute of “why the hell not” and now I feel like Easter weekend is going to be about sewing some oven mitts for myself, because I’ve lived long enough without some, cause I don’t like any I find.
Looking through some of your older posts since I am a more recent follower.