A few years ago, my mother-in-law (thanks, Helen!) gave me a little stainless steel set that I believe was her mother’s. It had a little tray with salt and pepper shakers, and a sugar bowl. Well, I thought it was a sugar bowl.

I was cleaning it today, and I decided to google the manufacturer’s name (Stelton Denmark). It turns out that the little ‘sugar bowl’ might actually be a mustard pot, at least according to unica home and the rest of the interweb.

I was more surprised though to learn that the set had been designed by Arne Jacobsen! It’s part of his Cylinda line from 1967.

“Hmmm”, I thought. “I have a book about Arne Jacobsen. Maybe it will be in there.” [Note the ridiculous use of quotes. I am ever so writerly.] Anyway, it was in there:

Like the commercial version of the AJA flatware, the new line jettisoned the ornament and associations of traditional silverware in favor of a machined product that reflected both the nature of the material and Jacobsen’s own vision of sensuous utility.

Michael Sheridan, Room 606

Now, the book doesn’t make any mention of a mustard pot. In fact, the picture credits it as a sugar pot. And that’s exactly how I intend to use it.

I bought tile today during a rare bout of decisiveness.

They’re 3×6 white subway tiles. They weren’t my first choice – I wanted 2×6 subway tiles from Ann Sacks in a lovely green color. These came out to only $100 for 30 square feet though (from Century Tile). That’s a whopping $800 less than the lovely green tiles I wanted.

I then began immediately tiling the backsplash when we arrived home.

I’ve never tiled before, ever. The salesperson insisted that my husband and I could do it though. Well, that’s only partially true… As with most of the home improvement salespeople we’ve dealt with, he looked at and spoke to my husband the whole time, assuring him that he could do it. Uggh. I did almost all of it myself. Brandon helped with some of the initial cutting, then he went to the store to buy the tools we forgot (tile nippers and a hand-held tile saw), and then he came home and played video games. I’m just much better at this type of stuff than he is, and I’m much more motivated to get things done (love ya, honey!).

I only did half of the kitchen (the sink side is about the same size), and I haven’t grouted yet. It looks good already though! I feel pretty amazing. Yay DIY!

Our countertops have arrived and we now have a usable kitchen! Yippee! Remember what it looked like?

Here it is now:

And remember my little white birds? They ended up over here:

There’s still some work to be done, but the kitchen looks (and functions) SO much better!