For the past four weeks, I’ve been taking an online course by the name of Blogging Your Way. Run by the wonderful Holly Becker of Decor8 and assisted by the multi-talented (and Canadian!) Leslie Shewring of a creative mint, this course is a seven-week informational extravaganza, covering everything from photography and styling to overcoming writers block and setting your blog apart. I’ve been thrilled with the quality of instruction so far, and I’d encourage anyone who takes blogging seriously to give it a go, the next time Holly decides to run this course.

After several weeks of homework which involved soul-searching, list-making and idea-finding, this week’s assignment was a bit different: step away from the computer and make an inspiration board for your blog. I’m used to the theory behind this (I made them all the time in my former, fashion life) but putting a blog to paper is a little different.

I tried to include a bit of everything that my sites cover: delicious food, a beautiful kitchen, great products. I also wanted to inject a little of “me” into the design, and attempted this with a little sketching, sewing (those are vintage floral fabrics on there!) and  home decor ideas. There’s even a vintage globe, as a cheeky nod to the one that sits on my kitchen table.

So, without further ado, I present the Kitchenist kitchen:

If you’re a regular reader of my food blog, you might deduce that the table under the window is where I take my photos. Bought for £15 at a local furniture shop’s sidewalk sale, this piece is a perfect size and shape for my needs. The top is used as a landing strip for change, mail, keys and phones to get dumped when we come in, and I keep baking paraphernalia in the shelf. It’s an old piece and in pretty poor condition, so my original intention was to re-finish it. I’m still hoping to get around to that this winter; I want to strip and re-stain the top dark, and paint everything below a glossy white.

There’s a lot of annoying, wasted space around the sink, so I try to fill it up with pretty and useful things. The wooden box houses my scale, matches and other odds and ends, and the vintage kitchen scale is perfect for my t-shirt towels, which I use for spills and such.

As a vegetarian, I eat lots of grains and legumes. This is only a small portion of the variety I like to have around more (there are more in the cupboards), but I like to keep these ones, in their pretty matching jars, in plain sight ;)

I need to keep all my cooking stuff close at hand (also, there’s no room in the cupboards; they’re full of grains), so I keep a tray with oils, vinegars and salt next to the stove. The salt pig is Nigella Lawson’s mini one, which I keep stocked with Maldon sea salt- I use it for just about everything. The Le Creuset utensil jar holds just about half of my regularly-used utensils.

This bit of counter is my favourite, thanks in part to my brand-new Wesco breadbox, a birthday present. I also keep cutting boards, a cookie jar and another utensil pot (filled with baking stuff, mainly) over here. You can also see my dark green Chasseur Dutch oven on the cooker; I use this baby almost daily.

The far wall is the flat’s answer to a closet- we keep our coats, shoes and shopping bags here. You can also see my two aprons on the far left- the patterned one is from Kitsch’n Glam and the burlap one was a souvenir from an Italian holiday. The antique coat rack is one of my favourite things in the flat; I bought it while on a Landmark holiday with my family.

I hope you liked my little kitchen tour; the shots are nothing special but at least it was recently cleaned when I took them! :) I think it would be interesting to see the creative spaces of other food bloggers, too- perhaps a new feature?