My Mother's Kitchen - An Ode To Tea Towels

I can still picture my mother’s kitchen. Even though, it’s been decades since I last sat at my mom’s table, drinking tea, when I close my eyes every detail comes immediately alive in my memory. 

My mother loved yellow and she adored wallpaper. For her kitchen, she chose sunny yellow and white checked paper and then painted her wood cupboards to match. The cupboards had white knobs and black hardware and were complemented by a yellow fridge, red brick linoleum flooring, a stained-glassed light fixture hanging over the table, yellow pantry canisters, and rag rugs.

My mom loved her kitchen and I also adore mine. It’s the coziest part of our house and where our family and friends most often congregate. The kettle is nearby,  always on hand for a cup of tea.

My kitchen doesn’t resemble my mom’s. I like earth tones with splashes of black and grey and stainless steel and natural coloured accents. But one thing that remains a constant from my mom’s kitchen to mine is an abundance of tea towels. There was, and is, always a beloved tea towel hanging on our respective stove handles.

When my mom traveled, she always returned with tea towels from the places she visited and now I do the same. I inherited my mom’s lifelong adoration of tea towels and her belief that a tea towel is an ideal gift for almost any occasion. First, it is hard, if not impossible, to accumulate too many tea towels. Additionally, they are useful, look lovely on display, don’t break, are easy to ship, and are just the right price for a gift. 

I am pretty sure that I have passed this family obsession down to my kids, at least I hope I have because I truly believe in the joy a good tea towel provides.

It is with this joy in my heart that we release Cedar Mountain’s first run of cotton art tea towels hand-printed featuring some of our favourite and most popular designs.

Shop the collection: Art Tea Towels