Kitchen

Published August 2019
Updated February 2022

Thank you for joining us in this series on Home Decorating. 
Our hope is that these short blog bursts will enable & inspire you to refresh a room in your home.

This week we're tackling your Kitchen.

 

 

Kitchens are tricky in that we view them as so functional and maybe not as decorative. To get it right you'll want to incorporate both.

This is a room that everyone sees and is definitely the most important. With a beautiful living room right off the kitchen 20 people would rather hover around the kitchen island or kitchen table sitting on bar stools and counter stools than comfy living room furniture.

Let's face it-just give up trying to direct people a different way. They all end up back in the kitchen—especially when the snacks are located there.  

Kitchen congregating is a common practice.

Sitting around enjoying each other’s company and sharing food and drinks is definitely a fun way to spend your time. As you may have experienced some dinners can go 5 hours just because there was still an open bottle of wine on the table. And of course, with friends and family, all converge here. The kitchen is, most of the time… the center of activity.

This Kitchen Refresh will be different for each of you and that's ok. Some of you have small kitchens and some have family members and friends that have wide open spacious kitchens-and that doesn’t even include the dining room. So do keep in mind… that what you pick for your 3 elements will vary based on space size.

If you need a kitchen table, so that you can experience the congregating as mentioned above, you should start there. How about a pub table? 

Here's the side view:

Keep that in mind-with the room REFRESH you only need to incorporate 3 elements. So start with your table for congregating and then on to???

From there, where do you go? Well next…look into lighting. This can be a chandelier (see below), pendant drop light or maybe a wooden framed light to add warmth and character?

 

 

In the picture above notice the red valance. With the cool rod of dark rich burnished copper and the red valance across the top of the window gave it that POP that was needed.

You'll have to look close to see the ends of the valance rod. 

You can see here that the valance makes a nice backdrop with the chandelier in focus...

Which brings us to a 3rd element for our Kitchen refresh--ART and DECORATIONS. Finding the right combinations and colors to accent your kitchen, dish settings, furniture and walls can be fun and a challenge.
Remember half the fun is shopping. Walking the aisles of your favorite home decor stores can be a fun way to spend your lunch hour. 

Don't forget to utilize gifts given to you, arrange them to complement each other and then add in what's needed.

Notice the dark frames (above) from the art, curtain rod, and chandelier bring out the best in these beige walls? For these room refreshes painting is considered a major home decor update and to make it simple paint only if absolutely necessary. Find art and deco in colors that tone down walls that are blatantly loud or you're tired of. Purchase items with bright splashes of color to bring life to a room with muted or neutral colors.

Rugs are also a great investment and something you can change out frequently to change the feel of a room seasonally or when you need a boost.

These colors tie in nicely with the red valance--you'll have to look closely as the red is subtle as it exists only in the border around the design. The whole rug is cream based which seems to neutralize the entire effect, yet still contains multiple colors that helps brighten up the room.

So what do you have to consider? Let’s go over it:
Table and seating
Lighting
Curtains or valance or both. Sometimes colored wood slatted blinds give it a pop.
Area rug-either in the main part of the kitchen or for under your table
Art, home decor items.

Find signs that reflect your humor, your beliefs or are fitting for a kitchen setting. Make it interesting!
Click here for cute pallet sign ideas 

                

 

 

See how the wine bottles pulled in the red from the valance and coordinate with the wall color?

Kitchens are the most fun to refresh! Because it is the room everyone sees. All the time! Have fun with it as you'll want your guests to feel warm and welcome in your kitchen.

But what if your kitchen is a mess and you're not in the market for a Kitchen Refresh? Sometimes just organizing and setting up processes and procedures to ensure your kitchen is running smoothly is the ANSWER. 

Kitchens are also the room to refresh most often. Especially with a rug. Or art work.  Have fun with it! Use fun colors! And please! Share with us, below, elements you found that inspired you or made it all come together for you. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Here are a few kitchen refreshes shared with us that we thought you would enjoy and inspire you! Great job-- refreshers!

 

     

The green stools and adding a lamp to your kitchen gave it a warm fresh look! Kudos!

 

 

 

 

Great drop down valance you added! The red makes the tan and white POP! And the hanging lights are just what was mentioned before--functional and decorative. 

Keep sending us your pictures with the updates you made! We'd love to see what you did! 

Again, to ensure you don’t miss these Blog Bursts make sure to sign up below for the newsletter.