Kitchens–Easy Ways to UpStyle Your Kitchen

February 23, 2016

EASY WAYS TO UP-STYLE YOUR KITCHEN

Given the amount of time we all spend in the kitchen, it’s one of the rooms in your home that you should love. Loving your kitchen is more that liking how it functions for you and your family, it also involves how it looks and feels. After years of use, a kitchen can sometimes become dull and lifeless and before you know it the space has lost the style it once had.

When it comes to the investment you have in your home, kitchen remodel are one of the best investments you can make but they can be expensive. So what are you to do when you want to add the life and energy back into your kitchen but want to do that on a budget? You employ one or more of these design tricks.

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Paint Something

Paint is definitely the easiest way to change the look and feel of any room in your home and there are several ways paint can transform a kitchen. Your kitchen island is a prime candidate for paint and painting it give you a great opportunity to infuse a color accent into the space. If you want to go one step further, consider painting your cabinets. You don’t have to paint all of them, paint just the uppers or lowers which will add a dramatic design contrast. And a final and easy paint option is to paint the walls.

Better Homes and Gardens

House and Home

This Old House

Open Up The Shelving

The trend of open shelving is still a hot one and for good reason. Open shelving creates visual depth and can make your space feel larger while providing visual impact and interest. Open shelving can be achieved by taking the doors off of cabinets, replacing solid doors with glass front doors or installing floating shelving in place of traditional cabinets. The only downside of open shelving is that you have to keep the shelves looking neat and tidy.

Better Homes and Gardens

Re-Accessorize Your Countertops

I know kitchen counters can become a drop zone of all types of things and that combined with small appliances, your kitchen can easily become a hot mess. The easiest way to keep your counters neat and organized is by creating groupings of items at key spots along the countertop instead of allowing every inch of counter space to be filled. Store what appliances you can behind closed doors and then use baskets and tray to corral tems out on display. As you go about re-accessorizing your counters, think about the types of accessories you use. Use items that create a style or color theme which will add style to your space.

Simple Details

Shabby French Cottage

Better Homes and Gardens

Accent With A Rug

Don’t limit your rug shopping to traditional kitchen rugs. Look at fashion rugs as an option for your kitchen. Rugs are a great way to infuse pattern and color, and they can add energy and style to your kitchen. And don’t skimp on the size of rug you use–where the space allows, go big or use multiple rugs to anchor and define different zones within the kitchen.

Emily Henderson

Coastal Living

My Domaine

Up-Style With Lighting

Lighting is one area where you can really have fun when decorating your kitchen. Go big and bold, hang a unique fixture and consider a countertop lamp to add accent lighting. If your space can accommodate a larger light fixture, look at outdoor lighting as an option since many outdoor lantern styles have the heft and scale that can work in a larger space.

Brooke Berry

Style Estate

Home Bunch

When is the last time you gave your kitchen a facelift?

Sarah Richardson’s Design Style

May 29, 2015

The list of designers that I admire is long but right there are the top of the list is Canadian designer Sarah Richardson. I’ve written about my admiration for Sarah’s design style before and I’ve also shared my love of her fashion style too.

Recently I came across this blue and white kitchen she designed and was mesmerized at how gorgeous it is. After a period where painted cabinets were the hot trend, white cabinets are making a comeback. What I love about this space is that Sarah combined a painted island with white cabinets, giving this kitchen the utmost style.

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Design Trend: Doors Off

January 22, 2015

Hello there. I hope you week is going well. Today I wanted to share my thoughts on a design idea that is quickly becoming a trend.

Have you noticed more and more kitchens, pantries, laundry rooms and closet spaces are going doorless? New homes are being built with open shelving and lots of homeowners are removing the doors on their existing cabinets to create the open shelving concept in their homes.

I must say that I really love the look of open shelving, not only for a kitchen but the other rooms in the home too.

One of the things I like most about this design statement is that open shelving makes a room feel more spacious and airy.

Cabinet doors can become a visual blocker and sometimes limit the storage capabilities in a kitchen. Open shelves allow you to use every inch of space to display collectibles and functional items, providing a more personal and stylized design statement.

In a laundry room, open shelves make functional items easily accessible and provide a less industrial feel overall.

Don’t think your open shelves have to be plain and boring–you can incorporate decorative hardware or a decorative paint application to make your shelves stand out.

And, standard shelving can be replaced with another material to provide more visual interest.

If you’re considering open shelving in your home, here are a few tips that will help you create the best possible look:

1) Keep items organized–open shelving will look intentional if items are grouped and organized in an attractive and orderly way.

2) Create depth and dimension with the items on your shelves by stacking pieces at different heights and layering items from the front of the shelf to the back.

3) Incorporate decorative elements like decorative platters, vases or collectibles to give your shelves personality.

4) Use storage baskets and containers to hold smaller items and create areas of impact on your shelves.

5) Consider a contrasting background so that that contents on each shelf stand out.

And remember that design is in the details so approach your open shelving the same way you would decorating a tabletop or bookcase.

So what do you think–do you like the open shelving concept or would you rather keeps things behind closed doors?