Reconciling what you love with the look you want (Styling up a kitchen)

Most of my projects tend to focus on decorating--furniture and fabrics--more than fixtures and finishes.  Lately I've been doing a bit more work on the "shell" of spaces, and it's really fun to think about the foundational pieces!  So often I am thinking about how to hide or make the best of existing features or to create a look that the client loves in spite of those things.

Here's an interesting question:

What do you do when you ARE starting from scratch but can't quite reconcile the things you love with the look you want?

I am advising on a kitchen project right now and my client wanted a modern farmhouse look (the house is in fact on a farm), but fell in love with cherry cabinetry.  She worried that the cabinets would play against type (lots of urban apartments put them in in the 90s), but I believe it is all about what you DO with those cabinets.

Here's some inspiration.  Hard to find, with white kitchens reining supreme for some time now!

House Beautiful. See many more gorgeous pics here.

Farmhouse sink and beadboard backsplash

Okay, yhe cabinets are white but the island is cherry!

My client chose cherry cabinets with a simple shaker profile.  As the name suggests, farmhouse sinks are a great first step in going for that farmhouse look.  Flooring, backsplash, hardware, and lighting all offer opportunities to push it farther.

Look one: Modern twist on the classics.

Subway tile gets a twist with two sizes mixed together, and classic iron bin pulls go modern with an elongated profile.  A painted checkerboard floor (on the existing, beat up wood) is like classic marmoleum, but better.

Look 2: Vintage Charm

Gauged slate floor feels like an old French farmhouse, and the rippled enamel light shades add to the vibe.  Hammered metal hardware and herringbone subway feel artisan, while the Windsor stools and wire chandelier are truly timeless.

Look 3: Schoolhouse Eclectic

This one goes a little schoolhouse or nautical, with milk glass pulls, penny tile back splash, and over scale caged pendants.  Either floor works here, and the red stools pop against the fresh white accents.

What do you think?  Did I pull it off?

Sneak peak

Oh, what a BIG difference some little changes can make!

 

Painting that red accent wall the same creamy, peachy yellow as the rest of the kitchen dramatically lightens everything up and makes the existing hand-blown glass pendants shine.

 

Getting the dated, dark fabric off the banquette (plus steaming and re-wrapping the foam) makes the seating nook so much more inviting.  (And of course I love a good banquette with ticking stripe and a mix of fabrics!)

And off-white faux-ostrich vinyl makes some ho-hum craigslist chairs and barstools very stylish indeed.

These were the fabric stories for this kitchen--I think my client done good with her choice!

It just goes to show, you CAN work with what you've got.

Cafe chairs

I am a big fan of what I think of as the "frenchy cafe chair."

I recently used Serena and Lily's riviera chair in this client's kitchen.

(There will eventually be a blue, skirted, backless bench on the window side of the table.)

I just noticed these new cafe chairs from a very affordable source.

It's the "Almsta" chair from Ikea!  $99.  I would love to see a bunch of these at a table paired with a built in banquette, kind of like this.

Someone go ahead and snap these up!

French Provincial (ish) kitchen, three ways

Over the past couple of months, I've been working with a client in New Jersey to help pull together textiles and other details for her gorgeous, formal home, which she has bee steadily renovating.  Her kitchen renovation is beyond beautiful, and while I can't share images of the space for now, I can tell you it has carrara marble slab countertops and backsplash, custom cabinetry in a pale yellow glaze with just the rigth amount of molding and flourish, and one of these.



In basically that color.  Except it has more brass fittings.  Could you die?

The kitchen also has a small breakfast nook with large windows.  My client needed a small table, four chairs, a pair of counter height barstools, pendant lighting over the island, and lots of soft fold roman shades.  We wanted a slightly french vibe and traditional but not too formal. Ready for some choices?

While I did present options for fabric, I'm just going to share the winners.

This for upholstery:



(here's a detail, such a pretty linen, and just the right smidge of blue)



This fabric for soft fold roman blinds



(slightly lighter in real life)

With some beautiful braid trim in blue and mushroom, seen in the boards below.

So.  Furniture.

Options 1: Feminine. 
Love the curvy legs on the chairs, the rush seat and turned leg on the barstools, and the combo of a chandelier over the island with a sweet leafy cage fixture over the pedestal dining table.




Option 2: Masculine.
Okay, not exactly MANLY, but it feels a bit more tavernlike to me, with the iron light fixtures, squared off chairs, and parquet-top table.




Option 3: Classic modern.
Love the simple form of the pendants over the island, and of course we know I love lantern fixtures.  That little pedestal gets a glass top for the table, and the cross-back chairs are classic bistro. (I found a ton of great sources--I'll round 'em up next week.  My client says go for it).


What do you think: have a favorite?

I have to say, I'm having SO much fun working on this project, especially since the style is so different from my own house.  My family always jokes about me wanting it both ways, and if I had another life, I would totally do a gorgeous, formal, traditional house like this one.  I'm so jealous of the damask-printed grasscloth wallpaper in the living room, just to name one thing.

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to come back Monday to check out the fabulous jewelry I'll be giving away!

Two tone cabinets and Martha Stewart hardware for Home Depot

First, thanks for all your kind comments yesterday.  I hope it didn't sound like I was being a drama queen!  Writing that post, I was alone in the house for the first time since the break in and I was feeling nervous.

But back to work, right?  I'm working on an awesome living room and dining room, and got to hare some of the details with the homeowner last evening.  The kitchen is getting a little refresher as a bonus.  New wall color, new window treatments, and most dramatically, new cabinet treatments.  We're going for something serene and soothing but naturally we want it to feel interesting and dynamic.  To accomplish this, we'll be painting the upper cabinets a lovely, creamy off white, and the lower cabinets will get a pretty green with a healthy bit of blue in it, and brassy knobs and pulls will brighten it all up.

Here are some beautiful inspiration images for this cabinet approach.

designsponge

Tobi Fairley

Traditional Home

Cottage Living

Source: colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

The Lettered Cottage

And two with contrasting islands--same kind of idea.

Barry Dixon in House Beautiful

Source: desiretoinspire.net via Patrick on Pinterest

Love.

And have you seen the Martha Stewart line of hardware for Home Depot?  There aren't a ton of pieces, but I was really drawn to them all.  In the end, I think we'll put these knobs on the cabinets--the oval shape is so elegant--and these pulls on the drawers.

Pretty, no?

Duh.

My brother and his family were over for dinner the other night, and I noticed that, as always, everyone was standing around the big, huge island in our kitchen.  We were all kind of leaning on the island as if we'd rather be sitting, but where?

For the first time, I found myself wondering why the builder did not build an overhang on the island for a couple of counter stools.  While the edge of the island is sort of the edge of a walkway, there's really plenty of room for stools.  I sort of filed this away in the back of my mind, because my husband left for two weeks in Japan a few days later and life was a scramble.

(As it happens, the only photo I can find of the island features my cute husband.)

We miss you, honey!  Oh, and this kind of gives you a sense of the scale of it, with the girls working at the SHORT side of the thing.

Anyway, in the magazine aisle of Target yesterday, I saw this.

Lookie here: a nice big island with no overhang, and stools just lined right up.

Well, duh.

The truth is, I've never given much though to kitchen islands, having lived in a succession of NYC pads with small kitchens (the fact that my last place HAD an island was really exceptional, though really it was just a counter with the wall behind it removed.)  And I will admit that I don't always like the look.  But if this is where the party is in my house, hell, I should pull up a chair.  (One of the bits of advice in this House Beautiful makeover article that I seem to keep quoting was to have a party, watch where your guests drag the chairs, and try to leave them there.)

So I turned to pinterest to see if this is a thing.  You know, a thing.  That people do.  That normal, non-Martha people can get away with.  And guess what?

It totally is.

Source: aubreyroad.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: room-galleries.myhomeideas.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: desiretoinspire.net via Heather on Pinterest

Source: myhomeideas.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: memento-designs.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: restorationhardware.com via Heather on Pinterest

In my house, I'll need to keep it streamlined, with three stools to go along with the three cabinet doors in the island.  I like the tolix stools, as in the Martha cover, just because I like that kind of thing (See my round up of tolix knock offs, here), but also because the silver finish and tapered shape mimics the bases of my eames dining chairs.

Overstock has them, but they only come in pairs.  At $90/pair it's still probably the best deal, even not using one of the stools.  I also love the idea of those little slip covers, as seen above.  One more opportunity to get another fabric into that space, right?

But first, I'll just think about it for a while.  Notice how often I walk right into the path of where the stools would be.  Have another party and see where my guests drag the chairs.

Why don't you tell me: what do you think of the look?

Sliding Scale: Galvanized Garden Chairs

I remember first falling in love with the "1934" chair many years ago, in the Sundance catalog (which I inexplicably received at frequent intervals). Over the years, they seemed to pop up now and again, and while I never actually had a place to use them, I felt awfully tempted when they showed up in a Home Decorators Collection catalog for just $99 each. Now, they're officially everywhere: all the major retailers seem to offer their own version. I thought I'd round 'em up, just in case you're interested. (Plus, I think they'd look awesome in my aunt's kitchen; this way, she doesn't need to do the research.)

From most expensive to least:

Design Within Reach, Marais Chair, $250

Sundance, 1934 Chair, $245

Pottery Barn Tolix Cafe Chair, $225 (currently on special for $199)

Crate and Barrel Lyle Chair, $199

Home Decorator's Collection Garden Side Chair, $99

Overstock.com, Silver Tabouret Stacking Chair, $197.99 for a set of 4 (today's price!)

Some of these come in other fun colors, but I still love the classic aluminum. So. Did I miss any? I bet there are more out there....And I'm still partial to the original Sundance version. What's your favorite?

Flashback Friday: First Solo Kitchen

Love that space: Park Slope Kitchen, 1999

The Vision: Girly Vintage

The Elements:
Pink 50s kitchenette set, white cabinets with vintage hardware, girly pastel cabbage-petal china, chinese advertising poster, retro California photographs (from a BMW motorcycles photo shoot), and, um, green astroturf flooring.

The Huh? factor:
You might think I would ascribe this honor to the astroturf, but no. I am more worried about the beaded-macrame plant holder, especially since I adorned it with a butterfly. That I often wore in my hair.


The Analysis:
The kitchenette set was one of my early, great vintage finds. While in college, we were driving through New Paltz. On the edge of town, there is an amazing Victorian house filled to the brim with antiques and the like. This dinette set was on the porch, and you could probably here the screeching of my brakes when I stopped to purchase it. For $125 for the table plus four chairs. I used the table for one semester senior year, and then it went into storage when I moved into a 300sf 1 bedroom in Hell's Kitchen. With a boy. A gay boy, but still: the thing is pink vinyl. So I was thrilled that it fit--barely--in the corner of my park slope co-op. Everything else in the kitchen sort of stemmed from the pink-ness and vintagey charm. I will also note that I painted the lower cabinetsto match the lovely upper ones (another early DIY), and installed the pot rack myself. I remember buying a special masonry drill bit to go into the brick wall!

What Remains:
Sadly, none of the actual pieces from this kitchen remain. When Dave and I moved in together, I sacrificed the dinette set, the china, and the art, selling them all at a stoop sale. I have no regrets though: they perfectly represent an era of my life that was all about girlfriends and being single in the city.

Do you have a style in your past that was fleeting, and emblematic of a phase? Do tell!

What Remains: