I get asked quite often how to make a house a home, how to soften the edges so a room doesn’t look to formulaic and sterile. The room that people seem to have most difficulty with is the kitchen as often times many of us have open plan kitchens that lead into dining/living rooms. My trick is to treat the kitchen like any other cool space in the house. Soften it with shelves containing unkitcheny stuff, put supersized table lamps on central islands and heap and stack books cookery or otherwise. Two images below showcase two entirely different styles – first up hollywood glamour.
Super sexy bar stools coupled with some fabulous shots of colour make this space feel ultra sophisticated. Shelves display cool objects rather than storage jars of full of pasta and it shouts Hollywood glamour.
The second image is also in California but alot more laid back in feel. Pots and pans are displayed ad hoc and the chair and rug add lovely touches to soften the space from being entirely practical. Whatever your style the kitchen is really the heart of the home so its important to get it right.
Funny, found the 2nd image the other day and loved it. Laughed at the shelves holding “un-kitcheny” stuff. Living in a standard small british house and a keen cook, every inch of my kitchen has to work hard to be just that, a kitchen! And being a messy cook, a rug would be a health hazard within a week! I dream of centre islands and a space for just one sexy stool!!!
thank you so much for featuring my kitchen – i’m so flattered!
the tile is quite hideous – yellow & burgundy, so i had to bring in the rug to balance out that burgundy! (don’t worry, though – it get washed all the time).
and it’s hard to tell from the photo, but the shelves hold wooden salad bowls, salt & peppers, trays, bowls and cookbooks, so it’s all pretty useful kitchen stuff i use all the time.
You are more than welcome your house looks beautiful and your blog fabulous x