Today is Day 21 of a 31 day series on creating and cultivating an eclectic home. For some crazy reason, I have accepted The Nester’s challenge to write on the same theme every day for the month of October. This may end up killing me. Or you. But, I appreciate you reading and welcome your comments.
Kitchens are my downfall in more ways than one. I can’t cook. I can’t bake. And I can’t decorate one.
I have a hard time looking past the utilitarian aspect of a kitchen to create a good design. I don’t want to sacrifice any counter surface for decor. As beautiful as glass cabinet fronts and open shelving look in photos, I know that my space would never stay organized enough that I wouldn’t be embarrassed for the world to see my eleventy billion plastic sippy cups.
However, I need to get past my fear of styling a kitchen. These designers did, and they had great success with their beautiful rooms.
Eclectic Traditional Kitchen
Eclectic Industrial Kitchen
Eclectic Vintage Kitchen
Eclectic Cottage Kitchen
Eclectic Retro Kitchen
How is your kitchen styled? Or, how do you want it to be styled?
All images via Pinterest
My kitchen is stuck in “what do I do with this kitchen?” mode. The “dining room” is actually an extension of the kitchen, so the two should be styled together. I’m just kind of stuck on what to do next.
I think I’m a Industrial, Vintage, Cottage, Retro Kitchen kinda girl… O boy, am I in trouble… cuz’ mine is supposed to be traditional…ack!
I’m renting at the moment, so I’m always dreaming of how I would decorate my own home. I love the industrial style kitchen! I’ve always wanted of a vintage style home. But in the past year, my style’s beginning to sway towards industrial/art gallery.
How can I organize my kitchen without spending money?
My kitchen is one of the real happy spots in my house. Last year I wanted to redo it, but didn’t have any money to spend on cabinets or appliances or anything. I painted the cabinets myself and decorated the tops of them with accessories that I thrifted or found as-is or were hand-me-downs. I love how it turned out, and I spent less than $100 on the whole thing. You can check it out here if you like:
http://tomiannie.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-happy-kitchen.html
What is your advice to someone who has a “nice” kitchen that doesn’t need to be remodeled, but the kitchen is not her style? We are in the process of buying a home that has just been thoroughly remodeled. Unfortunately, it lost all of its mid-century modern charm, during the remodel. The new kitchen was remodeled with no expense spared, so I don’t feel like I am really able to justify ripping it out. The cabinets are natural (but a little bit dark) cherry. The floors are red oak. The counters are dark green granite, and the appliances are stainless. Do you have any advice on making this traditional looking kitchen, a little more eclectic?
Hi Annalisa- Great question. I have a new, more traditional kitchen, too, and I don’t want to rip it out. I have changed out some of the lighting fixtures to be more funky (which makes a big difference). I’m going to paint the walls a non-neutral color. And I’ve added in some vintage accessories – such as an old silver urn to hold my cooking utensils – to give it a little more “story.” Good luck!
Part of the eclectic design is playing with contrasts.
I’d consider painting the walls a deep purple contrast to the green counters. I’d use functional accessories, like an interesting utensils as Lindsay suggested, and play with interesting pattern and metals… maybe some things that speak to an international flair.
Good luck!