Saturday, July 23, 2011

A reader's kitchen dilemma


Here is a lovely country kitchen with many of the things I love~
white cabinets, bead board backsplash and a mix of shabby cottage style furniture.
I might be looking for some vintage light fixtures to add....
Anyway, so  many of us have a kitchen that needs improvement. 
I got an email from a reader asking me for help on 
what she thought was a major offender~
her kitchen has terracotta tile floors.
She was looking for low budget ideas...
and for me, that always comes in a can of paint.
I looked through Pinterest for some images to illustrate my points.
 My Reader's Kitchen  
White cabinets and lots of natural lighting are a plus.
If money were no object I would replace
 the sliders with a set of french doors.
You can see the tile floors she hates. 
I think they have a rustic country charm.
 It was hard to find an image with a white kitchen 
and terracotta floors, but here is one.
My advice on the floors is to cover up! 
I wouldn't use an oriental rug, but an indoor outdoor rag rug,
 or natural sisal style carpet. 
A large one for under the table and a 
runner for in front of her cabinets.
Her rug is too small, and it is the wrong shape.
Here are some other things that I would 
like to see happen in this kitchen.
For me, the main offender was the current lighting. 
Lets remove the giant fluorescent box and swag a
 farmhouse fixture over the kitchen table.
( Note the other coordinating fixtures that are dropped, 
but only a wee bit, for the task lighting)
Right after we paint the kitchen set white and distress it a bit....
I also recommended that she remove the chairs from the ends of her table
 and get a longer table and set the chairs up 3 on each side, just like the first image.
She could also put a settee or sofa against the big wall
and have chairs on the opposite end of the table.
A pretty rag rug...
I see her walls painted blue, like this kitchen.
Another blue and white kitchen with 
french doors and stone floors, but a bit dressier with the slipper chairs.
See that huge wall behind the table and chairs...
imagine a pretty blue wall,
  a longer farmhouse table with no chairs on the end.
She could use a long rustic bench with some pretty pillows
 in ticking and some in vintage embroidered
 white on white made from old tablecloths or pillowcases.
Or maybe a white slipcovered sofa against the wall, 
or even a chippy white iron garden bench.
Above it all, a series of big white farmhouse style shelves.
Two really long plank shelves with decorative brackets that
 would hold a collection of white ceramics and
 porcelain items and collections of glassware
would look great against the blue walls
 and create a focal point on that big blank wall.
It would look even more incredible if it were 
done in beadboard and then painted blue like this.
Maybe some of you might have 
some inexpensive quick ideas for her kitchen~
feel free to chime in!
If any of my other readers need design help~
send me your problem with a couple of pics 
and you could be appearing here next!