Mirrors and art in kitchens

18 Wednesday Feb 2015

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Good morning! Happy Wednesday!

Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite rooms in any house…the kitchen. Have you noticed over the past 10 years, maybe longer, that kitchens have evolved to a higher level of beauty? No longer is it just the functional room where we prepare food and bake the occasional batch of cookies or birthday cake.

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Don’t get me wrong, we’re still performing those tasks, and the kitchen remains the hub of the family for most of us…but boy, has it been elevated to so much more. It now warrants a specific decor.

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I love this design transformation. I like the idea of one more room in the house that can reflect personality and livability with style, all the while retaining it’s official duty as sustenance central, counselors office, coffee shop and all round work room.

{via}

So, its no surprise that I love the unexpected addition of mirrors and paintings that you find in so many kitchens that grace the internet as well as magazine pages. Why not?! Although there are a few mirrors in locations that make me wonder how often the window cleaner comes out from beneath the sink to shine the glass!

This is one of my favorites, this kitchen appears to be smallish, but the mirror and light fixture gives it style and elegance.

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The juxtaposition of a nod to industrial style while hanging a vintage/antique portrait painting, lovely.

{via-above/below}

I really like the looks of open shelving with a little painting, or two….so pretty and adds so much interest to the kitchen.

This kitchen is a little busy for me, but I love the Hermes lamp and the art on the easel at the end of the room.

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Isn’t this the greatest mirror for a kitchen? Notice the clock in the top of the mirror? I also like the refurbished vintage stove.

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And last but not least, have you seen these mirrored subway tiles? How great would these be in a kitchen, if you could keep them free of water spots. 🙂

Do you have a mirror or painting in your kitchen? What do you think of the idea?

Thanks for stopping by, it’s always nice to chat. ♥ Karen

{Home} Kitchens, continued interest

18 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Karen B. in Decorating, Designer, House and Home

≈ 12 Comments

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kitchens

We remodeled our kitchen in 2003. I’m talking taking it to the studs, same footprint. It’s hard for me to believe that it’s already been 9 years. The kitchen has fulfilled all of my hopes and expectations I had when we embarked on the project, so many years ago, and it’s held up well for the most part.

That doesn’t keep me from being stopped in my tracks when I see a beautiful kitchen. In fact, my “favorite kitchens” file is the largest of my saved images files. While my kitchen is pretty tiny I find I have saved kitchen images that feature huge kitchens as well small ones, and I’m pretty sure many of you enjoy kitchens as much as I do because the blog sites I visit regularly often provide some of the prettiest examples.

My apologizes, I not only have lost the source of this image, but I love it so and can’t remember if I’ve used it before.

So, I think that as fall is coming and I tend to cook a lot more in the cooler months, here are some ideas if you’re in the midst of planning your dream kitchen or just need some “pretty” to brighten up your morning.

{vignette design}

The one thing our kitchen lacks is a breakfast area. I love the kitchen/breakfast area below.

{Barbara Pervier design}

This kitchen [above] is the kitchen of a 640 sq. ft. home. I always marvel at how much style can be found in a small space.

Fine art in the kitchen is an unexpected treat. I do worry that it would be my luck the marinara sauce would splash!

{Color Outside the Lines}

The kitchen below is a favorite for the map of Paris over the stove and for the pretty dutch door.

{Things that Inspire}

How clever is this? [above] If you are a dog owner the sense of this built in doggie bar has appeal. Notice the drawers with the dog bone cut-out for various canine necessities, so cute.

The kitchen below has a fire back that serves as the stove’s back splash. I wanted to do that when we remodeled but couldn’t find a fire back within our budget. Instead I installed a pewter looking tile with a rooster on it.

{Home Bunch}

This little jewel of a kitchen features several favorites: The chandelier over the sink, the art on the side of the cupboard on the right, and the Carrara marble, among other details.

{Country Living}

What I love about the kitchen below is the glass front cabinet…for a dish-aholic this would be the best thing ever. Storage for a variety of dish patterns, all fully justified, can be a challenge.

[Home Bunch}

{Phoebe Howard via Design Chic)

…and last but not least, blue and white is always welcome in a white kitchen or one with stained cabinets.

Do you have a preference, stained cabinets or white? What is your favorite counter top material?

{Home} Kitchens to love

11 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Entertaining

≈ 10 Comments

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kitchens

What is it about kitchens? When touring various blog sites that have become required reading for me I seem to gravitate towards kitchens. And from the number of images out there, I’m not alone. It’s the heart of the home and if you enjoy cooking, as I do, it’s always tempting to see what others do with such an essential space.

I can direct breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I take pride in my kitchen, but I’m not going to direct a movie.
Julia Roberts

Even though we’ve remodeled our kitchen and I love it…I still find plenty of kitchens to admire. I also find I lean (when looking at images) toward a white kitchen. We painted our cabinets white when we first moved into our house, primarily because we couldn’t afford the remodel of our dreams. By the time we could afford it we were both fairly tired of the white cabinetry and thought we’d try something different. I’m happy with the way it turned out and I figure if I truly get tired of stained cabinets years from now, we can have them painted…circle of life for the kitchen cabinets!

I think a lot of people have a misconception of what the kitchen is about, but you know the grueling part of it is also the pleasure of it. That’s why I think you have to have a certain mentality to understand what that is and be able to handle it.
Todd English

via Belclaire House

I think this is an excellent use of an island sink!

I’m a homebody, I’d rather be in the kitchen cooking than hanging out in a bar.
Milo Ventimiglia

via Cote de Texas, a Paris kitchen

I really like the long standing trend towards unexpected decor items in the kitchen, such as chandeliers, oil paintings and mirrors. I think it only enhances the warmth and inviting nature of the kitchen.

I was like any new bride, who said, ‘I’m going to cook for my man.’ In fact, once I started a small kitchen fire in a pan. Smoke was pouring from the pan, and I got really scared. Right next to our stove is a small fire extinguisher. You know, easy access.
Catherine Zeta-Jones

via Content in a Cottage

This kitchen is beautiful and I especially like the fact that you can see the dining area but it’s not right in the room with the cook. Oh, I also love this little dwarf lemon tree…where can I find one of those for my kitchen?

I’ve never cooked. I can’t do much more in the kitchen than make a cup of tea and some toast.
Ethel Merman

There is something appealing about a simple, but very functional kitchen. Short on bells and whistles of the typical kind, just hard-working efficiency.

In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscriminately by people who just come in for men’s underwear.
Julia Child

via Elle Decor

A fireplace in the kitchen would be the ultimate luxury for me…but I’d like it situated closer to the area where you sit for your meal. This is a lovely kitchen by design.

It’s the sense of what family is at the dinner table. It was the joy of knowing mother was in the kitchen making our favorite dish. I wish more people would do this and recall the joy of life.
Paul Prudhomme

photo by Jennifer Rizzo

Lastly, just because I remember days when I felt like this saying, raising 2 sweet little boys…

…or in the words of Harry S. Truman…

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Harry S. Truman

Happy Tuesday, may you enjoy your kitchen today and all activities at the hub of your home.

Kitchen love

17 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Renovating

≈ 4 Comments

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kitchens

I was trying my best to organize saved images in files that give some indication of subject. I discovered something…I have more kitchen images than any other topic.

There’s no excuse really—we remodeled our kitchen in 2003 and I love it. For a small kitchen it is very efficient and works well for hubby and I. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will most probably never have a large kitchen and I think that’s okay.

This is an overview of my kitchen; it's a galley kitchen but works pretty efficiently.

Above the scale are some of my favorite cookbooks.

This image doesn't do my pantry justice...it was built to look like a piece of furniture, including a beveled glass front cabinet in the middle, and it works well as a pantry. With a small kitchen I think it adds interest to an otherwise small space.

Many of the images below don’t resemble our kitchen, which is kind of strange, right? I think what happened is that when we moved into this house the only thing we could afford to do right away was to remove the harvest gold Formica with white tile and install new cabinet doors that we had painted white. Our kitchen went from looking absolutely sad to really looking pretty darn nice for not many $$$. I loved that white kitchen even though it was sorely lacking in efficient storage space and the contact paper was permanently sealed on the particle board shelves inside each cupboard.

This is the kitchen of the blogger at A Country Farmhouse. She changes some of her shelf accessories to reflect the seasons.

I really like the wood paneled walls. (KML Design)

An all time favorite; love the black French doors (Tommy Smythe)

I would have opted for another white kitchen when we remodeled but hubby felt very strongly that we should go with stained cupboards. Our kitchen designer’s kitchen was our wish list example of a great kitchen and her cupboards were stained so we all agreed that was the way to go. I also figured that if the cupboards got really beat up and old I could do to them what we did to the old cabinets. We could replace them with white painted cupboards.

The lanterns and natural light in the kitchen makes me swoon! (Alexa Hampton)

Not sure of the source, sorry.

This kitchen makes me smile---all the natural light!

Love the black accents with the white walls, great contrast. (John Jacob Interiors)

Hubby has wanted wing back chairs at a dining table for as long as we've been married...these are great. Question, would we ever leave the table in the morning? I think not.

Bottom line, I love white kitchens as you can see…some of these images make me sigh with happiness.

Do you have stained cabinets in your kitchen or white?