Find the Right Kitchen Blinds for You

Kitchen blinds can be beautiful as well as practical. These kinds of pieces are very popular for this space just because they are so easy to clean. Plus you really don’t want a lot of fabric in a space that can turn into a fire hazard or they can just capture a lot of unpleasant smells from cooking. However, you might already have blinds in your kitchen but you might not have the right blinds. This is why it’s important to go with a theme or at least a sense of quality. Since whenever you decorate with very common items that can feel a little cheap. Here are a few ideas for getting rid of the blinds that came with your house and really getting something that is going to actually work with your design sensibility.

Blinds for kitchens can make the most of your space. These are inexpensive items, so maybe you don’t want them to the focal point. In this case it is going to be important to just make them blend in so that the room focuses on the high end countertops, appliances or whatever you spent more money on. However, they should still be high quality by going with a wood or a faux wood. The really great thing about this is that you can also choose between different sizes and a flat surface almost mimics a shutter effect. The one problem with something like plantation shutters is that sometimes it makes your room seem quite dark and there really isn’t a lot of way to filter the light. Just going with a wood blind instead is really going to give you a combination of the advantages of both of these materials.

One thing that you want to consider is your cabinetry. If you have white cabinetry, you might want to go with white blinds. Of course you’ll also need to take into account the trim work. This is especially important if you have very intricate window moldings just because maybe they should be the focal point. In this case you just want to match it directly for a sense of flow and cohesion. This can also have the exact opposite effect. Maybe you want white cabinetry, but you just can’t afford it. Instead, you can bring in the same high end look and the warm tones with just using it on your window treatments and your accent pieces.

Kitchen window blinds can be a little bit masculine. This is especially detrimental in this kind of room just because you already have a lot of stone surfaces, stainless steel appliances, and wood tones going on. You really are going to have to find ways to make this one feminine. A great way to do this is by going with a shade instead of a blind. A Roman shade can pull up, but it’s so very tailored so it’s quite different from a curtain. It can fit your window exactly. This can be a little bit of a pain to sew and you might have to have one custom ordered just so you get exactly the right size. This can be a little bit expensive but it does allow you to choose a fabric that will work well in your room.

Kitchen blinds definitely need to relate to each other. This is especially important if you have an open floor plan or a breakfast nook. You might want to use the same fabric or at least the same color palette. You can use blind tape to get the color on these fixtures that can relate back to your fabric curtains.

Another thing to consider with kitchen blinds and shades is to go very subtle. This can help you create a theme or just add a very soft texture. You can find a lot of tone on tone prints that would be very contemporary or wild if they were in several different colors. However, just keeping them in a cream or ivory is really going to make them a lot more subtle but still get a very interesting paisley or poppy flower pattern.

When you go with neutral colors in the kitchen you might take into account your appliances. At first, you might think that you have stainless steel appliances so you can get away with using an off white. However, you’ll need to consider the trim around the windows especially if it is just painted white. You probably have a lot of appliances in the interior space that you don’t really think about such as a can opener or toaster. You can really relate your window treatments back to this by using the same color for a sense of flow in your space.

Photo from Kimberlykv

What To Keep in Mind with a Traditional Room

A traditional room generally is either something you love or hate. You might have been living with kind of hand-me-down pieces left over from your college dorm space for years and you really looked forward to the time when you could buy a matching furniture set. When the time finally arrives you might really not know how to design both for your tastes and your lifestyle. This can be difficult at first but if you keep a few of these ideas in mind it can really help you along the way.

A traditional living room is still going to have to be modern. For instance if you have a flat screen TV that has to find ways to make it fashionable. Right now there seems to be a trend especially in very high end stores or designer magazines to go with kind of the shutter look or a cabinet that covers it. You will want to make sure that the cupboard is easy to open and close and that when it is open it provides the full view of the screen just so that your family doesn’t revolt. When you have company over or you just want to turn off the television then it gives you more of the look of a very beautiful piece of wood carving or cabinetry. This can only be an asset in your space instead of a liability.

One thing that is important for traditional room design is to own it. This is your chance to just decorate the space that you can actually live in every day. It’s really important to keep this in mind. A good way to do this is to play with scale. For instance artwork is in almost every room in the entire world. However, you can really put your own stamp on it just by making it huge. You could go for prints that almost fill up an entire wall. If this is a nature scene it’s really going to expand your room and even act as kind of a faux window. Of course you will have to spend a little bit more money for these kinds of custom sizes or pieces but it really can pay off in the end just because it does make such a very big impact.

A traditional living room set used to really focus in on a sofa and a love seat. Another option would be a sofa along with wing back chairs. However, you can change this up as long as you stick to the rest of the rules. For instance you could go with mismatched chairs but still have them both being a very formal style. You may even be able to have vintage pieces recovered as long as they are in good shape. This allows you to use heirloom items that might be sentimental but give them a more updated design style. The fabric will really highlight the fact that they are different shapes and can relate back to your sofa that you already have in your space.

For traditional dining rooms, you will really want to play around with your accessories. For instance mirrors are quite classic. However, you can just change it up by bringing in several mirrors. You could put three starburst mirrors on the wall for a vintage effect. This symmetry is going to be quite beautiful and it bounces light around the room. This is great if your room doesn’t have any architectural detail and because it does create a focal point by just updating a few decorative accessories. It also brings in a lot of metallic finishes which can have a very high end feeling and also relates to your table setting.

Another thing that is very important to consider is to use expected patterns in unexpected ways. For instance plaid is one of the most basic patterns out there. Recently, it’s gone out of vogue, but lately it has come back in a few high-end designer magazines. The way that the designers are making it look fresh instead of dated is by just using it in a new way. Maybe you are used to this kind of tweed fake fabric on your grandfathers sofa or arm chair. Instead, now it’s on very linear sofas with carved to wood details and the fabric is a very high quality in a more subtle color palette.

Thanks to Posh Living LLC for the Picture

Relax with a Beach Kitchen Design Style

A beach kitchen really gives you the chance to create a casual air. You might not own a home on the ocean but you can get the look in your room. You need to be aware that this can look a little bit kitschy so you just want to go with overall feelings and bigger gestures to get a room that is very welcoming to everyone. You can incorporate your favorite elements and colors but still get a design that can work for everybody.

Find ways to lighten up your cabinetry. This is so important just because the wood cabinets seem to really dominate design styles. Instead, you could just go for a very crisp white cabinet that is going to transition into a lot of other designs if you do decide to change out your theme later on. You could also go with a trendier color if you want to paint things out every once in a while. Right now, different versions of turquoise and a slate blue are very popular. You can put this into your design style just with a very simple piece such as painting your island a different color or even just painting the bar stools a blue color. Blue and white really just scream beach.

Another beach kitchen design would be to go for more of a Miami kind of feeling. This is going to incorporate aqua and even pink. You can even have kind of a night club feel to it. You want to focus in on your lights as well as bring in a few article elements that are really going to give your home more of a trendy nightclub feeling. This will keep it cool, young and fresh so that your space won’t feel too stuffy or country.

Find ways to add in casual pattern. You can create a very important effect on your wood floor just by painting or glazing in a checkerboard pattern. This is a lot of work so you want to make sure that it is something you can live with for a long time, but it does give a more casual air and allows you to add inexpensively refinish floors that might not be in the best shape. You can also recreate the same look with a vinyl tile which is one of the cheapest sources out there and is great for families just because it is so easy to clean up. However, it might not always be the most fashionable by just changing up the colors or the sizes which is really going to give you a cohesive sense of design.

Beach art in a beach house kitchen can really create a fairly calming sense of flow throughout the space. You don’t want to break things up with cheesy seashell wallpaper borders. Instead, just pick one item that you truly love and just use it once. Then stick within the color palette so the pictures really drive home your theme without being too over the top. For instance you could find drawer handles that look like seashells. These are quite expensive so you could just use them on the drawers and get a coordinating handle in the same finish that will be a lot less money and use it on the doors.

You also need to really create a light and airy feeling. You can do this with your window treatment just by going with a linen kind of Roman shade or blind. Another option is to just remove the centers of some of the doors of the upper cabinets and put glass inside. This can make a small kitchen feel a little bit bigger and can just help you redo the surfaces that you already have in your room.

One thing that you want to be careful with is the countertops that you bring in. This can seem quite modern or traditional. Instead you need to bring in that casual feeling. Luckily butcher block countertops will work beautifully and they are quite inexpensive. However, you will have to make up for the budget friendly material by really going the extra mile to take care of these pieces. If you have a white countertop such as laminate or marble you can just keep it. This can flow beautifully with tile as long as it’s a bright white it really doesn’t have to be the focal point as long as it’s functional and this way you can really redecorate on a budget.

Thanks to Posh Living for the Picture