Accessorizing a Kitchen

Do you “Pin” scores of kitchen pictures from Pinterest?  Especially, with photos highlighting tips for accessorizing a kitchen?  I know I sure do!  The kitchen is the heart of the home, and is the center of all family activity! Not sure where to begin accessorizing?  Below are my 7 tips to accessorizing a kitchen along with some cool kitchen decor ideas.

This is a photo of my kitchen.  We have lived in our home for over 20 years.  My kitchen isn’t large, but I think it is charming and homey.  I keep my accessories to a minimum.  It looks better, and makes cleaning a ton easier!

Tip 1#

If you have read any of my other accessorizing posts, you are probably saying, “Good grief, is that always her first tip?”  Any my answer is “yes”.  You cannot decorate around clutter.  I am not a neat freak.  In fact, when I “spring clean”, which will include de-cluttering, I realize how many things I leave lying around for weeks at a time.  My mother always said, “A place for everything, and everything in it’s place”.

So, take an hour or two, and de-clutter your counter tops.  Remove decor items that are out-dated and ready to be replaced.  Limit appliances on your counter tops.

Tip 2#

Turn Functional Items Into Decor

Do you have ugly soap bottles by your sink?  Purchase attractive soap and lotion bottles.  Pretty bottles make for pretty decor.

Do you eat a lot of fruit?  How about a bowl full of brightly colored oranges?

If you don’t want to leave fresh fruit out, then place artificial fruit in a bowl.  I always shop for faux fruit that makes people question whether they are real or not.  What about the pears above?  Real, or not?

 

Bring the outdoors in, with a bowl full of acorns. I love this antique divided tray full of acorns!  This would also make a great fall decoration.

Tip 3#

Dingy Dishtowels Are Not Attractive

Take a look at your dish towels.  Are they old and dingy?  Then replace them with attractive towels!  Functionality and a pretty design go a long way in my book!

Tip 4#

Choosing Attractive Kitchen Decor

When I decorate a client’s kitchen, I will place either a pretty ceramic cooking pot, or a beautiful tea pot on their stove top to be kept out daily.

 Kitchen Canisters With Style

Time to let your style and personality shine!  Find kitchen canisters that make you happy just to look at them!

These are my kitchen canisters.  They are an amber colored glass with a hammered metal lid.  Love them.

I have two of these canisters sitting inside a metal tray.  They hold my Keurig cups and my sweetener.  The tray sits next to my coffee maker.

Tip 5#

Good Lighting = Good Design

Lighting makes all the difference in any room!  The kitchen is no exception!  Our older home did not have under counter lights.  My husband installed several under counter lights.  And, as you can tell from the photo above, it made quite a difference.

We purchased our under counter lights from our local home improvement store.

If you have the space, an alternative to under counter lighting would be a lamp.

Tip 6#

Decorating a Cabinet With a Glass Door

One of the top mistakes I see clients make when decorating a cabinet with a glass door, is decorating with items that don’t show up.  Either a cabinet full of glasses, or white dishes in a white cabinet.  You want to make things stand out and show up.

I actually change my cabinet decor with the seasons.  Make sure that you have a few decor items that are tall and really stand out.

Tip 7#

Decorate in Groupings

Decorating in groupings looks less cluttered than having decor items lined up all in a row.  You want to gather three or four things together in a grouping.

Here is a grouping that works well together.  They have a common theme!

This was a fun grouping.  I purchased a mirrored tray, a small glass jar that I filled with coffee beans, a small topiary, and a glass hurricane filled with faux lemons.  Pretty, colorful, and easy to move out of the way if extra counter space is needed.

In Conclusion:

7 Tips to Accessorizing a Kitchen

~ De-cluttering is always the first priority

~ Turn functional items into interesting decor

~ Dingy dishtowels are not attractive

~ Choose pretty and stylish canisters

~ Remember lighting is important

~When decorating a glass cabinet, use items that will show

~ Decorate in groupings

A clean kitchen is the beginning of a well decorated kitchen.  I read an article years ago about a woman who never went to bed with a messy kitchen.  I adopted that philosophy years ago, and have never looked back.  I love walking into a clean kitchen early in the morning, and having my first cup of coffee surrounded by order.

 

Hello there!  Have you always wanted to learn how to make your own floral centerpiece arrangements?  Now, you might think it is too difficult, but I promise you can make your own arrangement!  I have made a step-by-step video tutorial.  There are several tips that will show you exactly how to make a beautiful flower arrangement.  I am going to go over a few of those tips, and then I would love for you to watch my video.  And, if you enjoy it, will you share it for me?

Three Important Tips for Floral Centerpiece Arrangements

 

Tip 1#

I usually purchase my flowers a day before the event.  Many times the flowers are not all the way open.  So, once you get them home, clip all of the ends of the flowers.  This allows the stems to be fresh, and soak up more water.  Let them sit over night, and the next day you will find many of the flowers have opened up beautifully.

Tip 2#

Your vase choice is important.  Many times floral centerpiece arrangements are in a tall vase, and the flowers are too tall.  This makes it difficult for guests to see each other over the arrangement.  Choose a lower sitting vase.

Tip 3#

You want to choose three sizes of flowers; large, medium, and small.  The small flowers are “fillers”.  Those can be baby’s breath, greenery, or any other small flowers.  In the arrangement in the video, I used roses, alstroemeria, and greenery.

Those are my “get started” tips.  I hope you enjoy the video!

How to Make a Floral Arrangement Video

Flower and Color Pairing for Interior Design

If you’re having trouble choosing flowers for your centerpiece, take a look at this flower and color pairing guide that FTD put together for inspiration. It tells you what flowers help elevate some of the most popular household colors, so you won’t just impress your guests with your floral arrangement skills. You’ll also impress them with your aptness for interior design!

Partyin’ Over at:

Ready to learn how to accessorize a coffee table?  Accessorizing is one of my favorite things to do!  But, sometimes it is easy to draw a blank on coming up with some good ideas.  I think a coffee table is pretty easy to decorate if you use one of my easy decorating rules.  I like to “Decorate in 3’s”.  So, what in the world is that?  Well, I find using three different items in accessorizing is just the right amount.   Limiting the decor items on a coffee table to three items balances things out, and keeps you from over-cluttering.

Isn’t this a cool room?  It belongs to an acquaintance of mine.  Her rustic decor is comfortable and engaging.  She has three items on her table.  Perfect.  I like her use of scale in her decor items.  I really like this look.

This is a coffee table I decorated for a client.  I found this cool trunk from Sam’s Club.  It actually slides open from the middle, and is perfect to house movies, books, and other articles.  Here, I purchased a large tray with a mirrored back.   I placed some greenery on a pair of books, and a mercury glass jar containing a candle.   This coffee table is neat and pretty.

This room was on the Downtown Nashville Home Tour.  Be sure to check out my post if you like modern and industrial interior design.  The large glass bowl on one side, mimics the glass refection on the other side of the coffee table.  This design is clean, modern, and neat.

If you like a Modern Country design, this room may fill your bill.  The coffee table is an old cart from a factory.  It is a large coffee table, so the accessories needed to be large.  The antique crock pot filled with flowers is just the right size.

Birds-eye view of a pretty glass coffee table.

Here is another example of “Decorating in 3’s”.  So, are you with me on this rule?  Have I convinced you?  Seriously, if you have four things on a table, it is not a big deal.  I just find choosing 3 items works out well.  On this round coffee table the items are different sizes, and it makes the design scale work.

Accessorizing an Outdoor Coffee Table

What a pretty wood tray filled with garden decor.  Leaving a candle outside for too long would cause it to melt.  However, a candle-lit deck or porch,  is one of the best things about summer evenings.

This galvanized water trough is a really cool idea for an outdoor coffee table.  Talk about weather proof!  I love it!

My Favorite Places to Find Coffee Table Decor

One of my top favorite places to look for items is T.J. Maxx or T.J.Maxx Homegoods.  I hyper-ventilate when I walk into this store!  I NEVER know what I am going to find.  I don’t always know how I am going to decorate a client’s coffee table.  But, once I enter a store, my creative juices begin flowing.

One important thing when decorating a coffee table, besides “decorating in 3’s”, is finding different sized items.   It is called using “scale“.  What in the world is that?  Well, scale just means visual size.  Keeping scale in mind when decorating creates interest and drama.

You want Tall, Grande, and Venti.  Oh, wait.  That’s Starbucks coffee.  My bad.  You want small, medium, and large decor items.  And, did you notice the “3” theme again?  It works!

Good luck decorating your coffee table.  I’m sure you will do a fantastic job.