Kitchens can send anyone into the doldrums. The sole thought of cooking does it for me and the idea of burning a piece of toast in an ugly-looking, outdated, depressing kitchen is even more frightening. If your kitchen is bringing you down (not to mention affecting your ability to pour orange juice and fix a proper peanut butter and jelly sandwich), here are a few quick tips to spice up your space.
1. Add art. Not ridiculous Renoir and Picasso reproductions, but homemade, affordable, and accessible art. Put your kids or neighbor’s kids to work with finger-paint and ask them to create family portraits, landscapes, and still lives. Start honing their curatorial skills and ask them to select a collage of their masterpieces for display. Frame them in simple white or black frames and you’ll have an instant wall of spiffy art.
2. Paint your cabinets. If you don’t have the budget to rip out and replace those 1970’s laminate monsters, fear not. Prime the doors, pick some paint, and start the transformation from lackluster to lovely. If you’re paralyzed about choosing a color, go for white. White is a sure-fire way to brighten and lighten-up any space.
3. If you don’t have the time or the patience for paint, try something that requires a little less commitment – swapping out the knobs. You need’nt be stuck with loathsome latches! Make a beeline to your local Internet source and select some new baubles for your cabinets. This is an impossibly easy update that will bring near-instant satisfaction!
4. Add color! With plenty of options – from wallpaper, to tablecloths, to seat cushions, to appliances, to dishes – adding color has never been so easy! Decide what it is about your kitchen you dislike the most – the chairs, the table, the countertop, the walls – and let that guide your purchase. If your chairs make you want to start a bonfire on your front lawn, buy some jazzy and colorful cushions. If your countertops make you berserk, buy a blender, mixer, espresso machine, or toaster in a cheery color and let your eyes rest easy on that. Whatever the culprit in the kitchen may be, a jolt of color is an easy and inexpensive fix!
Our ears on the ground in the USA. We have a team of writers who scour the United States for the best design events, designs, products and images to show how much of a hotbed for design the USA is. Read more posts by USA Correspondent.
