I was asking for opinions on Twitter and Julie said she needed to know my whole plan to say whether houndstooth on kitchen chairs was a good idea. This was just the arse-kicking I needed to figure it all out, so here goes, and thanks Julie!
{Here's where I'm supposed to apologize for the quality of the pictures because it was nighttime and I used flash, but all I know is my walls are sorta blue and they didn't come out that way}
Here's the UGLY table & chairs. It may be ugly, but it was free, and the table expands to seat TEN people, so we're keeping it. And yeah, I know, it's Kincaid or something nice, but I am painting it white and there's nothing you can do about it.
Here's my houndstooth coat draped on a chair. Houndstooth upholstery on a white chair? Not?
Something like these?
Also need something on that wall above the dog dishes. I have a couple of the wine glass shelves sort of like this. Appropriate placing since the dogs do drive me to drink, or funny looking since there's no bar underneath?
Turn to the left...
Moving around, here's the long wall of nothingness. And yes, my cat gets up on the table and the counters and it's disgusting and you probably shouldn't eat at my house. What should I put here? I need storage.
What do you think? Cabinet or shelves?
Do you think this window needs something? And yes, there's crap on top of the cabinets. My husband is tall and feels it's a good place to store stuff, so I at least try to give him matching things to put up there.
To summarize:
Houndstooth? Or not?
What the hell to put on the walls?
Buy a big cabinet or attempt to install big shelves?
I'm going to be no help on the chairs. However, what about a long and low buffet and then shelves? While shelves might fill up space they may not be strong enough to hold a lot. That would be my first choice, follow by a big cabinet.
ReplyDeleteOkay! You do know you're asking the most radical decorator, right? FYI, I painted my living room bright turquiose in college.
ReplyDeleteSo, I love your wall color! I'm guessing it's the same in the kitchen and cabinets are white. I think the floating shelves are awesome and you should totally do it. I even like Faith's idea of a skinny buffet (but they can be pricey). I think the cabinet would look very serious - like you should put china in it.
Have you considered painting the table/chairs black as your barstools are black? Again, I love black, so that's biased. White would be okay, but you're going to need lots of color pops so it isn't WHITE ROOM.
If you go with the houndstooth (which, yes, I love and would look [IMO] even better on black chairs) you are going to have a VERY modern space (which I also love). Hence, no china cabinet - floating shelves instead (Ikea has good ones). If you go with the houndstooth and keep your wall color, I think it would be fabulous to accent in mustard yellow and bright red, but again, that's my crazy color mind. Your space has a very Anthropologie feel to me, but I'm not sure you like that vibe.
To summarize:
Houndstooth - I say go for it! You hate it, change it. Consider a black table/chairs.
Walls - floating shelves with pretty decor. If you need it to be functional storage, use kitchenware/dishes in colors. Hang family photos on the walls! I also love framed pressed flowers/leaves and framed fabric. I think we get wrapped in faux art when we are surronded by lovely things (like your cute munchkin!).
If you need more storage, go low skinny buffet. China cabinets are very serious, so only do it if you're serious about china.
Whew! Feel free to ask me anything or completely disregard my crazy decorating opinion!
Faith, I had never considered that! Great idea on a low buffet! I'd then have serving space too.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I love radical ideas. I'm pretty tame but totally open to ideas. The kitchen walls (I call the whole room the kitchen) are a pale blue/gray (two different shades). I agree on a china cabinet looking serious - I don't want a traditional china cabinet though. I'll post some options and tell me what you think.
I have considered painting the table & chairs black but I really want white. The living room is so dark with brown couches, wood tables, dark wood floors...I want a cheery white kitchen with pops of aqua - more specifically, the Martha blue.
I agree on faux art - I don't have any of it really aside from those prints and they were only up because they matched the cushions to the table that was there.
THANKS GIRLS!
February 11, 2010 8:59 PM