Designing a room....
Everything seems to progressing nicely at the new house…knock on wood! Wood floors are going in, walk in shower is being built, sheetrock repair is being done.
Today I want to talk about “design features.”
As I mentioned before, I kind of “wing it” when it comes to design. Some people need a visual like a design board that shows all the elements of a room.
Me…I find one thing I absolutely love and then go from there.
In the new kitchen, it was this tile….
I can not tell you how much I LOVE this tile. (It was delivered this week…even more beautiful in person!)
I have one space in the kitchen that is about 8’ long…it is the perfect “cubby” for a cooking center…cook top, oven and microwave. My vision is walnut lowers with two painted uppers to the ceiling, walnut floating shelves, white quartz tops, stainless vent hood and this tile.
This tile has a “brushed gold” accent in it so to tie in the gold with the rest of the kitchen I have decided to go with these simple pendant lights above the island….
They kind of coordinate with the light fixture I have in my dining room…the exact same one I have ordered for the breakfast room in the new house.
What can I say, I love what I love!!!
Some really funky gold hardware.
A touch of “whimsy.” I’m not a big “cabinet hardware” person…I don’t even have them on my cabinets here…but I am going with shaker style cabinets and they will need hardware. I just thought these were fun and different.
The appliances are all stainless. I LOVE my black stainless appliances, but I fear that will be one of those “fad” things. I think in the long run I will be happy with stainless. Also, there is Carrara marble accents in the tile backsplash and greyish veining in the quartz tops…I think the stainless will blend right in.
I have a two door/two drawer refrigerator. I went with a side-by-side.
First, I will NEVER buy another Samsung product. Love the other appliances but the ice maker on the fridge hasn’t worked right since the second year… I actually have to go buy ice every week. Evidently it is a “design flaw” not covered by their warranty. Rampant problem and no real fix. Not cool Samsung.
Second, while I love the drawers, I am just getting too old to bend down and dig through a big ole’ drawer for a frozen chicken. I know side-by-sides are not nearly as energy efficient and they aren’t the “in thing” right now, but I loved the one I had years ago so I am going back with one!
I read reviews and decided to go with either Kitchen Aide or Whirlpool. Considering the price difference, I went with Whirlpool.
The bar stools…I have struggled with that one because I have had mine for 20 years and I still love them especially after this little “makeover”…truth is if I needed “bar height” vs “counter height” I would just take them with me.
Unfortunately they are not counter height and they are iron so cutting them down is not feasible… so I had to find new counter height bar stools. The minute I saw these I knew they were exactly what I want….
Super simple and I think the walnut color will tie in beautifully with the walnut base cabinets and floating shelves!
This is my “design board”….I drop pictures of what I like into a computer file…each has at least one element I like. I may not like everything in the picture, but there is one thing in each I am drawn to…
I know I am drawn to walnut cabinets…but I don’t want ALL of them walnut so I am going to have walnut lowers in the “cooking center” and painted uppers. The entire island will be painted. The tops are white quartz with greyish/taupish veining. I was able to go to the quartz place and actually pick out the slabs of quartz I wanted.
Some people HAVE to have a design or “mood” board….
…something that allows them to see every element of their design (This is not my design board, just one I plucked off Pinterest.)
I get it…and it isn’t hard to make…just find what you want on line and drop it into a file, then create a “board” on a program like Photoshop. You are able to see all your elements and determine if they coordinate.
Personally, I can see every detail in my “minds eye.” I wake up at 3 a.m. every morning and visualize every single element. Probably drives my subs nuts because if I “see” something I like, I will text or email them at 4 a.m. with my idea. (Hopefully they mute their phones at night or the “ding” of my text will wake them at this unGodly hour!)
My motto…YOU DO YOU! If you need a design or mood board, go for it. Do what works for YOU! Probably would have been a lot easier on my cabinet guy had I had a design board rather than 30 random pictures of cabinets and kitchens and having to go through each one to show him the one element in each pictures I love. I only hope and pray he has the same vision as I do!
Guess we’ll see in a few weeks. In the meantime I will continue to micro-manage the poor guys who have to work at the house every day…lol!
