Welcome to the latest installment of Project Design. Mary Ann, Annie, and I are joining some new friends and old friends for some kitchen styling. Just like styling your coffee table or your bookshelves, styling your kitchen requires some effort. Keep in mind what types of things you enjoy in the rest of your home and incorporate some of those elements in your kitchen. Then your home will flow from room to room. Keep it simple, and keep it natural. Less is more. Don’t clutter your counter with every kitchen gadget known to man or too many knick-knacks that serve no purpose. Do incorporate organic elements, texture, and vintage to make your kitchen your own. Let’s take a look at five simple steps to style your kitchen like a pro.
FIVE EASY STEPS TO STYLE YOUR KITCHEN LIKE A PRO
My kitchen is over 30 years old. It isn’t glamorous and it doesn’t have all the latest and greatest appliances. We have the original saltillo floors on our main floor including the kitchen (which thankfully are finally coming back!) Several years ago when our home was being shot for a magazine shoot, we tore out the Mexican tile counters (replaced it with concrete overlay (don’t do it in your kitchen not durable enough), painted the cupboards white (they were white, then green) and the biggest improvement replacing the backsplash with Tabarka Tile Meditteranean 5. We absolutely love it. You can read more about that here. The jute runner is inexpensive from Overstock. When it gets raunchy looking we recycle it. We have probably had four or five here over the years. Whenever I see expensive rugs in the kitchen I think either they don’t cook or they are incredible neat nicks.
Tip #1 Use Trays to Corral Kitchen Essentials
Here is an old nursery tray that holds our “coffee bar”. The tulips are housed in a vintage redware pitcher, water buffalo horn spoons are in an empty candle holder, and raw sugar is in a small antique redware jar. The candle is my longtime favorite Votivo Red Currant. It is a good year-round scent that is always fresh and pleasant. I had it burning in the kitchen yesterday when I was photographing. It is so uplifting and so much more reasonable than most candles. Haven’t candles gotten ridiculously expensive?
Next to my sink, I have a small kouboo tray that’s home to my handy dandy brushes, hand soap, dish soap, and hand lotion. I have these same trays all over my house.
Tip #2 Add Organic details such as flowers, plants, or herbs
This is where everyone enters my kitchen from the back door. In the basket are herbs and lemons from the garden. We use the blackboard for reminders. It has been in this same spot since we built the house over 30 years ago. The cute apron on the left my daughter purchased for me on her honeymoon in Positano. Wouldn’t we all love to be there right now?
Tip #3 Add Texture
I love adding rattan and wicker items to warm up the cool surface of the countertops. Here I have an old trencher (bowl) and simple woven chargers to warm up the counter. The block print napkins I found on Etsy. I linked similar at the bottom of the post or you can find all different ones here.
Tip #4 Add Something Vintage
An old breadboard and vintage wicker covered bottles add character to the Tabarka tile backsplash. I really love this tile, if I lived in a similar home I would do it again.
#5 Add Pretty Dishtowels
Trish from Cottage by Design did these towels several years ago. She has done all of the monogramming in my home. Many people ask about the lantern. It was made in Mexico many years ago. The faucet is Newport Brass worn down to its original unlacquered brass. The table top Olive Standards are from Bokay nursery if you are local
SHOP MY KITCHEN
Cindy, I love the look of your kitchen~feels loved and well used. I have never consciously thought about styling the kitchen, with exception is the French pastry display shelves I have in the center of our rather large island. Those shelves get dolled up for the holidays and I do use cute kitchen towels. I like the idea of keeping all the sink things in the basket. Will upgrade to that. Thanks for all the great ideas.
Ooooh, I love the collected, storied feel of your kitchen! Just beautiful!
Thank you so much for a wonderful post, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I also have Saltillo tiles and I am glad to hear of their come back. I would like to lighten the color scheme in my kitchen and have thought about color washing the Saltillo tiles but have some concern aboiut the outcome. I notice that you have tiles on your backsplash that are white – I am crious are they by chance Saltillos that were painted? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, many thnks.
Hi Kate
The tile is from tabarka studio. You can check them out online. They are a great resource for a more current look in a Spanish or Mediterranean home. If we were to stay here we would use their tile to update our bathroom. They have a lot of options. If you have your saltillo tiles stripped, they could be stained. My husband has had it done before on some of his projects.
Cindy I just adore your kitchen ! Every tip is so valuable … trays are a must ! I’m interested in what a kouboo is ? A new word to me . I agree that flowers are a must , I’m almost sure a pitcher I have is of the same ilk as yours but blue . You have now given me reference . Thank you !! My addition to all of your fabulous tips would be to add art . Never be scared of hanging a face piece in the room we spend so much time in ! Sue 🌸
Good morning, Cindy! I don’t know how I missed it, but I have never seen your kitchen before. It is gorgeous – I love everything about it = the cabinetry, the floors, and of course, all of the accessories. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Hi Katie
My kitchen is rarely seen! I have never done a “house tour”, maybe I should many have asked. I am sprucing up my family room so maybe I will do it then!
Cindy I love your kitchen – especially that it’s not cookie cutter. It has personality – love the backsplash! I think that my favorite thing I’ve learned from you is to incorporate personality into the design. Always inspiring! Oh – and I would never get another divided sink. Give me the biggest, deepest sink available!
Thank you so much Barb. I do still like my kitchen and I think it suits this house. We tried to make it timeless when we built it. Of course, it has undergone a few changes, but the bones have remained the same. Amen to a big single sink! I totally agree!
Cindy.
I love kitchens, and yours is so wonderful. Collected and layered to perfection. I look forward to seeing the others. Thank you for this post.
xo,
Karen
Hi Karen
Thank you for always being so supportive. I always love hearing from you.
It’s so nice to see a kitchen that hasn’t been changed just for the sake of it or to keep up with the latest trend. It fits your house, you have great ideas, and it’s wonderful! Thank you.
Thank you so much Jeannine. I really appreciate it. We did change out the counters and the backsplash, but the style remains the same.
Your kitchen LOOKS like YOU! The highest compliment that can be given. Functional, natural beauty inspired by the locale and the owners. Love it! A REAL kitchen with personality illustrated by all the personal touches.
This is a kitchen with character – I love it! I am very tired of looking at all-white kitchens.
You have injected some color, texture, and warmth into your’s.
Hi Cindy,
I disagree with you! I LOVE you kitchen, it is unique and special. There’s not another kitchen like it anywhere, and that’s exactly why I like it so much! There are so many wonderful details, (those light fixtures have me drooling) it’s obvious that you really thought about what you wanted.
The new super sized kitchens don’t appeal to me at all, they are impractical and all look the same. I prefer something with a little more style and character, and yours has tons of that.
XO Heidi
WELL< I FOR ONE LOVE YOUR KITCHEN!IT JUST SUITS YOU AND STEVE…………….
YOU HAVE BUILT A HOME that is LIVED IN!
PLUS HAS GOOD TASTE OOZING FROM EVERY NICHE AND CRANNY!
ONLY 4 burners?I LIKE THAT!I ALSO LIKE HOW YOUR PANTRY is off the KITCHEN RIGHT THERE………….
KEEP BEING THE FORCE OF DECOR!!!
Cindy,
A great post! I love your kitchen, it reflects your style. I am with you on the kitchen rugs, you can easily tell who cooks and who doesn’t 😃. I recently purchased 2 kitchen rugs from Ruggable.com, they are washable.
Hi Nancy
Thank you so much! On the who cooks and who doesn’t I have a friend who happens to be a gourmet cook. She always says the cooks that that have the fancy ranges don’t cook either! Who knows?
It’s all lovely. I’m inspired. A question…do people try and use all those lemons that are used for decor or do they get discarded and replaced sometimes? Always wonder about that!
Hi Carol
Well to be honest more than half of those are fake! However, we have three lemon trees and other than sharing with our children we use them all. I use them for salad dressings, marinades, iced tea (which I drink every day) fish etc. We love lemons. If we ever moved out of California I would probably go broke spendin money on lemons!!
Thanks for the info! I need to use them more.
Hi Carol
You are welcome!
I am building a new home and your kitchen here is part of my inspiration. Too many modern kitchens look flawless and curated. I want my kitchen to have character and a lived in vibe. I want to use the things I have collected over the years and display them. I want to see how my style has evolved over the years and not have a shiny, sterile showplace. Thanks for showing how it can be done stylistically. Beautiful!
Hi DA
I agree with everything you have said. We tried to create a home that is timeless and comfortable. We haven’t had to change many things over the years, but paint, appliances etc. That is why I am so fond of a collected look. Have fun with your new home!!
Cindy! I adore your “old” kitchen! It’s anything but cookie-cutter and the updates you’ve made are perfect and more modern, but still staying true to the house! The touches like your black monogrammed towel, the original faucet, the gorgeous lighting, and the olive trees are so beautiful! This will always be one of my favorite kitchens! Oh and all those lemons!!!
I agree with the aboves that your kitchen suits your home and your style.Is there not a better compliment? I had to laugh about the sink! I did a small upgrade years ago and replaced the old double sink with a 2/3- 1/3 with the smaller sink for the disposal. I had a gooseneck faucet that could swing to both sinks (unpolished brass back then—so quaint I was told). My husband and son could not be housebroken to NOT let the faucet rest on the divide! It always made a huge mess. When I finally took the kitchen down to the studs, my first choice was Kohler’s Harborview sink. It’s 4′ long and 27″ deep (I think) and has two prerinse sprayers. It had sliding drainboard and sliding cutting board that make the sink area function like counter space. The son is long gone. The husband still here. MY sink is totally off limits. My kitchen is the antithesis of all of these kitchens. My advice about kitchens: put your money where your heart is. My heart was in my appliances and my kitchen tools. “Styling” my kitchen means buying the best, most efficient tools you can! I have a “valence” of graduated stainless cookware that frames the 9′ wide window looking out to the garden. It makes me smile everyday.
Hi Patricia
I just responded to your email. It cracked me up. If I were doing a kitchen again I would have one large sink. All we use the right side for is to store clean dishes that finally get put away when the stack is high enough. That small middle sink design was the dumbest invention yet. I was in my 30’s when we built this house and very poor. We built it in stages almost entirely by ourselves.I have a “fancy” range at the lake and it never works right. Live and learn I guess at our age!!
I have so many dreams about my new kitchen and one day we will fix it. Right now it is stuck in the 1970’s. But when I can, I am thinking of going with Heath ceramic tiles and possibly ash wood cabinets or olive…..my husband likes cement countertops, I am not so sure, and a wide wood plank floorwith all the natural bumps and distressing, if I can afford it . And really good spot lighting. We have a seating area that consists of a antique swedish blue original paint table with three chairs, and there is a seating banquette agaisnt the wall with many pillows on it. It is the place we all gather. And above this is a window that shows off the mountains. If money was no object I would do a larger picture window right to the sides of the wall 🙂
Francesca your home sounds wonderful. We have concrete countertops at the lake and I LOVE them. They are super easy to care for. I wax them about every 3-6 months. That is it. It sounds to me like you know exactly what you want and it sounds lovely. Keep us all posted!
Thank you Cindy so happy to hear you like the cement countertops! Take care xo
Cindy , I have to disagree, your kitchen has the most style and soul of all of them! I love every detail- the tile and the counter too. The way you used your baskets and antiques is really beautiful- and useful. As someone said above, you have the California look and that’s so unique and cool. For now I will just try and copy all your bits and hope one day to have a space as amazing as yours. Thank you again for asking me to join you all. I am always honored to be included with you bright and talented bunch. xoxo Kim
Well Miss Kim you are just being nice but I sure appreciate it! You know your kitchen is my favorite. You did such a good job. I would love for my daughter to see what you did to your home some day. She has a home that “could be” like yours when they have the money and time to remodel!
Hi Kim
You are so sweet to say that. You don’t need to copy or learn anything from me. You have a unique and fabulous style all your own that I admire greatly!!
Hey Cindy. I ❤️ your kitchen. All of it. Just a heads up. Your link to classic casual home is to a Christmas blog. I didn’t figure it out til now when I accessed through one of the other blogs you featured.
Hi Pam
I actually checked it and had Mary Ann check as well. You may need to clear your cache! Thank you for letting me know though.
It’s working now. I have some catching up to do. Not sure why this happened. I’ll have my sweet daughter check it out for me. She knows all.
Wonderful kitchen! May not be the newest, but usable and so much character. This is so much more of a kitchen I want, not those boring cookie cutter ones that are so “in”.
Love it.
Hi Judy
Thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate them!
I love everything you do. But I need help in keeping the kitchen clean. I mean we now eat 3 meals a day here and it’s always dirty. How about giving helping hints about how to keep it clean with out devoting my life to it.??? Honestly. I no sooner get it clean and it’s a mess again. I guess it’s me.
Sandra if you can teach me how to keep my own kitchen clean I will teach you. How about that!
Your kitchen has so much personality! I love it!!
Hi CK
Thank you so much. It has served us well for many years!
I love your kitchen, Cindy, and your collection of crocks, cutting boards, baskets, everything is fabulous! The little spoons at the coffee maker :-)! Now, I must have.
Hi Carla
Only you would notice the spoons! Etsy to the rescue!!
Thank you Cindy, these are all wonderful ideas. I knew you would have the answers. :))
Hi Jeanne
Thank you so much for your kind words! I bet you are looking forward to beautiful Spring in New Hampshire!
Cindy … I adore your kitchen … it suits your gorgeous home and gives off #thecollectedlook vibes. Love the pops of color citrus and tulips bring. Oh, tulips … can Spring be far away! You’re a stylist extraordinaire. I’m off to rethink my countertops … I’m inspired! xo
Hi Juliet
Thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous kitchen with all of us!!
Hi Cindy: I loved your “Old Kitchen”, it’s real and so vintage California. I enjoy your blog keep up the great work.
Hi Shelley
Thank you so much. I like it too, although if I were to stay here there are a few things that could use a tweak or two.