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The Design Inspirationalist

~ Inspiring Ideas | Spectacular Creations

The Design Inspirationalist

Tag Archives: kitchen

Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen

11 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts, The Home

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

aubrey madrona, cleaning, kitchen, kitchen shelving, marble mosaic, organization, pot racks, pull out drawers, space, Storage, wall space

Most people seldom realize that a clean-spacey kitchen is important. If a guest walks in and sees a dirty living room and a clean kitchen, that would at least be pardonable. But if they walk in and see a clean living room and filthy kitchen, the house would look dirty and the people would come across as unhygienic. A dirty living room is better than a dirty kitchen (of course it’d best if you could clean ‘em both).

If you’re looking to redesign your kitchen, instead of just adding that cute colored glass mosaic tiles backsplash or buying the new rose gold flatware set, you might want to consider freeing up some space to make your kitchen look neater. Here are a couple of tips:

Wall Hang-Ups
In these modern times, everything is multifunctional. A sofa actually turns into a bed, a table into chairs, a garden into a party area. A wall is not just a wall. It’s another dimension of usable space. Use it to hang pots, chopping boards, kitchen utensils, ladles. Or if you’re not really into just plainly hanging stuff, then build cabinets into it. It’ll cost you a little more, but at least everything is tucked in – out of sight, out of mind.
Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: Fresh Home

Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: Decoist

Organized Shelves
Shelves are very practical for kitchens. If you want easy access to your materials and ingredients, a shelf will do much better than a cabinet. Shelves are also cheaper to make. If you’re the DIY kind of person, you won’t have any trouble at all. However, with shelves, people just tend to get careless over time and just place materials anywhere they want to. To ensure that you stay organized, give each shelf a category – maybe one for spices, one for seasonings, and another for plates or glasses.
Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: Mackenzie Horan

Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: DIY Network

Pull-Out Drawers
If you’re still having your house designed, make sure that you’ve got ample drawer space in the kitchen. Or at least have the initiative to add some. Most kitchen designers usually go with a crisp and neat design in mind – so hiding things (or shall we say hiding a mess) is essential. Pull-out drawers are great for hiding utensils and cutlery, it keeps them out of countertops which frankly look better if it were neat. The only complaint people make for pull-out drawers is that you always have to open each one ‘because it’s so easy to forget – good exercise to jog our memory perhaps?
Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: Home Tone

Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen

Under-The-Sink Storage
I’m sure that you don’t use all of your stuff in the kitchen all the time. Most times we like to collect stuff until we don’t use them anymore. So, if you’re not so keen in giving them away, then you could probably hide them under the sink for a while. We mostly put the cleaning detergents there, but you can probably scoot them over so that you can put other “unnecessary” kitchen stuff.
Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: Real Simple

Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get More Space from Your Kitchen
Photo Credit: Real Simple

Be Responsibly Organized
In order to get that spacey-clean look for your kitchen, there is something that we must personally do – be organized. What good is cleaning a kitchen if we’re just going to dirty it a day later? And this isn’t just a lone ranger’s duty. Everyone in the house should have that collective effort and awareness to keep the kitchen spic and span.

{Aubrey Madrona is a Social Media Specialist. She loves Music and spends a lot of her time playing piano and reading. She’s currently building her reputation as an online writer of Marble Mosaic.}

Tips from the Darkside

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, The Home

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bathroom, bedroom, bold, bold colors, color, dark, dark colors, design, dining room, home, hue, interior design, kitchen, painting

Tips from the Darkside

Using dark and bold colors in your home doesn’t have to be dark and dreary. In some cases, they can enable a space to really shine. I’m not saying you should paint all the walls in your home this way, but you would be surprised how much a deep hue can transform a room. Here is a little inspiration to help you choose the right color combination for your home, with a little help from the darkside.

This dark earthy brown helps everything in this dining room pop, giving the space a clean and crisp look. Incorporating other tones of this color family, such as taupe and beige, really bring a classic and opulent feel to the room.
Tips from the Darkside
Photo Credit: Country Living

All the natural textures in this bedroom truly bring a unique style and sense of history to the space. It all works together nicely because light hues were incorporated as well. You always need a little contrast to create something spectalular.
Tips from the Darkside
Photo Credit: 79 Ideas

This modern classic bathroom is engaging thanks to the deep navy blue on the walls. It adds a rich feeling to the room and helps to highlight the soft textures in the space.
Tips from the Darkside
Photo Credit: Country Living

Bold and bright, this kitchen is glowing with cheer. Painting everything the same color is surely a courageous move, but the owners totally pulled it off. The accessories and pots help to break up the space, as does the butcher block countertops and door. The neutral stone floor gives the room a lightness it needs while the white on the top of the walls helps to even out the space.
Tips from the Darkside
Photo Credit: Kitchen Building

With bold and bright colors used throughout the space, the hunter green backdrop helps to keep it all grounded. The creamy beige on the top half of the wall and light gray rug adds a lightness and airy feeling so you aren’t bombarded with hues that pop.
Tips from the Darkside
Photo Credit: Country Living

Yellow and blue will always be two colors that go well together. It’s the contrast that allows these hues to be roommates. The rich navy and golden yellow in this bedroom/bathroom really makes a statement. It helps to incorporate earthy textures, like the hard wood floor, to break up the boldness. This color combo brings spunk and a touch of intellectual charm to any space.
Tips from the Darkside
Photo Credit: Donkee House

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home

06 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Color Inspiration, Everyday Design, Guest Posts, The Home

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bedroom, blue, color advice, colors, cream, design, dining room, earthy tones, exercise room, gray, home, kitchen, living room, neutral, office, orange, red, white, yoga space

When choosing to paint a room in the house it is best to strive for a color you like, but also a color that likes you. Color can have subtle, yet profound, influences on moods and feelings, and recognizing that can help a room to be aesthetically pleasing as well as beneficial. The correct colors in a kitchen or art room can help inspire creativity while the wrong colors in a bedroom can induce irritability when relaxation is being sought. Below are different types of rooms commonly found within a household, and which colors would best compliment them.

Living Rooms
Homeowners use living rooms for a number of different things. Some use the larger rooms for hosting guests and parties, but generally living rooms are used for relaxing. Colors for living rooms should be neutral to help accent furniture, but also light and calming.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Digs Digs

Orange instills feelings of warmth and stability and manages to tone-down a space, allowing people to relax. Red is good for sociable situations, as it provides energy. Light gray is very popular for living rooms right now as it compliments other colors very well and is not overbearing. A primarily gray room with orange accents could provide the perfect tones for a living room.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Real Simple

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Color Buzz

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Decoist

Kitchens
Kitchens are difficult to figure out as they are rarely used for one activity. Modern kitchens are used for cooking, eating, meeting, crafts, and many other activities. However, creativity usually happens in the kitchen, whether it’s from cooking, conversation, or something else. Soft earth tones like whites, creams, and blues, cater to a number of needs and puts people at ease, allowing creative juices to flow. Bright elements like red or orange are good accents as well.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Katy Elliott

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Cottage Modern

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Aponovich

Dining Rooms
Modern dining rooms are rarely used by the average family, and are typically only sat in when guests visit. Therefore, a dining room should encourage energy and liveliness, and red is the best color for this. Too much red can have negative effects though and can promote aggression, so a balance is desired with a softer color.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Allrakse

Bedrooms
These rooms should ultimately reflect the individual living in them, but some types of colors serve to help promote calming emotions. Light blues are great for this and people generally feel safer and calmer when surrounded by them. Turning to a dark blue can have negative effects, however, as it can produce sadness in individuals.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Weekend Escapades

Exercise Spaces
Power lifters and those going for hard workouts will want red highlights throughout their room to inspire energy and controlled aggression, but those looking to jog on an elliptical or relax with yoga will want earthy greens and blues to help calm and extend the workout.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: A Charmed Yogi

Home Offices
In a room where people need to focus and avoid distraction green is the way to go. This color has been found to promote concentration and productivity and workers. Plus, it is also a soothing color which helps relieves stress.

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Virtual Vocations

Choosing the Right Colors for the Rooms of Your Home
Photo Credit: Studio Rover

Even if a color has great potential to influence moods in a positive manner it may not be worth it if the color is unpleasing to the residence or causes the room to appear small. Whatever the case, it is worth realizing that color choice is much more important than many people realize.

Lisa Henfield is an exterior designer who spent a few years designing outdoor furniture covers for hotels along Las Vegas. She mostly writes about her design experiences, providing tips on outdoor accessories and furniture for both businesses and the average person. When she isn’t practicing her sewing or writing about the right colors for the outdoor seasons she usually works on her paintings.

Inspiration Photo Friday: Renovation Dedication

26 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Inspiration Photo Friday, The Home

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

antique, art, diy, Ikea, interior design, kitchen, natural, nature, renovation, rustic kitchen, vintage, wood

My husband and I are finally fully renovating our kitchen. It has been a little over a year we are in the house and feel its time to take on the project. What was done before was only temporary until we had the funds and the time to get it done so you can imagine how excited I am to see my dream kitchen alive.

This is the first space I’ve designed from scratch and have really enjoyed the process. I want an authentic vintage kitchen so collecting items for the space has taken some time. We started a few months ago, visiting antique shops every weekend until we collected everything we were looking for. The whole room will be free standing pieces, nothing is installed or connected to the walls like cabinetry would be. So finding exactly what we wanted and making sure we had enough storage space was a task all in itself.

We were lucky to have found the perfect pieces at great prices, which helped out a lot considering our budget wasn’t big. Everything has been painted the same color to bring cohesion to the space. Whites and creams will grace the room beautifully. Thanks to Ikea, we were able to get a butcher block countertop at an affordable price and the sink cabinet is being built from scratch, another design I am excited about. When you can’t find what you want, build it!

We purchased wood planks for the ceiling and painted them white as well. And because of our budget, we chose laminate planks for the floor in a nice neutral, honey tone. The new schoolhouse lighting I chose will truly bring the vintage charm to the space and the large piece of art we had custom framed will look gorgeous. Every detail was thought of when it came to this renovation. Floor plans were drawn, measurements were taken, and I considered every inch of the room so we can really maximize the space. I’d have to say, its the most dedication I’ve had for a project in a long time and I know it will all pay off.

So for this inspiration photo friday, I wanted to share my inspirations for our kitchen renovation, since this project has been a focus for some time now. I looked to these and saw elements I loved. Then made them work for our space and combined them in way that worked with our budget. I feel its really important to have a starting point, some kind of inspiration to work off of. And these truly helped my creativity and determination.

Inspiration Photo Friday: Renovation Dedication
Photo Credit: House of Anais

Inspiration Photo Friday: Renovation Dedication
Photo Credit: {Left} Unknown {Right} Kitchen Building

We are currently in the middle of the process and are ready for demo. Everything is getting ripped out, walls and all. Besides my uncle helping us with the drywall, Dan and I are doing this all by ourselves and we couldn’t be more excited. We are DIY all the way and when its all finished, we can look back and be proud of what we accomplished. It just proves that with true dedication, you can do anything. Check back for my before and after photos soon as well as a detailed post about the project.

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