Dale Avanaganthi We're heading for a 1920s icebox appearance," notes Earl when discussing her choice of cabinet hardware out of Christopher Peacock, "it is possible to find a similar feeling by purchasing the small latch hardware that they used in the 1920s," she adds.

We're heading for a 1920s icebox appearance," notes Earl when discussing her choice of cabinet hardware out of Christopher Peacock, "it is possible to find a similar feeling by purchasing the small latch hardware that they used in the 1920s," she adds.

Window Dressing When it comes to the kitchen, unless you're up for a significant job and a big expense, you are pretty much stuck with your layout and appliances, clarifies Dona Rosene, ASID, whoever owns Dona Rosene Interiors at Dallas office wall partitions with glass . Texas. "For those who have windows which you may put fabric on," she notes "it softens and finishes the kitchen at a very nice way." In terms of fabric selection, Rosene says a pattern is the best method to earn a big impact and tie things together. For short windows like these, go to get a valance that is around 15 to 18 inches. Hang the remedy over the window so that it just covers the top molding -- that visually elongates the window.



Weighty Walls While the saying "If you have it, flaunt it," is not normally used seeing kitchens, the sentiment is true. If you are lucky enough to have a breakfast nook, do exactly what San Francisco interior designer Cristin Bisbee Priest of Simplified Bee did and call attention to it. "I needed this space to have a direct impact," explains Priest. To be able to set the space aside from the kitchen but still have both flow together, she chose a wallpaper in one of those accent colors used in the kitchen. Whenever you paper a room, the wallpaper has to be the launching point for the rest of the design options, so select a paper with new contrast along with a bold theme, she guides.



Fashion Hardware We're not faking this gorgeous kitchen made by Lucy Earl co-owner of the Michigan design company Jones Keena & Co is anything aside from the maximum end, but the pairing of tasteful white cabinetry with vintage-inspired hardware is a lesson any homeowner can learn. "When the hardware is as big as this," explains Earl, "it becomes an important detail." The long polished nickel handles include a dramatic and glamorous touch to the kitchen. "We're heading for a 1920s icebox appearance," notes Earl when discussing her choice of cabinet hardware out of Christopher Peacock, "it is possible to find a similar feeling by purchasing the small latch hardware that they used in the 1920s," she adds.



Sound Surround Finding yourself with a huge kitchen is hardly a thing to complain about, in other words, if you don't truly want to tile around the range but the price to do so is prohibitive. That's the situation which Karla Barton, founder and president of McBurnery Junction in Langley, British Columbia, found herself in when designing the kitchen over. "We decided to wallpaper around the scope because it was a money-saving idea," she clarifies. By choosing a "bossy" routine, Barton managed to keep the remainder of the enclosure simple, for example, millwork and trim. Barton's best suggestions for pulling this off yourself: Let the background function as focal point and choose a soft hardly there wall shade.



Framed Window Painted window mullions: Well if that is not the most straightforward idea that we'd never have thought about ourselves! "it is a great trick," explains New York designer Katie Ridder, "to bring just a little colour without painting the whole kitchen." The punch of green provides the kitchen architectural structure and defines the distance, she adds. The identical technique works with a lighter color, such as a dove gray, and has a more subtle effect -- it is possible to inform the window frame is a different colour but it doesn't jump out at you at the exact same way. Ideally you should paint trim with an oil-based paint, but if you live in a state where oil paints aren't accessible, Ridder urges Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo line also, of course, always check the color out first before painting all the mullions.



Get Jacked You would never guess it but on the wall behind this chicly painted Union Jack motif is a tile backsplash. "We had been stuck with a slim and dim space and also we needed to liven it up," Allison Bloom of Dehn Bloom Design says of the kitchen cabinet she and Tinsley Hutson-Wiley constructed for the 2012 San Francisco Decorators' Showcase. The designers decided to make use of the flag design to the wall as a means to enlarge the space and draw the eye upward. "The toughest part," explains Hutson-Wiley, "was mapping out the measurement of the Union Jack. It is slightly distorted to account for the space becoming more of a square than a rectangle" To make the plank look for the wall, eight sheets of high quality oak finish plywood were sawed into 6-inch boards and nailed to the wall. Then, a combination of stains and paints were applied to complete the design.



Factory Chic The ideal lighting, such as the pendants that Tobi Fairley picked for this kitchen, can help to combine different elements inside the room. "I picked [these lights] since they include an unexpected industrial element to the kitchen," notes Fairley. "They are showstoppers, yet they are balanced with the very soft colour palette and traditional architecture." The pendants also visually draw together the coffered ceilings and kitchen island. To update your kitchen lighting, look for something with a bit of contrast. As Fairley puts it: It's the contrast that makes a room more dynamic and visually appealing.



Backsplash Bling Skip boring white and add some pizzazz to a kitchen with a coloured tile backsplash. "We knew that the client wanted to possess dark countertops," says Los Angeles-based architect William Hefner of his kitchen design above, "and we thought that white tile could be overly stark of a contrast. The coloured tile helps to give the kitchen character and was selected to be soothing and not so powerful that the homeowner would tire of it immediately." To pick a tile which will work for your kitchen, think of an overall feeling that the room is part of, advises Hefner, and choose a color that will compliment. In a room that doesn't get a lot of lighting, Hefner suggests picking a tile using a glossy surface which will bounce around the light. And above all, he says, pick a color you really enjoy and can live with and love for several years to come.



Found Style On occasion a quick update can actually take the kind of an artifact in the past, as was the situation in this kitchen made by Harry Bates a partner at Bates Masi Architecture at Sag Harbor, NY, in which a centre island was sided with reclaimed wood. "Aged patinated wood," explains Bates, "has a character and history which isn't readily obtained through stains and paints. It provides a warmth to the room and compliments the other material selections throughout the home." When searching for reclaimed timber, Jim Morgan, owner of Tall Cotton Supply, advises to " see the pile of wood in its entirety before you sign off on it do not just buy it off a single sample piece." Working together with the wood can be tricky also. "Do not just spring it on your installer you'll be using reclaimed wood," he says, "discuss it beforehand and ensure your installer has expertise working with older wood"



Stencil It In Not-so-perfect flooring are easy to conceal with area or scatter rugs but to get a really fresh looking upgrade, stencil on a bold theme. "This kitchen has been a part of a whole house remodel," explains Laura Zeck founder of Zinc Interior Concepts, a Seattle-based layout collective. "We used a bold blossom motif wallpaper in the adjacent hall and also we wanted to echo that by using a huge pattern in the kitchen. The floor was the perfect place since the original fir floors had any damage and were being refinished anyhow." Zeck found an inspiration image online and with a little Photoshop magic and then a trip to Kinkos to print it out on YUPO (a plastic-like newspaper sold in art supply stores) she had a customized stencil for the flooring. To stencil your floors, sand them first then use two coats of finish. After the end is put, paint on the stencil and then apply a last coat of finish once the paint has thoroughly dried. Because scale can be hard to get right, Zeck proposes getting a number of sizes of stencils and placing them out to the floor to see which one works best before beginning any painting.