Monday, October 5

DIY Decorating




Ever been intimidated by the prospect of decorating a room? I know I have.

Nearly five years ago, my husband and I discovered a house that was in the process of being built. We fell in love with it--the location, the size, the setting, the floor plan. . . so we bought it. And we were lucky enough to buy it before it was finished, so we got to choose many of the features and make some floor plan modifications.

I love our house, and I work hard to make it a home for us. But some of the spaces in this house have been challenging for me to decorate. This is by far the nicest place we've ever lived, and while I think I have good taste, I haven't always been sure that my decorating choices were quite right.

Here's an example. Most of the kitchen was already in place when we bought the house: the cabinets were in, the countertop was in, the appliances were in. I got to choose paint color, backsplash, and cabinet hardware. I was pleased with everything, until the builder showed us this little feature: the boxes at the top of the cabinets.


And then he proudly flipped a switch to show us this:


And I nearly threw up. He was so excited to offer us these cool shadowbox cabinets for display, but all I could think was "What the heck am I going to put in those?" I kept thinking that the shadowboxes looked like something I'd see in a magazine along with a caption explaining that the homeowner ordered those as a place to showcase her collection of Majolica. Friends, I've got no Majolica.

You wouldn't believe how much I stressed about this decorating decision. 15 shadow boxes I needed to fill, and I didn't have 15 of anything that I wanted to display. Then I remembered this:



This pitcher was a wedding gift to my mother and father back in 1960. It's one of the things I remember clearly from my childhood--no matter where we lived, that red pitcher was always on display somewhere.

The red pitcher got me to thinking, and I realized that I had several pretty pitchers. So I decided to go with pitchers for the shadow boxes. Of course, even though I had several pretty pitchers, I didn't have 15 of them. So off I went to TJMaxx and Marshall's. I'll admit that when I unloaded seven pitchers from my cart onto the counter at TJMaxx, I got a couple of odd looks. But I was pleased with what I found, and most of them cost less than $10.

And so those shadow boxes went from intimidating blank spaces to warm, appealing full spaces:



And in context in my kitchen:



I think I made a good decision! Here's what I learned: TRUST YOURSELF. I lost sleep wondering what I should put in those cabinets, but when I calmed down and gave it some thought, I chose something that would make me happy. And what makes me happy works great in my kitchen.

Here are a few more shots of my kitchen:


Facing the work area



Facing the eating and sitting areas



There's the dough cabinet I wrote about here



A desk and sitting area at the end of the room


So that's my kitchen--the heart of my home--with all its DIY decor. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Check out all the great projects at Kimba's!

P.S. The window treatment over my kitchen sink was yet another DIY project, based on Sarah's wonderful tutorial. I highly recommend this!


38 comments:

  1. Beautiful kitchen and I love how you used the cabinets to display pitchers. You have wonderful taste and I always enjoy your projects.
    Hugs, Marla

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  2. Gorgeous kitchen! I love the cubby's and your pitchers on display. I agree, whatever makes ya happy!

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  3. They look wonderful up there. I would have a very hard time deciding on what to put up there as well. I am indecisive that way.

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  4. Your kitchen is lovely - and your pitchers look wonderful. What a great idea. :)

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  5. Miss Richella! I love it! Your kitchen makes me want to re-do mine, AGAIN!

    Great minds think a like, my DIY day post was about a pitcher! :)

    Rachelle

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  6. That is very interesting! What a great cabinetry job and a great way to use space that would be wasted.

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  7. Richella, your kitchen is gorgeous. I love the pitchers up in the cabinets...all it took was a little brainstorming and you came up with the perfect idea. :) Stopping by from Kimba's party tonight. :)

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  8. So, listen, I think your kitchen is 80x's bigger than my house...when can I move in?
    Figure with a kitchen that big, you will never see the small, petite, 6ft tall red head with a weight problem :>)

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  9. Please pray for me as I am totally coveting your gorgeous kitchen!!! I love the idea of the pitchers and you've got some beautiful ones. I display things on top of my cabinets. I wish the builder would have just put in 42 inch cbinets instead of leaving all that space up there. Oh well! I love whay you did with the shadow boxes.

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  10. I love the idea of using pitchers! It looks great. Come visit sometime soon!

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  11. Such a pretty kitchen! The pitchers are beautiful :)

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  12. I'm glad I'm not the only one who stresses over shelves :o) You done good and your kitchen is amazingly beautiful.
    peace, cindy

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  13. I LOVE that those holes light up! You could set up barbie displays or lego displays... I think the pitchers are a prefect fix!

    You have a beautiful kitchen and lovely taste, I'm so glad you shared it with us!

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  14. The cubbys look really nice, but I think it wold have really thrown me for a loop!!!


    I have a linky party going you may want to link up: http://theshadesofpink.blogspot.com/2009/10/room-month-great-pumpkin.html

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  15. I think pitchers was a great idea - thanks for showing us!

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  16. Your kitchen is beautiful! I think they pitchers are perfect for the spaces. :)

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  17. I love your kitchen. Using the pitchers was a wonderul idea. Your home seems so warm and cozy--perfect place to spend Fall. Enjoy it!

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  18. It looks gorgeous Richella! It would have been overwhelming for me, too!

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  19. wow, I love, love, love your kitchen, those cabinets are so cute with the glass displays on top. So cute and so clean.

    And I love the desk area of your kitchen, such a great idea and great for more storage.

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  20. Beautiful kitchen! I really like the pitchers above the cabinets. It really adds personality.

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  21. Your kitchen is beautiful and I love the pitchers. And to think that it all started with just one special pitcher from your childhood.

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  22. It looks very warm and inviting. I love that your special pitcher will always be on display. It would be a fun thing to look for pitchers when you travel or to commemorate special events so that one day you could have 15 wonderful memories up there!!

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  23. Love it! Love the color choices!!

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  24. Love the kitchen & the pitchers on display! Just found your blog & excited to go through it!

    Shellagh

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  25. I absolutely love your kitchen, and it looks like you had those cabinets specially made to showcase your pitchers! Way to think outside the box and trust yourself. It looks fantastic!

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  26. You know what? If I ever have the chance, I'm definitely going to put lighted shadowboxes in my cabinets! I LOVE it! :)

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  27. Your kitchen is beautiful. The cubbies remind me of some that one of my homeowners had added to her kitchen to display her teapot collection. I love all the natural light.

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  28. Your solution is just right. And always go with your gut...
    You have a lovely home and blog. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us!

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  29. looks great! What a wonderful homey space you have there!

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  30. Thank you for taking your precious time to visit my blog and leave me some suggestions...I was gitty with excitement to see all that you had written..thank you , thank you!!! Cant wait to explore!

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  31. That's a gorgeous space! Your cabinets look great with those pitcher in the cubbies! TJ Maxx is so great for finding things like that. The dish section is always my favorite!

    Manuela

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  32. WOW! I would have been totally overwhelmed by that too. But you came up with the most beautiful and perfect solution! It really looks like those cubbies were custome made to showcase those pitchers. I love it when that happens. Thanks so much for sharing your lovely kitchen.

    Love you
    ~Amanda

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  33. what a gorgeous kitchen, those are the best cabnits ever!!!

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  34. your kitchen is lovely! wow! and i love the shadow boxes above the cabinets) glad you found just the right thing to display!

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  35. I really enjoyed looking around your blog! What great ideas!!
    Eliza’s blog

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  36. This is gorgeous!!! That red pitcher is just stunning, really. I love that you continued with that. And the little seating area at the end of the room is so cozy, love it.

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  37. Would you mind sharing the color of your walls? Thanks!

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