Design Dilemmas
Episode 15: The Kitchen Edition. Let's talk about maximising storage, how to light it up, to wrap or to paint, overwhelming stainless steel stuff and my favourite of subjects, RUGS.
Another week, another stack of dilemmas and this week, we are kitchen bound. Of all the questions I am asked on my Instagram and also here on my Substack, the most popular is always the one at the heart of the home. My own kitchen is by far the most decorated of all of my rooms, mostly because it is the place in which I spend the most time. It’s positioned close to the back door (which is the one that we use the most) and the first stop for anyone entering our house and also the first place for my children to dump their things. When we first moved in, there were three of them and from 3.45 pm daily, the hallway and kitchen were a health and safety hazard, a plethora of school books, shoes, PE kits, half eaten lunchboxes and discarded coats just waiting to trip up an unsuspecting visitor and transforming my peaceful haven of a day into carnage.
Now, three have become one as the older two have left for University, but that doesn’t seem to stop Leo leaving a trail of debris behind him. However, the kitchen is a lot tidier - having only one child emptying the fridge of three Rolo yoghurts at a time and leaving discarded Belvita Soft Bake wrappers on the side is far less annoying than multiple. Anyway, this space is STILL my favourite in the house. Over the years, I have switched it up, switched it back, painted it, swapped the worktop, tiled it, floored it, upped the lighting - you name it, I’ve done it. During our time in this house, I’ve gone from full on maximalist plate wall to sleek tiled chimney breast; gallery wall to impact artwork and wallpapered focal point to a simple cream base. Its current incarnation has lasted a full on eighteen months which, as anyone who knows me knows, is a record. I’ve also ditched a fair amount of greenery in order to stop myself being arrested for cruelty to plant life and every now and then, I have to have a reshuffle of stuff as my natural tendency to collect gets out of control, but generally, it’s a pretty calm and collected place to be. It just took a while, that’s all.
Right, back to your dilemmas and the kitchen is a location in the home that always garners many a dilemma. We’re talking storage and how to maximise it and the always popular kitchen lighting debate. Wrapping or painting your cupboards - which is the best and how much will it cost? How to warm up a kitchen where the stainless steel appliances are overwhelming the finer points and finally, are rugs kitchen suitable? A question to which if you have followed me for a while, you already know the answer, ha.
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