The kitchen is the hub of the home. The living room may be the place we gather to watch a boxset or two, but when we have guests over it’s the warmth of the kitchen we migrate toward for a hot drink and a gossip over a slice of cake. Kitchens are notoriously one of the rooms in the house that don’t get the overhaul or appreciation they require from people as they’re an ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ type of room. This is why you still can find rather overdone sixties and seventies style kitchens in a lot of homes across the country.
These kitchens happen to be quite kitschy and this is not an attractive quality in a house. In fact, most sixties and seventies style kitchen décor can be nothing less than gaudy. If you love to flick through the latest interior design magazines and imagine yourself to be the next big thing in interior design, you should hit your kitchen first and hit it hard! It’s a large project, to remodel and redecorate a kitchen and it’s the toughest one to get through because our kitchens are used all the time. Washing and cooking happens every day, more than once a day when the home has a family living in it. It’s a non-stop hub of the house so planning is key! Most of the changes that you will notice first in a kitchen all happen at eye level. Our kitchen cabinets are at eye level, as are the windows. The walls in a kitchen are sadly left behind as we update appliances and this is why eye-level décor is so important! Sure, you could concentrate on ripping out the cupboards, or you could look at the swirly orange sixties paper and get that eyesore torn down and painted asap!
A fresh lick of paint in a kitchen can transform it without spending too much money so never underestimate what a pot of paint and brush can do for updating this room. Changing the colour is inexpensive and fast so if you like your fixtures, start with the colour of the kitchen. Your colour palette should be perfectly balanced with neutral colouring on the bulk of the walls and apply splashes of colours throughout the rest of the room. Maybe you love red, so cream walls and red appliance and cupboards can make the kitchen pop. Imagine walking into your kitchen for the first time. What do your eyes land on? Make that your focus. If your eyes land on the drab old kitchen blinds, invest in some made to measure curtains that fit the frame in a bold and bright colour. The windows are the eyes of the home and what you cover them with is the unique eyeshadow; colours matter!
Open walls in a kitchen can be your chance to add something new instead of even more closed off cupboards. Floating shelves, or a large picture that covers the majority of the wall can update a room very quickly. It may be the latest trend, but floating shelves make a kitchen stand out and look far more modernised. Swirly wallpaper in dark greens and oranges can change a seventies style into the most updated look you can imagine. Making your kitchen more personalised by adding a large, painted area of blackboard paint can mean adding your own touch onto the walls. Write whatever you like including a menu of the week’s meals to stop the kids badgering about what’s for dinner next!
The best thing about a kitchen update is that everyone can benefit. Looking long term, the value of your home goes up and the way you feel in your own home is elevated. The best thing about redecorating your kitchen is that you don’t have to spend thousands to do it. Sure, if you have the money you can spend what you like. But a large redecorating project doesn’t have to be expensive if you’re budget savvy with your ideas. Colour palettes for the walls, vinyl covers over the cupboard doors to update the colours there without ripping out the actual fixtures and a simple change of door handles can transform the room.
Makeover your kitchen from kitschy to knockout and you’ll find your mood shifts along with it. Happy wife equals happy life and a new kitchen is a definite way into the heart of a happy home. Pick up the paintbrush and choose your colours!
