Kitchen decor ideas

Mixing the old with the new.

Create a kitchen with old-fashioned charm and clean, modern lines.

Blending elements of traditional kitchens with modern style kitchens can give you the best of both worlds. Here, different worksurfaces are used around the kitchen - wood for food preparation and granite either side of the cooker for putting down hot dishes.

Space above the cooker has been brought into play by installing a smaller wall cupboard that won't get in the way, with extra slots either side and at the end for recipe books. Simple details like this give the kitchen more interest than a solid run of wall cupboards.

All the colour comes from the rich, yellow units. What gives this kitchen a modern twist is that everything is absolutely plain: the off-white walls do not even have a splashback, the floor is bare boards. It all adds up to a clean, spacious look that manages to be warm and welcoming at the same time.

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Rustic windowsill pots

Cover some containers in fabric and others in paper. Cut the fabric and tear the paper to size. Wrap around the container several times, allowing extra at the top of the pot to be folded over or arranged to hide the top edge of the pot. Bind with string or copper wire and fray the top edge of the fabric.
You will need: cans or jars, plain, film fabric, thick brown paper, scissors, string or copper wire.
Time needed: 15 minutes

A sense of romance... interior decor idea.

Jewel-bright silks and pared-down sensuality

Banners of shot silk in jewel-bright pink, red and mauve are the only adornment at these elegant French windows.

The rich colours glow with even more intensity with the sunlight shining through them, and bathe the entire room in a soft sensual glow.

The mood is romantic without being over-feminine - indeed the arrangemant is almost minimal; with cooler colours and no cushions an entirely different atmosphere would be created.

The clean lines of the modern daybed are covered in plain lilac boucle wool and all the decorative detail is concentrated in the cushions - exquisite concoctions in embroidered silks, ikat weaves and painterly florals that pick up on the principle colours.

Inspiration: Thinkcolour by Tricia Guild

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Using chalky shades of pink in a cool, contemporary way

Softly sophisticated

With its concrete floors and bare plaster walls, this cool modern space called out for a restrained contemporary look, but it was important that it did not become cols and impersonal. Using pink in a totally modern way was an inspired move, and the sof blossom sofa led the way. The shape is low and simple, contemporary yet comfortable, yet upholstered in leather or dark wool it would have dictated a completely different mood. Here, like a classic, beautifully tailored suit in a clear unexpected colour, the effect of the pale pink is charming, immediately bringing a lightness of touch that is carried through to the flowers and other details.

Cool, calm and contemporary interior idea

Contemporary furniture need not be confined to large modern lofts, and period features don’t have to cramp your style. Mixing old and new in an interior is not only fashionable and exciting; it’s a great way to breathe life into an older house, accentuating its timeless beauty in a bold and unexpected way.

This old English manor house has strong traditional architecture that could easily have dictated a dark and old-fashioned style of decorating. Instead, well-judged use of cool, clear colour and contemporary furniture has carved out a modern and soothing space, perfectly in tune with the soft east morning light that streams through the mullioned windows. The original wood-panelled walls have been washed with a beautiful sea-green paint, which immediately makes the space feel light and modern without clashing with its traditional features and flagstone floor. Much of the floor has been covered with a rug in palest duck0egg blue so that the modern furniture sits on a clean contemporary ‘island’, with just a strip of the beautifully textured old floor visible as a contrast around the edges.

The cool colours determined the choice of furniture – tables and chairs that are comfortable but uncompromisingly modern in shape, shade and texture. The black leather armchair, a modern classic with a masculine, tailored feel, is quite unexpected – the softness of the leather contrasting with the shiny metal legs. Yet it looks absolutely right, and inhabits the room almost like a piece of sculpture. The other pieces of furniture – a wonderfully comfortable club chair in ink-green boucle wool and a large low sofa in pale ocean linen, retreat happily into the background.

There is a lot of white – on the ceiling, in the floor lamp, on the coffee table and in the voluminous linen curtains. The tall white arum lilies and alliums, fanning out into the space, perfectly suit the simple restrained elegance of this room – even the green of their stems and calyxes picks up on some of the other colours. To bring in accents of brighter colour, the curtains are edged with a bright sea-green silk cuff, and there are cushions in lime and chartreuse. These help give the room its sense of perfect balance – without them it might have felt almost too cool.

Inspiration: "thinkcolour" by Tricia Guild

more decor ideas

Peg board for your kitchen or living room.

Kitchen peg board
Cut your peg board to the size you want. Hold in place against the wall and, having checked that it is level, mark with a pencil through suitable holes where the fixing screws will go. Remove the board and drill the holes into the board, insert wallplugs. Line up the board against the wall. Insert cup hooks in staggered rows across the board and hang up keys, spectacles, scissors, bulldog clips to hold memos and anything else that the peg board will keep out of the way.

You will need: peg board, saw, spirit level, pencil, drill, wallplugs, cup hooks, screws, screwdriver.

Time needed: 30 minutes

A bright and white kitchen decorating idea

Bright and white kitchen

Its astonishing what a difference a fresh coat of paint can make, and a makeover in white will make you see your kitchen in a whole new light. Wash all your walls down thoroughly with sugar soap. Go over each wall and fill any chips, holes or gaps with filler. When dry, sand the filler smooth and also sand over any other bumps on the walls. Wash walls with sugar soap again and leave it to dry. Paint around the edges of the woodwork, ceiling and corners of the room first with a brush, then fill in the larger areas with a paintpad or roller. Leave it dry and then apply a second coat.

You will need: sugar, sponge, wall filler, sandpaper, white emulsion, paintbrush, paintpad or roller, paint tray.

Time needed: Half a day plus drying

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