Love… country kitchens
Whether or not you actually live in the country, there’s something so emotive about the image of a country kitchen isn’t there? For me, the key to creating a beautiful country kitchen is to create an atmosphere of warm welcome combining simple, authentic design with forgiving natural materials and creative individual touches. Maybe a vintage find or two. A modern take on rustic for my tastes, but rustic all the same.
I do love the look and feel of Place Farmhouse in Sussex where we did a shoot some time ago now. Love the white aga and collections of vintage white pottery, wirework and old wood…
My kitchen
I live in rural Hampshire and my country kitchen is still essentially the one that came with the house 18 years ago. I don’t like waste and get a huge kick out of putting new life into tired old objects and furniture. So my approach with our kitchen was to see if I could make it work without gutting everything and starting again. I took all the wall units down and repurposed them as shed storage.
The base units, although a horrid orangey pine, were all handmade and solid wood. The doors are a bit dated, but I decided to paint them and see…
I went through various greys and greens over the years and recently settled on a milky white eggshell. I added simple black ceramic knobs to add some contrast and for a country kitchen look. The worktops were a burgundy formica (!) so they had to go. Simple pale wood worktops from Ikea with a milky white layer of Osmo top oil added a fresh, contemporary feel. As did bringing in a couple of pieces of freestanding storage from Ikea. I sanded and added Osmo to the worktops as they were a bit too yellowy out of the box. White metro tiles gave a fresh and clean contemporary look.
Some open shelves, a few of my ever-growing collection of vintage and new Mason jars and job done. The paint’s starting to look in need of a refresh and so I’m gathering lots of new ideas together about what to try next. What do you think?
Dark grey
I like the way this dark grey works with wood and pops of colour with lemons etc. It’s the Design Vintage store and café near Chichester. Not a kitchen exactly but the cupboard and worktop colours got me thinking.
I also like this bluey grey colour contrasted with simple stripes and linens from Cabbages & Roses. The fabric is Jolly Stripe linen. I love the contemporary slightly graphic edge this black and grey stripe adds. Great as a kitchen blind too.
I am not a fan of overly blowsy florals, so this Natural Hatley Black wallpaper by Cabbages & Roses is right up my street. I like how it mixes with dark bluey grey and rustic woods and natural linen.
If you like a softer, more colourful and vintage look, this new Teatime fabric from Vanessa Arbuthnott is worth considering.
From Pinterest
I love to browse Pinterest for ideas. Here are a few I’ve recently pinned to my kitchen ideas board. I’ve added the links to the images so you can find them on Pinterest and get more info.
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