decorating Archives - The Curated House

Project: Kitchen Refresh | Part 1

It. Is. Time.

There are a few things that I have been meaning to finish, decorate and repair for a while in my little workhorse of a kitchen, and I’ve decided that the New Year is the right time to dive in.

The truth is, I like my kitchen. We renovated it when we first moved in, transforming the original 1960’s layers of tacky-and-texture-overload into something much cleaner, much more contemporary and dramatically more functional. We tore down the wall between the kitchen and dining room and radically changed the floor plan for a much more functional work triangle. We also took the new cabinets to the ceiling and tied them into the pre-exisiting plaster crown moulding that was already in the dining room to connect the two spaces and make the cabinetry feel more custom.

Though I would love to work in a slightly bigger kitchen {and a walk-in pantry and butler’s prep area are on my dream list}, it really does function quite well.

So what needs changing? One of our cheap-o $40 building box store pendant lights has kicked the bucket, and it’s the impetus I needed to finally work on one of my own projects and add the finishing touches I’ve been meaning to get to for awhile. I know you’ve seen it in many a post on cooking and baking {with photos better than these!}, but here’s how my sweet little kitchen looks right now:

First, here’s what I like about my kitchen:

{please imagine this being narrated as a stream-of-consciousness-happy-rant by none other than Jessica}

I like my Brazillian walnut floors
I like my cabinets
I like my shaker doors
I like my cream cabinet and wall colour {Sherwin Williams Creamy 7012}
I like my modern and simple cabinetry hardware
I like my antiqued granite countertops
I like my simple and contemporary Calacatta marble backsplash
I like my massive, modern sink
I like my pull-out faucet
I like my dining table
I like my Louis Philipe Ghost dining chairs
I like my large rectangular drum shade chandelier
I like my panel moulding
I like my original art {a lot}
And I LOVE the people I cook for in this kitchen

I really do love cooking in this “just right” sized space and do not want to operate from a place of discontent. But there are some things that simply need doing.

For starters, that broken pendant light fixture. Can’t fix it. Time to replace it. It truly makes me crazy every time I turn it on and try to use the peninsula as a prep/chopping station. Good task lighting is essential.

Next: fabric. I. love. fabric. It softens and adds personality {from subtle to dramatic}. There’s not a lot of opportunity to use fabric in this kitchen, but I need a valance over the sink and drapery panels in the dining room.

Next up: That bookcase that ties into the peninsula. I love it, but the holes for the adjustable shelves drive me nuts. Time for a change there.

And lastly? Finishing touches like perhaps new cannister(s) and tea towels? That should do.

OK, I have some sourcing to do! I’ll keep you posted on what I find {and probably rope you into the decision-making process}. Can’t wait!!

xo
s.

Holly Becker | Decorate Workshop

I have a confession to make: I do not believe in interior design by prescription. I believe in spaces that reflect the unique individuals dwelling within – their personality and their need for comfort, inspiration, restoration and embrace. As an interior designer, I seek to create spaces that are authentically sacred for the clients with whom I work.

The challenge for many is to find the language to translate who they are as people into the form and function of their physical space. Interior design and decorating are often an unfamiliar medium, which is why we need visual tools and a means of “cracking our own code” to help us communicate what it is that truly inspires us.

Enter Holly Becker. In a sea of decorating and design books that would prescribe one designer’s aesthetic as the formula for everyone’s home, Decorate Workshop is more of a manual for self-discovery. This newly released book is a brilliant resource for designers to give to their clients, for clients to share with their designers, and for decorators exploring and adventuring on their own alike.

I have fallen in love with Holly’s inspired approach to helping each of us find our own unique decorating personality, and clearly I’m not alone. As a world-renowned design blogger, Holly has developed a beautiful design resource with her blog Decor8, providing inspiration to more than 48, 000 daily viewers from across the globe. Holly is already a best selling author with her first book, Decorate.

Holly was gracious enough to do a wee transatlantic interview with me so that we could all get to know the woman behind the book and the blog a bit better. I think you’ll find she is “our kind of people” – the kind of woman we’d all love to just sit and have coffee with weekly if only she lived right around the corner.

Here is our inspiring intercontinental conversation:

1. How do you challenge yourself to have a constant sense of adventure and evolution with your decorating?

I’m very open to new experiences and try to say yes more than I say no when it comes to trying something new. I also have a diverse group of friends – not everyone I’m around is into design or is even that interested in creative living – but I learn so much from their lifestyle and often find lots of new interests that I wouldn’t have found if I’d only surrounded myself by those within my field.

2. What has been your most unexpected source of inspiration?

Myself. Until recently, I always relied on outside sources since I’m an extrovert and I get my energy from outside {introverts tend to get it from within}. Moving to Germany, I found that I really needed to rely on myself more for everything. Living outside of your culture for several years changes you in many ways. Confidence you may have lacked prior to an international relocation definitely kicks in the second you’re standing in line at a bakery and need to order a cake in another language – and you do it – and leave feeling an overwhelming sense of pride. The more experiences you have ike this, the more your self-esteem is affected and this cannot help but influence other things in your life, too. I’m inspired more and more just by sitting down and have a simple cup of coffee and thinking. Really thinking. No iPhone, no iPad, nothing… Just thinking long and deep. I start to find all of these ideas hidden or feelings I’d thought I’d lost for something and suddenly I’m in a creative spin again. Of course, I still need outside stimulation first and foremost to keep my gears turning, but I like knowing now that I don’t need to be stimulated every second to gain inspiration.

3. Whose sense of style do you most admire and why?

People who don’t care what others say about them and just do what they want – they follow their own compass, not some trend report or magazine. When I’m in London, I’m always so inspired by the way people dress because there isn’t really a “London look.” Most cities have a look. But London is so eclectic and they really embrace their individuality.

4. What is currently on your “must see/do/watch/listen to” list?

I love watching “New Girl” because it’s funny and has nothing to do with my work, so that gives me 30 minutes to not really think – to just giggle at Schmidt and the outlandish things he says…

5. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be and what would you be doing?

I’d like to be in a beautiful country home in Scotland right now with a fireplace roaring. I’d be baking cookies and my husband would be reading by the fire. The snow would be piling up outside and neither of us would care because we’d be together and cozy and most of all, on vacation. Ah, vacation. I can hardly wait until December 12th because I’ll be on vacation until the beginning of the New Year and it’s one of my favourite times of the year. I catch up on so many thins in my personal life – I love approaching a New Year feeling like I’m rested and ready!

If you or someone you know is planning a decorating project for 2013, you will want to make sure you have a copy of Holly’s new book in your hand or wrapped and ready for giving under the tree. More of a compass than a clearly defined roadmap, Decorate Workshop will have you thinking outside the box, exploring new ways to bring soul to your space through a journey of self-discovery.

Wishing you a happy and restorative vacation, Holly! And wishing all of you lovely readers an inspired journey of designing and decorating, filled with wanderlust, exploration and the art of discovery.

xo
s.

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