Cozy, casual and inviting, inspired by the English-country style,
cottage style arouses a hearty charm in us, a longing for the unprepossessing
lifestyle where the elements of your kitchen speak of a love of life, home,
family, and objects fine-woven by our human heart.
Cottage style in the kitchen is appealing because of its warm and relaxed
atmosphere. Through the use of cheerful colors and vivid textures you can infuse an ecstatic
energy and feeling charm in the cottage style kitchen.
Be playful with the wall color in
your cottage kitchen. Use them to transform your
kitchen so it abound with vibrancy and light. Each morning when you walk into
a cheerful, bright kitchen, you immediately will be charged for the rest of your
day with greater joy and energy that you could ever imagine.
Dare to experiment with
colors and finishes. Paint the walls yellow and then highlight them using sponge
with warm off-white paint (as shown on the picture above). It will make your
kitchen seem to be bathed in a never-ending sunshine. Let your imagination
liberate you so you feel illuminated by the mystery and magic of color, and the
glory of your living design creation.
Overall cottage look should appear slightly worn, but not shabby.
Framed wood kitchen cabinets with an antique appearance - especially in a mix of
finishes, such as a honey maple paired with a color stain that looks aged or
distressed - provide a good starting point for building on the cottage theme.
You can create a warn-in look by distressing wood surface of the tabletop, or
adding glazed finish to the woodwork.
Built-in open plate or pot racks and
display shelves should be part of the cabinetry's design. Milk- or clear-glass
knobs and pulls will dress the cabinets nicely, or use forged metal
kitchen hardware for
a rustic appearance. You can also install an exposed-apron farmhouse-style sink
with a reproduction chrome and porcelain faucet set to add more charm. Use a natural dye on table linens or cotton fabric window treatments.
Compared with synthetics, these dyes seem slightly faded and will lend a
comfortable lived-in feeling to your cottage-style kitchen.
The furniture commonly used in a cottage setting is furniture
that once was received for outdoors or porches - wrought iron, hand-hammered
metal, wicker, and rattan - but is now being brought indoors to add a breath of
fresh air to the cottage kitchen.
You can also add teak, a type of wood not used
for standard interior furniture, as well as other pieces of furniture that were
intended for outdoor use. These type of furnishings are considered
green furniture because it
complies with principles of Green
Design, and by incorporating such pieces of furniture in your design you
will not only add charm to your cottage kitchen but contribute to the well being
of our planet as well.
The relaxed designs and natural materials of furniture
originally designed for outdoors does wonders to bring the cottage felling and
garden spirit into your kitchen. The old-world craftsmanship hand-forged wrought-iron
with split rattan is an exotic and as enchanting as a secret garden. A well
designed, solidly constructed iron chairs are not only tasteful but a very
stylish addition to the cottage kitchen.
The whole
range of hand-carved oak, maple, and walnut furniture pieces designed for
outside use are equally appropriate for cottage style interiors.
Whether you select a rope-woven side-chair, a
cane seat bench, or a teak dining
table, what really matters most is whether the pieces have meaning to you. While
planning your cottage kitchen it is a good idea to include a decent size
farmhouse table in your plan, as well as a plate rack for displaying a pretty
collection of Majolica or similar earthenware.
The iron table will also work
well, it is not only pricelessly charming, but vitally energetic as
well. Experiment with textures and styles of furniture. French garden chairs
merge beautifully around a fruitwood farm table. A pair of bentwood chairs with
carved seats looks harmonious with a marble-top counters. Some people use iron
tables with glass top in their garden in the summer and bring them into a
kitchen during winter time.
Not only you can bring garden furniture and ornaments indoors
but the garden itself as well.
To counteract the inorganic materials that are inevitable in the today's kitchen
and to enliven the space you should always have something alive and organic in
your kitchen. Fresh-cut flowers and flowering plants do more for your kitchen
than any other object of beauty, by bringing the sense of wonder, awe, grace,
and faith. Even in the kitchen with small windows and dark wood cabinets a
rainbow of colors in primary colors is magical. Flowers feed the soul, increase
hope, and provide you with every color scheme you ever need.
Do not use a fake flowers in your cottage kitchen There is no
substitute for
fresh flowers and plants. While illusions some times are necessary in
kitchen decorating, the false
appearance of of fake flowers should be understood. They may fool the eye
temporarily, but upon close examination you will inevitably notice dust on the
fake petals.
While decorating your cottage style kitchen it is much better to
have field flowers you gather from the walk, or a clear water glass brimming
with buttercups and dandelions. Even one bud flowing in the water can become a
delightful scene. Tending, arranging, and rearranging flowers, and the moments
of contemplation you spend with your nose in a flower, pondering life's deepest
mysteries, are essential to the human spirit.
With fake flowers, you miss not only the fragrance, but also the beauty of the
emergence of a blossom. The fragility of a flower is a metaphor for life's
brevity and preciousness. You have to take time to enjoy the flower in bloom and
appreciate it fully while it is alive rather than miss it all and settle
for the potpourri. Fresh flowers in the kitchen increase your pleasure in daily
tasks. The fresh flowers in the kitchen as important to our spiritual
nourishment as fresh food is to our physical bodies.
Ceramic tiles, stone, brick or wide wood planks are most often used as a
flooring material for cottage style kitchens.
Bead-board on the walls or ceiling always looks at home in the cottage kitchen.
Old brick is always at home in the cottage style kitchen. You can use
brick as a back-splash or as a surround at the cooker. The red brick color and
rustic texture blend well together. Brick can be waxed and polished, over the
years it will gain a patina and richness without a formal look. The floors,
brick-lined wall, and view of mature trees or beautiful garden always works
together to create a warm, harmonious atmosphere of cottage living.
If you love
an old brick with it old mellow texture and want some in your house, the cottage
style kitchen is a perfect place for it. One of the reasons we identify with
brick is the feeling it gives us of being outdoors in fresh air and sunlight, in
an enchanted garden or on a secret rambling path.
