In places like your kitchen, it can sometimes be hard to imagine displaying some of your practical cooking utensils. If you cook a lot like us, the counter-space is rarely ever immaculate. Having a unique cookie jar or bold cutting board on the counter helps create a happy space, no matter the mess! Since we live by the motto Real Life Beautiful, we want to share how we use and style our lovely kitchen products in daily life. The items we will be highlighting are now available on our shop website!
Styling Your Kitchen
Go For Pretty
Practical doesn’t always have to mean dull. There are fabulous kitchen utensils out there that can be useful, but also looking pretty on your countertop. Don’t let the beauty of a juicer hinder you from making some fresh squeezed orange juice or margarita’s for your family and friends! Useful objects can often get hidden in the pantry. We love to bring them out and make them a highlight in our kitchen!
Layering
When it comes to styling shelves, a countertop, or a coffee table, layering items gives depth to your styling. There is more than one way to do this, but our first go to is using groups of three. Whether it’s layering cutting boards, stacking bowls, or displaying a menagerie of objects together, that number just has a magical element about it! If you have more items you want to include in your display, using other odd numbers works too!
Texture
Adding varied textures can also be helpful when creating full and complete styled areas. Using smooth and rough surfaces, fabrics, and greenery are the keys to making all the layers work together. Even the different foods you display bring something different to the mix. Think about what you can place into your glass jar. Dry goods such as rice, flour, or cookies bring practical elements to life.
Mixed Prints
You may not necessarily be working directly with textiles, but mixing prints can be just as successful in the kitchen as it is with your living room pillows! If you look closely at your hand towels or serving trays, you can find similar or contrasting patterns that can play off each other.
For example, the soft lines across a Turkish towel, can subtly mimic and contrast against the bolder stripes on a cutting board. The black and white color palette keeps it fairly neutral. Even if not as obvious, using the same colors in different tones and textures can create a well layered look.
Mixed Materials
The importance of using multiple types of materials is high on our list. Especially when it comes styling an area successfully. Natural stone, wood, and glass are just a few types of surfaces we consider essential. We like to be able to mix together each one to maintain a balance.
Personally, we love using a little bit of them all! Each object is important if used intentionally. We conscientiously seek out items made up of different materials and know we’ve gotten lucky when we find something that is made with more than one!
A Little Green
If you think something missing, add a little green! We welcome small potted plants in our kitchen. A living plant goes a long way and can brighten a scene instantly and is a great element to add.
If you are anything like us when it comes to keeping plants alive, you might find that it can be a difficult task. You may want to go with something that takes a little less effort. Bring out your favorite bowl and place it on your table with some colorful fruit in it or make a robust salad! Place some leafy vegetables stylishly on a cutting board. Add some other ingredients in pretty containers that you may be using later that day to make the vignette complete!
Bringing It All Together
Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t look exactly how you dreamed on the first try. Maybe you need to continue shopping for that missing piece or search the other rooms in the house for objects you never thought would belong in a kitchen!
We can have a lot of wonderful items but bringing them aesthetically all together is not always perfected the first time around. It’s a process. We are constantly moving, switching, and playing with the endless combinations to make the end result feel effortless. So have fun with it and enjoy all the beautiful possibilities that could be created!
