10 Minutes to a Room You'll Love:: Part 4: The Kitchen

This is the fourth post in a series where we are exploring all sorts of quick and easy ways to spruce up your home. The idea is to focus on a few things that you can change right now to make the room just a little more inviting. Check out Family Rooms , Master Bedrooms and Bathrooms. This Thursday we will have a Mr. Linky party so you can show us any changes you have made; don't forget to take some photos!

All the photos in this post were taken by moi in our current rental home.

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The kitchen. It's the heart of the home is it not? If we owned this house there are a zillion things I would do to this kitchen but that's another post. So bear with me, knowing that I am a renter who can only change certain things. But these certain things make a HUGE impact.


1. Unclutter. I have to state the obvious and I know it's easier said than done. But in this photo you can see all but about 2 feet of my counter space and that is all the counter space I have. Everything that is sitting out must be something I use at least twice a week and more of a pain to put away than to leave out. We use our toaster almost every day. But it's easy to put away and I keep it in the skinny cabinet next to the stove. Cutesy stuff placed on small kitchen counters takes up valuable real estate. Delete it.



2. Shine the sink. I'll let the Flylady explain that step. It's amazing how much better a shiny sink can make you feel. I'm pretty sure I have one of the least expensive, builder grade, sink {and faucet} in America but when it's shiny, it looks fantastic!


3. Clean off the refrigerator. When life seems overwhelming, I remove everything from the front of the fridge. I find myself putting notes and reminders up there too but I've notice when my fridge is clutter free my kitchen feels bigger and more clean. One trick is to only use the side of the fridge for magnets and when that gets full, remove something.


4. Incorporate Fabric. Did you guess that this is my favorite one?! Yes, you need fabric in a kitchen! Yes, it gets some dirt on it--YIPPEE that means you are using your kitchen and your fabric to its fullest! Those are silk panel mistreatments back there. I love them in the kitchen. A rug in the kitchen is great too, but with 3 boys mine always end up too crunchy so I use pillows, toile parsons chairs and mistreatments to soften the room.

5. Emphasise Seating. I know not everyone has a table in their kitchen. However, most people can find a place for a tiny table and two chairs or a single bar stool off in the corner. When you have a friend over and are working in the kitchen, it's so nice to offer them a place to sit. And I'm gonna get on my high horse for a minute and have a good talking to any of you out there who are lucky enough to have a bar area or a little overhang of your island. PLEASE, find a few bar stools! I lived in a house with an island and no stools for awhile and one day found some on sale. It completely changed the way we used our kitchen. Try craigslist and yard sales and don't forget, it's easy to spray paint them.


6. Consider Lighting. Yes, you need task lighting and junk like that but that's not what I'm talking about. You need some soft, warm, filtered lampshade light. Just try it. And turn off the overhead light unless you really need it. Have a chandelier? Add some clip on shades and bask in the warm glow.

7. Add Beauty. For me this white dresser calms and classies up the room. Beauty can come in the form of art on the wall, a pretty table runner, a wine glass with clippings from the yard placed inside, a bowl of fresh fruit anything that makes you feel good when you look at it.

That's it y'all. Those are my kitchen tips. Now, tell me yours.

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Thursday:

Let's all meet back here at The Nest and share our 10 minute makeovers. So many of you have emailed photos and done some creative and easy fixes. I know others would love to see what you've been up too. There aren't really any rules to join in. Simply write a post on your blog about what change you made and why and link back here to the post that will be published Thursday at 12:01 am Eastern time. Don't forget to take some photos! And I'll see if I can bribe Darcy into making us a pretty nesty button to use for the party.