Window Treatment Guide
How to Tackle Custom Window Treatments Curtains and roman shades are a key design element of any space. They absorb sound, moderate light, add texture, and make a room more intimate and inviting. Learn Photographed...
Designing a Kitchen that also Functions as a Living Room
"THINK OF IT LESS AS A KITCHEN, MORE OF A ROOM."
- Nate McBride
Principal McBride Architects
New York, New York
Designer: Eliza Harris
Photographer: Read McKendree
Stylist: Mieke ten Have
Many times, kitchens are our most used “living rooms", and they deserve to be treated as such. My parents' kitchen in their Connecticut house is a perfect example of turning a barebones kitchen into a well-used " living room." Here is how we achieved the look we were aiming for!
Pick a Starting Point
As a starting point, I wanted to bring in upholstered furniture for lounging and to make the room a cozy place to gather. I incorporated our Mahalo Performance Fabric on a beautifully shaped custom bench that can happily seat guests, kids, dogs, or yourself as you flip through a cookbook. For contrast, I also brought in an “important” piece of furniture: a settee that had been in my great-great grandparents' house. I upholstered it in one of our new coordinating colors for our much-loved Verbena in Blue & Saffron.
Play with Light
The light that fills this kitchen makes it a happy and inviting space even with little decoration, so I decided to add our subtle textural Dot All Over Wallpaper in Wheat to amplify the natural sunlight. I covered the ceiling and walls with this paper, bringing an all-over warmth to the room. As many meals tend to happen on a kitchen island or table, adding a more formal piece such as a chandelier can add a sense of importance and festivity to the kitchen. These elements amplify the feeling of a real living room, as opposed to a utilitarian, cold room that provides a home to expensive appliances rather than people.
Because the kitchen has a lot of light and great windows, I highlighted them without impeding the sunlight by adding café curtains made out of our Burmese fabric.
Allocate your Prints
Textiles Used:
Walls: Dot All Over Wallpaper in Wheat
Cafe Curtains: Burmese
Custom Bench: Mahalo
Sette:Verbena in Blue & Saffron
Once you’ve landed on the fabrics and wallpapers you adore, assign them to different pieces and places in the room. Begin to pick the spots where you want all of these fabrics to go.
Happy Decorating!
- Tags: Get The Look
