Home Sweet Home--Part III: Tips for Kitchen and Dining
Welcome back to this little series all about how to make a rental space cozy and your own. It's so hard to make a space your own when you can't change the paint colors, the trim, or the fixtures. So this series is all about making your space your own cosmetically and using items in a new way to add your own style to a rental space. If you missed the first part of this series, find it here:
This second installment in the series is all about the kitchen and dining space. When we moved into our rented duplex, we were drawn to the open concept kitchen and dining room. It has a picture window that lets in a ton of natural light, a huge pantry, coat closet, and tons of storage. One space that we struggled with was kind of a "dead" area. We now call it the mud room and it serves as a place for mail, shoes, and coats. When we moved in it was just unused space--I think the previous tenants kept their deep freeze in that area.
Here are some before pictures.
The kitchen--we love how much storage is here! The double doors are the pantry and the coat closet, and the other door leads out to the garage.
Here is a shot of the mud room area--it's too close to our dining room to use as a breakfast nook. I'm excited to show you how we decided to use this space.
This is the only before picture that I took of our dining room! Ha! This door leads to our patio and was covered with this navy blue roman shade.
Here are some tips for how we handled this space and made it cozy!
Tip #1: Greenery and Plants--add greenery to bring life and interest to spaces
-Add garland as a window treatment that doesn't cover up views or block out light
-Add garland to the space above kitchen cabinets to add interest without adding clutter
-Use plants to fill a corner, as a centerpiece, or on a shelf--plants are just the best--they add so much life whereever you put them! Faux plants are always winners, too!
Tip #2: Rugs--adding a rug breaks up a space into sections and adds warmth
-Use a large area rug under a dining room to anchor the table
-Use a mixture of neutral rugs and accent rugs. We have two jute rugs in our kitchen and one accent rug that pulls some colors from the rest of the decor
-Rugs are functional, too! We make sure to keep a heavy-duty jute rug by the doors we use most often
Tip #3: Furniture use--use furniture pieces in out-of-the-box ways to add functionality and storage
-If you're short on storage space, use a dresser! I used this vintage dresser as part of my coffee station. The extra drawer space is great for dish towels, cook books, and coffee, of course!
-I also have this small cupboard that I got at a little shop in my hometown yearrrrsss ago. We use this to store some "fancy" dishes, coffee mugs, and wine glasses. Use unique vintage pieces as beautiful storage options!
Tip #4: Get creative with unused space
-We had that little corner or dead space in our kitchen that the previous tenants just kept their deep freeze in. We now call this the mudroom.
-Add furniture and decor that is functional. We added a small bench for putting on shoes and a coat rack. We also put a small desk in this space for storing my hand lettering supplies, and it acts as a great place to dump mail when we walk in the door
-Organize, organize organize! We wanted this space to be as functional as possible, so we added a mail tin, our calendar, and a place to hang cards and invitations we get in the mail!
-"Stack" items on a wall to create a grouping if you don't have large pieces to hang. We did this with some ledges in the mud room and with shelves and mug racks in our coffee station
Tip #5: Fill your space with things your love
-Think about how you can showcase one of your favorite collections or hobbies. I love coffee, so I definitely needed a place designated for the making of coffee, right?! :) My coffee station is one of my favorite things in the kitchen/dining room!
-If you have a collection of something, showcase it in a unique way. I received some beautiful brown and white transfer ware dishes for Christmas as the start of my collection. You can see them displayed in my coffee station.
-Both Josh and I love the farmhouse/cottage style, so we made sure to include some farmhouse pieces. I have a picture of three cows from Hobby Lobby that I absolutely love, I have a hand lettered sign that says "Farmhouse," I have a copy of Joanna Gaines's cook book, and some decor on our counter tops all reflect that farmhouse style.
We have just loved making our duplex feel like home! I hope these little tips help you make your space your own, too! Here are some links to pieces in some of these pictures:
Eucalyptus garland
Cow picture
Row of hooks
We have just loved making our duplex feel like home! I hope these little tips help you make your space your own, too! Here are some links to pieces in some of these pictures:
Eucalyptus garland
Cow picture
Row of hooks
grace & peace
Mairin
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