Creating a functional Kitchen Space in a Small Kitchen

Kitchens used to be used mostly for cooking. In today's world, kitchens serve many purposes. Besides cooking, the kitchen can be a center of entertaining. While kitchens used to closed off from the general home, modern kitchens are incorporated into the general living space of a home. There are ways to incorporate this function into your kitchen while at the same time creating a new kitchen style. If your kitchen is small and doesn't boast the room for entertaining, different ways to blend in some of that functionality without busting you bank account exist. Besides renovating your kitchen and increasing its size, there are affordable options. Adding various pieces of kitchen furniture, painting with appropriate colors or decluttering are some of the affordable options available.

Increase the Seating in your Kitchen

Adding barstools or counter stools pulled up to counter tops can add to the seating availability in your kitchen. The counters can be used a breakfast counter, a homework area or a place to enjoy an afternoon cup of tea. Barstools come in many designs and style and can be chosen to suit your interior home decor. They can be simple (made with only wood) or metal with padded vinyl seats. You will have no problem finding one that matches your style. If space is limited, find barstools that can be easily stored under the counter. You can also find some barstools that are collapsible for easy storage.

Increasing Storage Room

Invest in a kitchen cart or rolling kitchen table for storage solutions. Some are custom designed to suit your particular need. As a piece of kitchen furniture, the cart can double the work area and storage area of a seating location. When coupled with barstools, this area can also be converted in a small bar when guests can sit down. Other pieces of kitchen furniture that can be used to increase storage room are china buffets and/or a pantry cupboards. These pieces of kitchen furniture can be both decorative and also functional. A small metal cart can also be used to store your root vegetables.

Increasing the size of your Kitchen Perceptually

You can increase the size of your kitchen by changing the feel of your kitchen. Paint the walls using light and airy colors. Solid white cabinets can work wonders. Darker colors tend to give a room a smaller feel. Paint the ceiling a lighter and softer shade than the wall color. This gives the increased height perception. A mirror added to a bare wall also serves to perceptually change the size of the room. Using brighter color on the walls and flooring also contributes to the airy open feeling. Use larger tiles for the flooring.

Decreasing the Clutter in your Kitchen

A cluttered space makes a room feel much smaller than it really is. If you have room, store away your least used appliances and keep the kitchen counter tops as bare and as clean as possible. A well organized and neat kitchen is welcoming. There are many books, magazines and websites dedicated to the art of decluttering. This can be the most affordable option.

The Tradition of Air Fragrances

From the beginning of recorded history, people the world over have valued fragrance as a way to worship, to heal the sick, to calm nerves, to attract a mate, and to create a restful space to call home. Traditionally, various parts of plants, including fruits, berries, flowers, leaves, bark, resins or sap, and the woods themselves have been the source of these relaxing fragrances. Beds were made of fresh straw, pine needles, or the fragrant leaves and flowers of lavender to create a pleasant home fragrance. Rose or apple blossoms were crushed and mixed with water or carrier oils like olive or sesame to perfume the body during or after a bath, or for a ceremony.

Eventually, the essential oils of these special plants were distilled and stored for their medicinal properties, or mixed with other ingredients to produce incense and perfume. These oils and perfumes were highly valued, and were traded throughout the world, along with spices, gold, and jewels. To have perfumed living space or to wear perfume was a status symbol, indicating great wealth and prestige. To impress their visitors, homeowners scattered bowls of fresh blossoms, and potpourri, or burned incense around their house as early forms of air fragrances.

In many ancient cultures, medical and religious practices included burning incense or using other perfumed products. Some fragrances relaxed or lifted the mood or relieved headaches, while others induced trances which produced prophetic dreams. Fragrant oils relieved the pain of arthritis or soothed sore muscles. Other plants were burned to produce fragrant smoke that would relieve fevers or congestion. Burning incense in a temple was, and still is, an offering to the gods.

Over time and experience, people linked each plant to unique benefits. For instance, the lavender plant was highly valued as a restful fragrance. Housewives washed their bed linens in lavender water and made sachets of lavender blossoms to put between their sheets and folded bedding and clothing. A lavender home fragrance indicated a fresh, clean, well-run house – a house that was inviting as a place to relax and unwind after a long day.

Lavender also was valued as an insect repellant and germicide. In fact, during the Great Plague of London, the grave-robbers traditionally bathed in Four Thieves Vinegar, a special mixture containing lavender, to protect against catching the plague. Few of them caught the illness, not because of the magical properties of the special water, but probably because the lavender repelled the fleas that carried the plague germs.

The scent of lavender was also considered to be an aphrodisiac. An old wives tale states that a married couple who keeps sprigs of lavender between their sheets will never quarrel. Another folk tale states that a maiden who sleeps on a sprig of lavender will dream of her true love. Obviously, lavender would be one of the ideal air fragrances for the master bedroom!

Today’s homeowner knows that a home with an inviting fragrance is a place where people enjoy spending time. A clean, fresh, pleasant smell reflects a clean, healthy environment for living. While a good housewife knows that the best way to have a clean-smelling house is to have a clean house, a carefully selected air fragrance can add the perfect touch.

Choosing a home fragrance that stimulates the mood, such as orange or spice, would be ideal for a party, while choosing a restful fragrance, like lavender or vanilla, would be perfect for low-key evenings at home. It is even possible now to change your home’s scent with the seasons by using pine or fir scents in winter, peach or apple blossom scents in the spring, sea breeze, lilac, or rainforest scents in the summer, and cranberry or mulberry scents in the fall.

Choosing Kitchen Curtains For Maximum Decorative Appeal

If your kitchen looks like a drab or it just needs some enhancement, then you might uplift its appeal with kitchen curtains. Usually, people do not pay much attention to their kitchen decor as this room is seen more for its function than beauty. However, it is important to keep the kitchen as appealing as other rooms to inspire the people that cook in them. This is what kitchen curtains can do.

Choosing the right kitchen curtain for you can be a great way to exhibit your own style and taste. Curtains can transform your kitchen in remarkable ways. However, you might be confused about the many available choices there are. However, if you know what kitchen curtains are about, then you can narrow down your selections.

People get kitchen curtains for two main reasons apart from aesthetic qualities. Curtains are used to filter light or to keep one's privacy. Some people get kitchen curtains for both reasons. You should determine whether you want the kitchen curtains to be mostly opened or mostly closed. This greatly influences the choice of materials and design of curtains.

It is also important to identify the kitchen's theme and match it with the design of the curtains. Moreover, the curtain should also match the window's size and shape. Another point for consideration is the costs. Certain materials may be more expensive than others. This factor goes hand-in-hand with the type of curtain.

Major Points of Consideration

When choosing the right kitchen curtain, it is important to consider four things: the fabric, the color, shape, and style. Matching the right combinations of these three is essential when choosing curtains for the kitchen.

1. Curtain Fabric - there are many kinds of fabric available for kitchen curtains from those made of heavy materials, to those made of lightweight fibers. Brocades and other heavier fabrics are usually not recommended as they obstruct air and light. The most recommended fabric for kitchen curtains is cotton because it is a durable but lightweight fabric that is easy to wash, and is thus ideal to the demands of kitchen action.

There are fabrics that have cute printed or embroidered designs that could definitely add to the aesthetic value of the curtains. It is however important to check if the fabric is light resistant so that it would not easily fade or turn yellow over time. Some kitchen curtains are quite thin and might need to have linings. Most fabrics are sold pre-shrunk so that their shapes would not be altered, however, if you are making your own curtain, you might need to make some allowance for shrinkage.

2. Color - it is important to choose the right curtain color that would flatter your kitchen's finishing. You may choose light colors to make the kitchen look bigger than it actually is or to maintain a cheerful ambience. However, the kitchen may be too bright during the day and you might want to opt for darker curtains. When choosing the color of your kitchen curtain, it is important to take into consideration the color of your furnishings and walls. You may choose to match the current color theme of the kitchen or use complementary colors for contrast.

3. Length - living rooms generally look good with long and flowing curtains, but such may not be the case for the kitchen window. The kitchen would benefit for a more relax and informal atmosphere that shorter curtains can provide. To determine the right length of kitchen curtains, it is important to carefully measure the window where it will be installed.

4. Style - There are many styles of kitchen curtains, the most popular three among them are the country-styled ones, contemporary and the classic kitchen curtains. Each style caters to particular tastes and kitchen themes.

Caring for Kitchen Curtains

Kitchen curtains are easy to care for. You only need to shake them once in a while to eliminate dust. They should also be washed every month or so according to product labels. Some curtains with delicate materials need to be dry cleaned or hand washed. Stained curtains may be washed in hot vinegar solution.

Kitchen curtains can be very beautiful features of a kitchen. It is good to invest one to make the kitchen a conducive place to make meals for the family.