Wood covered kitchen walls, floors, cabinets and beamed ceilings can look absolutely gorgeous, but without colorful decor they lacks vibrancy. Color adds life to a kitchen, but decor and furnishings should be well chosen to fit the style of the room. Avoid cheap low-quality decor and accessories, and opt for a few impressive items including upholstered furniture, light globes, throw rugs and quality place settings. Use my ideas on ways to add color to a kitchen with wood walls, cabinets and floors, and give your rustic home a far more vibrant interior.
Add Colorful Upholstered Furniture
All you need are a few choice items to beautifully enhance a kitchen with wood walls, cabinets and floors. When decorating a client’s kitchen I suggested colorful upholstered stools to use with his peninsula bar. He chose a beautiful shade of blue upholstery for the stool tops, and blue became the accent color for his kitchen with wood walls, cabinets and floors. This was an excellent choice since blue and brown are a beautiful combination.
Use Light Globes with Color
My client was not interested in knickknacks of any type. Although his kitchen was beautiful, it was very basic. The countertops were always free of anything that was not absolutely necessary. I focused my attention on his light fixtures. The fixtures alone were timeless, but the glass globes were plain and unimpressive. I suggested changing the globes to add color to his kitchen with wood walls, cabinets and floors. He ended up choosing blue and cream glass globes that were reminiscent of fine marble. They were unique and very eye-catching, and they coordinated very well with his new blue upholstered kitchen bar stools. The globes looked fantastic against the wood ceiling, cabinets and walls, even when the lights were not illuminated.
Protect Wood Floors with Colorful Throw Rugs
We were able to successfully add splashes of color to my client’s kitchen at mid and upper levels, but the floor was also in need of vibrancy. He chose a pair of hand woven rag rugs in cobalt and cream. Rag rugs were ideal with the wood floors. They matched the style of the home perfectly, and the hues mirrored the beautiful new glass globes that embellished the lights. They were also the best choice for the wood floors. I never recommend using rubber backing on floors of any variety since they can cause permanent discoloration.
Add Color with a New Table Setting
To finish his kitchen project I recommended blue Fiestaware dishes in ivory and peacock. He purchased a four-piece place setting in each color, and we mixed and matched dinner plates with salad bowls to implement both colors on his beautiful wood kitchen table. With woven napkins in a slightly deeper shade of blue and creamy beige quilted placemats, the table looked amazing. It was not necessary to add more color to my client’s rustic wood kitchen. We added nothing new to the walls, but each level of the room was splashed with beautiful azure furnishings and decor, and it was not overdone.
The entire kitchen turned out far better than we expected, and it was just one of many decorating jobs I completed for this client. I went on to furnish and decorate his master bedroom, living room and four-season room, and it was the start of a complete overhaul of his early twentieth century home.
Source: Personal and Professional Design and Decorating Experience