Home Tree Atlas: Home Decor Ideas and Mood Boards

Kitchen Storage Ideas and Organization Tips | Part 1

There is so much that needs to be stored and organized in the kitchen. No wonder this is a long post. This post on smart kitchen storage ideas and organization tips has been split into two parts. Part 1 goes over general storage ideas for the kitchen. Part 2, which you can find here, goes over creative ideas on how to store your pots and pot lids (which can be tricky).

Clever and Creative Storage Ideas For Your Kitchen

A very useful furniture piece to have in the kitchen is a rolling cart, especially if you have a small kitchen that doesn’t have a kitchen island. It can help create the ideal kitchen layout. This cart can be rolled around, put next to you when you are preparing food or cooking, then it can be rolled and stored out of the way when it is not in use – just like in picture (1).
Extendable tables are useful as kitchen tables. They can also be used as kitchen islands.
The inside of cabinet and pantry doors can be modified to store items. Hooks can be fitted to hang up towels. Towel bars can be fitted to store rolls of trash bags, aluminium foil, or paper towels (2). A bracket can be fitted to store cutting boards.
All those rolls of aluminium foil, cling film, paper towels and trash bags can be hung up and organized on towel hangers.
Some knife storage ideas include using a magnet strip on the wall to hang them up, a floating shelf slat (3), they can be stored on the inside of a cabinet door (4), or stored in a knife block or a DIY knife block seen in picture (5).
Most cabinets under the sink are a bit wonky since you’ve got all the plumbing work there. Try and make the most of it by fitting hooks, shelves or a tension rod to create your own customised storage space.
If you don’t mind having more informal seating around the eating table, then you can get a kitchen bench that opens up to storage space underneath.
Ideas for how you can modify your draws is endless. Check out the food storage baskets and closed containers in the draws in picture (6). Or how about putting utensil containers in the draws to keep the countertops clean and clutter free (7). You can even have your spice rack fitted into a draw (8) (Creative Kitchen Spice Storage Ideas and Solutions). You can also have pull out chopping board draws.

To keep the area around the sink clutter free, see if you can fit a floating shelf above the sink to store items.

Peg boards are great for personalized storing and organizing. Hang things up with hooks and pegs, or put a plank of wood between pegs to create shelves. The peg boards can be hung on the inside of cabinet doors, or on a wall. You can also paint them to suit your kitchen style.

Decorative tin cans can have magnets attached to them. Now they can stick to the fridge and store small items like pens, receipts, shopping lists, or coupons (9).

How about creating a command centre in your kitchen to group together to do lists, recipes, schedules, and mail (10). There are a few ways to create a command center, have a look at my mood board here for ideas: Ideas for Setting up a Family Command Center in the Kitchen.

Look up. Take advantage of the height in the kitchen. Built in kitchen storage cabinets can make the most of height space. So can an overhead beam. You might need a stick with a hook to hang things up. Or you can have the beam on a pulley so it can be lowered. Another way to take advantage of the height in a kitchen is to use the walls as much as possible. Floating wall shelves is one way to go, or simply hang up rails.

Look down. There is storage potential at the base of your kitchen cabinets. Toe kick draws can be fitted here to store some non essential items (11). It can also be used a pet feeding station that can be hidden away when not in use.

Adding lighting to your storage units will help make it easier and quicker to find things. You can get door jambs, so when you open the cabinet doors the lights automatically come on. Under cabinet lighting is helpful for lighting up kitchen counters when preparing food.

1 Canisters: $30 Amazon | 2 Jar: $7.50 Amazon | 3 Stackable: $26 Amazon

4 Organizer: $11 Amazon | 5 Mount: $25 Amazon | 6 Rack: $14 Amazon

7 Dispenser: $9.99 Amazon | 8 Baskets: $10 Amazon | 9 Mason: $16 Amazon

10 Pots: $16 Amazon

The Kitchen Island

A kitchen island creates an ideal layout for cooking, as you don’t have to move around the kitchen so much. If you don’t have space for a kitchen island, then a rolling cart would be a great alternative. A kitchen island can be built to have draws or shelves built into it. You can even have a small fridge if you wanted to. Having plug sockets built into the island can be handy.

Styled Ideas

Stylish and good looking storage containers will help decorate and style your kitchen. Here are some ideas for kitchen storage solutions and pieces that look good.

Wicker baskets and trays
Wire baskets and wire wall racks
Enamel containers
Glass jars (much better looking than plastic ones) (12)
Vintage bottles. You could pour any liquids you have around the sink, hand soap/dish liquid, into vintage style bottles or just glass bottles. Now you’ve gotten rid of those branded plastic bottles, creating a more elegant space around your sink.
Wooden ladders can be used to hang up pots, towels, and magazines.

Have a look at these mood boards here for more stylized storage ideas:

Kitchen Layout

The overall layout of your kitchen makes a big impact on how you store your kitchen ware and how easy it is to move around and prepare food. You want to have everything as close to you as possible when you need it – like pots and pans near the cooker. Have a look at these mood boards for ideas on different kitchen layouts:

Mood Board Images: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12

Dining Room Colors and Paint Scheme Ideas

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace OC-65

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC-172

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Bleeker Beige HC-80

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal HC-166

Similar Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Tea 2091-10

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Terrapin Green 2145-20

Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Caribbean Teal 2123-20

Creating a Living Room Color Palette

You can see from the pictures above that the color palette of the rooms are made up of more than just the color on the walls. You’ve got the floor, the ceiling even, the main furniture pieces, curtains – and the walls. What this means is that you’ll need to look at your whole room (floors, ceiling, furniture pieces, etc.) and coordinate all the dining room colors to create a well designed space.

3 Ways to Create a Color Scheme in a Room

I see 3 ways to go about co-ordinating the colors in a dining room:

Paint all the wall in a neutral color like white, off white, cream or light grey. This creates a blank canvas for you to decorate the dining room with colorful decor pieces.
Paint all of the walls in the color of your choice. One thing to remember when doing this is that your color choice will determine how the room feels. Light colors will make a dining room feel large, spacious, and bright. Dark colors will make the dining room feel smaller and more intimate.
If you feel painting all the walls in a color might be a bit overwhelming, then you can opt for a feature wall – just like the dining room in picture (A) below. A feature wall is one wall that you paint in a color (such as red, blue or black). You then paint all the other walls in a neurtal color (white, cream, light grey). The one wall with color stands out, and becomes a focal point in the room. It also adds color to the space, but in a subtle way.

Popular Dining Room Paint Colors

Neutral shades such as off white, light and dark grey, and cream are popular modern dining room paint ideas. Other popular wall colors include light yellow and light olive.

Color Guide: Purple Dining Room Decor Ideas

Test and Experiment

You will want to go out and get paint samples and take them home. This is the best way to get a clear idea of what your space will look like. It is hard to trust pictures, because the rooms can easily look different in real life (different computer screens show different colors, the camera settings can make the space look different in the picture, etc.). Also the lighting your dining room, or the texture of your walls can play a role in how the paint color will turn out. You’ve also got major furniture pieces, the floor, even the ceiling that you want to consider when choosing the paint color for your walls.

Breaking Up The Look of Solid Flat Walls

If having a flat solid painted wall seems a bit dull or you have a large dining room, you can add some design elements to break up the design of the wall. One idea is to use wainscoting. By adding wooden panels you add depth to the walls and wainscoting also divides the walls into different sections and colors – seen in picture (B). Wall trim is another way to add some decoration and depth to the walls.

Other ideas include hanging up floating shelves, artwork, or planters.

Finishing Touches

Once you’ve painted your dining room walls, you might like to add a few extra design touches such as:

Crown molding (C)
Base molding
Framing any entryways – just like in picture (D)

1/2/3/4/5/6/7 A/B/C/D

Design Tips: Small Dining Room Ideas

Here are small dining room ideas that will help you make the most of your limited space. From using round tables and floating shelves, to hanging up mirrors and using light colored paint on the walls – there is a lot you can do to make a small dining room feel like a large and comfortable space.

The Biggest Piece in a Dining Room: The Table

The table needs to be the main focus when arranging and designing a small dining room, as it takes up the most space.

Circles Save Space

The best option is to use a round table. It makes the most of the floor space as you don’t waste space with the corners of a table. Most of the small dining rooms in the mood board above use round tables.

Using the Walls

If you are really tight for space, then a rectangle table pushed up against a wall will work just like in picture (1). Another idea for those with really limited space is to use a folding table that is attached to the wall – which you can see in pictures (2) (3). This means you can fold the table away and use the space for something else when it is not in use. The same can be done with the chairs: use stackable ones, or foldable chairs which you can also hang up on the wall.

A Cozy Nook

Building a nook is another way to add seating and a table in a tight space. With a nook you can make use of the corners in the dining room – check out the nook in picture (4).

The Illusion of a Larger Space

See if you can go with a transparent table. Like a glass top, seen in picture (5). Because you can see through the table, it creates the illusion that it is not a solid piece, making the dining room feel more spacious. Versus having a solid table top.

How To Make A Small Room Look Bigger: Creative Design Ideas and Tips

Light Colored Pieces

Light colored furniture pieces work best as they make the space feel bright. If you do go with a dark colored table, try and use white or light colored seats. All the dining room spaces in the mood board at least used light colored chairs, even if the table is dark.

Space Saving Storage Solutions

The best way to add storage to a small dining room is through floating wall shelves – just like in picture (6). These floating shelves don’t take up any valuable floor space – and you are making use of the height in the room.

Built in cabinets work well for small spaces. This is because they will be built with your specific layout in mind, and blended in with the design of the room. You can build up to the ceiling, build into the corners, or even build over door ways – making the most of the space you do have.

If you do go with cabinets, built in or not, use glass doors. Just like using a transparent table, having glass doors adds more visual depth to the room. If you use solid doors, you’re closing in the space in the room.

Other smart storage ideas for a dining room with limited space include:

Using a rolling cart. This can be used as a bar cart, to serve food, or as extra table space. But it can be rolled and stored away (maybe under the table or in the kitchen) when it is not in use.
Corner shelves
There are dining room benches that open up to storage space underneath

Decor Tips and Ideas for a Small Dining Room Design

The Color Scheme

Above I talked about using light colored furniture pieces. You really do want to create a light color scheme in a dining room with limited space. It will make the space feel bright and spacious. This means going with light colored furniture sets, curtains, flooring, decor pieces, and using a light color on the walls. Some good wall paint options include: white, off white, cream, or light grey. For dining color scheme ideas have a look at my post here: Dining Room Colors and Paint Scheme Ideas.

When it comes to the colors in a small dining room, the more you can blend the whole room together the more uniformed it will look. This will help in making a small space feel larger. Say you have white walls, then go with white curtains or a cream color. You don’t want to have a sharp contrast such as white walls with dark blue curtains – you want the room to blend. The dining room in picture (7) uses a uniformed color scheme of different shades grey.

Adding Depth

When decorating the space, see if you can hang up a mirror or a group of small mirrors. The mirror will help bounce light around and adds depth the dining room – making it feel larger.

Lighting Ideas

You will want to light the dining room as much as possible. A cozy space avoids using the ceiling lights and goes with floor or table lamps. To do the opposite, as in create a bright and spacious space, you want to use the ceiling lights as much as possible. There should be enough ceiling lighting to fill up the entire dining room, all corners, with light. If you want to mix it up, as in be able to make the space feel bright but then change it to a cozy dining space, then hook up your ceiling lights to a dimmer.

During the day, filling up the dining room with natural day light is the best way to go if it is possible. This means having large windows. Or hanging your curtains wide enough so they don’t cover the sides of the window, which would block out some light. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

For other dining room ideas and mood boards have a look at my posts here:

A Design Guide for Dining Room Lighting Ideas

And here are more mood boards for rooms with limited space:

April 4, 2014 in Dining Room, Small

Light and Privacy: Ideas for Bathroom Window Treatments

In the bathroom, you want to have as much natural light bathing the space during the day. But at the same time you don’t want to feel as if you are on display. Here are some bathroom window treatments that create the right balance of light and privacy.

Window Placement

If you put the windows up high (above head height), you’ll be able to keep them open and not worry about privacy. Go with a long window high up just like in picture (1). Or go with a small rectangle sized window, but at head height (2). Porthole bathroom windows are another good window option for privacy. You could also go for a skylight, but just placing a normal window above head height works. This also works if you wanted windows in your shower area.

How about going vertical? Check out the window in picture (3). It is a thin vertical window, placed alongside the sink – out of the way from where people would be getting in and out of the shower.

Frosted Window Covering Ideas

A common way of adding privacy to bathroom windows is to have the glass frosted (4). You can go with glass frosted windows. Or you can buy a bathroom window privacy film that sticks over your existing window panes. These frosted windows or window film stick ons can come in a plain frost, or you can find decorative designs – seen in picture (5). Or if you want to add some colors to your windows you could always go for stained glass.

A Sand Film: $18.11 Wayfair | B Blue Cubix Film: $20.99 Wayfair | C Peacock Film: $21.14 Wayfair

D Leaf Privacy Film: $23.98 Amazon | E Bamboo Window Film: $20.99 Amazon | F Mosaic: $15 Amazon

Another way of getting frosted glass is to use glass blocks. I wasn’t a fan of them until I saw the window in picture (6). It uses two different glass block sizes to create a good looking pattern. For me, using only one sized block feels too much like a public restroom.

Bathroom Window Curtains, Blinds and Shutters

A great way of adding privacy to the bathroom with curtains and also let day light shine through, is to hang a curtain halfway down the window (or where head height would be) (7).

Other curtain ideas include using light weight fabric that lets light pass through. You can see the light shining through the curtains in picture (8).

Bamboo blinds and shades also let slivers of light shine through, plus they look great. You can also get the traditional style white metal blinds that are adjustable. Shutters are another option. You can get shutters that have slats that can be adjusted, and ones that are divided so you can close off the bottom half while keeping the top half open. You can also get more decorative shutters like the ones in picture (9). 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9