How to Make a Cottage-Style Kitchen

It's not surprising to find that there's a cottage kitchen renaissance sweeping the nation. These quaintly decorated kitchens evoke feelings of warmth, coziness and simplicity, exactly what's called for in a weary world. Evoke your inner Laura Ingalls Wilder to renovate your kitchen so family and friends can take a deep breath and relax the moment they enter your family's tranquil gathering space. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Familiarize yourself with the three traditional benchmarks of the cottage-style movement: a lack of sophistication, bountiful use of white and enough vintage flavor to give your kitchen a nostalgic feeling, even if your appliances are ultrasophisticated.

2

Start with the walls of your kitchen to begin the transformation to cottage style. Distress your walls to achieve a "weathered-by-time" appearance by applying and then wiping down layers of white paint. Leave framing exposed to add another element of authenticity to the room's makeover. Install white or red bricks on one wall for added drama.

3

Celebrate the return of easy-to-clean vinyl flooring if you're replacing worn kitchen floor tiles or have your wood flooring refinished so it has the appearance of being weathered. Alternately, paint your floor and use stencils to decorate it; a series of sunflowers, for example, will beautifully tie together your cottage kitchen look.

4

Replace cabinets with open shelving, plate racks and architectural elements to replicate the look of cottage-style storage. Alternately, use glass-front cabinets---the objective here is to expose your colorful dishes and serving pieces so the kitchen has the appearance of being cheerfully cluttered. Whitewash anything that needs painting to coordinate the shelving with the walls.

5

Splurge on a retro sink designed to look as though it were pulled from an old farmhouse and transported to your kitchen. Add a vintage faucet. Camouflage the fronts of modern appliances with white wainscoting or vertically aligned bead board panels if you have the cabinetry skills to pull off this clever decorating trick.

6

Showcase the window(s) of your cottage kitchen with a frilly valance or tie-back curtains made of chintz, florals, checks or fabrics reminiscent of "down-home" patterns in colors that complement your country kitchen's accent colors. Pick, for example, a valance drenched in sunflowers to add a bold and cheery yellow note.

7

Follow the room's cottage-style mood when purchasing dining furniture for your kitchen. Replace a nondescript table and chair set with a seating nook topped by custom-made and stain-resistant cushions. Use a wood bench to seat more diners. Hang a tin farm-style lamp over the table for additional cottage-style magic.

8

Buy 5-inch by 7-inch frames in a set of eight from the dollar store to make a penny-pinching art collection. Insert greeting card covers that match and complement your accent colors. Hang two rows of four pictures each to draw attention to the collection. Place a milky white farm pitcher on the table and fill it with sunflowers to complete your magazine-worthy cottage kitchen.