Kitchen Decor

The kitchens and bathrooms are the hardest rooms in your home to decorate. I think it's because form and function are out of balance for most kitchens.  Kitchens need to be functional above all, and it's hard to put in the "form" part of the equation without taking away from the functionality of your kitchen.  Here are a few things that I've done to my own kitchen that quickly, easily  (& cheaply) changed the entire look of the kitchen.

I have one tiny window in my carpeted (yes, carpeted) kitchen, and a wall above the stove that I use to decorate the kitchen.

I bought the cheapest, but prettiest, fabric I could find at my local fabric store, and made 2 hot pads, a valence for the window, and an apron.  Then, I had so much fun making those, that I made 2 more sets, each with a totally different color scheme.

You would be so surprised to see how easy these hot pads are to make.  My mother-in-law made me some for my birthday one year, and they turned out so well, that I found the fabric at the fabric store a few months later and reupholstered my chairs to match.


To make the hot pad, you just need to make a pattern that looks like this:

You can make your own shape however you'd like. This was the one that I liked the most.  You'll cut 1 of the full U-shape, and 2 of the cut U-shape.  You also need to cut 1 U-shape out of either a coordinating fabric or a towel. (That's what I used.)  Now, if you want these to be functional and beautiful, you need to use batting between the fabric/towel. (That's somethimg I forgot to do, so mine are purely decorative.)

Here are the end results.