I used love my small, cluttered kitchen. Joyfully I would produce delicious, many-coursed meals from my Barbie-sized stove, stuff a week's worth of organic produce into "my cute refrigerator", balance yet another latte bowl on the top of my towering collection.
Weekend Meditation: Identity Crisis
I believed my kitchen had a certain boho charm that I was happy to identify with. Besides, I really enjoyed all the individual components of my clutter. Each object was beautiful, or relevant, or interesting in its own unique way.
But then a year’s worth of browsing small and cool AT kitchens started to nudge at my bliss. I found myself getting a little…antsy with the clutter and I'd long for the cool, pared down restraint of Jessica’s Blue and Sliver Flair, the perfect simplicity of Lydia’s open space.
Damn, I thought. I want some of that I want the “well curated” kitchen shelves, the cool surfaces, the bold and refreshing efficiency. Give me the soothing clarity of one white bowl on a simple wooden table!
But when I really thought about it, I realized that my kitchen was an unedited, honest expression of my life and what I value the most. What I created was a slightly cluttered, funky kitchen with stacks of tea cups and thrift store dishtowels. It’s warm and inviting and can take on the most ambitious of dinner party plans. Children are free to pull up a chair, friends can elbow their way in and take over the washing-up. It may border on too much, but I’m fine with that.
And scattered throughout the stacks of mismatched dishes are a few simple white matte plates that look so nice with raw linen napkins and a vase full of poppies...and that, too, is an honest joy.
Comments (13)
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Hear, hear! (And here, here, too, since that is my style as well!) The idea isn't to produce copies of something that we see in someone else's home, or in a decorating magazine, but to produce a space that we can call home.
I want function and joy. "Style" (in the snooty sense) can go by the wayside.
view RebeccaCT's profile
That was beautiful :-) I hear ya, sister.....I've got too much in my tiny kitchen, too. But it's really not "too much" because I love and use all of it.
I love your kitchen style.
view ohjodi's profile
I love your kitchen, too! Some of those contest entries look like museums, as if nobody lives there at all. I'm all for reducing clutter so that you have room to move, but stuff that you love and use all the time isn't clutter, it's your life!
view STH's profile
I love museums. However, I wouldn't like to live in one. As a little girl I did. NO! you can't invite too many to a family dinner because we only have matched dishes for 8! As a grown up girl, I now get to have dishes and sometimes friends that don't match...hooray! Lee
view truedharma's profile
I love your comfy house. It's such a relief to come in and spend time with friends in a warm homey inviting and loving place. The rest of the world is SO not that.
:) Don't you dare change anything!
view Daigan's profile
The kitchen I have now is the smallest I've ever had, yet it functions better than all of it's predecessors. Everything I need is within quick reach. I've had some very large kitchens over the years, but I would take this one over any one of them any day.
view Maureen's profile
Dana, I'm with everyone else -- I love your funky kitchen! I like looking at the pristine ones, but I'd never be happy in one.
Now I'm gonna get some of those lights and hang some in my kitchen!
view madampince's profile
Woot! You speak the truth! Your kitchen looks happy, too!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
It may be hard to believe, but some people, such as myself, who have edited, uncluttered kitchens want what you have! I have stainless appliances and countertop, organized everything, all white dishes and matching napkins. I enjoy all this, but it's my goal to someday have unmatched plates and napkins. If you ever have a garage sale let me know. In the meantime, enjoy your little funky space!
view Kate N's profile
this is a great reminder :)
thank you!
view kdkaboom's profile
wow, i completely feel at home in this kitchen! nowadays all i seem to see are these look-a-like uncluttered kitchens with granite and stainless everywhere! pretty to look at but somehow cold with no heart.
yours is warm with lots of heart!
view E.I.F.'s profile
>>I realized that my kitchen was an unedited, honest expression of my life and what I value the most.
Don't sell yourself short as an editor!! Your kitchen HAS been edited: by you! Not by a designer or even a design blog. By doing your own editing, you have produced something that works for you... and good for you for doing it and being happy with it!
view lhc's profile
Simple, Enlightening, and Truth. Life is what it is and focusing on what's in from of you sometimes helps you to see more of who you really are.
view ÃÂngel's profile