Are you thinking of spicing things up at home? Forget the bedroom. Start in the kitchen and let your imagination take over. And, for the record, we’re talking about interior design.
“So often, you might get nervous to make bold choices in spaces that you spend so much time in, that are also public spaces like a kitchen. There’s fear that a bolder choice may be too trendy, and then you’d have to change it before long,” says Erika Bonnell, owner and creative director of Erika Bonnell Interiors in Sterling.
Having designed many pattern- and color-forward kitchens, Bonnell speaks from experience when she recommends branching out. “I don’t feel like a [vibrant kitchen palette] is something that people get tired of it the way you may fear. I recommend bolder spaces for people who have bolder personalities and bolder fashion aesthetics. I don’t think those people will ever regret making a statement because their home will reflect their style.”
You can start with the “safer” end of the colorful interior with cabinetry. Bonnell says, “I did a kitchen with really gorgeous deep teal cabinets with a hammered brass range hood.” Rather than opting for colorful cabinets, why not take things in another direction and play up neutral cabinetry with brighter elements?
“In my own home, I have white builder-grade cabinets that I wasn’t a fan of, that I needed to jazz up for my own personal aesthetic,” she says of her kitchen design. “I added an emerald-green backsplash and a really funky geometric wallpaper. So, paired with these really white cabinets that I originally would not have in my home, the overall kitchen is much more to my aesthetic.”
She says the key is layering patterns and color in eye-catching repeats and solid hues that pair well together. “The geometric pattern wallpaper is in neutral paper and paired with an open floor plan and neutral walls, but dressed up with the green tile, that geometric pattern adds the visual heft that I wanted to the space.”
She also says thinking in terms of brights is more toward the dated end of the design spectrum. This isn’t about accent walls, in other words.
“Boldness doesn’t always have to come in color — it can be in pattern play and how you mix certain elements into a space to give it more of an impact, like patterns-on-patterns, or certain patterns with a strong color tile. It’s not so much a mixture of textures and materials, but a mixture of patterns and colors.
“When you can make daring selections and it’s balanced through the rest of your home, it doesn’t feel too out of place at all.”
Think of mixing patterns and colors in your kitchen as an opportunity to be brave with your design and as a way to infuse your prep space with energy. She says, “I really feel that, ultimately, it’s fear of making the bolder choice you may end up regretting.”
Feature image by Stacy Zarin Goldberg
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