LaTonya Yvette’s Kitchen Photo by Nina Barry
Do you have art in your kitchen? I’ve always viewed rooms as utilitarian. You go into your room, cook, and get out of there. — But these days, I’m looking for a more homely atmosphere. Think hanging a snapshot of your family above the sink or leaning watercolors next to the toaster are easy ways to freshen up your space?Here are eight ways to add art to your kitchen.
Taping a painting to the door and placing artwork or tiles on top will make your home feel lively and layered. “When you have a lot of pictures, you have to start hanging them everywhere you can,” says Wendy Coggins of Minneapolis. (Also, is collecting champagne corks fun?)
A themed gallery wall is a fun ongoing project. “The moment I hung my first pear, it felt like a magnet,” says author Katherine Newman. “Now people send me pictures of pears, postcards and paintings. The collection has just been organic.”
Turning cookbooks over to reveal the cover will make your kitchen shelf look beautiful. “The biggest fight in our marriage is that I bought a cookbook when my bookshelf was already full,” laughs author Adam Roberts. “But when I buy a lot of cookbooks, he buys a lot of records, so we kind of reciprocate.”
If your kitchen doesn’t have windows, bring nature indoors with landscape portraits, as designer Holly Waterfield does in her 575-square-foot family apartment in Brooklyn.
You can also display your children’s works. “My children started drawing self-portraits in kindergarten,” says Holly. “It’s amazing how the pictures show how facial features have changed over the years. When Emmy was in middle school, I noticed, ‘Oh, she has high cheekbones now.’ And when Bodhi was a baby, He had enamel hypoplasia, and his first two baby teeth were all yellow and brown. So he drew these yellow, lumpy teeth in his kindergarten self-portrait. He wasn’t shy about them at all.”
Somsack Sikhounmuong, creative director at Alex Mill, hangs the candy hugo guinness linocut.
And my friend Erika Vurink, who lives in Brooklyn, has a cool photo display of her grandfather. “He used to race cars, so I saw this photo hanging in the garage and my grandfather gave it to me so I could make prints for my sister and myself.” Now I’m inspired by looking at old family photos.
Where should you display art in your home?
P.S.: More home tours to come, including Bookworm’s Dream and Anthem to Black Joy. Plus, some lovely seaweed artwork.
(Minnesota Door Photo: Wing Ho. Pear Gallery Photo: lindsey hannah. Adam Roberts Cookbook Shelf julia lobs. Holly photos and Somsak photos Kate S. Jordan. Open shelf photos: Mallory Fletchard. Photo of art above kitchen cabinets and stove, race car photo by Erika Vurink, created by Christine Han. )
Source: Cup of Jo – cupofjo.com
