A cozier kitchen.

I have been sharing a few of my design woes and triumphs in recent weeks, so I thought I would add another. One issue that I have with my current kitchen is that it is really big. I know! Crazy! I live in New York, how can having a big kitchen be anything but wonderful?! Well, we still have the typical amount of counter space (1 square foot) and lack of cabinets (about 3). Don't get me wrong, I love having an actual kitchen table for the first time in years. But, the space itself is awkward because there is so much wall space that it is hard to decide how to use it well, let alone afford to fill it.

What I wanted to do was to create a kitchen "nook" out of the corner where our table actually resides; to do something that sets it off as a separate area, rather than just one big blob of floor and wall space. So. My parents gave me a very exciting present for Christmas: some money for apartment design. Best gift ever (gracias Mom and Dad) ! I spent weeks after Christmas trying to decide what exactly I could do, and just knowing that one of my ideas could become a reality was half the fun (and rare in my life as I spend so much time on design blogs and reading magazines). After much searching, I decided to purchase 4 prints from Thumbtack Press. Their website (www.thumbackpress.com) has work from dozens of new artists for reasonable prices. I stumbled upon Matt Mills and immediately fell in love with his depictions of European cities. His use of color and lines is unique, thought provoking and modern. You should take a look online for greater detail than what my picture below can reveal.

I purchased four of them and had them framed to hang around my kitchen table. They definitely reveal my current love of more modern lines and opened up a new door for me in design:









I'm still trying to keep my eyes open for a reasonable rug that would finish off the "nook", but for now I am just excited about having some great art grace my walls. Please come over for dinner to see in person. I'm serious. Let me know.