With so many people into green living, this color scheme helps add to the natural and simplistic appeal on top of its other benefits.

Cabinetry Takes on a Whole New Look

No one wants the look of avocado green that was so “in” back in the 60’s and 70’s. Olive green comes in many shades, from deep forest green to pastel shades. For your cabinets, the best choice is a medium hue much like the lighter shades you find in camouflage materials. While olive may not be the first color that comes to mind when you think of updating your kitchen, you will be stunned at the appeal that comes when you mix pure white and olive. Just look online at a few examples and you will see that the look is truly striking.

You can paint your cabinets without much difficulty, and give them an entirely new look. If your cabinets are already painted, simply paint over the existing color. If your cabinets are stained and varnished, you may want to lightly sand the finish before painting. Once you have achieved the medium olive tone you want, simply add white hardware to contrast.

Choose White to Complement

While the cabinets will be the main source of olive green in the room, white accessories will add interest and keep the room from looking drab or dull. Appliances that you keep on your counter top should be white, and the counter top itself may be solid white or a mixture of olive and white, with white being the predominant color.

You should further dress up the look by adding a white paper towel holder, white drawer pulls, and white lighting fixtures.

Accessories Complete the Look

The accessories you choose really tie together the complete look and add visual appeal. Consider a kitchen floor mat that can be used in front of the sink in an olive and white floral or leaf pattern. Linoleum or tile will also be beautiful when these two colors are combined.

For the kitchen table, use a solid white tablecloth and accent with an olive colored pot filled with herbs or other natural greenery as a centerpiece. White walls accented by olive baseboards and large botanical prints add even more visual appeal.

The look is totally fresh and unique when compared with most kitchens you see today. If your desire is to have a kitchen that looks modern and inviting, olive and white is a spectacular combination that mixes the pure, pristine look of white with hues that are straight out of nature!

Leon Tuberman has 40 years of experience in the furniture and interior design industry. He owns and manages a popular furniture store in California. They have a large inventory of handcrafted American built solid oak furniture for your bedroom, home office and living room. Are you searching for wood nightstands for your bedroom or a wood TV stands for your home then they probably have everything you need.

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Kitchen lights have taken a whole new turn when it comes to illuminating a space. Many of the fixtures are more contemporary than in early years which is evident with track lighting. The directionality of track lighting gives you versatility as well as options that have never been available before. Many of the kitchen lights available today are energy efficient and are easy to install. You can even buy lighting that can assist you in the event of a power outage. Lighting is relatively cheap to buy but is one of the most important aspects of remodeling and renovations.

The cost of lighting will vary greatly depending on the style, size and design of the fixtures. For instance, recessed lighting is generally small lights that are purchased individually. They are available in vinyl or metal casement and come in chrome or stainless steel finishes as well as white and black colors. Recessed lighting can be used for many different occasions such as providing soft light over a dining table or a kitchen island. If one goes bad, you simply buy one replacement and install it in the same location. These can also be wired to a generator to come on in case of power outage due to a storm.

There are actually three types of kitchen lights; general, highlight or accent and task. General lighting provides a constant level of light over a large area. Highlight or accent is designed to highlight a specific area that can be controlled. One instance of this is track lighting. It can be turned to illuminate the area you desire and can have a dimmer installed to control the amount of light it disburses. Task lighting is generally a light that illuminates a specific area such as a countertop or island. It is designed to provide light when working at a specific station.

Replacement of kitchen lights is generally a simple task. For recessed lighting, if you are replacing the works, you can leave the casement in place and simply slide the works out and a new one back in. The price of this small fix will vary depending on the style of recessed lighting you choose. The cost could be greater depending on the type of kitchen lights you have. For instance track lighting may require replacement of the entire fixture if one element ceases to function. The price of this could be the same as buying new lighting.

Regardless of the style of lighting you choose for your kitchen, you can find energy efficient lighting as well as bulbs to help save you money. In addition to saving money you can buy low maintenance vinyl encasement lighting that makes cleaning and maintenance a breeze. Remember to consider emergency storm lighting in case of a power outage. These storm lights generally have a small power source they are attached to that automatically comes on when the power goes out. This is one of the best ways to provide lighting while protecting your family from the perils of darkness.

About the Author

Kevin Wynn

If your kitchen design needs some work, there are some things you can do regardless of your budget. The idea is to determine how much money you have available to spend updating your kitchen, and then use that to help you figure out the best changes to make. Those who have more money can make more drastic changes, such as replacing appliances, all new cabinets, or even removing a wall. Those with smaller budgets can stick to less expensive changes, such as painting the walls and getting new hardware on their cabinets.

The first thing you need to do is determine what you don’t like about your current kitchen design. Maybe the kitchen looks too dark, or it is too crowded, or maybe the appliances or flooring is too outdated for you. This will give you an idea of where you will want to focus your spending.

You will also need to determine how much money you have to spend on updating your current kitchen design. This will help to narrow down your options and give you a better idea of how much it is possible for you to do. You might find that you don’t quite have enough money for the major change you would like to make, but if you think a bit you might be able to come up with other options.

Now that you know which things about your kitchen design bother you the most, and how much money you have to spend, you can start researching your options. If you are on a tight budget and you want to find a way to brighten up your kitchen, some good ideas include painting your kitchen a lighter color or choosing new lighting fixtures that will give you more light (either by replacing the old fixtures or adding new lighting such as under cabinet lights). Those with a large budget might decide to remove part or all or a wall to open the kitchen up a bit more to the rest of the house, or add or enlarge a window to get more natural light into the kitchen. As you can see, regardless of your budget you can find solutions to your problems with a little investigating.

About the Author

The kitchen is the most utilized and meaningful room in a household. It is the hub for family tasks and used for food preparation, household management, and of course entertaining. It is indeed the heart of any home. No matter how many rooms you have dedicated for entertainment, everyone always ends up in the kitchen! With the kids back in school, a cool nip in the air, fall kicks off our major holiday season – in fact, we can celebrate right through the New Year. Now is a great time to get your kitchen “party readied,” and organized for easy maneuvering during the holiday rush, and of course-seasonally updated.

• Need a Color Lift? – Pick a wall if daring – pick them all. Paint it a seasonal color – Ben Moore’s Toasted Pecan #1209, Burnt Sienna #1196, or Sherwin William’s Library Pewter SW0038, or Studio Blue-Green SW0047. It’s just paint, and is the easiest and cheapest change you can make.

• Counter Tops – Swap out a tired canister set with a new revision; there are loads to choose from (If you’re not a gourmet cook, store pens, notepads, and takeout menus inside.) They add needed color and design. Large platters on plate stands are good-looking in unused dark corners or grouped on walls. Extra-large clear glass canisters are conversation makers when layered with dried beans, nuts or black, yellow and white dried popcorn. A kitchen must is a sassy new set of dish towels, seasonal kitchen candles, and a hand soap/lotion set in scents of spiced apple, pumpkin or caramel.

• Tell a Story with your Floral – A whimsical floral whether store or home made adds a bit of seasonal flair to any table. Create a mini-container garden by abundantly grouping those adorable “mini” annuals and petite ivy. or a bountiful arrangement with faux fall veggies, dried pods, leaves and vines.

• Looking Up – Upper cabinet tops or upper shelves seem always to pose a decorating challenge. For a quick and easy change, large seasonally inspired platters, framed art, and garden items such as gazing spheres, or obelisks fill spots fill tired spots.

• Smart Cook Organization – An easy way to organize, is to create stations within your kitchen. Love to bake? Set aside two cabinets and counter space solely used for baking (near the oven of course,) fill with baking essentials such as pans, small appliances, spices and other baking staples. Task clustering such as this will help you to stay on task during the busy holiday rush.

• Get your Party Started – Love to entertain, but don’t have a Butler’s Pantry? Convert your little used desk area into an entertainment station.

- Replace wood panels of upper cabinet with glass, adding lighting, and glass shelves
- Store glasses and decorative bottles.
- Line desk drawer with felt, and hold bar essentials and serving pieces.
- Add a tension rod with shirred fabric for extra storage to the knee hole space, or find the perfectly sized rolling cart.

Space Game – Use a Lazy Susan cabinet for a “Party Pantry.” Store food products, Beverages, paper goods. and china that can be used to throw a soiree at moment’s notice. If you’re even luckier to have an unused closet. super size it and linens, vases, and decor all in one neat place.

No matter how large or small your kitchen, whether you’re a gourmet cook or take-out type, every kitchen needs a seasonal boost and should be readied for family, friends and favorite holiday celebrates in style.

About the Author

When choosing your own fitted kitchen, it is easy to lose track of the overall design, and to become overfaced with the challenge of making the project a reality. There are several ways of ensuring that your involvement in the process is reflected in the design, while also remaining flexible to changes in either your budget or your tastes. The key to this confident outlook is in thinking about design – in a sense calling to mind the various elements of your fitted kitchen in a workable manner.

However technically-minded we may or may not be, it is certainly possible for us to form a preliminary ’sketch’ of a kitchen design that suits us; by ordering a few brochures and visiting a few stores we can begin to realize a shape and a unified feel that may be built essentially around any aspect of the design: kitchen cabinets, worktops, specific lighting – all of these things can be the starting point from which the picture of the finished kitchen begins to grow.

From a loose portfolio of ideas (brochure cuttings, photographs from stores), we will begin naturally to think about the specifics and how they are relevant to our personal needs – call it a brief, a plan, at this stage it’s just a kind of list of the storage space, appliances, surfaces, finishes and fittings that we think are more suited to our own needs and tastes. As each kitchen is different in its positioning, shape, and size, we can begin to be more selective, and trim down the design to suit the space it will inhabit.

After getting a fairly good feel for the kind of fitted kitchen we want, we may still have further questions that need answering in order to reach that perfect design – after all, as good as the in-store kitchens and brochure pictures may be, the correct blend of interior aspects and practical elements is hard to achieve. But, as we’re thinking about design already, we’re one step ahead in providing ourselves with the solutions.

Browsing a few websites offering fitted kitchens, we’ll find that the better companies offer a ‘free design visit/consultation’ service. By arranging a consultation, we can openly and frankly lay down our vision for the fitted kitchen we’re thinking about, and establish a kind of creative space in which ideas can be bounced back and forth. The bottom line for design consultants is the preservation of the picture we have of the fitted kitchen, so again we are strengthening our initial vision with the experience of trained, impartial professionals.

We might consider this further and find that the in-store fitted kitchen examples and the brochures are the product mostly of thinking about and talking about design; the texture and finish of the cupboards may be anchored around a striking worktop as a centrepiece, for example – there is a choice being made, and whether or not we want to think of ourselves as customers-cum-designers at all, these choices will be the aspects of the finished fitted kitchen that really come to life and make this most central space of the home truly unique. (By Katie Brunt) ]]> http://www.ahcqc.com/19/thinking-about-design-fitted-kitchens-the-smart-way/feed 0