What Are Your Favorite Kitchen Themes?

The first thing I wanted to change when my husband and I moved into our new home was the kitchen decor. It had very simple builders quality kitchen cabinets, nothing special, but not the worse I've seen. It had a very old linoleum floor that was chipped and dinged. We had moved into a home where the living room, dining room and living room were one, so whatever kitchen theme I chose had to make sure it would move seamlessly and bring the three rooms together. I knew that I had to pick up the colors in the living room sofa and chair. The sofa has gold and green and red in a floral pattern. I wasn't sure exactly sure what type of kitchen theme I was going to use.

I just happened to be visiting the furniture store where we bought our living room sofa and chair and saw a lovely platter displayed in the room setting. It had the gold, green and red and a very similar floral pattern to the furniture. I was also able to find two smaller decorative plates. OK, I have an idea of color. But what kitchen theme?

I know that a lot of people like to use one particular theme in their kitchen, fruit or roosters, or animals, plaids or checks. I wanted a kitchen theme but I wanted one that looked like it had grown over time, effortlessly. What really helped me was finding the dinnerware I wanted to use. The pattern is from Vietri. It's called Cucina Fresca. This dinnerware has a rustic Italian look. It comes in softly muted shades of cream, saffron and sage. So my colors were further carried into my Italian kitchen theme.

I then needed to make room in my cabinets. I decided to move my spices onto a wall shelf. I found a wrought iron shelf that was perfect for holding all my spice jars. This shelf has roosters on it. I found a group of roosters to put on top of my shelves and found a wrought iron wine holder that has the same pattern as the wrought iron spice jar shelf. The kitchen theme really started coming together. Over time I've added pieces that I have found. My kitchen has a decidedly Italian look.

Another thing I did to enhance my Italian look was paint one wall. I used a lovely faux finish technique called colorwashing and a warm and inviting orange/yellow color. It made an incredible difference. I ordered a custom swag curtain for the one window in the kitchen that had all my colors in it.

My kitchen theme didn't come together quickly, it probably too me almost two years to get the look I wanted which is one that grew slowly and over time. If you don't want to wait that long for your kitchen theme to take shape you can have one fairly quickly.

Many design stores sell kitchen curtains, dish towels, table linens, wallpaper, wall boarder, and fabric by the yard. They also sell accessories such as coasters, clocks, salt and pepper shakers, mugs, canister sets, placemats and trivets. You'll have much more of a matching kitchen theme, and perhaps a somewhat overwhelming kitchen theme if you use everything in one collection. You can have too many apples, and too many roosters. There is nothing wrong with adding a few ideas from a design line like this but make sure that you add your own personal style when coming up with your kitchen theme.