Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Simple Kitchen Decorating

I love to decorate my house for the seasons! Americana tends to be the theme here during the summer. Fall brings pumpkins, bittersweet, Indian corn, and straw bales. Christmas is so much fun with each room having different styles. The mudroom is a bird house type outdoorsy, the kitchen is gingerbread, the rest of the house is an eclectic country mix of snowmen, wreaths, trees and lots of lights! This time of year always brings the question of how to decorate. I like snowmen and all but I'm looking forward to spring too much to leave them out past January. I recently have discovered a sort of useful style of decorating in the kitchen...using what I have and use regularly to decorate.

I am regularly inspired by Country Sampler magazine. They have a mix of styles from primitive to country, classic to cottage.

Here are my tips:

*Use muffin tins, cake tins, pie plates, large spoons, rolling pins, etc. to decorate shelves, cupboards, and counter tops.
*Fill large jars (I use large pickle jars -- cleaned out of course!) with cookie cutters, or food even...beans, rice, etc.
*Use large bowls and baskets not only for decoration but to store items such as linens, extra baked goods, etc.

Here are a few examples:

See the baskets hanging? I bet those aren't empty! At least they wouldn't be at my house! : )


Notice how the bowls are hanging on the wall? I would use those to serve bread (with a breadcloth). I would use that basket on the pie safe to hold extra napkins or linens of some sort!

Whether you are a country style decorator or not, you can still place useful items in the kitchen to decorate with and give your kitchen a little life. Go through your cupboards and get imaginative!