classic gray benjamin moore living room

this is one of my favorite spaces here atthe farm. it's called the summer kitchen. so in the 18th and 19th centuries, in thiscountry, summer kitchens were popular -- particularly in the south, because it got so hot in thesummer. if you've seen my pbs show garden to table, you know this kitchen gets a lotof work. now, i wanna talk more about the style of the kitchen, but let's just talkabout how it functions. you see, i've got this cold, wet, heat, triangle going herewhich makes it really easy. then there's over here on this side: i've got plenty of counterspace across the back and along this side, up to where the microwave and the oven is,and the warming oven. and here, i have a generous island with a cook stove and plenty of spaceto put ingredients or the finished product

or even have some friends sit down. so i reallyfeel like this kitchen functions both for a television set -- it also serves as a placefor us to prepare food for big groups of people. and it's a wonderful place just have an intimatedinner with some friends. i wanna talk about color for just a minute, because i think it'sso important. it really sets the mood of a room. here i wanted to use two colors of gray.i wanted this room to feel really cozy. now, this is really kind of a cool gray. if wehad added some brown to it it would have warmed the gray up. now, you can see, the walls,the ceiling, the doors, the cabinets all are painted this gray color. it blends nicelywith all this stainless steel that we have in the room as well. so it reads all as one.if you just sort squint your eyes and look

at it, the sense of it is it is a monolithicspace. now, there are elements of red that come in. the red brick around the fireplace.and, of course, this island -- it's painted red to sort of pop out and sort of createa little visual interest. this is a benjamin moore color called bird of paradise. now,there are some other red accents or warm accents in here that play off of the cool grays. forinstance, these window treatments -- they're roman shades with a stripe. again, the samecolors that you see in the island -- those warmer tones of hearth and fire, all addingto make this a very cozy room. let's talk about the shelves: you can see, i really wantedsome heavy, utilitarian shelves that fit a workspace like this, because this is a realworkhorse of a room. so what we did is created

these triangular brackets with wood. and thenfor the shelf itself, we started with a wood base and then wrapped it with stainless steel.it was a very affordable way to get the look that i wanted in here. you see, i wanted toecho the stainless steel appliances that you see on either side. and so, by doing thesefour shelves on either side, it gave me plenty of room to fill it with all kinds of potsand containers and bowls and things like that. here, i can display those orange tones, thosered tones with this le creuset cookware, with tomatoes out of the garden, all kinds of bowlsthat i've collected -- many of them are vintage. and it makes a great place for storage, buti think the display also adds a lot. people who come into this kitchen, they really lovethe warmth and the comfort that it exudes.

the kitchen is essentially divided in half.this side of the kitchen, the south side, is dedicated to the preparation of food. andthe north side here, with the fireplace, is an area designated to enjoying food. so ihave this dining table here with six chairs. and the style of this table is one of sortof a country table -- it's a traditional style, but it's all new. and these are windsor chairs,all placed on a braided rug. again, on the floor, i'm picking up colors that reflectthe warm tones in the room. salmon, orange, red and so forth. the floors themselves haveheld up really well. what i did was put a light stain on them -- again, a grey, so thatyou get a sense of harmony and unity in this space. another way that i've accented theroom is with some vintage finds: using tools

like this old scythe, as well as candle holders,and paintings of cows and peaches and produce and so forth, really add a sense of warmthto a space like this. and, of course, i can't talk about this room without mentioning thelight fixtures and the fans. you see, they're definitely contemporary, which is a contrastto some of the furnishings, but they actually look very good because of the finish -- thefinish being stainless steel with the appliances here in the room. if you found this videoto be enjoyable or helpful, let me hear from ya -- i'd love to know about some of yourstyle ideas. and make sure you subscribe to ehow home. now i'm gonna get to work herein the kitchen -- start fixing supper.

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: