How to Decorate a Light Country Kitchen

The phrase "country kitchen" evokes a large, light-filled space with wooden floors and a big stove. Even if your country kitchen is far from spacious, painting it white and rationing color touches will make it seem bigger. The worn patina of used butcher block on counters and work surfaces creates an instant, homey appeal, and a farm sink pulls everything together with a note of authenticity. Locate the materials and do most of the work yourself, hiring professionals for jobs like tile setting, electrical wiring and plumbing if you lack the expertise. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Grab the cans of white paint and get to work. Cover a scarred wood floor with two coats of tough white floor paint. Use water-based eggshell or glossier paint on the cabinets, ceiling and walls. Screw a plate rack to the wall under a cabinet and paint it white to match the cabinets.

2

Tile the backsplash behind the stove in blue and white or spring green and white checkerboard. Coat the wall with tile adhesive, working in small sections. Smooth the adhesive on with the flat side of a trowel, then score it with the notched edge before pushing each tile against the wall. Let set for 24 hours, then mix grout according to package directions and push between all tiles with a grout float. Let set for 20 minutes, then wipe off excess with a damp grout sponge.

3

Hang pendant lights made of pastry tins from the ceiling. Replace the sink with a deep farm sink in white porcelain or neutral cement or stone.

4

Replace Formica countertops with butcher block. Place a large, used butcher block panel on a whitewashed wood table base and use it as a kitchen work island and a breakfast table. Match the butcher block table top to the base and mark the four corners for connecting dowels. Use a paddle bit to drill the holes for the dowels. Coat one end of each dowel with wood glue and insert in the base, tapping lightly with a mallet or hammer to set the dowel in the hole. Paint glue on the top half of the dowels and get help lowering the table top onto the dowels.

5

Paint second-hand wood stools to go around the table with leftover white floor paint. Decal each seat with a rooster, pig or other farm animal.

6

Keep wooden spoons on the counter in a ceramic pickle jar and place a white enamel pitcher full of wildflowers from the garden in the middle of the butcher block table. Fill the plate rack with white plates and set a white porcelain bread box on the counter.