My kitchen needs .... something?!

[MaraScottie]

Hi,
Lucky enough to have a new build house which we've been in 1.5 years. Never been completely happy with my choice of kitchen colour and along with the wall colour, I feel it's a bit drab or flat.

What would you suggest I do with this to give it a lift? Tiles? Paint? Have been thinking of a geometric tiled splashback but I'm not brave with my decor (as you can probably tell!) so some advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

I agree your wall colour would brighten up the place, and maybe the rugs could be more colourful.
I think the wall with the long shelves could easily be painted a nice colour and that would help?

Have a look on Instagram for colour ideas

That's a lovely kitchen! If you're not too confident on colour you get some samples of paint for the walls - that would be the easiest and least permanent change. Usually kitchens are kept fairly neutral but an energising colour like a bright green , blue or yellow could work if you're feeling bold?
Pinterest!

I like the little splash of teal in the print behind the sink. What about tiles or a painted wall in the same colour?

Coloured accessories can do an awful lot to change the feel of a space. Why not try that first - I agree I really like the emerald green of the print and would pick that up elsewhere - maybe some brighter green indoor plants on the shelves (herbs?), and change the rug for a brighter one with green in it.

If you need more, you could have a green tiled splashback or even white tiles with green grout (gives a geometric effect but easier to change if you go off it).

Thanks all for the suggestions 😊

These are the types of tiles I had in mind, but afraid they'd stand out like a sore thumb!

I've a lot of accessories at the moment, a lot of patterns and some gold bits but they're sort of lost as the kitchen is fairly big.

Definitely going to look into the rug idea, agree it's all a bit too muted

On the wall with the shelves and sink you could put a lovely deep coloured teal. Use a washable paint. If you love it, you could have a glass splashback made. It's a single sheet of glass, and gives a really deep finish without any fussiness. It would look great.

I'm going to slightly agree/slightly disagree - I can see that you have some brightly-coloured items already, and the rugs in grey/white but none of them is big/impactful enough and they're not consistent enough in colour palette to have enough of a collective impact.

You could achieve an accent 'lift' without painting tiling or splashback and streamlining the accessories but having one or two or three bigger ones - longer rug, bigger plant, bigger frames print on the wall, make more of the colourful mugs etc.
At the moment the stuff on your grey shelves just looks a bit untidy.

Ooh I like those tiles! They would definitely work - the teal rather than the grey though (or some other bright colour)

Ignore the person who said your shelves are untidy. 1 - they're not; 2 - it's a home, not a show house

Thanks guys.

Palavah, I agree. Shelves are actually used for mugs, wine glasses, bowls etc that are used regularly. Perhaps I need to rethink this so they're not so cluttered.

I may look to replace the print over the hob with something bigger and more impactful too. Any suggestions? :) I love graphic prints!!

LOL 4am

You could hang the wine glasses to look more structured if you wanted to. Pick a colour, get testers & paint a large page or back of roll of wallpaper & stick it up for a while. You could even paint the shelves another colour - or cover them in the tester paper to see if you like it.

I love your kitchen, think it's gorgeous. I bought an enormous tree root fruit bowl for our kitchen & fruit is an ornament in it! Burnt orange would be very nice with a bit more emerald green. If you could fit in a cheese plant somewhere it would look great. Keep us updated!

If you look on diy on a budget for inspiration someone's just gone for the pink glitter fablon and diamanté knob look/ it's.........different!

I've actually only ordered two cheese plants from Groupon last night, will try fit one in somewhere with a nice bright pot :)

Great idea about hanging the glasses!

Super! I spent ages trying to arrange my couple of small kitchen shelves to please my eye but also be useful. Cups on hooks below work too. Will take a pic of mine later when home if you're interested. It's not remotely exciting but I like it!

Yes to painting one or all walls blue. I’ve just painted my whole kitchen in stiffkey blue by f&b and I love it - it looks so much better and makes the room cosier. My kitchen has a lot of natural light though. Also get some large prints in black frames on the wall - either colourful or black and white would look good. Agree tiles behind splash back would look good.

I would paint the side wall where the window is. Something bright.
Or paper with a geometric print.
The wall with the shelving is already too busy.

I actuly think your rugs are a nice pattern and colour and agree that teal on the shelf wall would look amazing with them.

Those tile ideas would both look really nice. I think it's a nice kitchen x

You need more colour. Can you add a coloured glass splash back or tiles? Failing that paint the walks in a contrasting colour (pale teal / blue) and add colours via artwork & accessories.

Just seen that others have also suggested blue! Had not read thread... The tiles upthread are a great colour :)

Here's my little shelves - cluttered but still a bit structured, maybe like me! Our kitchen is cream but the worktops are a sort of colourful cream/brown granite so there's enough interest.

Definitely pick an accent colour of 2 & go with it. The greenery of the plants will look good - living things lift any space imo. Also if you use a little mayonnaise occasionally to polish the cheese plant leaves, it makes them really glossy!

Hi @MaraScottie
Totally agree with @BaronessBomburst about the geometric print, but I would also get a geometric print blind. We got a Geometric blind for the kitchen which is also waterproof (handy for the kitchen) decent quality, quite cheap, easily installed from www.unbeatableblinds.co.uk. Defo worth a look

I agree with Baroness, the wall with shelves is busy enough... I would paint the window wall.

I think it's gorgeous and now have kitchen envy. And nothing useful to add!

I too love teal, and was going to paint a small part of my kitchen wall teal, but haven't yet.
but agree with a pp that rather than tile yet, you should just bring in a few more bits of definite colour: not in permanent fixtures, but 2 rugs, more pictures/bits and bobs. Teal or another colour.