Have you ever noticed that cooking in a kitchen is more enjoyable when you can find items quickly and efficiently? Enjoying your kitchen can be easy in a large kitchen, but can often be a challenge in a smaller kitchen. Whether you are trying to find more space to prepare and cook food, or you don’t have enough storage, there are special challenges for small kitchen owners. Here are some ways to enjoy your small kitchen as if it were as grand as your dreams. Maximizing space is easier than you think!

• Declutter and purge: Before you get obsessed about how much space you don’t have, first determine how much usable space you do have. Go through each cabinet, drawer, shelf, and pantry area and pull out old items, throw away broken small appliances, and reduce your storage area to only used and needed items. Purging will help you start fresh in your organization and will help you maximize your kitchen space efficiently.

Photo credit: Kitchen Ideas For

• Assess your contents and invest in storage organizers: Small kitchens don’t always have the luxury of having a lot of real estate for organization. Therefore assess what utensils, dishware, glasses, dried and canned food goods and pantry items you have. Consider investing in stackable storage that will store items in a vertical fashion to save space. If possible, ask a kitchen organizer to assess your needs and custom build cabinetry organization tools inside your existing cabinets. From recycle and garbage bin pullouts, to hanging potholders and pegboards for your pantry wall. Take advantage of vertical wall space whenever possible.

Photo credit: Bloglines

Small kitchen living can be just as rewarding as large kitchens; in fact it may leave less to clean up after preparing your meal! Organization stores have sections dedicated to small kitchens. You will find plenty of ideas for decorating, maximizing undercounter space, and even magnetized knife displays to free up space on your countertop. Use these helpful tips to bring more functionality and enjoyment back to your small kitchen.

Photo credit top: New Kitchen Design

Gone are the Donna Reed-era days of happy housewives slaving over hot stoves all day in aprons and heels. After several decades of fast food overdrive, however, the movement to re-introduce healthy, home-cooked meals into our lives is in full swing, with local organic grocery delivery services popping up across the U.S. and popular cooking shows and blogs sweeping the nation by storm. Giving a nod to the bygone kitchens of yesteryear, we’ve rounded up some design inspirations for creating a retro-modern kitchen with all the technological advances to which we’ve grown accustomed, but still presented with the charm of the 1950s and early 60s.

British kitchen appliance maker Big Chill presents a candy-colored collection of retro 1950s-inspired stoves, available in eight different hues:

Smeg takes a similar approach to its homage to the TV dinner era with its line of vintage refrigerators:

Well before everyone was walking around with customized ventis from Starbucks, home-brewed coffee and espresso beverages were the norm; Ascaso harkens back to the sunny yellow kitchens of yesterday with its Dream Espresso line, available in a rainbow of retro colors, including this ray of sunshine in particular:

Of course, a retro kitchen couldn’t call itself such a thing without classic KitchenAid appliances to help whip up Betty Crocker recipes with Crisco shortening — two staples of the day — or even updated, heart-friendly, gluten-free recipes from more contemporary sources. Whatever’s on the menu, these irresistible mixers from KitchenAid’s Artisan collection are practically edible themselves:

Although much has changed since the days of Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best, two things remain the same: a kitchen with kitsch is always adorable, and there’s nothing quite like a good home-cooked meal.

Photo credits: Appliancist, Retro Renovation, Smeg, Ascaso, Baby Loving Mama.

Ask any environmentally-aware architect or designer and they’ll all tell you the same thing: bamboo is the darling of the moment. The highly sustainable material is easily grown and swiftly replenished in multiple climates, and its golden combination of strength and flexibility make it the material of choice for furniture designers. Though its debut as the primary material used for full-fledged, ground-up structures is still in its beginning stages, one Vietnamese architect is plunging ahead of the pack with his work in his country of origin.

Vo Trong Nghia studied architecture in Japan but returned home after graduation to contribute to Vietnam’s changing landscape. As a great number of French villas have been leveled to the ground in recent years and new shapes begin to form on the horizon, Nghia has made it his mission to ensure that environmental consciousness plays a key role in the shift. His material of choice is bamboo, from which many of the tools of daily life were made when he was growing up. His decision to use so much of it in his buildings today, and the bamboo factory he erected to manage his own production demands, have placed him at the forefront of the movement.

The Water & Wind Cafe in the Binh Duong province of Vietnam is a prime example of Nghia’s work. It’s one of his many projects ranging from museums and schools to cafes and wedding venues, all of which are built with sustainable materials — primarily bamboo, of course. Its domed roof lends a heavenly sense of grandeur to a simultaneously earthy space — a space completed without the use of one single nail.

Photo Credits: Vo Trong Nghia 

When you envision basking by the ocean on a lounge chair, or enjoying the sea breeze whistle through your open windows at your resort hotel, the St. Tropez lifestyle embodies this feeling. Designer Christophe Pillet has created a line of recycled aluminum chairs, bar stools, and swivel chairs that were inspired by and made for Hotel Sezz in St. Tropez. Aluminum chair manufacturer Emeco, in Pennsylvania, paired with Pillet to produce a chair that isn’t exactly what you would expect at a luxury tropical resort.

Pillet said, “All hotels in the area are the same – fashion hotels. I wanted the opposite. The precious thing for me is the quality of the sun in southern France. I wanted the hotel to feel like the smell of the skin when you are on the beach.”… Mocoloco

The Sezz chair is very simplistic in design with no visible welding connections, which makes the Sezz chair line comfortable and durable. “The look is very subtle, but holds an unbelievable quality; you don’t see the welding, the recycled aluminum, the indestructibleness, they are all real but invisible values, the hidden territory of a luxury product”…Mocoloco

The unique aesthetic about these chairs is the timeless appeal that they have. Unlike chairs found in many trendy hotels in resort areas, these chairs will look great years from now. Pillet designed the chairs for this exact reason. He commented, “The chair is not made to look a certain way, but to make you instantly want to climb up in it and have a nap. The idea is to be timeless and create desires, using the objects in its purest form. When you collect, you choose items you would like to keep for a long time and not throw away, even when these items are not in fashion, you still love them”…Mocoloco

What a great inspiration for all designers to live by; to design for comfort, functionality, and timeless appeal. The Sezz chairs are a furniture inspiration for us all to learn by and enjoy in our own homes.

All photo credits: Emeco via Mocoloco

When you think of Italian porcelain stoneware, neutral colors and traditional tile is the first images that come to mind. Mirage Italian tile has created OXY, a line of industrial inspired stoneware tile products that conjures up images of urban penthouses, and trendy retail/restaurant spaces. The scratched and oxidized surface gives each piece a unique metropolitan feel and each piece has a purposeful random chaos that can be used as flooring or wall panels.

The OXY painted sheet metal tiles are ideal for homes that want a unique urban feel, and can be used for accent walls, or to cover an entire room. The durability of these tiles makes the uses limitless in your home. The corrosive surface would work handsomely in a bachelor pad, as well as a contemporary home that loves cutting-edge finishes that you won’t find everywhere.

“Just as at home in Tokyo as in London, Paris or New York, OXY is a metropolitan experience perfect for luxury loft apartments and exclusive stores, trendy public areas or ventilated facades on contemporary buildings.” … Architizer

If you are looking for a finish that redefines character, strength and sophisticated attitude, OXY by Mirage is waiting for you. Turn your mediocre interiors into a fierce and well-appointed industrial space.

All photo credits: Mirage

Today’s web-based wanderings turned up a bevy of fascinating links, giving us peeks into creative types’ homes and inspiring a few imaginative ideas of our own. For starters, Design*Sponge gives us a photographic tour of the geeky-chic home (see above) of Amanda Wright, the founder of papercraft company Wit & Whistle…we love all the cute tongue-in-cheek humor she’s peppered throughout her space.

Alltop lets us in on the interactive optical illusion currently on display at Le 104 in Paris that uses mirrors and building facades to illustrate what it’s like to hang from the second or third story of a tall building. The installation is called Bâtiment Building and was created by Leandro Erlich. Those with a fear of heights might want to skip it:

Speaking of lofty pursuits, Curbed reports that director (and newlywed to Phoenix lead singer Thomas Mars) Sofia Coppola has purchased a new townhouse and put her airy Manhattan loft on the market for 2.75M…

Coming back down to earth for a moment, Design*Milk shares a review of the REK coffee table just released by designer Reinier de Jong; the table’s adjustable stair-step construction makes it adaptable to several different arrangements. We’ll take a closer look at it later this week…

In the meantime, The Nest (brought to us from The Knot) whirls us through no fewer than 30 modern dining rooms, offering a rather delicious buffet of design inspiration…

…and CasaSugar calls our attention to the sketch just released of Waldo Fernandez’s design for the 2012 Academy Awards greenroom. His sketch was inspired by director George Cukor’s living room — Cukor was the legendary host of many Old Hollywood parties in the 1930s and 40s, a vibe Fernandez hopes to recapture backstage at this year’s Oscars. Architectural Digest has decorated the greenroom for the past ten years and chose Fernandez from its own AD100 list of architectural and design luminaries to take the lead for this year’s project. Cheers to that!

Photo credits: Design*Sponge, Alltop, Curbed 

Does it seem like every time you see luxury ski houses they have the traditional accents of dark colors, western-inspired decor, and taxidermy finds pinned to the walls? Ski houses aren’t always the stereotypical version of log cabins; in fact, the trend for architects and designers to instill modern twists and creative accents into today’s ski-houses is growing in popularity. Take a look at a few of these gorgeous homes that leave all signs of rustic wilderness behind, and say hello to open and welcoming sophistication in a ski house.

• Modern materials make the difference: In Aspen, Colorado, the architecture firm Atelier AM renovated a ski-house to reflect the modern times with spruce wood to lighten up the interiors. The use of blackened steel around the fireplace, modern wall art accents, and wide open windows to display the gorgeous snow filled vistas sets this home apart from the traditional. Architectural Digest profiled this one of a kind home, proving luxury and winter can meld beautifully.

Photo credit: Pieter Estersohn/Architectural Digest

• Unconventional outdoor elements make a presence: In most ski homes, the interiors are reserved for showcasing furnishings, wood finishes and rustic decor. In the Log Jam House by Architect Antoine Predock, the exterior takes a striking presence on the interior of the home. In this Colorado home, logs spearing through the walls, curvilinear forms and an unusual use of window placement makes it far from the norm. The natural finishes of the interiors, and minimalistic qualities create a modern play on a log cabin.

Photo credit: Antoine Predock Architect

Whether you are looking for inspiring ski lodge amenities in your home, or you prefer your ski-house to resemble an urban loft in New York City, these homes will help you rethink your idea of log cabins in the mountains. These architects and designers have broken through the status quo when it comes to ski home living and embraced the modern version of a rustic lifestyle.

Photo credit top: Pieter Estersohn/Elle Decor

For many homeowners, the reality of a sprawling office space with wall-to-wall bookshelves and organization space is not always possible. In fact, more homeowners are finding designing an office space in their bedroom is more practical than one would think. For saving space, ease of using, and practicality, the bedroom home office is a wonderful option for many. Here are a few tips to consider when designing your inspiring office space.

• How do you use your office? The average adult uses a laptop or desktop computer everyday, and therefore home offices are more essential than ever before. Some homes have small children, teenagers, or even roommates and spouses that must share the same office space. Determine what your needs are in your home, and the lifestyle for which your bedroom home office will be used. Decide how much space you will need. A spare closet can be converted into an office and even a small desk at a picturesque window can make the perfect office space. Measure out your space before buying furniture, and practice sitting in the space to feel how it will work around the surrounding furniture and bed.

Photo credit: Home Sick Designs

• Bring in inspiring details:  What makes a space unique is attention to the details that make you feel comfortable. In a home office, comfort and functionality should go hand in hand. Try incorporating colors from your bedroom into your home office decor. While the colors don’t have to be the same, choosing a color palette of complimenting colors, patterns and textures will create a space you love to work in. Don’t forget the most important detail – lighting. Ensure that lighting is sufficient for tasks at your desk, as well as ambient for the rest of your bedroom. Take advantage of views and natural light whenever possible, and install dimmers or multi-level light bulbs in lamps.

Photo credit: Woovaa

Your bedroom home office is only steps away from being inspiring and welcoming. Determine what activities you need to do in your home office. If you need a lot of computer equipment, ensure you have enough space and outlets for convenience. If you only use a laptop, you can use more decorative items and probably a smaller desk to compliment your bedroom. The options are unlimited to making your bedroom home office the most welcoming space in your home.

Photo credit top: Bejoku

A few days ago, we shared some links to interesting ways in which designers are bringing the outdoors inside with herbal architecture and indoor greenery in general. Since the benefits of interior foliage are plentiful, we’re delving a little deeper and sharing some more points of inspiration from places that are applying forward-thinking methods to the practice.

In that post, we shared a photo of Artaqua’s self-watering “green wall,” and today’s first image is of a “moving hedge” by a company called Greenworks, whose products (as shown above) require a bit more maintenance than Artaqua’s wall, but not by much; the hedge column only requires watering once every five weeks.

The benefits of abundant indoor greenery are multiple: chief among them are consistent air purification, a visually calming effect, and muted acoustic resonance. Within the nursing home industry, for instance, there’s even a movement called Pioneer Practices which involves infusing long-term care homes with pets and plants based on the fact that the constant presence of plant and animal life boosts residents’ overall mood, health and quality of care.

And the principle doesn’t just apply to commercial spaces and group homes, either; it’s applicable in any given suburban home or city loft. For the craftiest among us, Instructables.com offers tutorials on creating gorgeous green displays for an interior space, going beyond mere potted plants and vases of flowers but stopping short of full-on plantscaping, keeping it chic yet accessible for those of us under a time or budget crunch:

No southern exposure? No problem. Studio Shulab has developed an inventive lamp prototype incorporating plants and LED technology to aid in raising a miniature herb garden even in the darkest and most enclosed of spaces.

Even a few well-placed perennial plants can add life and color to a home, and the proliferation of design ideas from designers and do-it-yourself enthusiasts alike is staggering. “Going green” can start with one small step and easily turn into a giant leap after a few much-needed breaths of fresh air.

Photo credits: Greenworks, Linnea Beck, Instructables and Studio Shulab.

After 100 years, the Danish furniture designer, Finn Juhl’s iconic furniture, especially his chairs, is being commemorated for his contributions to the design world. The designer’s work is being celebrated in Japan, Europe, and at the Trusteeship Council Chamber in the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, New York.  Juhl’s furniture helped change design history from the 1940’s-1960’s. Take a look at how the restoration of the UN Headquarters will be an appreciatory nod to the late designer’s original chairs.

‘Juhl designed the Council Chamber as a comprehensive whole in the 1950s; everything from the colorful ceilings to the wall panels and furniture. During 2012, the Chamber will undergo a full restoration and refurbishment to be completed in January 2013. ‘… Danish Agency for Culture

The restoration of the Trusteeship Council Chamber in UN Headquarters has been considered to be a prominent and important project to be commissioned to Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard to provide new furniture for the chamber. Taking hints from the original chairs by Finn Juhl and bringing modern Danish influence has helped the designers carry on the legacy of the legendary designer. In this video, see how Salto & Sigsgaard bring this restoration into modern day fruition.

‘The task for the designers is to design a secretariat chair, a secretariat table, and a so-called delegate table that will be both innovative and a natural part of Finn Juhl’s original design. Finn Juhl created the chamber as a Gesamtkunstwerk, but the chamber has become the worse for wear after many years of use, and there is a need to perk up the interior with new furniture.’… Danish Agency for Culture

Over the course of the year, many commemorative events will be held celebrating the restoration, as well as Fin Juhl’s centennial of his influential design life.

photo credit: Danish Agency for Culture, Denmark.dk

Scrabble pillows from Counter Couture Design

It’s one of the simplest yet greatest board games in existence, and it’s been bringing people together and expanding their vocabularies for generations. Scrabble has become such an integral part of the fabric of people’s friendships and relationships that it’s made its way into wedding themes, papercraft and now home decor, too. Several Etsy shops have transformed throw pillows into giant Scrabble pieces simply by emblazoning burlap or potato sack pillow covers with variations on the trademark black letters and scores, like these:

Scrabble pillows from Dirtsa Studio

Taking the trend in a slightly more literal arts-and-crafts direction is Made by Marcy, where real Scrabble tiles are glued together and re-purposed into thoughtful arrangements of words to form drink coasters for hot and cold beverages. Purists might notice that the coasters break a cardinal rule of the game — the words don’t translate vertically — but hey.  These miniature works of word art are are so cute, it’s pretty forgivable.

Scrabble coasters from Made By Marcy

And it doesn’t stop there. If a set of coasters isn’t quite enough to help declare your love of the game, The Spoon Sisters offer Scrabble mugs with the signature tile face typography on the front, a score legend on the back, and a “Triple Word Score” icon in the bottom of the mug’s interior. Nothing wrong with adding a little whimsy to your morning cup of joe:

Scrabble mugs from The Spoon Sisters

Since the family-friendly game also offers natural opportunities for kids to identify letters and learn new words (including their own names when they’re young), Nese’s Decor decided to start creating customized wall art with names and phrases of the buyer’s choosing; here’s a perfect example of how the timeless board game can thread itself into a personalized nursery decoration:

Scrabble wall tiles from Nese's Decor

One last note: if these images inspire you to create a decorative homage to everyone’s favorite word game, in the midst of your frenzy, don’t forget to invest in an actual Scrabble board. Now, there’s your winning combination.

Photo credits: Counter Couture Design, Dirtsa Studio, Made By Marcy, The Spoon Sisters and Nese’s Decor.

Since Punxsutawney Phil insisted this week that we’ve got six more weeks to plow through before spring temperatures appear, the natural thing to do is curl up for a long winter’s nap. So, we took a little sleepwalking adventure around the web today to round up some things worth dreaming about.

FresHome did a little write-up this week about the “New AIR” bed by Danielle Lago (pictured above), which includes a pastel storage component for books and small items and somewhat startlingly appears to float.

Swiss Miss uncovered some great custom pillows by Lori Blum, which can be personalized to include a family name, street address and city in a variety of colors:

Desire to Inspire let us inside a brilliant and breathtaking home with a waterfront view of the Sydney Harbour and, of course, the world-famous opera house — simply stunning:

Here’s a bittersweet story from Maryland: per the Gaithersburg Patch daily newspaper, the owners of the Gaithersburg Inn have put their B&B up for sale; they’re leaving the inn behind so they can focus more of their time advocating for traumatic brain injury (TBI) research funding in honor of their son, who suffered a TBI several years ago. The 70-something couple poured more than $350,000 into renovations for the 1892 inn before putting it on the market…

…and on a lighter note, we’ve saved the oddest of the bunch for last: the yahoos over at IKEA Hacker did what they do best this week and hacked an IKEA bed into the back of a station wagon. True story.

Happy weekending!

Photo credits: FresHome, Swiss Miss and Desire to Inspire.

When you are cooking, do you prefer to be alone or to share in the experience with family and friends? If you love to entertain while in the kitchen or just enjoy being able to view adjacent living spaces, designing an entertaining kitchen is for you. The kitchen used to be a closed off room set aside from the other living spaces. Today, entertaining kitchens are perfect for busy families, enjoying the cooking experience with friends, and a more integral connection as the heart of the home. Here are tips to design your ideal entertaining kitchen.

• Your lifestyle and your kitchen: Everyone has a different lifestyle when it comes to everyday cooking and entertaining activities. Whether you enjoy having your large family come over on Sundays and everyone helps out in the kitchen, or you prefer to help your kids with homework at the kitchen bar, determine your lifestyle. Designing your kitchen with areas for people to sit in close proximity to the cook is ideal. In addition to seating, ensure pendant lighting, undercounter task lighting, and overall ambient lighting is placed around your kitchen for optimal safety and entertaining atmosphere.

Photo credit: Houzz

• Cooking with guests in mind: While ultimately you are cooking for yourself, having your guests involved in the experience is all the more enjoyable. When designing your kitchen, look for variable counter heights for kids and adults, to accommodate different activities and guests. Variable bar stool heights can accomplish the same effect. Ensure there is ample room for guests to eat, socialize and mingle if you have a party or gathering occurring while the kitchen is in use. The options are limitless!

Photo credit: Houzz

An entertaining kitchen is one of the most sought after amenities in today’s modern home. Even if you aren’t an entertainer by lifestyle, the ability to feel like you could is priceless. From seating and lighting to assessing your personal lifestyle, designing your ideal kitchen for engaging with friends can be a treat in itself. For those of you who don’t get much use from your kitchen, you will be surprised how many friends and family members will love to use your kitchen instead – once you use these helpful designer tips!

Photo credit top: Chic Coastal Living