LaTonya Yvette’s kitchen photo by Nina Barry
Do you hang art in your kitchen? I’ve always seen the room as utilitarian – I go in, cook, I’m out of there! – But lately I’ve been craving a homely experience. Taping a family snapshot above the sink or placing a watercolor next to the toaster seems like an easy way to freshen up that space, don’t you think? Here are eight ways to display art in the kitchen…
Sticking paintings on doors – and adding artwork or tile on top – makes the home feel alive and multi-layered. “When you have a lot of pictures, you have to start hanging them wherever possible,” says Wendy Coggins in Minneapolis. (Also, how fun is that champagne cork collection?)
The themed gallery wall is a fun ongoing project. “As soon as I hung my first pear, it felt like a magnet,” says author Katherine Newman. “Now people send me photos, postcards and drawings of pears. The collection was this organic thing.”
Kitchen cabinets look beautiful when you turn cookbooks to display their covers. Author Adam Roberts laughs, “Our biggest fights in our marriage were over buying cookbooks when our shelves were already full.” “But if I buy a lot of cookbooks, he buys a lot of records, so we’re kind of tit for tat.”
If your kitchen doesn’t have windows, bring nature inside with landscape paintings, like designer Holly Waterfield does in her 575-square-foot Brooklyn family apartment.
You can also put up children’s artwork. “My children started drawing self-portraits in kindergarten,” says Holly. “It’s amazing how the pictures show how her features changed through the years. When Amy was in middle school, I realized, ‘Oh, now her cheeks are higher.’ And when Bodhi was a baby he suffered from enamel hypoplasia, which caused his first two baby teeth to turn yellow and brown. So, in her kindergarten self-portrait, she painted these yellow, bumpy teeth! He was not at all shy about them.
Somsak Sikhounmuong, creative director of Alex Mill, hangs a sweet hugo guinness linocut.
And our friend Erica Weurink in Brooklyn displays a nice photo of her grandfather: “He used to race cars, and when I saw this photo hanging in his garage, I asked him to give it to me so I could make prints for my sister and myself.” Now I’m inspired to look at old family photos.
Where do you like to display art in your home?
PS Several more domestic tours, such as A Book Lover’s Dream and A Song of Black Happiness; Plus, beautiful seaweed artwork.
(Minnesota Door photos by Wing Ho. By Pier Gallery Photo lindsay hannah. Adam Roberts’ Cookbook Cabinets Julia Robbs. Holi Photos and by Somsack Photo kate s jordan. Open Shelving Photo by Mallory Fletchall. Photos of the art above kitchen cabinets and stove, as well as Erica Weurink’s racecar photo christine han.)
