Matthew Mead’s Blog

Okay, you had some questions and here are my answers.  And some more pictures.

My space is not giant and it also changes frequently because of the work that I do.  The original genesis for the kitchen design was the Country Home story.  We took months to plan the kitchen and then only several days to actually  complete all the construction.  It was great in that it was a raw space without anyone trying to live amongst the kayos and I had wonderful friends who did almost all of the work in shifts. 

The counter tops are tile in a cool white with a southern pine boarder around the edges.  I have since painted the edges to be seamless in the look.  The concept behind my kitchen was called “Off the Rack” so as you can guess most of the items were easy to find and attainable through places like Home Depot.  The sink is recycled from a lab space so it has an amazing 6 foot stainless work space that is great for arranging flowers.  The lighting is from a now defunct store called HQ which happened to be closing during the renovation so I bought 8 hanging lights for $8.00 each and sprayed the piping with a hammered metal finish paint.  The rest of the lights are old schoolhouse lights which were already in the building and of course, we restored all the windows so the space has lots of lovely natural light.

A few years ago in one of the kitchen’s dining spaces I did another Country Home story on how to decorate a breakfast nook.  I drew my color inspiration from a very early English pitcher finished in brown and blue (we did the makeover at a time when brown and blue were just becoming popular) so it was nice to amplify the fact that this color combination had been popular hundreds of years earlier. 

I found this piece at a local flea market.  Its about 7 inches tall and is great for watering plans or  serving half and half at breakfast.  I love the color blue, the simplicity of the design and the subtle beaded edge.  It has a real Wedgwood sensibility about it, but it is unmarked and I believe from a smaller pottery.  I actually took the pitcher with me to the paint store and once I had the chips I was able to do my prop shopping.  

I am always cutting corners and trying to do things on the cheap so I did a fair share of bargain shopping.  The breakfast benches are made from unfinished furniture cubes that I have turned on the horizontal  We added doors and feet and they were the perfect width for the square tufted pillows I found at Home Goods.  The benches were painted to match the lower portion of the wall.

Here is the finished space…

The rich chocolate brown walls were so deep and dramatic and were great relief for modern ironstone pieces and some vintage finds in that same shade of blue.  Again, you see my trademark open shelving which keeps the walls interesting but gives me lots of options to keep changing out my collections.

The graphic pillows were also a find at Home Goods.  They are a sweater knit fabric with a reverse pattern on the other side.  I like to think of this look as a modern country decor with updated Scandinavian flair.  The doored benches provide lots of extra storage and the breakfast table would have sat right in the middle of this shot (we moved it so that we could get the best shot of the cupboard doors).  The inspiration pitcher sits front and center on the shelf and at the upper right corner you can see a very modern light fixture from IKEA.  I did love this space and enjoyed creating it.  It was done as a makeover story so once the AFTER SHOT was completed, we had to take it apart and shoot the before (which as you can imagine was much less attractive. 

Tips for today:  Use flat latex paints for the richness and depth that can’t be matched in a reflective egg shell or semi-gloss.  Look for inspiration and color ways in antique objects.  Match your colors to new things from today, which allow you to add comfort, style and casual ease. 

Can you believe that this is the same space as my all white kitchen?  What questions do you have about working with colors in your house?

 Unfortunately, like many sets, this one was broken down after the shoot.