Ideas for Adding Unique Touches to Your Kitchen
Adding Your Own Personal Touch to Your Kitchen Remodeling
Often when remodeling your kitchen, or designing a new home, we face the same challenge; How do we add our own personal, creative touch, as well as make our kitchen functional? We look for those special things that make it unique to us. We look for inspiration online, from magazines, model homes, and from family and friends. We strive to find a way to stand out from others in creative ways, yet not break our bank account. There is still a way you can customize, and make your kitchen unique and unlike anyone else’s. Here are some ideas that will add your own special touch and help you create a unique atmosphere for your new or remodeled kitchen.
Add a Creative Flair to Your Backsplash
Creating your backsplash can be a fun way to show off your creativity. A backsplash behind your sink can be a great way to add your own artisan touch and protect your wall from water damage at the same time. The possibilities for being creative are endless. One of the newest trends is experimenting with stamped tin or other soft metals. When treated correctly, these won’t denigrate or wear out due to water or steam. You can choose your own type of metal and then customize the pattern that is stamped into it. Then to customize it even more… add a color of your choice and/or choose from many unique finishes that can create anything from a modern urban feel to a more traditional antiqued look. Have fun and get creatively inspired in a way that will add to the charm and individuality of your kitchen.
Another way to get creative in customizing your Backsplash is using tile! That might not sound that creative until you stop and consider the incredible amount of choices this offers. Working with tile can open a whole new world of creative license. There are as many different ways to creatively use tile in designing your kitchen as there are ideas in your own imagination! An endless variety of visually stunning patterns, textures and colors make it easy to design a kitchen that is all your own. Another way to add even more ways to be creative with tile are all the different sizes and shapes that you can organize in ways entirely unique to your kitchen! All you have to do is imagine and then create what is perfect for you!
Add a Creative Flair to Your Backsplash
Find or Create a “Statement Light Fixture”
Lighting is what creates the ambiance of any room, and your Light fixtures only add to that. Making a Light Fixture the focal point of your room makes a statement that can’t be ignored! A statement light fixture, like a chandelier or some kind of sculptural fixture, is another way to make your home unlike any other.
Pay attention to the atmosphere you wish to create, as well as making the look and feel of your kitchen consistent with the style and design of the rest of your home. That being said, there are many ways to find or create your own unique “statement light fixture” from searching stores, shopping online or using a designer and their resources. 
You can also experience your own treasure hunt at yard sales, flea markets, second hand stores, estate sales, antique stores and in the classified ads to discover eclectic one-of-a-kind fixtures that you can clean up, dress up or restructure. Often these inexpensive finds are the beginning of a new inspired design for your home space! Lighting can brighten or warm up any room. 
Where you place lighting, how you use it and the kind of shades or bulbs can transform a room. You can even create a personalized “statement light fixture” utilizing mass-produced fixtures purchased at a retail outlet by painting, staining or even deco-paging it! Get those creative juices flowing! Pinterest is a great place to look for ideas about transforming the mundane into the extraordinary!
Add Custom or Personalized Kitchen Furniture
While you are hunting for light fixtures you can also be on the lookout for furniture pieces that you can get creative with! Again, whether you discover something fun or interesting in a second hand store or a retail outlet at a price that allows you to get a little crazy… you can let your imagination go to work!
Tables come in all shapes and sizes, and also in all different kinds of materials; wood, glass, plastic or even metal. Only your imagination and budget will limit what you will find in the stores or on the internet and how creative you get with them!
Create One-Of-A-Kind Furniture
Ideas for putting a personal spin on things to create one-of-a-kind furniture can be found in many places…one of the easiest being online; just Google it! You can personalize furniture by not only painting or staining it a different color but to go one step further and paint a design on it. Search it online, go to a craft store or look at applicable magazines for ideas. For instance, if you have a patterned fabric on your kitchen chairs or stools, what about painting that same pattern/design on the legs and/or tops of other furniture, frames, decorations or light fixtures in the same room. Don’t consider yourself an artist? Find someone else to help. Ask people you know if they can recommend anyone, put up a flier in local craft or art stores, as art teachers at local universities, or again…do an online search. Another unique way to personalize your table is to saw out part of the table top and inlay ceramic tile or glass; you could even do something like inserting two pieces of glass with something personal pressed between! It could be family photos, travel pictures of exotic places, pressed wildflowers, or anything else you can imagine. The key is to make is personal! Make it something you LOVE!
Can’t find what you want? Have it custom built! You might be surprised at how affordable it can be to create something that is designed especially for you. Yes something like this could get very expensive… or not! If there is a lot of custom artisan work then yes it can become expensive, but if it is a simple design that uses some of the elements we mention throughout this article to add custom touches, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Create a simple sketch of what you want to have built and get some bids. Better yet, invite a professional to come to your home so they can get a feel for your style and décor to better help you design the perfect custom piece, whether it’s a table, a cabinet or a mantle for a fireplace, it can be done for an affordable price if you go to the right places… and a good designer will take your idea and help you come up with the perfect piece of furniture to compliment your home. Depending on your budget you could go to a furniture maker, an interior designer, a carpenter or someone like Classy Closets.
Create Artisan Cabinets
Kitchen cabinets are easy to Customize! Adding a personal flair to your kitchen cabinets is as simple as making a decision! You can do it yourself if you are crafty, or you can hire someone to make your artistic inspiration into a reality.
Start with the Wood. Are you going to sand down and change your old cabinets or start from scratch? You can save a lot of money and create something that looks like an entirely new kitchen by just refinishing the cabinet “boxes” and changing your cabinet “facings” (doors and drawer fronts). That way you have the option of changing not just the color and finish, but the cabinet style as well.
Now that you have picked the type of wood you wish to use, next comes the Finish. Your cabinets can be painted any color of the rainbow, stained, antiqued, carved, etched, or even weathered to appear more rustic. You can also add stained or frosted glass and choose from a range of textures that can change the personality of your entire room making it unique to you and your family.
Before Resurfacing Cabinets
After Resurfacing Cabinets
Hardware For Your Cabinets
Last, is choosing new Hardware that can also add to the unique personality of your kitchen. Adding hinges and knobs are the final personal touches to your master piece. The Hardware you choose for your cabinets can transform them into charming & homey, comfortably traditional, formal and elegant, rustic & artisan, or sleek urban modern. If you search hard enough you can find one-of-a-kind artisan knobs made by artists, sculptors and craft enthusiasts; even the big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes have some specialty items, and Restoration Hardware is full of options and ideas. Feeling crafty? Buy simple knobs and paint your own design on them to match your other kitchen décor in a truly unique way.
Turning Nooks & Crannies Into Fun & Efficient Spaces
Do you have a bare wall begging for something more useful and interesting? Do you have an odd little nook or cranny that you don’t know what to do with and feels like a waste of space? Then get creative! What kind of shelving can you add that will be a more efficient use of space while also adding another custom touch? Add color with bright melamine shelves or install wood shelves and add color and storage space with bright colored baskets, bins and containers! The possibilities are endless! No spare wall space or nooks & crannies? How about one high shelf that doesn’t get in the way, but adds additional storage space or Space to add more character and style to your room. Do it yourself or hire a professional.
How to Get Started on Your Custom Kitchen
It can be fun and easy to create your own unique personal touches to your kitchen without paying a fortune for someone else to do it for you. Do-it-yourself or DIY is very popular and can be very rewarding. You can also do some things yourself and hire someone to help with others. So do a Google Search, look through magazines, get on Pinterest and come up with ideas you love. Then decide which ideas you want to implement, and who’s going to do what, make your list, and get started!
Have fun searching for ideas and getting creative. Have fun shopping and going on your own personal treasure hunt, and have fun finding the right people to help you bring your vision to reality! It is often said that “The Kitchen is the Heart of your Home,” so make sure it’s a space that you truly want to spend time in.
We Can Help…
Classy Closets would love to help you in any way we can! We have a team of talented professional designers just waiting to be part of your adventure! If you choose to work with a partner to create any part of your dream kitchen, just give us a call and we will schedule you an appointment with one of our Designers for FREE! Now go get ‘em!
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