The Sultry Influence of a Kitchen Reno

I'm late getting to this post. By now I am sure all my bloggy friends know that Kim of Desire to Inspire is renovating her kitchen. It's very exciting because the cabinets were provided to her free by Greentea Design if she agreed to blog about it. Sweet. Congratulations, Kim. It's great fun watching the renovation, Kim set up a blog where she gives all the details (link). Way more fun than any reality show. What's more, it's interactive. She asks for, and gets advice from her readers. And she is downright hilarious when she describes six pissed off cats being confined to a bedroom. Check it out.

Here at Creative Influences we try to show how creativity influences creativity. Now this kitchen reno has me rethinking color, in a way that I never thought possible. My readers know that I adore all white interiors, and especially love white floors. I have been wanting to paint mine forever, but I am in a rental. Kim and I have this love of white floors in common. See the floors in her office here. I was incredibly envious when she painted these floors!

So imagine my surprise, when trying to catch up on my favorite blogs, I discovered Kim was now considering painting her floors gray!

Image from Kim's flickr set. I can be so opinionated when it comes to design and decor, so I left Kim long comments. She's such a good sport!

And wouldn't you know it, I think I'm a convert! Kim pointed me to Abigail Ahren's home on Design Sponge. And omigosh, I am smitten! What a beautiful home.

Dig that lamp! I have been looking everywhere for a tall shade, and cannot find one.

I am so loving this home. All of a sudden, I'm thinking in a different way. I've always decorated with predominately white, and used light colors. What if home became more cave like? That could be very restful and romantic. After all, I love the gray skies of Cleveland.

I've written about gray before. And I've written a number of times about silver, which is a close relative to gray.

One of my favorite rooms has a pale gray floor. See previous posts here and here.

There is an earthy romance to gray. And perhaps makes perfect sense with the mural Kim has in in her living room.

Her walls are a heavenly shade of gray. But the cow hide rug must go. My readers (and Kim) already know how I feel about animal rugs. Now I'm only saying that because Kim is such a good sport and she knows that I love her.

More in my next post about colors I am thinking of due to Kim's inspiration.