Adding Artwork To The Kitchen – Week 6 Of The One Room Challenge

It’s week six of the One Room Challenge and this week I’m sharing with you how I added artwork to our kitchen. I also share my update on our DIY custom hood fan and the refresh I finished in our adjacent family room. You won’t believe the fireplace! In this post, Adding Artwork To The Kitchen, I share how to add artwork to a kitchen to create a decorated space that flows beautifully with the rest of your home.

*This post contains affiliate links. The artwork in this post was provided free of charge from Minted.com in exchange for social media posts. I wasn’t obligated to share on my blog, but I was so impressed with the quality, beauty, and ease of ordering this artwork that I knew I had to share with all of my readers.

In case you missed my first five posts of the One Room Challenge (ORC), you can find them here:

A Modern Kitchen Update – Week 1 of the One Room Challenge

My New Favourite White Paint – Week 2 of the One Room Challenge

Step-By-Step Lined Roman Shades – Week 3 of the One Room Challenge

Modernizing Our Farmhouse Kitchen – Week 4 of the One Room Challenge

Bar Stool Slipcover Tutorial – Week 5 of the One Room Challenge

Original Art Versus Prints Or Reproductions

We have a few pieces of original art in our home and they are treasured pieces. I think that every home needs original art and there are affordable options to suit every budget. Children’s artwork, student artwork, and art found at flea markets and vintage shops are a few examples of affordable art. However, original art is generally more expensive than prints and reproductions. Wherever possible, I purchase prints directly from the artist or from a company that supports and promotes artists to ensure that the artists are properly compensated for their work. In addition to being more affordable, art prints can often be ordered in different sizes, which means you’re more likely to find the perfect piece to suit any space.

The Artwork from Minted.com is fine art prints that you can have printed on canvas or paper. They work directly with artists to build their curated collection. Some of their prints are limited edition.

Adding Artwork To The Kitchen – Colour Considerations

If your kitchen is open to other rooms in your home like ours, then I recommend first painting the walls of all adjacent rooms the same colour to create a cohesive look. I painted all our walls Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee (75% strength) in week two of the One Room Challenge. After I completed the painting, I saw that our kitchen was quite neutral, with only shades of cream, white, black, and grey. A neutral colour scheme like this allows us to choose artwork in just about any colourway. I could choose to continue with neutrals- graphic black and white artwork or black and white photography. Or I could add colour, anything from soft, muted shades to bolder hues. I decided on soft muted shades of green, blue and grey.

Adding Artwork To The Kitchen – Style Considerations

I believe that the most important thing to consider when choosing artwork is how it makes you feel. Does it make you happy? Remind you of a treasured childhood experience? Express a feeling or mood that is in your soul? Give you hope for the future? Trust your instincts when it comes to art. Never choose artwork because it is on-trend as you will tire of it when the trend passes and you will never gain that personal connection with your art. Art can truly enrich our lives.

To help in making my selections from Minted.com, I made a shortlist of my favourite pieces without regard to whether they would look good in our kitchen or not. Then, I sat in our kitchen with images of the art to see how they would look. From there I was able to narrow my choices down to four pieces. I chose one for our kitchen breakfast area and one for our kitchen countertop. I decided on two pieces of art from the same artist, Stephanie Goos Johnson. It’s certainly not necessary to choose artwork from the same artist, but it’s good if there is some common thread between the individual pieces. For example, you could choose all black and white photography, or all earth tones with bold brushstrokes, or all landscapes with coastal views.

Even though the theme of my One Room Challenge makeover is a modern kitchen refresh, I didn’t feel compelled to choose “modern” art. Most rooms are a combination of different styles- our kitchen is farmhouse-traditional-modern. So any artwork that fits within those categories could work. The artwork I chose is traditional in style, but the lighter (more hopeful?) colours and framing give it a more modern look.

Adding Artwork To The Kitchen – Scale Considerations And Framing Options

I always want to leave room for my artwork to “breathe”. If you think about an art gallery, there is space around each piece of art to view and appreciate the artwork. In a home environment, we can add accessories around artwork to make the overall look more inviting, but it’s still a good idea to keep things somewhat open, especially when aiming for a more modern look.

On the Minted.com site, you can view the artwork in different sizes. It’s important to keep in mind that not all artwork will look appropriate scaled-up or scaled-down, so this is a great feature of the website. In the image below you can see how the artwork looks in different sizes. In my opinion, this particular piece, which I chose for our kitchen breakfast area, looks better in a larger size.

The Minted.com website also allows you to choose from many different framing options. I choose to frame our two pieces in the same style- canvas with an ash wood frame. Here is a screenshot from their website with framing options. This is the second piece I chose, to be displayed on our kitchen counter. The pricing on the site is very clear. They also often offer free shipping and international shipping is also available for a reasonable price.

Areas To Display Artwork

All kitchens are different in terms of orientation and wall space, but there are a few main areas to consider placing artwork. Artwork can be displayed on the counter or on any bare wall at eye level. I have even seen artwork displayed on the backsplash behind the oven. While I do like the look, I wouldn’t display original art near a stove as it could become damaged from heat, steam, and food. A print that is protected with a layer of glass could work in that setting. I chose a piece for our countertop and one for the only patch of bare wall in our kitchen which is beside our breakfast table.

Counter Display

I’ve always liked the look of artwork on the kitchen counter. It’s something pretty to look at while you prepare food and it creates a charming vignette when paired with simple kitchen goods like wooden spoons and fresh-baked bread. I thought this 11″ by 14″ framed canvas was a good size for the space between the counters and the cabinets. This piece is called Broken Clouds by Stephanie Good Johnson.

Breakfast Area Display

Here is a quick before photo of our breakfast area leading into our family room. The only wall space in our kitchen is the area behind the plant. Previously, we had script metal words on the wall, but I was looking for a change.

BEFORE:

Now the walls are cream and the look is more streamlined with this beautiful piece, Rosy Tomorrow II, by Stephanie Goos Johnson. I chose the 24″ by 30″ size for this piece.

AFTER:

I can’t describe just how much I love the framing on this beautiful canvas print.

A trio of mini vases with ferns fresh-picked from the garden completes the look.

Other Progress For One Room Challenge

I finally took a few steps forward with our DIY custom hood fan cover. The new hood fan insert is installed and I ordered and picked up the wood needed for this project. Let me tell you, it is very challenging to find wood during a Covid lockdown in our province that has lasted two months. I managed to find exactly what I needed from a local wood shop. I’m so glad I did the extra work to source this wood because the quality was far better than any big box store and the price was comparable. Next, I created a cardboard template for the main wood components of the hood fan cover. I will be starting on construction this weekend, or maybe even today! I hope to share the complete construction process in next week’s post.

This week, I also completed our family room refresh. This was something I really wanted to do because our family room is open to the kitchen and I wanted the entire space to have a cohesive look. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I painted the walls in both rooms the same cream colour. Having the same window coverings in both rooms also ties the spaces together. The coordinating artwork furthers unites the kitchen and family room. My big family room project this week was painting the fireplace. I decided on a dramatic shade of grey, Benjamin Moore Flint. It’s a deep grey with blue undertones which is exactly what I was hoping for. What do you think?

I hope you have enjoyed reading my post, Adding Artwork To The Kitchen. I would say that a little artwork goes a long way in a kitchen. Have you added artwork to your kitchen or do you think you might in the future?

To see week seven progress: A New Hood Fan And DIY Custom Cover – Week 7 of the One Room Challenge