Five steps add interest and pizazz to a kitchen hutch
Here's the problem with talking to creative people with good taste and good ideas: Once you know what's possible, you can't unknow. It can drive you nuts.
Which brings us to my kitchen hutch, a plain, pine, country French workhorse with open shelves and cabinet space below. We'd been living together without complaint for 15 years, since I bought her for a steal at a going-out-ofbusiness sale.
That is, until a few months ago when, while interviewing Dallas interior designer John Phifer Marrs about his new book, “Interiors for Collectors” (Gibbs Smith), he mentioned that open shelving units or cabinets you can see into look far nicer and showcase their contents much better when they are well lit and have colorfully painted interiors. The book's many photos amplified the message.
To my newly educated eyes, my humble hutch was no longer OK as she was. However, when I considered how to light and paint the shelves, I froze. If I put a light on the top ceiling of the upper section, lower sections would still be dark. Lights in every bay seemed excessive, and switching out wood shelves for glass ones would not fit the hutch's rustic style. Then what about the cords? And what color would I paint the background?
As with so many good creative ideas that die on the road between Vision Street and Execution Avenue, my inspiration almost ended there.
Until last week. An electrician was at the house working outside. I showed him the hutch, and asked what it would take to light
the shelves top to bottom.
“Oh, easy,” he said. (Watch the word “just.”) “You just run LED strip lights vertically down the inside of the front door frames. Then you just drill small holes in the shelves to pass the light strip through. Then you just put a transformer on the top of the cabinet and run a cord down the back.”
“You lost me at transformer,” I said.
“You could do this or just get a handyman.” “How about you?”
“I really don't do furniture,” he said. I waited. “But …” he conceded at last, “I could.”
Two hours later, the shelves were delightfully aglow.
Next came the challenge of choosing a paint color. I narrowed the choice to three: shades of blue, green and orange, all colors found in the nearby drapes and throughout the house. I asked anyone who would listen for their opinion. I got a three-way tie.
So I texted Marrs, who was happy to hear he'd inspired me. I sent him photos. Within seconds he replied: “I vote orange. It is in the fabric, and would look great with the dishes. It will be pretty with the yellow walls and the crisp white trim. What a happy room!”
“And about to get even happier!” I texted back. Then I gathered my paint supplies and painted the
hutch's back wall Sherwin Williams Quite Coral. I replaced the dishes and glassware, pulling out stray pieces that weren't part of a cohesive set and staging the shelves with more intention. I sent Marrs photos.
“Looks fabulous! That cabinet was starved for color!'
Lights. Color. Control. Boom! Once you see it, you can't go back.
If you have shelves in your home or a hutch in need of pizazz, here are five steps to take a basic backdrop from ordinary to extraordinary.
• Define it. Visible displays should feature edited, curated content, said Marrs.
• Light it. “Proper lighting makes everything look more dramatic,” Marrs said.
• Paint it. Dropping a dramatic color on the wall behind a collection is a simple way to make a huge impact, Marrs said.
• Control it. When purchasing LED lights, make sure they're dimmable. If you can control the light, you can control the mood. Install a dimmer as well as a timer to control when the lights go on and off.
• Stage it. Be intentional about what you place and where when you display contents on the shelves. I edited out fringe glassware, hung (rather than propped) decor plates and grouped like items. If you can see it, make it pretty.