Fake the look
By Christa TerryEven though I bought a house and am going nowhere fast, I still like to browse the home listings. My enjoyment is increased markedly when a house is staged well or I’m enamored with the decor. In the case of this single-family dwelling on the market for a cool $949,000, I think I’m not so much enamored as I am hypnotized.

You, like me, may not have the dough necessary to remodel your kitchen with the goal of making it look like a converted Nascar pit, but you can take the same aesthetic and apply it in the space you already have. Okay, it will cost you a little cash, but not nearly as much as you’d spend hiring a contractor to come in and put up a new checkered backsplash.
Here are some ideas to get you started:

Sugar Rush black and white rectangular rug, $377

Cherry Sugar Cone bar stool, $142

Black/White Asters II by Patti Socci, $77

Retro red metal wall clock, $41
If you love a look that’s black, white, and red all over, share links to your favorite can’t-live-without-’em pieces!
(via Socketsite)
February 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Ohmigawd, that checkered kitchen would make me too queasy to eat, never mind too distracted to cook!!
February 20th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I’m with you there, Judy. I think I prefer the idea of a scaled down black and white look to the INYOURFACEBLACKANDWHITEDIDYOUMISSITITSBLACK!ANDWHITE! look.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Nnnng. NnnnnnnnnNNNNNg.
That kitchen is horrible.
And I think it just made me have a seizure.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:57 am
I think I saw that kitchen in a Tom Petty video, non?
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 am
A $400 black and white rug in the kitchen? The way we cook, it would look like a particularly organic Jackson Pollock before the week was over.
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
That kitchen…wow. No. It’s awful.
I do have a black-and-white motif in the living/dining room of my apartment, but it’s all in the decorative elements rather than the basics. I have hardwood floors and birch-colored bookshelves and tables, and the small, retro-ish sofa is covered in a beige, suede-like material. The rugs have a beige and black squares pattern. The chairs are black and white faux-leather and brushed metal, as are all the lamps, vases and photos, and the room is dominated by an enormous (50-inch square) black-and-white abstract painting that I found in a thrift store. I have a couple of pops of red–a picture frame, a vase, a houseplant pot, a throw blanket on the sofa. If I do say so myself, my living room is the comfortable way to do black and white–that kitchen is not.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
OMG, I saw this apartment trolling Trulia for apartments in my neighborhood! I was appalled that it advertised a newly remodeled kitchen. Talk about a bad investment!