If you’re a coffee lover, you know how large a role the taste, the aroma, and the anticipation play in your life. Your friends and family know it, too. Something coffee themed is the first gift they think of when your birthday rolls around. It’s not just in the morning either — you sip coffee whenever you can.
You’re not alone. Globally, people drink 500 billion cups of coffee annually. In the U.S., 400 million cups are consumed every day. Given the worldwide and national obsession with coffee, why stop with simply loving the beverage?
You have to decorate your kitchen anyway, so here are four ways to make your kitchen surroundings say “coffee.”
- Paint Your Kitchen a Coffee Color
Advice about painting kitchens often suggests a bright or sunny color. White and yellow walls are an enduringly popular color in kitchens and breakfast nooks — these hues say “good morning” and “wake up” in a chipper way.
But you, after all, wake up with coffee. If the color of fried eggs can cover a wall, why can’t the color of coffee?
Think of all the great permutations available to you:
- Espresso
- Café au lait
- Coffee bean
- Caramel mocha
Painting is a thrifty way of perking up a tired kitchen. You’re not investing in a major overhaul, but giving the area a boost. While painting the kitchen, mixing and matching coffee-themed colors, just like you do in your favorite cup o’ joe, is a fun DIY project! Think of a deep roast coffee bean color on the walls, with cream trim. Or enamel café au lait with a trim of espresso.
Do your large appliances — think stove or refrigerator — have many years of life left, but look a little tired? A great DIY project is to paint your appliances with coffee-hue colors. Think how pretty shining caramel mocha will look on your fridge.
If you have the budget for a major overhaul, you have a few more options. You can always install a new kitchen entry way door in a deep mahogany color that reminds you of your favorite Ethiopian brew. Or, you can opt for new flooring that reminds you of the Americano that perks you up every morning. Depending on the durability and quality of new materials, you can possibly increase the value of your home with these improvements.
- Be Your Own Barista
It’s likely you head to the coffee maker first thing in the morning — like some people stop at Starbucks on the way to work. Once you paint your kitchen, make the place where you brew your favorite java a barista-like place. None of the ideas below require big or even medium bucks — you are artfully rearranging kitchenware you already have and adding a few inexpensive accents.
First, group the coffee-related equipment in a corner of your kitchen. No room? Then I’m afraid it’s time to commit. To spring cleaning, that is. If you only need a small space for your coffee station, focus on zone cleaning, which is essentially a deep clean for one area of your home. Plus, this will put you ahead of your usual spring cleaning schedule, giving you one less thing to do.
Not into cleaning this early? A special table or tray dedicated to coffee alone works too. Include your coffee maker and your coffee bean grinder, plus your favorite mugs, cups, saucers, canisters or packages with favorite beans. Don’t forget your cream pitcher and sugar bowl.
Make it a hunt and search for sugar bowls and creamers at your local thrift store. Find pieces in colors to accent your current space. Deep scarlet to highlight café au lait walls. Flaring tangerine for those deep roast trims.
Use clear canisters to keep your favorite beans fresh. Nothing like looking at them while anticipating the smell and savor.
A cool DIY project to decorate this space? A small chalkboard to write on by hand, as restaurants do with their daily specials. These could be your daily specials, or what coffee you plan for breakfast. The board can double as a handy place to jot down a grocery list.
Another nice idea? Have friends and family take selfies with their favorite coffee mugs in the background. Take them of yourself. Take pics toasting each other with coffee cups. Cluster all these pictures in a frame right over the special coffee-designated place.
- Coffee-Themed Décor for All Over the Kitchen
You’ve tackled the walls and created your nook. If you have room to expand beyond your nook, make the entire kitchen your coffee kingdom. Coffee drawings, cartoons and paintings look good on lots of DIY kitchen stuff.
Collecting these items extends your theme. Great creative and shop local flea markets for unique pieces. Look at your everyday kitchen items and think about how they can say coffee. Can you find plates, placemats, potholders or trivets with coffee designs? There are so many directions your DIY-creativity can take you:
- Make your own coffee-themed calendar.
- Purchase old frames and hang images of vintage coffee shops.
- Get creative with your mugs and start collecting unique ones you find.
Try a macramé wall hanging — if you’ve painted the walls espresso, make a contrasting crème wall hanging. Get an apron at your local craft store or check your local second-hand shop and grab some crafting gear to design your own chef apron identifying you as “Ms. Coffee,” “Mr. Coffee” or “Coffee Lover #1.”
- Coffee in the Air
So far, we’ve concentrated on the tangible, physical ways to decorate a kitchen with a coffee theme. But one of the great qualities of coffee, of course, is the aroma.
Use aromatherapy in the kitchen. Make that wonderful smell a steady part of your kitchen even when the coffee maker isn’t perking. Buy or make coffee-scented candles. Use coffee-scented air fresheners. Take a ceramics class and make your own mug.
Surround yourself with coffee color. Create your special place dedicating to brewing and sipping. Find kitchenware that says “coffee” at every possible point. Enrobe your kitchen with the wonderful coffee aroma.
Little touches like this are inexpensive ways to make your kitchen coffee kitsch.
