Is It Time To Organize Your Kitchen?

Taking some time to de-clutter your kitchen can save you time every day! If you are digging through drawers full of unused utensils, or shuffling stacks of pots and pans from one kitchen cabinet to another, it may be time to simplify your cabinet contents.

5 Tips for an Eco-Friendly Remodel

Getting ready to remodel your kitchen or bath? In honor of Earth Day, we've put together a few tips to make the project a little more friendly to the environment.

Recycling can happen from the very start of a product's life cycle. 
At Canyon Creek, we recycle our wood chips, packaging materials,
paper, and much more. Check websites to see what others are doing.

1. Donate, Don't Discard. Many of the items you'll be removing–doors, windows, cabinets, sinks, appliances, lighting and more–can be donated, or even sold. Habit for Humanity has ReStore outlets throughout the United States that sell gently used items to the public. Proceeds are used to build and renovate homes and communities.

Keeping Kids' Closets Organized

When it comes to keeping kids organized, having a place to put everything is half of the battle. Using a custom closet system to maximize space in your child's closet can help.

A mix of shelves, cubbies, baskets and hanging areas is ideal for a reach-in closet. Out-of-season and less frequently used items can be stored on the top shelves and the higher hanging rod. The lower shelves and closet rods are easy for children to reach, and the wire baskets are a fun storage option. For a grown-up touch, angled shoe shelves give a boutique feel, and leave room for boots below.

Knowing what type of storage your child is mostly likely to use is also key. If getting clothes on hangers is a battle, consider using hooks, or giving your child more space for folded clothes. Drawers can be used in place of the wire baskets, or add shelves with colorful boxes. Since youngsters can forget which items go in each drawer or box, attach a photo of the contents with removable tape strips.

What other great ways have you come up with to keep kids' closets organized? We'd love to hear them!

Patina or Glazing? It's All In The Technique...

Love the look of heavily distressed cabinets and furniture? The key to the antiqued look is the glazing or Patina that is added after the carved edges, gouges, screw marks, sand-through, and other distressing marks are created.

The photo above shows Licorice Patina over Artisan distressing, and both sand-through to color and sand-through to wood. Patina is a brushed-on glaze that is left in place, not hand-wiped, so it has a heavier look and visible brush strokes.

Glazing, shown above, is a popular method for bringing out the details of the different wood grains, door styles, or distressing techniques. Glazing is applied to the entire surface, and then hand-wiped. As a result of the wiping, glaze material often "hangs up" in corners and detail areas, and will add a soft, muted look to the finish. Glazing is available in a range of colors from very light Vanilla to medium Suede and Pewter, or darker Chocolate and Licorice shades.

A good way to incorporate a touch of distressing is to feature it on an accent piece, such as the island above. The cabinets along the walls are alder in a Taupe stain, with no distressing or other enhancements. The island, however, has A6 (wire brushing) distressing and Licorice glaze. A beverage center, range hood or hutch design are other common areas to create focal points with distressing.

"Modern Rustic" Design

An article in the January issue of our Echoes from the Canyon eMagazine got us thinking about "Rustic Chic" and modern Rustic design. Rustic homes used to be characterized by logs, dim rooms, dark woods, and lots of new "old" items in the "Welcome to our Cabin" vein. While that style of design still has its place (except for the dim rooms, let's lighten up!), today's Rustic can be decidedly modern.

The kitchen above is a good example of a casual, comfortable space, with its wide-open floor plan, stainless appliances and generous lighting. The nods to Rustic styling can be found in the rustic alder cabinets, stone hood mantel, and Southwest decor.

Kitchen Inspiration: Norwood in Cherry & Maple

 

In kitchen design, details make all the difference. Large details, like the cabinet door style, wood species, and finish color (or colors) combine with counter tops and flooring to set the overall look of the room. Here, an island in maple with Sage paint works beautifully with warm wood floors and cherry cabinets in Kona stain. The counter top echoes the different colors used throughout the room, and ties the entire design together.

Designing With Artisan 6 Distressing

Our Artisan 6 (A6) distressing package is a wire-brushed technique that creates the look of weathered wood. As shown on the Rustic Alder door at left, you can see how well it would fit into a rustic or old-world decor. We asked Jeannine Laitres, a Certified Kitchen and Bath Designer (CKD, CBD) on our product development team, how she would use it in a contemporary design.