The house always feel so sad and empty after the Christmas decorations are down. The most bare place seems to be my kitchen countertops. I have a very long, lighted garland that I always run along the back of the countertops during December. As soon as it is packed up, the place seems so empty and bare! Apartment Therapy had an article recently about decorating kitchen countertops that shows some great inspiration and ideas.
I love to cook and when I cook, I have stuff everywhere. Bare countertops usually work better for me but I don’t like the emptiness and coldness of them. I have to find the perfect balance between displays and too much clutter and the difference between functional and non-functional items in the space.
Looking through these pictures is helping me find great ideas for displays that will be functional but also pretty in our house. It is a huge pet peeve when I am at someone’s house and can’t actually use the countertops because there is just so much ‘stuff’ everywhere! Usually you know which friends cook and which don’t, but I think when you visit someone’s kitchen, you really can tell!
These colored glass canisters are gorgeous! Soap, vinegar and oil would all be so pretty in these. It would bring the functional to the pretty in the kitchen.
So what about you guys – what do you display in your kitchen? Do you have a lot of countertop items or are you a minimalist?
The Steen Style 
I always feel like my house is so blah after the holidays… we took decorations down when cate was napping and when she woke up.. she walked out pointed to where the tree was and put her arm up.. like what the heck.. she was sad too…
Love your blog! I feel like we have similar design styles…except that you actually execute! Feel free to come to Chicago and style my apt for me! 🙂
Haha – I would love to come decorate and check out Chicago! An awesome city that I haven't seen in too long. Hope to get around to decorating the counters this week…we'll see 🙂