I suggest posting Your Design at the TOP of your post and the inspiration piece at the BOTTOM, so you are displaying your Interpretation First, and then the inspiration.

I would also NOT title the inspiration by the title of the painting. Give the name of the piece at the end of your post, (although you may name your post for clarity). This way, we are seeing your interpretation first without knowing first what the inspiration is.

Viking Refrigerator
Bluestar wall oven
Electrolux induction cooktop
Murano Snow range hood from Futuro Futuro
Glossy white, black, and blue cabinets (mostly white)--I pulled white cabinet images from a couple sources to get the config I wanted, so they don't quite match (minneapolis.backpage.com, houzz.com, nationalkitchens.co.uk). The blue cab image is from furniture.trendzona.com
Black toe-kick, black crown molding (just flat vertical piece, no detail)
Counter is Lagoon Silestone (Nebula series)
Backsplash is back-painted glass in white, black and red
Floor is Daltile Slimlite panels in Oyster and Black
The lighting, which I would put over an island or group over a dining table, are Quadrato mini-pendants from Meyda Custom Lighting. I thought they were just about perfect for this exercise (I don't like the amber next to the yellow range, but it might work if they aren't right next to each other. Or I could stick with red and blue).

The artwork inspiration was Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian, 1930. Mondrian did a bunch of red/white/blue/yellow/black colorblocked compositions, and I wasn't following this one too literally, but was trying to capture the look of the series.

This one might look a little familiar as I used it in another DAT but with a few changes, it really seemed to fit.

I'm putting some ===== before posting the art so maybe you can stop scrolling if you want to look at the kitchen before the art.
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This is "Gerald's Tree" by Georgia O'Keefe (ok so she's not O'Keefe and Merritt but do I get extra points for using O'Keefe in the kitchen forum?). Living in NM, of course I love the Southwestern palette which O'Keefe (among so many) have expressed so beautifully.

I'm not good *at all* at intrepreting art so I'm taking this DAT very literally I'm sure. I think the spareness of the overall design echoes the spareness of the Southwest. I selected the faucet and lights as I thought they evoked the twisted nature of the tree, as does the sun-tortured window. The red rock gave me the heady opportunity to use unfading red slate for the counter--again, could I be more literal? No I think not. And of course sandstone tile for the floor. Vertical green glass tile (Ann Sacks, only in my dream budget) for the tenacious tufts of grass and bushes in the pockets of dirt following the water flow down the rock face in the monsoons. The different shades of wood show what often happens to wood here that is partially shaded or submerged during parts of the year; the dark cabs may not have enough red for the counter but they were closest I could find via google. Stainless steel because it is so stark and functional.

I must be missing the point of the DAT because for so many of the DATs I've had such a hard time thinking of anything (hence no posts) but once I saw this artwork, everything popped into my head like nothing. So maybe it really is a ''nothing'' in terms of design but I would like to have this kitchen (with some good caulk around that window).

cheers

Mtnfever, yours works very well with the inspiration piece. I know I said you can be inspired by a piece without using it as a color scheme, but on the other hand, why not use it as a color scheme if it works well? I see some more rustic finishes mixed in as well.

Daltile Island Seas
Silestone countertop
Plain and Fancy Aqua Shaker/ Candy Apple Red Viking range
Oak floors
Farrow and Ball Dix Blue
Large mold for metal statue
Rush bottomed chairs and French Table from 1st Dibs

Bedroom At Arles October 1888

And the inspiration, Bedroom at Arles (September 1889)

Farrow and Ball Calluna
Ann Sacks Glass in Peridot
Cambria Quartz Dover
Plain and Fancy Austere/ Bluestar range in Fern Green
Bleached Oak from Dinesen
Painting "Cave Dwellers" by Frank Bowling
Wishbone Chairs in Orange
Room and Board table in Shell finish

The downside to using these van Gogh pieces, I think, could be that they do provide an odd color scheme, the point of which may be lost without knowing where it came from: the closely related but slightly off blues, yellows, and wood tones work well in a painting but could be a bit off-putting in real life.

While most people would not think that you had to make a kitchen look like a bedroom if you were using Bedroom at Arles as inspiration, sometimes people will get carried away by the subject matter.

I did encourage a client to use all her (specific) beach-themed art while Not rounding it out with lighthouse shaped lamps and coiled rope pieces and lots of shells. She had thought that maybe the artwork needed to be non seashore unless the whole room was. The art looks great, but the rest would've looked a bit silly in a townhouse on a partially wooded site a couple hours from the shore.

I think that when something comes easily, it means that you do get it, not that you don't.

Palimpsest, Bedroom at Arles Day 1. Great interpretation. You totally nailed the chairs, and the ear was brilliant. It's funny, I prefer the pallette on this "Bedroom" to the other, but when the colors translate into the kitchen with the orange counter (bed) next to the red range (bedspread), I think it would be hard to live with in real life.

Palimpsest, Bedroom at Arles Day 1. The colors in this one didn't initially strike me as pleasing but they are growing on me. The glass backsplash is beautiful, and the painting is fabulous.

Purplepansies, Dionis Beach. Nice use of your inspiration. The purple is a bit unexpected in the kitchen palette, but totally makes sense looking at the painting. Which is the great thing about this exercise--it makes you combine colors you otherwise wouldn't, and they work. I adore the jellyfish lamp, and want it for my house.

As a background (forgive me for repetition), my first extracurricular education was in painting, and I considered going to school for fine arts or interior design but ultimately went into allied health, and then got a design degree subsequently. Painting is on the back burner although I continually think of returning to it.

Anyway, I think the painting background is why I like palettes like this where there is a fair amount of randomized color and some closely correlated but non-matching shades. (My other favorite is pure-monochrome: more on that later).

I think one of the main differences between a Painterly palette and a more traditional Interior Design paletteis the difference in the tolerance of metameric failure.

Generally metameric failure is when colors match under one condition and not another.

Sometimes in interior design metameric failure can be disastrous, but a painter's palette DEPENDS on metameric failure.

Illuminant metameric failure can be terrible: a carpet sample and an upholstery sample look great together in daylight, awful under fluorescent light. This can be a real problem in a very tight or monochromatic palette.

But painting depends upon Geometric metameric failure: where colors match viewed from one angle, but not another...and in painting a certain degree of this is illuminant metameric failure as well. Colors interact at corners, colors look different on the ceiling compared to the walls, so some of this is angle, some of it is illumination. Some of it is just highlight and shadow. This is one of the things that painters use to depict three dimensional space on a flat canvas.

I think this is why painters sometimes like really crazy palettes too...because of the above, and also because of real vs perceived colors: the interactions of colors in patterns creating the appearance of another color that isn't really there ( I feel like I see this a lot in oriental rugs) ...the use of different colors to create highlights or shadows on canvas, things like this.

As for geometric metameric failure, one example I've run into is in textiles. For example, when you shop for rugs, they're often hung vertically. But the colors can often look vastly different when you lay it on the ground. You have to look at something in the orientation it's going to be used.

Upthread, I mentioned an exhibit I saw on colors in "The Bedroom" in Amsterdam recently. (I said it was at the Rijksmuseum, but I was wrong. It was at the Van Gogh Museum.) As you know, but worth repeating here, Van Gogh painted 3 versions of this painting. He also described the colors used in contemporaneous letters. The exhibit I saw dealt, naturally, with the Oct. 1888 version that is in the Van Gogh Museum. Here is an image of it:

It is accepted that the colors have changed over time. I don't claim to be an expert on this, but the upshot is that the pigments he used are known to fade. The conservators at the Van Gogh Museum tried to generate an "impression" of what the colors of the 1888 version looked like at the time of painting. (They are careful to say "impression.") Here is the result of their efforts:

Again, I am no expert, but my impression is that the effects that you cite that are evoked by the color palette he chose are, if anything, even stronger in the (presumed) original scheme. (I have no idea if people believe that the colors in either of the 1889 versions have changed over time; I would naively presume so.)

Just for completeness:
Early Sep. 1889 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Late Sep. 1889 (Musee d'Orsay)

Again, thanks for the explanation. I wish I had ANY skill in choosing a palette. I have been reduced to trying to match paint color chips to a rug that I have that I like. And that didn't even turn out so well!

I am not much for modern or color, but I think your design is excellent and practical (in the sense someone would really do it). I think a lot of people would say "Mondrian" as soon as they entered the space. And even those that didn't know the artist would recognize "the style" (pun intended).

Pal.
We all like it when you wax pedantic. : )
I think you are right, most people would think the colors were off/wrong. You could only pull it off in spectacular setting with terrific workmanship, when no one dares think anything is wrong. I love how your table and chairs evoke the bed. But please stop reminding me of First Dibs! I've wasted so much money there already.

I think the room would best be recreated as the room it IS, what the painting REPRESENTS, with each piece and finish done in complete seriousness--probably done with some estimation of what the colors were rather than using the colors as Van Gogh painted them. After all, these paintings are his Impression of the room, not Realism.

I think all the other designs in this thread would be easy to execute and end up with a room that looks good on its own without explanation. With purple pansies's room, I think I would prefer the purity of having no nautical-themed objects in the room at all.

Kraftmaid Cape May glass door, with Shaker base cabinets
Ann Sacks Scrabble backsplash
Zodiaq quartz in Celestial
Amtico vinyl in Pure Plain Ocean
Cole and Son wallcovering
Piero Fornasetti Screen, 1st dibs
Currey and Company Eufala fixture
Chair from Room and Board
Paul Evans Patchwork table
John Derian Tray
Nani Marquina rug
Bird Knobs from Rocky Mountain Hardware
Flutterby and Baby Head knobs from Soko
Acorn knob from Modern Objects
Nail knob from Modern Objects

Inspiration:
Assemblage boxes from Joseph Cornell.

Birds form a common thread throughout his work as do printed matter, doll heads,and other ephemera. Fornasetti was another surrealist of the period. I found this table as an alternate: Its hand-painted with butterflies.

However, I did not want to allow Fornasetti to overshadow Cornell in this design. The table also costs $18K.

The kitchen sink area and a bit of the island...

From Western kitchen

The very capable range...

From Western kitchen

Backsplash behind range...

From Western kitchen

The dining table and chairs, which are at one end of the kitchen...

From Western kitchen

From Western kitchen

Lighting, over the island...

From Western kitchen

View off the screened porch, just off the kitchen area...

From Western kitchen

And my art...Remington's 1906, 'A Dash for Timber'

From Western kitchen

Remington's ability to capture the movement or man and horse, is just amazing, IMHO. I love westerns, so this is one of my favorites.

All the colors, details, and mood are (I hope) reflected in the kitchen choices...the cabinets, countertop, stainless appliances and backsplash...but I especially like the movement of the art, that is picked up in the dining table design and pattern on the chairs...and the trees off to the side (representing safety) brought out in the lights and view, from the porch.

Cawaps, I'm not one who would have known the artist, but I certainly would have recognized reference to the art.

Another thanks for the lesson in metameric failure and color, Pal. I'm learning a lot through these DAT threads and I appreciate the time you always take to explain these concepts.

Marcolo, I agree the kitchen didn't need the nautical inspired items, and at first it didn't have them. And I would never use those items if I did that kitchen here in Baltimore, MD - but might very well if I was on the Island. It was really the fault of that jellyfish lamp!. . . .

Lavender Lass Remington: Now that's a manly kitchen! Perfect! Nice combination of Western elements. I'm glad somebody did cowboy art.

From Monet kitchen

Into this much softer and more romantic kitchen...

From Monet kitchen

With this beautiful range...

From Monet kitchen

Marble countertops and backsplash tile...

From Monet kitchen

And a lovely table, all set for a fancy lunch...

From Monet kitchen

With these chairs...

From Monet kitchen

And this armoire and very nice chandelier...

From Monet kitchen

So...any idea what my art might be? Claude Monet's 'On the Seine, near Giverny' 1896.

From Monet kitchen

I have this print and it's one of my favorites :)

Marcolo- Thank you...I'll take the ten points! :)

Cawaps- I wanted to pick something masculine, with horses and Remington has so many wonderful choices. His paintings capture the horses, the elements, the danger...and ideally the freedom of the Old West.

Pal- Thank you. The Monet kitchen was more difficult, because I post these types of kitchens, much more often. The pastel colors, the soft curves (to reflect the trees and shrubs) the cool tones and reflection of the water...but the warm hints in the sky. I tried to capture those elements, by using lots of warm white, the soft blue, the plants and flowers in almost every shot...and the warm touches of pink and peach, against the ivory and blues/greens. I chose the picture of the kitchen with the vent/hood, specifically because it reflected the curve of the trees in the background of the painting.

The Remington was easier, in a way...because any rustic kitchen would be a surprise. I new I wanted a masculine kitchen, with wood, stone, and stainless steel, with a rustic but still sleek style. The table and chairs were not only 'western' but also have a lot of movement, as does the horse backsplash. The pine trees were my outside element...which I love to put in every kitchen post.

What's probably unexpected...is that our place is a combination of the two. We have pine trees on the back hill and horses out in the pasture. We also have a creek cutting through the pasture (behind the house) and there are willows and other water trees. My garden has lots of europeans elements, but the plants are more more of a cottage style, with the pine trees in the background. The house is part rustic/almost cowboy and part romantic/old world...but it seems to work, since we blend the two styles together and use a lot of wood and blues/greens. I don't actually have any marble...yet. LOL

Cawaps- I can't see your art picture now, but I did when you first posted. From what I remember, your kitchen looks very much like your art :)

Mtnfever- You chose a very nice painting and I think your dining area reflects it, beautifully. You have the colors and the curves. The kitchen picks up the colors, but the grid pattern in the backsplash doesn't seem to work as well, with the art. Overall, I think it's very nice.

Pal- The EAR! LOL As for the color variations...I like the second one the best. I guess because it has more blue/lavender and I like the 'watercolor' look, above the orange chairs.

Purplepansies- I really like your kitchen. I think everything works, except the tan cabinets. Maybe just the blue or a warm white, to pick up the clouds in your painting and the background of your fabric. The lavender touches are very nice, but some plants would pick up the greens and grass...and tie in with your very cool lamp :)

Pal- The bird boxes...I like this kitchen, quite a bit. It's different and graphic, but also very inviting. The tree wallpaper is wonderful (reminds me of Regina's office in 'Once Upon A Time') and the writing is neat, too. The birdcage, the hardware...and the owl all work, in the space. The wood table is nice, but the butterfly table is a great accent, too. My one question...what inspired the blue countertop and backsplash?

Now...I'd like to try something a little different. There's a kitchen photo I really like and every time I see it, I think of Van Gogh. There are so many of his paintings that work with this space. I thought I'd post the paintings....and then, the kitchen picture :)

From Van Gogh kitchen

From Van Gogh kitchen

From Van Gogh kitchen

From Van Gogh kitchen

From Van Gogh kitchen

And finally, the kitchen picture...I'd like to see more, but every time I look at this...I think of Van Gogh. The dark blue and gold, the black accents, the french fabric, the sunflowers! I don't want to have quite this much blue in my kitchen, but this is the ispiration for the laundry/mudroom area. Maybe I should get a Van Gogh print or two, to liven the place up a bit :)

From Van Gogh kitchen

Ann Sacks Caliper tile
Taurus Quartz (LG Hi-Macs or Dovae)
Kraftmaid Cabinetry, LaCorne Albertine range
Ann Sacks Porcelain floor
Farrow and Ball Closet Stripe Wallpaper
French Deco Chandelier, Chinoiserie Table, Louis-Philippe chairs, 1st Dibs.
Kazak Rug
Photographs by Erwin Olaf

The Painting is "Patience" by Balthus.
I am both attracted to and repelled by the work of Balthus, a realist of the mid-century. His paintings are, in his own words, not erotic, but recognition of the uncomfortable fact that children possess sexuality.

I chose this painting because I like his technical skill more than some of his subject matter, and because he tended to paint a pretty good French bourgeois interior of the period. The Olaf works present a similar confrontational stance of subject despite their apparent disinterest in the camera.

The cabs are Ikea Ankurum; if you want a camouflaged refrig you can get a matching panel for your high-end refrig. Otherwise, just get stainless steel appliances. I didn't show a hood or other appliances--use your imagination. Hardware knobs are lapus lazuli--to add an earthy aspect. The blue pendants really gave the room more "oomph" although I suspect that a heavy dose of the knobs would also add a tremendous blue presence. The cabs needed to retreat and become a background; I finally decided to make the countertops a monochrome with the cabs. Same with the table. The rug is not absolutely abstract but it does introduce the color blob aspect of the original art.
Paints are mostly my usual warm gold, with complimentary areas in a lighter gold and perhaps also some accents painted in the same color as the burlap. The original artwork had many purples, greens, yellows, mustards, teals, and some orange all of which I considered and then discarded.

Range = Bertazzoni Professional Series in Burgundy (A.J.Madison)
Tile = Ann Sacks "Stoneware Elements" in 2 x 9 and 3 x 9 fields "Currant"
Knobs = Bellacor "Turned in Stone" lapis lazuli
Clock = Bellacor David Scherer Studios "Autumn Jester Wall Clock"
Pendants = Light Source "Pacifica"
Sink = Boholmen 2 inset sink with drainer (Ikea)
Faucet = Grohe Concetto Single Handle Dual Spray Pull Down
Countertop = Mineral Ochre (Formica)
Cabs = Ankurum in Adel Beech
Floor = Duro Design Vertical Bamboo Light Oak Bamboo Flooring (a default choice in Olioboard)
Table = Crate & Barrell "Big Sur" white oak
Chair = Home Decorators Collection Camel Back Dining Chair Bella Berry (a default choice in Olioboard)
Fabric = Fabric.com Vintage Poly Burlap Med Wt. "Fuschia"
White wood strip lighting fixture = Agatha Pendant by LZF
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Here's my Olioboard, with the giveaway artist name:
http://olioboard.com/boards/89937-kandinsky

While browsing the Minneapolis Institute of Art's online listings, I skipped over the Rembrandt and the Impressionists and my fave, George Bellows' picture of an old woman in her wedding gown and fixed on this...Vassily Kandinsky's "Study for Improvisation V." I quit my search and started brainstorming.

It was the many "crayon box" colors that, as usual, grabbed my attention plus the vague shapes that engaged my emotions and imagination. It had such an organic aspect. Then I began to sort out the forms of the shapes, but I couldn't find much in commercial products and I finally just decided to let rectilinear shapes come in. The light over the table is terrifically expensive but it was such a good match with the blobby white form in the art. I couldn't use every color so I fixed on the bluish red and the yellow family (so what's new, Florantha?).

At various times in the evolution of this design, there were a lot more colors, including Le Creuset enameled cookware and Fiestaware. It's all been deleted. Instead I gave you some potted plants as a way to think about organic forms and some green. You'd probably want plain white china. There is a limit to the amount of strong color the design can tolerate. So then I tried pale pinks and pale yellows and pale blues and pale violets and they all worked, sort of, but I kept coming back to the pale yellow and as you see, a lot of purplish reds. They're in the range, the burlap fabric for curtains or romans shown in upper right, in the velvety upholstery of the chair, and in the Ann Sacks tiles. If you hate the redish textured bamboo floor, consider a really golden colored cork--it would add a similar organic element. A more mustardy yellow is still needed I think.

The clock was a wonderful find. It included the artwork's colors yet was functional and makes the room more complete.

Now for the anticlimax...only read if you're compulsive about artworks...here's the website text, which I myself didn't read until much later...
"This landscape evokes Biblical stories of the Apocalypse, which foretold Christ's second coming. In the foreground, a woman in blue kneels before a tall figure with streaming golden hair, possibly Christ, while in the background two horsemen of the Apocalypse vault a fence. As a pioneer of abstract painting, Vassily Kandinsky thought art could make inner truths visible. An "improvisation," he said, was "a largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner character," or "non-material (i.e., spiritual) nature." Kandinsky wanted painting to function like music, using colors and forms like melodies and rhythms 'abstractly' to summon emotion."

Lavendar, I like the cowboy one. It's very unexpected, especially because you post highly feminine designs on the whole. The painting makes me want to find out who those cowboys are running away from--are those Indians in the background? It's a painting with horses but for me, horses are not the story, it's the people and the landscape. Lots of action, very composed and studied design despite the movement and the chaos of imminent violence. Gentle palette. The dust is real. The backsplash of horses brings the story back to animal and downplays the human part of the story, which might be actually easier to live with day to day.

I like the pendants--these skim the world of kitsch without diving in. Glad there are no animal silhouettes in the light decoration. The stylized pine motif is a good thing and the outlined design is as important as the pine details--I can imagine looking at these lights for many years and having them be a memorable part of the kitchen for guests.

I like wood-without-roughness of the cabs and the counterpoint of the rusticity of the table. The chair upholstery adds tactile veracity (although I wonder how such rectilinear chairs will do when pulled up to a curving table edge). I don't know much about countertop stone products but that one looks very much like one with utility and a good color as well. Nothing femmy about all these. I like this kitchen. And it is a working kitchen, not a showplace for themed stuff.
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Palimpsest:
I'm looking at the biological specimen kitchen. I think it's interesting that you have skimmed the edge of kitsch here also, but stayed on the forgiveable/modern side of it. As you know, I've got a lot of biological illustration in my house and it's always a challenge to work with it--modern frames or gilt? Fancy mats or not? gang the pieces or use them individually and sparingly? Often our solution is to tuck a lot into crevices behind furniture and just display a few others, to keep the whole from overwhelming the separate parts.

Keeping the wallcovering and the rug in a very restrained no-color palette is part of the success. Your trees are natural, the rug is very human, yet both are joined by their coloration and flatness--incongruous mates with some intellectual stuff going on. The cabs, like mine in the Kandinsky piece, are downplayed, a background for the other stuff. The blue is blue sky and natural yet very artificial at the same time. It must have taken a lot of work to assemble those nature pieces. And I like the first table, although a copycat porch table of decoupage and shabby chic could be accomplished on the cheap, I bet. Intellectually, I'm thinking about how un-green all this is. Your wallpaper is a winter silhouette, natural yet stark. Your animals are stuffed specimens, not pretending to be living. It's an intellectual kitchen. Gotta work at not having it be Miss Havisham's room of the PBS special last week--it's got to be scrupulously kept and you can't let entropy get out of hand; probably needs a lot of cabs to hide the kitchen stuff. The blue will be the refuge of the owner when the faux-nature gets to be too much of a good thing. The wood adds a softening and a warming. Instead of faux bookshelves, you might want real ones, with field guides and coffee table books intermixed with cook books. I like the lights. Good choice, tasteful, historic references yet functional, and they repeat the rectangular elements and the dark brown finish.

Congrats on a theoretical kitchen, but I hope you won't be hurt if you never get a client who wants a Balthus kitchen.

At the Mpls Inst't of Art there is a Balthus that I look at every time I'm there. It is very large and it's got a brooding wierdness that intrigues, drawing from me the little girl I once was, a girl in an adult setting, possessing the physical space and yet trying to figure out how life works. I passed it over when digging through images from their collection for my own DAT entry (above). You're braver than I, Gunga Din!

But who knows what bothers people? My Keanes don't bother me at all, but some people are disturbed by them and the fact that there are 20+.

We also had to cover a Monet print in my sister's bedroom when my niece slept there, because it bothered her. This infuriated my mother who thought being bothered by a painting was "weak" or something.

One of my art instructors had a large painting of a person being operated on awake, with maggots pouring out of the incision--over her sofa.(It was very cartoonish, but still. So there are all different levels of interaction with what is on your walls, I guess.

Everything in this kitchen should be practical. Lights that don't illuminate, chairs you can't plop down on, countertops you have to baby...none of these things would work. I wanted a kitchen that looked masculine and a bit western, but most important...fairly indestructible.

What is wonderful about the Remington (IMHO) is that it doesn't matter, who they're running from. The guys on horses are heading back from whatever danger they've encountered, to the relative safety of the woods. Trees (which are not always prevalent in many western settings) provide cover and usually indicate a water source, so they are often seen as safety...unlike other areas of the country, where trees would probably provide the enemy with cover.

I've always loved westerns, so I guess it's no surprise I ended up living on land and having horses! LOL I also love gardening, so I guess most of my kitchens reflect the flowers and I tend to design the kitchens, around them. Most of my DAT kitchens are designed around a garden picture, but if I could do horses more often... I would :)

Corian Witch hazel
Walnut slab cabinetry with deco hardware as below
Kohler Gilford sink in Sand
Vermicelli wallpaper from Farrow and Ball
1950s English Pendant Light,
Padded Thonet Chairs,
!950s drop leaf table, all 1st Dibs.

This was based upon a specific painting by Jack Smith, of the Kitchen Sink school in England circa 1960. "Kitchen Sink" was coined because another painter, Richard Bratby painted kitchen scenes, and it was also applied to "Social Realist" dramas of the period such as "A Taste of Honey, Look Back in Anger, etc.

The artists themselves did not like the term, and said, in one way or another that they were not angry, they were simply painting or writing about their surroundings, which were working class. Jack Smith, I think, said that his work was devoid of social commentary, he painted the ordinary because he saw magic in it, and would paint chandeliers if he had been born in a palace.

Mother Bathing her Baby, by Jack Smith:

Richard Bratby:

Rita Tushingham in Shelagh Delaney's "A Taste of Honey"

I chose blue because I found three finishes that had portions that were almost dead-on in hue that worked with the cabinets, so it was more practical than anything else.

But that particular backsplash, while made up of irregular rectangles, like the boxes themselves, also reminded me of heavily pixilated pictures of birds flying.

Almost all of my designs are intellectualized somehow and that is why they sometimes don't look as "nice" as something that's just well-coordinated. Some people find this off-putting. One of my instructors asked me once if I didn't just put things together because they looked nice, and I had to tell him, no.

I find design a way of painting without having to get my hands dirty, and designing projects like this online is particularly intellectual on the level that none of it actually exists, as a whole.

Your green kitchen with a pale coral dining space is an interesting inversion of the color percentages of the original kitchen. The brownish bluish purplish color span of the cabinets is an interesting and thoughtful reworking of the tree, and the grain of the table and cabs brings in the internal lines of the tree trunk.

I agree that this is a soothing kitchen, although I'm not sure the art piece is as soothing and I don't know if I'd want to face it while trying to focus on cooking. You've tamed it and made it useful. The kitchen is both mod and serene. I like the greens.

cawaps - I love the Mondrian, and in fact have been emerged recently in a Mondrian inspired room. Check out the hotel room I stayed in last week in Zurich (the Allegra near the airport).

Pal, I think all of yours are inspired, lavender, purple, florantha and mtnfever too. I will comment more when I have more time to pour over them.

Very fun thread!

Glad you like that white light fixture. Once I found it, it became a major feature. It's over $1200 if you want one for yourself (ouch!).

Cork flooring from AmCork
Stranded bamboo cabinets from wellswoodworking.net
Vetrazzo Bistro Green counter
Trend USA Liberty Glass Mosaic backsplash from jetsongreen.com (75% post-consumer-recycled glass)
Stained glass in uppers--Bullseye Fracture Streamers Summer Colors on White from DelphiGlass.com
Futuro Futuro Chameleon range hood
Big Chill range, chosen for color, not style (I couldn't find the perfect combination of style and color)
Big Chill Retropolitan refrigerator
Birch plywood table from HomeDesignArts.com
Birch molded plastic chairs with birch cutout from Overstock.com
Recycled bottle lamp table lamp from etsy.com
Recycled glass chandelier from GreatGreenGoods.com
Paint is Benjamin Moore Antique Glassware

Here is the artwork, "Different Shades of Green" by Libby Smart.

The blue in the appliances was intended to pick up the blue in the background. I wanted more sky blue than turquoise, but took what I could find. The counter, backspash and stained glass inserts were all intended to pick up the speckles of the leaves. The standed bamboo was intended to echo the stong vertical lines of the tree trunks--the fact that it also echos the wood of the trunks more literally was incidental.

I'm not sure if the trees in the artwork were intended to be birch, but that was what I thought of, which led me to finding the table (more vertical lines! cool!) and the chairs.

I love the van Goghs you posted and they do totally work with the kitchen pic.

Palimpsest Balthus: I love the way you worked in all the patterns, colors and elements of the picture. For something that is such an intellectual exercise, I think the kitchen works remarkably well. I love the tile pattern, and could totally see it in a 1930s house.

Florantha Kandinsky--You picked a challenging piece of artwork. This is sort of the polar opposite of Lavender Lass's kitchen in terms of color. You used a lot of colors, but I think that letting just a couple colors dominate(but bringing in other colors as accent) was a good decision. The effect of Kandinsky's cacophony of colors would be overwhelming in those proportions on a room-sized scale. Since you asked about wall color, lavender-pink is the color in the painting that I missed in the design.

Thanks for the explanation of the painting. Even with the description, it took me a long time to find Christ (wait, I think that came out wrong...). The horsemen, however, I found immediately.

Palimpsest, Mother Bathing her Baby. I like the closely correlated palette (I know you like those) that echoes the painting. It's a great mid-century kitchen, simple lines, simple palette, but very cohesive and comfortable.

Plain and Fancy cabinets
backsplash - June in Amazonite and peacock topaz - Ann Sacks
Bluestar range
Rangecraft Broadway hood
soapstone counters
Blacno silgranit sink
Grohe Ladylux3 faucet
Marchella Dining table and chair from Pier One Imports
Jamie Young St. Croix pendant in seeded clean glass - laylagrace.com
rustic cherry floors
gray-blue paint

I've always been intrigued by M.C. Escher's work. So I decided to try one . . . not sure how successful I was, but I like it.

First - the color. Every image I found of this work had slightly different color, some muted, others more saturated. So I chose the one I liked best and tried to be true to the spirit of the colors. The brown fish come out in the cabinets. At first I chose a slightly darker cabinet, which I liked better, but I really needed the glass arched cabinets on top, which I could not find in the darker wood. The blues, of course, come out in the backsplash and wall paint. The green in the backsplash, range, table and pendant. The hardest color to work with, for me, was the mustardy-yellow. I decided to have that color come out mostly in the floor, and would use dinnerware and accessories for more color. I only added the teacup and sugar and creamer; frankly, I got tired of searching for images that would work.

For me, the most important part of the art is the tessellation. I found these wonderful (and expensive!) Ann Sacks tiles that I adore. I decided to put the tessellation on the backsplash because, as tiles, it makes sense, but more importantly, I wanted it to be featured in the room.

Then there is the shape - I tried to echo the shapes in the art in the upper cabinet doors, the back of the chair, the arch of the cup pulls, the curve of the range hood, the legs in the table and the curves of the pendant.

Choosing counters, for me, always seems to be the hardest thing when I am not starting with them. Because of the business of the backsplash, I decided that I would go a uniform, gray soapstone to "soften" and ground the tiles. An undermount gray sink would fade away; again, so as not to take away anything from the backsplash.

So that's my story! I'm having trouble commenting on other's designs because I feel that the interpretation of art is so personal and what I see and feel from a piece of art may be very different than the designer. (Example - in my first kitchen, I only see the tan of the sand, the blue of the water and the blue and purple of the sky. I don't even notice the white in the clouds, so would never choose white as an element.)

This is a fun DAT, and in many ways, I'm finding it more challenging than steampunk!!!

I tried to evoke the color palette and movement of the art in this kitchen design. I also tried to maintain some of the simplicity and clean lines. This art is Georgia O'Keeffe's Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills (Ram's Head and White Hollyhock, New Mexico), 1935, Oil on Canvas. O'Keeffe was famous for her paintings of the American Southwest and is one of my absolute favorite artists. I also have fallen in love with parts of the American Southwest and the beauty of the movement of clouds over the vast brown landscape can be amazing. I also love the punctuation of color that can at times be surprising. I tried to include that with the green range and lights (corresponding to the desert trees) and the yellow walls (corresponding to the yellow center of the hollyhock). This was an unexpected color combination for me, but I think it works. Yet the main components of kitchen follow the muted palette of the piece with the wood cabinetry, Caesarstone Pebble counter, gray Porcelanosa floor tile, and off-white Porcelanosa backsplash tile. If you look closely, you can see the wave-like movement in the tile, which really reminded me of the movement in the clouds. The appliances would be paneled to maintain simplicity in the design. I tried to mix in a little rustic and modern as O'Keeffe's work played a pivotal role in the development of modernism in art in America, yet she perfectly captured the rustic beauty of the American Southwest (among other subjects).

Pricklypearcactus Ram's Head and White Hollyhock. I immediately noticed the waves on the tile (thank goodness I adjusted the contrast on my monitor) and wondered how that reflected the artwork. It does a great job of echoing the patterns of the clouds low in the sky. I like your lighting, which does create a rustic vibe that suits the rural isolation of the inspiration pic. The overall effect of your kitchen is soothing.

Purplepansies Escher: I agree that the backsplash really references the Escher piece. All in all a good design.

Prickly I like this one a lot, but would expect to see something a bit more feminine since her skull and flower paintings tend to be about the female reproductive system. That skull is a uterus and fallopian tubes, as you probably know. Maybe a feminine light fixture to reference the flower.

I have always liked this particular photo session because it shows an obvious progression from controlled to disarrayed, and shows Marilyn as a real person, with her flaws and wrinkles and appendectomy scar.The colors range from very bleached and controlled to warm and more organic.The fixture is her beads, The shaped aluminum piece is her rumpled bed. I was very pleased to find the almost identical sheer as the scarf available through Fabricut.

I know that the original rules (see link above that refers to the original art DAT proposal) said that it's all up to you, that there are few rules. But, having tried this challenge, the complexity in the endeavor is the art piece's many different aspects--not only the colors, but the emotions, the movement paths, the associated references, the historical frame, and the composition itself.

The challenges of making a DAT kitchen are really helpful in stirring your creative juices. We've already had such an amazing span of pieces and kitchens, but more can play if we make it easier. I propose that we collectively build a real "Starry Night"- based kitchen worthy of DAT assumptions at their more complex level. Here's the MOMA's Van Gogh "Starry Night."

Here's the second image in Lavendar's blue sequence above, which has the fewest immediate human elements in it of all her sequence. By removing the up-close human elements that might limit us, the image makes the sky element more insistent and the humanness more calming, although this composition is surprisingly more static than many Van Gogh images.

And, to put us all on the same level playing field, stick yourself with a real design conundrum...how to integrate this actual slab of "blue luise" granite into a real room without having it turn obnoxious.

The slab is from http://www.stonecontact.com/product/granite/blue-van-gogh-extra-granit e_49183.htm
Stone Contact International Builders Market.

You're welcome to add more Van Goghs to the mentoring process. I include a previous thread link below, which brings you to an actual GW thinker who has a very Van Gogh-esque slab to deal with and has some ideas as to what cabs and such to compliment it.
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My early input...I would try to make the cabs and floors retreat, be sedate. Yet this kitchen mustn't become a dark pit. The "Starry Night in the Daytime" concept has already begun to boggle me. How does yellowish maple sound?

Cawaps--your Mondrian kitchen gave us such a good start in this thread. You are correct in noting that the rectangular nature of cabinetry defines most kitchens and that the Mondrian-ness is built into them if we just think about it. I would suspect that the challenge of matching reds with reds, yellows with yellows, and blues with blues might be the hardest part since they're so baldly important to the whole.

Sochi--having that Mondrian bedroom posted after the kitchen was very helpful in showing a different way of interpreting an art piece as a decorating scheme. Painting the walls and adding readymade fabrics is the opposite of building up items to echo the design. The light fixtures (rounded, no less!) and the red mounted pillows are the only true 3-D elements, assuming that the bed fabric is a single dimension.

In both room compositions, the black has a great importance, doesn't it? Yet when I leave the image and try to imagine it, it takes a bit to do so and then I have to go back to see if my memory is right, that the black was so skillfully used that it did not overwhelm the compositions even if it was a major player.
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Pal--the Look Back in Anger kitchen is another of your intellectual ones. If we covered over the explanation and merely looked at the composition, we'd see an evocation of the 1950s, pared down and happily enjoying the lines and curves and subtle color scheme. In fact, I can strip out all the emotion and just put up a piece of nature art in that room...

This piece is by Louis Agasiz Fuertes who is particularly known for his interest in coloration and camouflage. It might be an African crane. I chose it for the colors and the textures done in paint. Very different from the sink with the child in it or the collapsed frosted flakes box by using some of the same colors, but in stronger contrast and relief and precision. All are intentionally very artificial, which is what the manmade portions of your kitchen also are, but with a reference to the real world--in your real woods and in all three paintings' base within the observable world.

I like the kitchen very much. The furniture pieces and the wallpaper and the slab front cabs and the colors and the light and the sink with their curves. They look much better here than they originally did in rooms of my youth. And thanks for the photo of Rita Tushingham--haven't seen her in a very long time.

I wonder how the room would actually feel when you are in it? Not sure about how the scale of all the different striations works in real life--when added to all those pixels in the mosaic, would it be as lovely as the art piece or would it jangle? I'd like to try actually being in that room, speaking of intellectual exercises. Can you tell us more about the scale of the various striations?

The blue is a good use of an oasis place to rest the eyes. Very important to the composition!
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Pal--the Marilyn Monroe kitchen would be a very sophisticated entry in the Hollywood Regency DAT, sorta. You have really dug for subtle stuff, in textures and in colors, but it's all glamorous stuff. And feminine without being femmy.

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Purplepansies, in the Escher kitchen, you really found curved items that work together. Nice job on the faithful duplication of the color scheme. Because I like restful working kitchens, yours is a fave for colors.

I've been batting around the question of whether this would be a good place for cabs with an arch at the top of the center panel instead of a rectangular detail--would it be overkill or not?

Your Seashore-inspired kitchen was quite a different kind of experience for me. Looking at the kitchen items, I had pictured a sea-themed piece of art, but not a landscape. Those long views are very different from the up-front-and-personal coral and shell items, although once I thought about it , of course they belong together--the banks of cabs are the landscape plus that backsplash! The backsplash might be the star of the room--but gotta keep it within bounds. Your colors are definitely in that painting. Not being a "blue person" I'm not as drawn to it as to your green kitchen, but I admire it just the same. The purples are my favorite part. If you're a Nantucket vacationer, I suspect that this is a very personal kitchen and that the tactile stuff is really embedded in your memories of childhood.

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Pal--the first Van Gogh kitchen is not my favorite. Literalness, even without the ear, doesn't go very far with me, given that the painting is of a bedroom and we're doing kitchens here.

The second kitchen is much more to my taste, despite my non-Blue Person bias. Very restful, though, without the tension that is in the Van Goghs. Your first kitchen has those more-jarring color combos that make sleeping seem an act of escape.

I appreciate Angie__DIY's additions to the discussion of Van Gogh's bedroom paintings. Thanks, Angie!

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Pricklypearcactus, your kitchen is very classy. I like it. The ripple tile would be very interesting to see close up and in masses of tile. Because you have put in the paint color as a single yellow dollup instead of running it throughout the presentation, it took me a while to add it in, mentally, when thinking about the design. In an earlier DAT I worked with a yellow and grey scheme and learned a lot. You've used that green well with it and I very much like all of this with the color of the cabs. I think it's very interesting that you've used a classic beaded door style--that steals some of the jarring modernness, bringing into the whole a tension between the mod chair end of the spectrum and the classic cab end of the spectrum.

I remember when Life Magazine had a photo feature on O'Keefe (late 50s? early 60s?) in which she held up a cow hip bone to the sun and looked through the hole in bone at the sky. She was such a stunning beauty even as an older woman and the photo captured the tension between the castoff bone and the sky and the live, vital woman. In this painting that you've chosen, that incongruous wildflower, which might have grown up around the bone in the parched rangeland, soars into the sky with the bone. Out of scale and very mystic. As if the cow were still alive and wearing a flower over its ear. But I digress. Kudos to you--this is a good kitchen design.
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Mtnfever, I keep remembering yours as the subtle shrimpy pink kitchen with green. And then I see it again and remember that it's the opposite. That O'Keefe really dominates the conversation about your design. Memorable choice!
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I congratulate everyone who gave this DAT a try. I'm hoping for more kitchens yet, but I sure appreciate the wonderful surprises that this challenge has already produced. Give a try to my Starry Night granite extravaganza (above) if you aren't ready to take on a whole composition by yourself.

Blue Louise granite as to-ceiling slab on range wall
White Zeus Extreme Silestone counters
Cabinets color-matched to Metallic Blue Viking range
Omnia crystal and chrome hardware
Forbo linoleum in Cyanic Blue
Wimborne white walls
Schonbeck DaVinci crystal pendant
Mary Beth Thielheimer painting, 1st Dibs
Wishbone chairs, DWR
Live Edge table by Nakashima

I grounded the blue Louise in one of its colors and went white or crystal with the rest, with the exception of the live edge table.I don't think this is a cheat, using mostly white, I think it is an appropriate way to display the granite, simply grounded by one of its colors.

I was surprised at how many things I could find in this Teal-ish color, right off the rack. (I could even find a chandelier.) Teal is one of those colors decried as "so 80s" in the Decorating forum.

Which is why I refer to it as "the blonde leading the blonde."

Speaking of which, that Marilyn kitchen is really smashing.

Winter Scene in Moonlight
Henry Farrer (American, London 1844�1903 New York City)
Date:1869 Medium:Watercolor and gouache on white wove paper

This kitchen is not particularly high-end but it has a few high-end items, including the backsplash tile and the light fixture.
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I've wanted to do a hickory cabs kitchen design for a long time so I never looked for a driftwood cab set; I let the hickory color scheme take over. I decided that a hickory floor would be overkill. though, so the floor is driftwoodsy. The range is stainless steel and the rest of the appliances can be stainless also.

I decided I needed to give myself license to add metal and fixed my mind on copper. Think of metal woodcraft tools. Assume that the copper items--hood, hardware, and sink--are all the color of the sink. I looked and looked online for wallpaper and/or fabric with feathers and spent a lot of time distracted by the many decorative adventures of peacock feathers, which are not appropriate here. If I had had more guts and a slightly different color scheme, I'd have used either Traci Kendall's "Open Feather" wallpaper (http://tracykendall.com/feathers.htm) or Graham & Brown's "Bittern Feather (http://www.grahambrown.com/us/product/17771/Bittern+Feather+%3A+Dark+ Grey+Wallpaper/0).

The wallpaper in the eating area is not particularly accurate, except that it had good color and gave a native vibe and had rounded-corner rectangles and eyes and dots, which are important. The jute mat is important, as are the pieces of straw-grass embedded in the obscuring glass of the upper cabs.

I looked for a driftwood light fixture and saw some pretty awful crafter stuff, but there was one good one that I lost the URL for...a dandelion-like halo of beach wood items sticking out on sticks from a center hub. This is a hint. I really liked this light fixture that you see here and decided I wanted it becaue it matched the hickory, and it added rounded elements.

I passed up the rustic slab table concept--we've seen a couple on this DAT already. But have you ever seen anything like this hickory set? Not like the hickory heavy heavy stuff I see in Amish stores...and look at those curves in the chairs. I bet these are 3-hour meal chairs, the kind that people can linger on. Good for family time and probably indestructible.

cabs: Thomasville hickory in "Sierra"
floor: Mannington restoration collection "Black Forest Oak, Antiqued" laminate
paimt: Sherwin Wms "Downy"
countertops: Cambria "Hazelford" fine grained
cabinet glass: Bendheim "Japanest Harvest" obscuring glass with embedded straw bits in the rice paper
range: Electrolux induction "Wave Touch"
hood: Quality Copperworks
sink: Elkay Gourmet. Choose any faucet you like except a white one.
ornithology jars: Laura Zindel Designs
baskets: a museum in Washington state
light fixture: LZF Spiro (real wood)
table and chairs: Eric Organic hickory in "Mission" style
area rug: Pier One Imports in jute with "carafe" border
hardware: Hickory Hardware "Tranquility" very affordable; copper exterior with a wooden center
backsplash: Artistic Tile in "Bloom" in lily white gloss finish
wallpaper: Bradbury & Bradbury "Island" in marooned colorway
the obligatory Kitchen Aide mixer is in cinnamon

Well, have you got a vision of what was my inspiration art piece yet? Hint: not Van Gogh.
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Source of this piece is Mpls Institute of Art
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From the Mpls Institute website:
"Yup'ik people have long maintained an annual cycle of ceremonies and festivals, passing Arctic nights in storytelling, singing, and dramatic masked performances. The purpose of these events is to enlist spiritual aid for survival in the harsh climate. They also build community feeling and a sense of cooperation. Many songs and dances are about success in hunting, an important concern.

"Shamans organize ceremonial dances and the carving of dance masks, which are made by men. Past Yup'ik artists had only a few materials, like driftwood, bone, fur, and feathers, but they used them skillfully, developing the spare, expressive style seen in this work. This mask, with its delicately carved features, probably represents a woman."

The Yupik make very distinctive masks. They often have items extended around the face in a halo on sticks where the feathers are in this piece--the sticks bear carved ivory pieces, stones, faces, wood items, you get the idea. Often the faces are trans-species "humanoids," turning a seal into a human and vice versa. There is some wood available in the biome, but these are definitely sea-going Arctic people, not to be confused with Alaska's Athabascan, Inuit, Aleutian, or Haida peoples. Imagine strings of seal hide or of grass which go through those holes and hold the mask onto someone's head. Pretty neat, huh?

Baskets shown are Yupik pieces from the Burke Museum at Univ of Washington--from the collections. But small baskets of this source can be still purchased in Alaska from native crafters. They are coil baskets made from local grasses and sometimes have woven designs and usually have a lid.

Although this mask is not smiling, I think it really is a happy face in disguise and I really enjoyed doing this kitchen. Despite all the patterns and textures, I think I'd enjoy cooking and eating in it and the colors are wonderful for those of my disposition.

I think the mask-inspired kitchen holds together well, my question would be about the relative scales of the various patterns, which is hard to assess except in real life.

Clodagh Shield Tile in Root Beer
Cambria quartz in Fieldstone
Kraftmaid Oak in Peppercorn
Viking Range
Kerlite Black/White large format tile
Farrow and Ball Book Room Red
Painting by Nick Patten
Fixture: Globo di Luci, copper
CH47 chair
Prouve Gueridon Table
Cowden Bell leather tile in Ginger
Euro Metro Pull in copper
Mid Century Tapestry.

The inspiration for this one was primarily this painting by van Eyck, but it owes something to Vermeer's The Letter as well.

Nick Patten was obviously influenced by the Dutch Masters with his painting in both form and color.

I wanted to create a room that was essentially influenced by the Dutch Masters but completely modern in content. The color may have to be tweaked a bit, parts of the painting are quite close to Farrow and Ball's Dead Salmon, but this looked, well...dead, on the board.

I felt the tiles with their slightly convex margins evoked tiles with a small corner decoration like delft tiles. I would try very large format with the checkered floor, and would pull in some of the red with a leather floor in the dining area, and probably work this and some other of the colors from the paintings into the details of the scheme as well.The Shield tile also comes in an earthenware red tone.

This might be a very somber kitchen but if it were well lit it could also be very warm. The paintings seem to pull it off...

Thanks for the great feedback on my O'Keeffe design. I didn't really go with an overt feminine design as this piece itself doesn't feel overtly feminine to me. I am not an expert on her art, but I think I recall O'Keeffe famously denying that her landscapes or flower paintings were allegories of the female reproductive system, so I didn't want to push the design in that direction.

cawaps (Mondrian) - Love this. The modern kitchen design and color blocking creates a very cool looking kitchen and a real tribute to Mondrian's work.
(Smart) - Again you did a great job capturing the essence of the piece. I love the organic feel and color palette.

mtnfever (O'Keeffe) - Looks like you and I were both inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's Southwestern work. I think you really captured the color palette.

palimpsest (Van Gogh) - I think I like the first one best. I really like the colors.
(Cornell) - To me this is a surprising kitchen inspiration, which makes me like it all the more. The hardware is fantastic.
(Stern/Marylin) - I think you really captured the softness and femininity of Marylin here. Beautiful inspiration and design.

lavendar_lass (Remington) - Great job capturing the mood and movement of this piece. I was pleasantly surprised at your selection of this art and kitchen design as it does not seem to be within your normal realm of favorite kitchen design. Great job breaking out!
(Monet) - What a lovely design. I think I might have liked to see more of the greens in the Monet piece included in the kitchen design.

purplepansies (Farrer) - Really fantastic. I think you've perfectly captured the piece and designed a really lovely kitchen.

This DAT thread has been a lot of fun. I hope some of the lurkers will join in and give it a try. You really can't go wrong since everyone interprets art a little differently! I have another design I'm trying to finish and could probably do several more, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

I *do like the Balthus, because I think it holds together as a bourgeois French-Deco-y room on it's own and would work without knowing the painting and with other art more innocuous than the zombies.

I am happy with the way the Cornell turned out although I would be worried about a couple of those bird beaks. Cornell was about a series of boxes with unrelated things in them...and that's what a kitchen partly is too.

So much of the Marilyn-inspired stuff makes her seem so trashy or garish, and I don't think that is very multidimensional --I really dislike a number of the Warhol versions of Marilyn (and Liz Taylor, for that matter)--so...harsh. I wanted to capture something softer.

Marcolo, regarding your comment that some of these designe need a key fabric to pull them together. I agree, but the quest for such a fabric is one of the holdups on the ones I'm working on now. The problem with "painterly palettes" is that fabric designers don't tend to work in them. I've literally looked at thousands of different fabrics and come up empty. I'll probably setlle for kinda sorta okay just so I can post. It's very frustrating, and I'm sure others have had the same problem.

Pal, the Starry Night. This is a pretty kitchen, but although intellectually I see how you used the inspiration piece, on a gut level it doesn't reflect the painting for me at all. I have a start on a Starry Night kitchen and if I ever finish we can compare interpetations.

Purplepansies, Winter Scene--Your totally captured the artwork. I love how the lighting fixture stands in for the moon.

Florantha, Yup'ik mask. Unexpected choice of artwork, and not something I was familiar with (Yup'ik art in general). I love the hickory cabinets, and the way you wove in feathers and Native American images. I think the copper works well with the color of the face.

Pal, van Eyck. This is another where I think you did a great job of capturing the inpiration painting but the result doesn't quite work for me. The black and white floor looks fine in the painting but I didn't like it paired with the dark brown cabinets. I do like your dining area, and the Nick Patten painting was an inspired choice, the way the doorway and exit door echo what's in the van Eyck.

I saw a book of photographs that showed a number of current Dutch interiors with a checkerboard floor of some sort (although the houses may have been very old.) There is a fair amount of King of Prussia checkerboard in 18th. c. houses here, too.

It's considered a "neutral" in that sense, just like blue jeans go with everything (but not really) but a pair of gabardine pants the same color wouldn't.

I don't think that many cultures were/are as hung up about coordinating things the way we are now...so a color coordinated floor might "go" but it wouldn't capture Dutch Master at all, and I think it could be kind of boring.

Assuming I am right, I did not know that was common in Center City (or anywhere else, for that matter). As you may be able to guess, I think that is coool!

The checkerboard is interesting because they didn't always go for high contrast or consistent contrast.

I've actually been working on a piece that pairs black with an off white (very off, almost beige), and every time I try to put something in that is black and WHITE, it just looks wrong. The white just looks stark and out of place. Maybe others wouldn't see it the same way.

I am detaching myself enough from these to design kitchens that are based upon the criteria at hand, though, and using particular elements I would not use and ending up with a kitchen that may not completely be my taste. It's my taste in that I designed it, of course, but the criteria = "client". So, the Dutch Masters inspiration required, in my mind, the checkerboard floor, so the kitchen gets a checkerboard floor whether I particularly think dark brown and beige would look better than black and white, or not.

I was asked to design a living room that featured a large Thomas Kinkade "original" --he sneezed on the minimum wage illegal immigrant that was painting it, or something--and I would do a good room around it, if the client would ever pull the trigger, but I couldn't really ignore the parameters that the "painting" set forth.

Crackled/distressed cabs
Danby marble countertops
shaded hexagon floor tile
Crackle tile backsplash

Inspired by:

The floor and backsplash are from Forbo Marmoleum's Graphic series, Sgraffito and Litho, respectively.
Slab cabinets custom paint
Counters are crema marfil marble
Range is Fratelli Onofri
The cabinet hardware I found on Etsy
Futuro Futuro hood
Rug is Rays by Verner Panton from ArchiExpo.com (available up to 10 ft diameter)
Swivel dining chair from furnitureartdesign.com
Richard Schultz Petal dining table from liveauctioneers.com
Black lacquer credenza with sliding doors, Hollywood Regency, from 1stDibs.com
Painting is Rhapsody in Blue by Yehoshua Kovarsky (1stDibs)
Venetian glass sconces by Mazzega
Austrian bouquet glass flush ceiling fixture (1stDibs)
Paint is Benjamin Moore Stone House

The picture is Flowers by Andy Warhol 1965.

So the Lavender-ish things I included were the color lavender, a tile mural over the range, French country table, and a little bit of bringing the outside into the design via the view through the window. I believe that Lavender has that variety of rose in her yard.

Anderson Coastal Art Sand Dollar hardwood flooring
Shaker cabinets (Kraftmaid) custom gray paint
La Cornue Albertine range in Provence blue
Super White Granite (Burd Tile and Stone)
Marble subway tile (sorry don't know whose)
Stained glass uppers (Spectrum opals in pale blue/white translucent)
Frigidaire range hood
Cook floral roses ceramic tile mural (artworkontile.com)
Gray ceramic rope liner tile from Home Depot
Metal top Provencal dining table from kaboodle.com
Aidan Gray Kason side chair from Houzz.com
Drapery fabric is Darby Lane Kohl by Robert Allen
Bow window is from lifestylesunrooms.com
The view out the window is a pic from here on GardenWeb posted by HerbLady49 (to Lavender Lass, by coincidence, which is how I know she has these in her garden)
Crystal Poul Henningsen Artichoke ceiling light
Paint is Benjamin Moore Wild Heart

Now, because the outdoor pink roses really dominate the DR color scheme, I thought, what will this look like in winter? So I went hunting for pictures of rose gardens in winter and found a nice pic on heritagerosefoundation.org posted by Stephen Scanniello (Steprose) which was close in configuration to the other pic. Without the pink from the roses, I decided to swap out the drapes (not an unreasonable thing to do seasonally). This was the best fabric option I could find and I don't really like it--it goes to Marcolo's comment about finding a fabric to tie it all together and my response about how freakin' hard that is with some of these pallette. Pink/purple is almost exclusively a little girl's design palette, and I looked at so many fabric and never found one that seemed exactly right. This one's definitely a second best solution.

Now in my meanderings, I ran across a piece of artwork by Georgia O'Keeffe and said "THAT is what I want behind the range." More my taste than Lavender's, I'm pretty sure. I know you can have tile murals made from photographs; so my hope was that I could have "White Rose Abstraction with Pink" made into a tile mural. Not sure if intellectual property rights would be a hangup on that.

So those are the two iterations, and here is the artwork. It's floral, it's French, and it has a frame around it begging to be turned into a tile mural.

Pierre Auguste Renoir, Roses dans une Fenetre

French country kitchens aren't for me, either. But I certainly see the essence of the Renoir in those kitchens, more so, obviously, in the first one. I agree that finding fabrics is difficult, so I mostly don't even look! Love that light fixture!

Cawaps, I like the Warhol flowers kitchen a lot. I might even strip out the beige. They still make those floral fixtures and I have tried to use them on a couple of projects including one that had some salvaged Venturi, Scott-Brown building panels with large white flowers on them, similar to the Warhol. So far, no takers, but I think they are great fixtures.

The Renoirs would work for me with a different wall color. I am getting a bit of a Necco Wafer / Marshmallow Peep taste-smell in my head from the pink.

The Renoir is wonderful and that's what I would choose, from the three options. The first one is very pretty...as is the pink and purple, but I would never have pink walls in my house, in real life. LOL All my walls are soft gold or beige, but I would like light blue, if I had a sunroom.

The range is beautiful and the backsplash looks great with the rose mural. I would definitely choose those for a kitchen on GW, just not my own. I like doing the soft, pretty kitchens because they're fun to research. I think they're a little escapist, since most of us have husbands and other family members, who share the kitchen, too.

Now, if anyone really wants to design a kitchen in my style...think bunny tile! LOL A little feminine, with some wood cabinets, lots of white trim, big brick (not painted) fireplace and views of the horses, out in the pasture.

From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

But, I digress....great job on all these DAT kitchens, everyone! So many creative ideas and designs. I agree, this is one of the best DAT threads we've ever had!

As for the tones: Oh, I agree! Those tones look jarring even to my indelicate eye, but they were the best I could find that showed the other features I was looking for.

Aga range
Plain & Fancy cabinets
Concetta Viola counter by Caesarstone
Lilac recycled glass tiles - Susan Jablon
Shaws sink
Florentine bridge faucet by Harrington Brass Works
purple acrylic knob from ebay
white washed and zinc topped table - noirfurniturela.com
white washed dining chair - beach wood.com
crystal flower chandelier - laylagrace.com
Linda Ikat Damask Amethyst curtains - houseoffraser.co.uk
Columbia Cascade Clic Mountain Mist laminate flooring

Purplepansies Lilacs. A very pretty kitchen to go with a very pretty painting. I like how the floor and wall color pick up the greens in the background of the paiting, and how they provide a restful backdrop to the purple.

Angie_DIY Melancholia 1. I like how the shape of the floor tiles echos the geometric block in the center left of the painting and the way the countertop looks like angel feathers.

This one was really fun, and produced some very unique and interesting kitchens. One of the goals of these threads is to see examples of diverse kitchens, and we got them in spades on this thread.

I don't know much about the artist or painting, but I do know the piece is based on a character in a classic piece of literature. The art is John William Waterhouse's 1916 painting Miranda the Tempest. Miranda is a character in Williams Shakespeare's play The Tempest. I loved the bold colors on Miranda in the painting, so I used bold blue cabinets with a pop of a bright red range. I included black walnut flooring to ground the space and reference the brown cliffs in the painting. The ocean is represented with the white and gray heavily veined calcutta oro countertop and the splashes of aqua in the pendants, rugs, and wall color. The gorgeous Ann Sacks glass mosaic represents the color of the stormy sky. I aimed for a fairly traditional style with heavy detailing to reference the painting's classic subject and detailed style.

Pal, do you think you could actually live in that red kitchen? Is there anything you would add to relieve the reds so you don't feel that you live inside an internal organ? I love the idea in the abstract (pun intended) but seeing the whole put together, it's pretty aggressive and doesn't seem to invite the cook to come in.

___

Angie: The Durer was a complete surprise to me--I really expected something much more modern. Do you think you could insert a modern b&W image and keep the same kitchen?

I have a few early 20th C. etchings that I've put into the kitchen and then removed; they are so insistent that someone stand right up close that they don't allow viewing from a distance.

Cawaps, I notice that you change out the view on your lavendar kitchen window to mere sticks when you change to the modern view. There's something about flowers with petals that seems to drag interiors into a more old-fashioned space, isn't there?

[off topic: When I finally finish my kitchen and start to photos, I will need to remove the flowering plants in order to take feminine, old-fashioned references out of it. The room is gently modern and those primroses I bought for morale when Mom went to hospital and the flowering African violets I've nursed along and which are currently marching in a line between my sink and my double casement window cannot be allowed to be there in the mod room. They hijack the decor!

Pricklypear: that kitchen is very very classy. Nice job. Tell us--do you actually like the romantic stormy art piece or did it just click with your tastes in decor?

Purplepansies: that kitchen is pure joy. I'm not into white kitchens or purple but I put it into the same category as Beaglesdoitbetter's blue and white kitchen....if that's your thing it's a good thing. Part of its triumph is that you controlled the purple. If you omit the bouquet you omit the only flowery thing in the room. Let's think what else could replace it...a big purple-centered geode? a killer vase? canisters? I note that you chose not to include the shell pinks. I assume that's intentional. But what if you did? Paint? something else?

cawaps, that Warhol-Picasso kitchen would probably win an A if this were a class. But I don't think I could live in it. Very disciplined. Nothing could be out of place...imagine a mound of beets and stems, a pile of dirty dishes, and a rug underfoot with tennis shoes standing on them. Violates the aesthetic.
__

Pal, could you simply switch out the severe b&W checkerboard floor for a King of Prussia mutlicolor one? Your posting made me go look look up the marble and I'm a convert. Except for that floor I like your updated Dutch master kitchen a lot. Or marmoleum--a softer floor would make it suitably modern and comfy to work in, for hours and hours.

Regarding the red kitchen: could I work in it? No, probably not. But trying to relieve it could possibly make it harder to live with because almost anything would heighten the contrast. I could live in an all green or all blue kitchen of this saturation, but it would have to be the right green or blue. The Miles Redd Kelly Green kitchen would be too much for me.

Florantha, regarding my Lavender Lass (Renoir) kitchen. The changing out of the tile mural came after the decision to switch to the winter view outside. I wanted to do the winter view to see what the impact was of losing the outdoor colors, particularly the pink. I have to say, the dining room looked rather dreary with the original drapes and the winter view, so I changed out the drapes (I didn't intentionally choose a more modern fabric, I was having a hard enough time finding colors that worked). THEN I ran across the O'Keeffe and decided that if I weren't designing for Lavender, that's what I'd want behind the range. So I change that out as well. It was not at all a well thought out cohesive set of change-outs with a plan to go more modern.

You asked quite a while ago about the scale on my Libby Smart (green kitchen). Sorry for the late reply. The backsplash mosaic has a variety of tile sizes, ranging from (at best guess) about 1/2 inch square up to maybe 1.5 inches square. The strand bamboo I'm not as sure about--I'm not sure if the pic I pulled was a full cabinet door or a close-up. I googled strand bamboo cabinets and found wide variation in the size of the stripes, most smaller than what I showed. But I did find one or two pics that were close to the scale of what I included in my board (estimating scale relative to the range).

Here's the list of proposed topics and the list of what we've done. It's been a while since we did a home from a partcular period (although Steampunk was pretty Victorian), so I'd lean toward one of those. Or maybe metal cabinetry as a tribute to the now discontinued St. Charles cabinets (may they rest in peace).

Materials
Knotty pine
Metal cabinetry
Interesting tile (we can do this one over and over)
Vetrazzo
Marmoleum graphic series
Back-painted glass
Commercial Kitchens/Restaurant Supply
Avocado or harvest gold appliances

Defining the Home
Spanish Colonial Revival
Craftsman
Prarie School
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
Remodel a specific kitchen (choose home/kitchen from real estate listing)
Beach House
Mash-up house (what do you do with a house that is already a mash-up of styles, like a Mission-style Queen Anne)

Theme/Decorating Styles
Eclectic
Starting from clothing fashions as your inspiration pic, design a kitchen that suits the era/mood/style
Scandinavian

Budget/Supply restrictions
$10K budget
Ikea kitchen (all Ikea?)
Mail order kitchen
Home Depot kitchen
Architectural salvage/upcycle/recycle

Define the People
Mid-life crisis bachelor (or cougar) pad
Rabid sports fan wants to decorate in team colors

Presentation Strategies that Can Be Combined with Other Choices
This/Not That (Good taste/bad taste, works/doesn't work)
High/Low (same look, different budgets)

 
What we have done so far:
1) Apple Jasper
2) Colonial Revived
3) 1920's Kitchens and All That Jazz
4) Formica Patterns are Coooool!
5) Neo-Tuscan/TuscAmerican
6) I'm Dreaming of a White Kitchen, But...
7) Victorian/Queen Anne
8) Animal 'Prints'
9) Keeping the Golden Oak
10) Tarting Up a Tudor (posted as #9)
11) Pink for the Present Day & Part 2
12) 1960s tract house
13) French Country
14) Rustic Modern
15) Hollywood Regency and Background
16) Yellow Kitchens and Background
17) Steampunk and Background
18) Art and Background

For the full article on kitchens in Cuba, see the link below.

And hat's off to Pal for the inspiration.....

Pal, I wasn't initially sure if you were going for actual comic book art or Lichtenstein's comic inspired art. But that thing above the table (lighting fixture? wall art? I can't tell--provide details!) has me convinced you're specifically referencing Lichtenstein's "Wham!" Am I right? Am I right? (hops up and down.)

Yes I am referencing Lichtenstein's work :)

I really like that Cuban kitchen and others I've seen in the article.

You guys are good, and I am definitely not in the same league as you about art, design or style! I had not idea who you were referring to, Pal, but I did think of Batman when I saw the art above the table.

I'm not sure what I'd like to see for the next DAT, but maybe choose a specific element to design around this time.

I don't have a particular opinion about what comes next. One think I will say is that it is awfully hard to get a good picture of a harvest gold or avocado green appliance so we may have to fake it out of blocks in the right shade.

One that I would suggest adding to the list is "Strange new finishes/color options".

I have noticed when doing these that many relatively high ticket items (quartz or solid surface countertops, for example) have some new introductions either in colors I would never expect to be popular, or downright strange new options. Of course some of this is for the commercial market...even Formica within the past year or so introduced a plain burgundy laminate and a plain post-it yellow --I don't know where these particular colors are coming from.

(Marking so I can read this at leisure later...looks like big fun and VERY inspirational!)

All these DATs have been very educational for me, but this one has been particularly so. I'm slowly re-decorating my entire house, and as a person with little instinctive vision in this area, the idea of using art I already love as a starting point is really helpful.

I ended up doing some net surfing and found a very informative slideshow about Vincent Van Gogh's twilight, evening, and night scenes that others might also enjoy. Scroll down the page to find the start of the multimedia slide show.

Avocado or Harvest Gold appliances (like Pal, I've looked for images of these and they are surprisingly hard to find--but as Pal noted, we could use a colorblock stand-in)

Pal suggested stange new colors/finishes (can you suggest a few specifically?)

I've been lobbying for a while to do a design around items you might find in a restaurant supply store.

From the list we also have:
Knotty pine
Metal cabinetry
Interesting tile (we can do this one over and over)
Vetrazzo
Marmoleum graphic series
Back-painted glass

Here's a few ads and the actual kitchens...

From April 23, 2012

From Avocado green and harvest gold kitchens

From Avocado green and harvest gold kitchens

From Avocado green and harvest gold kitchens

I think the challenge would be to use the colors, in a kitchen that is not from the 1970s.

A few ideas....

From Avocado green and harvest gold kitchens

From Avocado green and harvest gold kitchens

From Avocado green and harvest gold kitchens

There is an actual avocado on the countertop, but, sadly, it is out of view.

As far as strange colors or finishes, I am not saying that I don't like some of these, but I don't know where they are "coming from" trend wise, nor how they would be used in a residential environment, commonly.

Blue Spice

Queen of Sheba quartz

Hickory Smoke solid surface

Oxyd2 linoleum

Fiesta laminate

Imagine sticking something like that on a range today? (Well, I suppose perhaps this year, 2012, we may see a Mayan calendar in the mainstream!)

As for harvest gold or avocado appliances - yuck! I'll do it, of course - but yuck!

Lavendar - I love that chair! Where is it from?

The Fiesta laminate reminds me of orange sherbet. A perfectly fine color, but who is using it in kitchens nowadays?

There looks to be some enthusiasm for avocado and harvest gold appliances, though. Should we just do that?

I just read an article in a UK home magazine ("Ideal Home") about coloured appliances. They mention the popularity of gold in the '70s and note that in 2012 "you'll find appliances in everything from bright red and oranges to deep purples and pale blues." Coloured appliances seem to be quite popular in Europe.

I'm just back from a holiday at a friend's apartment in Lucca, Tuscany. I've pasted pictures below of her cobalt fridge (and for good measure her gorgeous sink and a couple of bonus pics). Isn't it a great little kitchen?

I envy the choice Europeans have, and to be honest, I don't mind avocado appliances at all (anymore).

I'm no expert, but the first picture looks 1950s (?) the chair, 1940s (?) and the last picture could be a modern take on maybe 1920s (?). I was kind of thinking...if avocado appliances had been around since the 1920s....what would they look like, in the various kitchens? :)

Strange is maybe too strong a word, but unusual colorways? or patterns?

The first one reads very 1980s teal, and that doesn't seem to be popular with too many people for right now.

The Queen of Sheba is dark gray with dark green "outlines" --I like this one, but what is it? It looks vaguely mossy in this colorway.

The Hickory Smoke is a smeary looking pattern with large translucent particles in it...butterscotch pudding mixed with tapioca?

The Oxyd02 was designed by Claudy Jongstra, based upon felt. She is Dutch, and I think that Europeans have different feelings about color than Americans do. Its kind of bilious looking to me...

The Fiesta Formica is kind of peachy, and so is the Hickory Smoke in one of its tones, and again...I am just not seeing this going in a typical American kitchen.

Bilious is a good word for the Oxyd2. It's a color tha might come into fashion some day but probably wouldn't stay long. It's a color that a lot of people have a negative reaction to from fashion--it's unflatting on a lot of skin types. I've seen some folks who look fabulous in mustard yellow, but many more who really don't. And if it's something you avoid like the plague at the clothing store it's probably not something that's going to appeal to you in the kitchen showroom.

Yes, I think we can do Green or Gold appliances next if no one objects.

refrigerator = Heartland in almond
range = Glenwood antique wood and coal burning range, c. 1890s
cabinets = Kraftmaid quartersawn slab cherry Natural finish
sink = Blanco Silgranite II "Biscotti"
countertop = www.marblecompany.com blue luise
paint = Martha Stuart Living "Magnolia"
tile = Ann Sacks "Indah" 1 ft x 1 ft
hardware = Amerock BP1321
Lights = Kenroy Home 66342 Art Deco from Harbour Collection
drapery = West Elm's Blue velvet
table set = David Smith & Co's Bayang table, from Bali
flooring = Marmoleum Click Forbo "Whispering Blue"

I had previously messed with fabrics that had similar swirled circle themes. There are a lot of them. One of the problems was editing...I couldn't include much more action than the countertop and one more distinctively live thing before the kitchen became a sideshow and not an integrated whole. I decided that plain dark velvet drapes were the most prudent alternative to fabric with circles and pulsing movement.

The light fixtures are inspired by a Van Gogh that is in the slide show from MOMA...they illuminate the tavern around the periphery of the billiard table, although I took poetic license; actually these were hanging gaslights that faced upward I'm sure, but the idea is kinda the same. I would be sure to include upfacing accent lights over the cabinets if there were space for them. This kitchen needs distinctive light.

The teak tile and the wood of the table are exotic--references to the Gauguin end of the impressionist world. The knobs are sunflowers or stars or whatever, and they're creamy off-white, which is the color I decided to use to keep things calm.

I wonder if that range burns peat too.

I like this palette a lot. The teakish colored natural cherry and the Whispering Blue floor are very soothing to my eye.

The painting is *really modern looking for its era.

The scouring pad light gives me the creeps a little bit, but scouring pads do that anyway for some reason.

I really wanted something reminiscent of a thunderstorm in the room, and lightening was a little too cliche (and not in the painting.) I was pretty surprised that I got a hit when I googled "storm cloud light fixture!" Had to use it!

Would any of you accomplished Channelers of Concepts into Kitchens take this on? Please?

All I can say for sure is that I see it in the Low Countries, where it is often overcast, so that the room -- rather like the Peacock Room at the Freer -- may have handsomely tall windows but is not meant to be seen in strong natural light.

Anyway, I gave up on trying to articulate and decided to see if I can do a room. It is incredibly hard both creatively and -- for me -- technically (I ended up using Paint). I copied and discarded a zillion items before I collected some I thought went well together.

I do not know how you guys do it.

Anyway, here's what I came up with. I forgot to note the identity of the items used. The lights are Rejuvenation, the floor is cork, and everything else is in stock somewhere except the barnwood-ish cabinets, which can be ordered online.

I know it's late in this thread, but I hope someone more accomplished will take a run at it.

Cheers. hbk

I tried to evoke the bold color palette and used the knobs to evoke the primary imagery in the art. Unfortunately the cabinet color is a little more dark and ornate than I wanted (I was aiming for a simple style in bright cobalt blue). I do think the ambiguity in the style of the kitchen matches the ambiguity in the painting. Overall I love the loud colors in the piece and it's probably one of my favorites from this artist. The painting is Salvador Dali's Landscape with Butterflies.

Florantha Starry Night--Good job finding swirly tile. I tried this exercise, but was stumped searching for swirly tile. I love the dark blue drapes.

Purplepansies Approaching Thunder Storm--Oooh, I love the artwork! You did a great job of capturing the colors and the mood of the painting. I love the magma supreme granite.

Honorbiltkit Vuillard--Also a beautiful painting, full of interesting details and patterns. You captured the color of the rug in the painting, and the painting you chose for your design does a great job of mimicking the painting in the painting. If that makes any sense.

Palimpsest Vuillard--You also did a great job of capturing the colors of the painting, playing up the neutrals a bit compared to Honorbiltkit. The floor--is it Marmoleum?--mimics the colors of the rug. Style-wise, the table is unexpected, but I really like it in the design.

Pricklypearcactus Lanadscape with Butterflies--I like the interplay of colors in your kitchen just as much as in the original painting.

I just want to say how very much I've enjoyed this thread. I liked the artwork, I liked the kitchens, and I liked all the creative thinking that went into putting them together.

The butterfly kitchen is very fresh lookng.

Generally, in these challenges do you get demerits for whatever is the opposite of verisimilitude?

Why not go for his later work and put in (wait for it....) a bridge faucet? ;-)