I just looked back at my post, and wow, I really can't type. Or I can't spell. One or the other.

I did say it was going to be creepy, although I wasn't actively going for frightening. It's probably not surprising that it went there though, given that I didn't think of the backsplash tile as a microscopic examination of snakeskin, but rather a to-scale depiction of something more like Godzilla (I really think it was the Komodo dragon artwork. It scarred me for life).

Pal, I don't find your design as off-putting as Marolo did--except for that artwork. The dirty dishes, the canteloupe rind, the discarded napkin: first of all, not what I want to look at in my kitchen (I have enough of that without purposefully putting it on the walls). But there is also something wrong with that canteloupe. Is it just me, or does it look half rotten? The image is small so maybe I'm seeing something that is not there.

I like the double helix hanging from the ceiling. Is that a light fixture or a sculpture?

I know exactly what you mean by it "turning" on you! LOL! I wanted to do a sleek modern black and white cow kitchen, and somewhere I found a brown cow stencil and everything took a turn for the rustic and country.
______________________________

Twins Jeannie and Janie inherited their dad's hunting cabin in the Smoky Mountains when he died. Once upon a time it had been in the middle of now where cow pastures, but time and development had caught up with the locale and now it was in the middle of a "resort" area. That was fine with the twins, as their families could use a great vacation spot for hiking and fishing, but it was going to take a lot to turn the knotty pine overload into something family friendly. The floors, walls, ceiling and cabinets were all knotty pine.

The first thing they did was to scrub the place from top to bottom and then paint those knotty pine cabinets white. The old white Formica had to go, as did the plastic utility sink, although Jeannie liked it's utility. So they went to a restaurant supply house and bought a stainless replacement. They'd keep the old white refrigerator and they found the old Tappan range charming. For the floor, they thought of painting checkerboards, but Janie was browsing a craft store and found the large cow stencil and thought that would be something graphic and different that would pay homage to the former cow pasture out back. They chose brown and white instead of black and white because it was less harsh to the eyes and less predictable. They settled on Formica's Cocoa Leather for their new counters and knobs in a faux tooled leather.

Ceiling

"Janie, we're ad bad as Dad with his knotty pine! Everything we've picked is either brown or white."

"Don't worry, we've still got room for plenty of color here. I'm gonna pick out some country fabrics to put some punch in the room. How about gingham?"

"And a bandana print! We have to do a bandana print! Remember Dad was always carrying one as a handerchief substitute"

"Yeah, let's go garage sale-ing and see what else we can find."

And so they hit the garage sales and found an old pedestal table that they painted red. Halfway up some mountain road on which they were sure they were lost, they came upon a chainsaw carving artist and furniture maker who blew them away with log versions of the classic Panton chair. They also cruised the same craft fair where they had found the cabinet knobs and found a reverse painted plexiglass cow chandelier. They finished up that weekend by sewing a curtain to hide the sink plumbing out of the bandana fabric and using the stripe for a valance above the sink and creating some fabric panels to put in place of a couple of the cabinet panels they routed out. The old leather jackets they picked up at the thrift stores and garage sales got cut into squares in preparation for next weekend's chore of sewing them into a rug.

The next weekend, the barn light ceiling fixtures had arrived, so they put the pair of them up and then finished up the leather rug. The hood insert had arrived, but Janie was feeling less certain of her idea of using galvanized metal to create a chimney hood for it. They were coming back from Sunday breakfast at the local eatery when they saw it. It was perfect! It was also a cow's watering trough! So they called up the chainsaw craftsman and asked him if he knew anyone that did a bit of metalwork. His brother owned a machine shop and agreed to go down to the co-op for the watering trough and have everything done by the next weekend. That left only the mail order butcherblock island to paint and they'd be done.

The crowning touch was the towel cow that they had found at the craft fair. :)

They'd work on the kid's bunk beds next, but at least they had a place to fry up the fish they caught and a table to sit around and tell lies. It was all second hand and slightly hokey, but they loved it to death and would be perfect for years of family gatherings to come.

The helix is a fixture called "DNA".

"The Labradoodle"

Backstory: Hendrix is a kooky 2 1/2 year old chocolate labradoodle. When he was really little, his coat was a deep chocolate brown. After his first haircut (a shave) his color was almost like a Weimaraner - a beautiful brown / grey with a lovely depth of color. He is a gorgeous dog, in his family's admittedly biased opinion. And yes, he was named after Jimi Hendrix, by the family's then-10 year old son. He lives up to the craziness of his name.

His 'mom' was inspired by the top of Hendrix' head and a curly tile pattern to design a Hendrix kitchen for this thread. This is perhaps a stretch for an animal print theme, but the thematic elements are the 'Labradoodle' curly tiles, muddy paw print granite, and leather (dog collar) pulls and knobs. The color scheme is pure Hendrix.

{{gwi:1987307}}

{{gwi:1987308}}

Here are the elements:
{{gwi:1987309}}

{{gwi:1987310}}

And of course "purple haze" accessories:
{{gwi:1987311}}

The kitchen:
{{gwi:1987312}}

How cool we are still getting great new kitchens!

The lack of anthropocentric (cool word) qualities in some of these materials is a really interesting point. I've been fascinated by the use of words like evil, creepy, and repellant, in this thread of visually beautiful rooms. In my own board, Sarah wanted her mother to see the colors in the python tiles, but Alice was too distracted by the frightening animal itself. I think we have very complicated emotional reactions to these materials, without even understanding why (the threatening aspect is surely a large part of it.)

I was almost relieved to see LWO's introduction of the cow pattern into the conversation. Because cattle have been used (unfairly or not) since the dawn of time to provide humans with food and clothing, it's not remarkable or scary to sit on a leather chair. Same with circuspeanut's pig-centric kitchen, with equipale chairs. But lowering my tush on cawap's stunning snakeskin chairs, it would at least flicker in my mind to assess the risk...!

For most, a brindle longhorn calf hide pattern is an acceptable material for rugs or upholstery. Fewer would purchase the same item marketed as a brindle Great Dane hide pattern, because of how we relate emotionally to the animal. Similar size, texture, color, pattern; but two diametrically opposed reactions.

Carefully setting aside the emotionally charged topic of the ethics of using real hides. I also think most of us, viewing a ceramic leopard tile, automatically flip past the quick mental image of real leopard skin. This is slightly creepy because we instinctively know that Something Bad happened to the leopard to get the hide. Although hides can be quite beautiful, but they're basically an unnatural form of the animal (you'll never see a leopard skin stalking prey) and unnatural takes us to the creepy zone.

I think I had a happier reaction to Sochi's peacock board, and Anna and Leia's marine-related boards, because those materials were more of a celebration of the beauty of the animals, with nothing bad happening to the donors of the beauty.

When we're sitting in the doctor's office, I doubt most of us enjoy looking at huge colored prints of John's internal organs. Instinctively, we know that in order for artists and scientists to depict these organs, we know that Something Bad happened to some of John's ancestors. (Now that I think about it, Something Bad is also happening to the cantaloupe in Pal's art print!)

Pal's DNA wallpaper is fascinating. I think it's beautiful, reminding me of the fine network of amber lines in DaVinci anatomy studies. But I'll wager many of my friends would say it was weird if I told them the source of the design.

Totally fascinating how we react to these naturally occurring elements.

At 2 a.m. (don't ask) my cowtown kitchen seemed kinda kitchy and fun. In the light of day, it's too Hee Haw meets urban New Yorker with B A D banjo playing consequences. All we need now is a chicken kitchen and the barnyard trio will be complete. Where the heck is igloochic? I bet she could do a mean chicken kitchen! LOL!

If I get the time I may do one more. My idea folder overfloweth with all manner of animal stuff. Who knew there was so much?

lwo, your Hee-Haw kitchen lacks only a denim banquette with stitched pockets. The watering trough hood is genius.

Mud, I think the comparison to Davinci's drawings is fascinating because they are visually similar but philosophically polar opposites. Davinci had that Renaissance thing going, making man literally the measure of things, of the perfect circle and the square. DNA art is reductionist--this is all you are, just like a chimp or a squirrel, same as everything else.

I am p-o'd that I am having both a busy schedule this week, and a hella time finding cabinetry that evokes a Draper Espana chest. Darnit!

This is the last one, I swear.

I wanted to use a giraffe print but found that every time I tried it strayed into Africana. My efforts only gelled when I embraced that. This is a mixed budget design (Ikea cabs but expensive lighting fixture, rangehood, and probably the table and chair although I never found a price--I got the pic from the designer's website, not a dealer).

The center of the design is Imagine Tiles giraffe tile. Because it seemed like a lot of giraffe quickly became too much, I opted to limit the amount of giraffe by using it to frame the rangehood in two colmns, which also evokes giraffe necks. The rest of the backsplash is a limestone mosaic run vertically to evoke savannah grasses.

The Cabs are Ikea Ramsjo, which echos the red/brown in the giraffe tile. The counter is Silestone Capri Limestone. I couldn't find the knobs or pulls I wanted ready-made. I wanted African batik (or mudcloth) bone. I pulled an image of a large (1 inch) bead that I figure could be converted to a knob, but I'm sure somebody, somewhere makes hardware out of this stuff and I just couldn't find it. The floor is a wood-look porcelain tile (Daltile Timber Glen Rustic Dune).

Riffing on the red tones, I chose a burgundy Bertazzoni range, and wallpaper in a brownish-red tone with a pattern intended again to evoke grass. The rangehood is a copper "Montreux" hood from Vogler Copperworks.

The table and chair were designed by Adriana Hoyos and I found them on her website. I was planning to reupholster the chair with African mudcloth (from BohemianElement.com).
The Batik artwork is by Setsinala found on ItsABlackThang.com. These are for the wall of the dining area.

The "Kalahari" antler lighting fixture for the dining is by FireMountainForge. The glass semi-flushmounts are Amber Scroll Art Glass from Lamps Plus.

This is off topic on topic.

I thought about doing a cat kitchen since cat's have become the most popular domestic pets but I quickly realized that it would be almost impossible not to decline into kitsch like the cow kitchen did. Then I came across a pic from The Cat's House book, which I own. It's all about how Bob and Frances Walker converted their home into a cat friendly environment. These are people that are not afraid of color! The various catwalks and cubby holes throughout the house are blindingly bright. I love the idea of somewhat adapting the home environment to suit the four legged members of the family, but I personally draw the line at cutting holes in the walls to let them walk through on their catwalk.

Here's their kitchen floor. It's decopauged from a gazillion print pics of cats that Frances cut out and then coated with lots and lots of poly. It's a pretty hard use environment and seems to have held up well.
{{gwi:1987314}}{{gwi:1987315}}

The dividing wall between dining and living area with it's red sisal climbing poles.
{{gwi:1987316}}

Another view of the room divider.
{{gwi:1987317}}

Part of the network of catwalks that run through the home.
{{gwi:1987318}}{{gwi:1987319}}

There's more if you want at their website.

But, this is one real life "animal inspired" home.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Cats House

I decided to further explore what Marcolo introduced in terms of the disturbing quality of my people print kitchen. I pushed the kitchen into a more scientific direction and some of the pieces into that midcentury period when we felt sure that we were being watched, probed, and analyzed from space...a recurring theme on shows like Twilight Zone. So step back for a minute and remember that we are also animals (no real human hide used in this project)

DNA backsplash and wall covering
St Charles Cabinets
Erwin Olaf portraits
Loewy chest (banded colors look like phoresis)
Vintage billiard light
Polished Hudson chair
Stainless table
Hand chair
Forbo Colorex cleanroom flooring (looks cellular)

Well, that story is about nostalgia and paranoia. Very human.

Pal,

I like this one better. The colors are much more comfortable (the band-aid color of the last was off-putting).

I like your artwork, but your theme put me in mind of this one by Lichtenstein. I saw it in Cologne many years ago and it cracked me up. Looking for it led me to a similar one by Magritte. Of course, if Marcolo thought your first human design evoked a sense of human beings being probed by aliens, he should really avoid hanging these in his house.

Lichtenstein
{{gwi:1987329}}

Magritte:

LWO, funny cat house.

I have a cat print countertop in my house. Stainless counters + cats who feel they can go anywhere they want when I'm not home = little kitty prints all over the counter.

But I don't plan on doing a design around it.

Funny those, because I forgot these. This happens to be the Fornasetti wallpaper, framed but I would hang Fornasetti plates from the same series on that DNA wallpaper.

Question not related to animal prints: I have trouble finding images of cabinets. No problem finding shaker or slab, but for a few projects I have been looking for something different (but not cathedral oak) and really have had trouble. LWO had an interesting ornate door in one of his boards. Where do you go to find a variety of different cabinet types? Ideally pictures of just the door, or drawer.

Plain & Fancy, Dynasty/Omega, and Wood-Mode all have doors you can save as jpegs.

I would hang Fornasetti plates from the same series on that DNA wallpaper

Now THAT would be interesting. I like it.

Tom and Amy live in Missouri. They met in college, and Tom is a HUGE sports fan.

Amy has been dying to redo the kitchen. They host lots of get-togethers with their friends and neighbors,and love to entertain.

Amy long ago realized that Tom has a soft spot for anything MU related. So when she showed him her ideas for the kitchen, complete with a Towel Tiger, she knew that it was a go.

So here's my idea of a animal and sports themed kitchen without the kitch.

LWO, here is another cat house, this time a very (Danishy) modern version in Japan:

Here is a link that might be useful: Neko no Ie

And yes, another one:

Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese cat house #2

Labradoodle Kitchen Redux

I was thinking about this at the dog park this morning (where else) and decided not to be such a freakin' wuss with color.

Embracing the animal print theme as before: curly 'labradoodle fur' tile backsplash, leather 'dog collar' pulls, and Antico Bianco 'dog prints' island counter. The island is about the same color as my dog.

Newly embracing the Hendrix spirit (my dog's name): purple is my new neutral. Circa 1969 (Woodstock era) lights and stove hood. I didn't like any 1969 ranges so I picked what I like (after all, it's my pretend kitchen): a Bluestar wall oven for looks and an induction cooktop to kind of be unobtrusive.

Don't know if it works, but I like purple:

{{gwi:1987336}}

Now that is a cat houses I could live with! Especially the first you posted. The alterations to the home are architectural and sculptural yet function for the furry ones at the same time. Thank you so much for finding that! I might steal the stair stepped cat platforms for my laundry room area if I can figure out how to make the hidden support carry my 20 pounder.

This made me LOL! A privacy wall between you and your feline friend so you could both use the facilities at the same time. And it looks as the cat waste is also plumbed to swirl away? Wow!

Chicagoans, I'm really grooving on the color scheme of Hendrix' kitchen. There are far too few purples used in today's color schemes, yet the shade goes so brilliantly with white and gray, the 'in' colors of the moment.

LWO - yes, aren't they marvelous? We have plans to implement a similar cat shelf wall, as soon as we've finished all the human improvements around here. If you love cats and modernism, check out moderncat.net for your daily dose. They've featured some modernist scratching posts that are out of this world.

And here are some tiles for someone to do something kitschy with: integrated paw prints (cat or dog!) in any custom glaze you desire!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tiles with Style paw tiles

Chicagoans, your first one looks more like your Labradoodle, but that second one really says something. I especially love the changed up lighting and rangehood, and the dog collar pulls make more of a statement on the purple. I think they faded into the gray a bit on your first one.

Juliekcmo, I've never known rabid sports fans to be that restrained. I'd like to see more black and gold in your design--maybe black cabs and a gold Viking range. And maybe some leather to represent the football itself. You were going for not-kitschy, but I think I would have liked to have seen a little bit of kitsch.

LWO: Yes, it's a bit Hee-Haw, but it's fun and the rangehood is brilliant.

OK, I finally finished my cat kitchen. It's inspired by my Evil Overlord Oni, my mostly Siamese demon cat. Unfortunately, he's cat-spicious and camera shy and prefers to stay under a chair or bed and bite your ankles when you try to take his picture. He probably thinks a vet visit or pill taking is involved when people pay too much attention to him because he was so sick when he was just a youngster. He's a Blue Point, much like this guy.

My jumping off points Mahogany Blue Eyes granite and a stained glass tile with browns, grays, and blues that I've had in a folder forever just waiting on someone to share my lust for and allow me to do in their kitchen. The granite in particular has always evoked Siamese cats to me with that flash of blue in the lilac browns and grays base.

The design really took off though when I found an Ikat rug in blue and brown that looked like blue cats eyes. Then I found the Piet Hein "cat head" light and I was off and running.

For the cabinets, I chose a custom Euro laminate door (on Ikea boxes) that is a subtle grain pattern that resembles fur. The knobs and pulls are a rhinestone accented and give a rhinestone cat cat collar feeling.

We'll paint the walls and ceiling Benjamin Moore Blue Lace, and create a custom large graphic wallpaper of a closeup of cat fur for the main wall in the dining area. A pop art pic of a Siamese will also hang in the dining area.

A plain gray industrial work table that looks like the exam table at my vet's office for an island, with a Morroccan "cat bell" light fixture for above it, and bar stools that resemble ribbons on the end of a cat toy for perching.

Crossvile Tile's Color Block Too in Tabby Cat for the flooring with a cats eye blue glass dining table and wicker dining chairs that remind me of old fashioned wicker cat carriers.

The appliances will be all GE Profile because of their cats eye door design of their ovens and Advantium OTR.

Circuspeanut proved the finishing touch in her link to modern style cat furnishings. A cat condo that is both art and functional!

Sinfully Siamese

We are Siamese if you please
We are Siamese if you don't please
Now we're looking over our new domicile
If we like we stay for maybe quite a while.

I suspect that they would like their new domicile. Really fun kitchen, LWO. I love the cat head light, and the colors are spot on, especially the backsplash tile.

I really liked the fish scale kitchen and the Siamese kitchen. I am a little late to the party but I'm home sick today and needed something to occupy my time so I thought I'd give it a shot. Just FYI...I am SOOOOO not a designer!

Country kitchen in an older farmhouse. Cozy. If it weren't quite so thematic, I might put this in my own little farmhouse in Wyoming.

I was trying to come up with an animal print outside of the snakeskin or leopard that might be more obvious, although possibly more challenging. I did want it to be something someone might be able to use rather than just a far fetched design exercise. While I love some of the thoughts about why limit one's vision of a room, it is often practicality that wins.

I have been planning to add honey bees to my garden in the spring so I have been reading a LOT about beekeeping and they seemed a possible choice for "animal print". So, here goes, my first entry into the challenge threads...the honey bee kitchen.

{{gwi:1987365}}

Soft yellow walls, sage green base cabinets, creamy white uppers. The countertops are a custom walnut interlocking thing that made me think of the joinery of the woodenware hives. The jute is a rug. The pendants are either a pewter honey comb to match the pulls or a basket design like a skep hive. I picked the sink for its diagonal lines like the honey comb. The backsplash tile is self explanatory. The appliances are simple butter yellow. I like the burlap on the chairs for around a country table that would double as a workspace (seated working like my grandma used to do). I just can't figure out which light fixture I prefer and I can't come up with a flooring choice. Suggestions?

Rene

Yay! Another newbie! Welcome Rene. I can't think of a honey bee kitchen without honey onyx tile. What about swapping your hexagonal backsplash with honey onyx in a hexagon? The harder ceramic would wear better than the soft onyx in real life, and I like the introduction of more pattern in a big way on the floor.

So you'd put the honey comb ceramic from ann sacks on the floor and the honey onyx as a backsplash? Not too busy?

I actually had fun with this. Wish I had done something like this in building my real kitchen. I had an idea board but no "theme".

Ne

Yesterday my kittens surprised me with their own design contribution. Note how well it freshens up the golden oak.

It'd be fun to source a kitchen strictly from CL or Ebay, Etsy, etc. No "traditional" retailers. That might be a challenge. All re purposed materials or something like that.

This was fun. I want to do another.

It is addictive doggonegardener.

LWO, my blue point Sochi appreciates your Siamese design.

The latest Siamese one, and the bee project are both really cohesive schemes.

So, next?

LOL linelle! And I love the macho saunter away from the scene of the crime.

I really think we should attempt the Golden Oak Challenge next - folks will be on vacation with more time to address the intricate issues involved in THAT one.

I would be up for that. I recommend picking a certain door. Nothing too builder-cheap, but an oak door that would be fairly common.

{{gwi:1987367}}

You could do an arched raised panel, which I think is a bit harder because it adds one more level of cliche/datedness. Or we could do an either/or (arched or square).

But I'm okay with the one Pal showed.

That is much too nice looking a door for a honey oak thread. It's not nearly orange enough or partial overlay enough. The truly awful ones with the badly veneered panels and cathedral arches (#3) are hard to find individual pictures of though as it seems no one is proudly advertising them for sale anymore. It's easier to find pics of existing installations--usually with pleas for help or descriptors such as "orange" or "ugly" somewhere in the data.

Here's a baker's dozen images that I could snag. That last one is just thrown in because I found it. No one could take that door and make a kitchen look good with it as is and no painting involved. And the plain stained wood shot is in there because it's so hard to capture the absolute orange-ness that is most honey oak. Most of the rest could be worked with.

1{{gwi:1987368}}
2

I tend to agree that something more yellow-orange that Pal's example oak door might be a better test for the golden oak dilemma. Maybe something like #5 above is a good compromise?

Or, maybe those who are willing to struggle with a stronger golden tone could pick their own oak cabinet images...as long as they didn't choose one that was less yellow than the standard example for the group.

{{gwi:1987381}}

{{gwi:1987382}}

Kraftmaid is still selling this door: Arched raised panel in Honey Spice. This is the door I think of when I think of Golden Oak. The color is similar to LWO's #5.

LWO, the doors have to be good enough for someone to want to keep them rather than replace them. So I'm thinking they need to look like they are still in good shape with the issues limited to color/style.

Love the Siamese kitchen. LOVE. But then I think Siamese are the most beautiful cats in the world, so it would appeal to me.

Also I liked the honeybee kitchen very much, and agree that the honeycomb onyx tile would be a good addition as long as it didn't fight with the brigter yellows of the appliances.

Wow, those are just the doors that we just got rid of. Perfect! Sorta pink, sorta gold, sorta ugly. This is going to be a tough one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When do we start?

Ne

First we have to figure out which door. I think I don't like Pal's for this exercise because they have a less pronounced grain than most of the golden oak I've seen. I'm thinking along the lines of LWO's 2, 5, 7, 8, 10 or 11, or the one I posted. The grain is too fine on Pal's, the color isn't yellow/orange enough on LWO's 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 13. Twelve is so ratty it's impossible to believe anyone would keep them (maybe they could be painted).

Speaking of which, is the rule going to be no painting? I think it should be. What about staining? I've been thinking of the exercise as how to work with the color as-is. What's the consensus?

No painting, no staining. Painting it just turns it into a painted kitchen, or another type of project, not a golden oak project.

I am fine with the Kraftmaid door you posted, although the door I posted is more what I tend to see here...pinkish.

The Kraftmaid door is fine though, can you set it up?

I'll set it up.

Newbie here who must first gratefully acknowledge all of the very talented folks who post here. I have been lurking and learning from you for months. Am at the stage in my small kitchen reno where I can join several of you in your granite vs quartz and backsplash woes. I saw a fantasy thread here Dec timeframe on animal kitchen designs. The Siamese Cat one had marvelous granite and backsplash tile suggestions (TY Live Wire)! Granite was named, but not the tile My KD has been looking but no joy. Can anyone else help?

Thanks in advance!

With the revival of the Design Around This threads, I felt inspired to bump this old DAT thread so newbies could see what the DATs were all about. I was blown away by the creativity in this thread (and am sad that some of the images are not available any more).

If this piques your interest, we look forward to your participation and/or comments on the upcoming beach house DAT.