apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I like it the way it is.

green like the color of the candles on your wall. I wouldn't go overly complicated with it because it is so small so a solid color or maybe stripes would work best I think.

Orange!

Decoupage with a beautiful Japanese paper.

I like it the way it is, too!

I think red would be nice. Or red and white stripes.

i don't think leave it "the way it is" i an option anymore. She said she already sanded and primed it.

i really like the white, blue, red combo, and it lightens up your extremely dark kitchen.

I think it would look really good red to stay with your setup, or even the blue (although the table is already large and may pull away from it)

Otherwise maybe red with a nice patterned paper decoupaged on to the top of it?

I know this is off topic a bit, but where did you get that kitchen table? Totally loving it.

I vote solid red. Or aqua with a big red dot on the stop. Like it says "step here" at the red dot. But I agree simple is great.

i'm with revolution9, paint it orange! :)

There's something on your counter that's more of an aqua blue. Paint it that colour!

sanded down to its raw wood *wood've* been nice.

red, with a big, blue, lengthwise stripe of the aqua of your table, then with a dot of black in the middle.

Solid celery green? (Enamorada pointed out the green candles on the wall.)

If you are actually going to step on it I would avoid using a light color. Maybe a royal blue?

Orange would be fantastic in contrast with that table and would fit well with all the red accents.

I liked it the way it was, too. I think the best suggestion so far is the deeper turquoise found in that object on your counter.

chelseatransplant - a similar table used to be sold at Pottery barn, but I don't think it does anymore. There's an identical version at Ikea:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40072207

I suspect that's what's pictured above

"i don't think leave it "the way it is" i an option anymore. She said she already sanded and primed it."

That's a shame - It was a lovely example of 1940's era kitsch.

I agree - orange would very nice, maybe high gloss?

How are you so sure that wasn't stenciled in the 80s?

I'm seeing spots here. Given the colors you have in your kitchen area, how about using the colors and design of the Spitfire aircraft -- battleship gray for the body, with a blue circle that has a white circle with a red dot on it:

http://www.skycontrol.net/UserFiles/Image/FSHardSoftware_img/200711/200711_JustFlight_Spitfire_3.png

You could skew the blue slightly to go more with something you have.

I would go with red. I *love* that sky blue table paired with white chairs.

"How are you so sure that wasn't stenciled in the 80s?"

KTG -

Because of the intricacy and subject matter of the stenciling says 1940's: sweetly-shaded little flowers, leaves, branches and trellises - 1980's were big flowers (mostly tulips) and ducks in boots and bonnets painted in flat primary colors - and the shade of the wood itself: it's a 1940's greywash rather than 1980's whitewash/pickeled or the more common flat-white background.

Red. To bring out the red accents in the rest of the kitchen more boldly. I like the red paired with that aqua to contrast against the brown of the kitchen.

I agree with stripes! Maybe one of the colors one of the existing colors, and the other something else... nice contrast!

Amping up the color in the space over all might be the best place to start--then pull colors for the stool. Consider painting the back wall the lovely cherry red you've used as an accent already--this will balance out the dark wood in the kitchen and the off-white chairs will pop against the red (now, they just blend). If you cannot paint, consider a large, colorful piece of artwork, even framed vintage kitchen textiles. Exchange the lighting fixture for something unique (like the half globe fixture recently featured on AT DIY lighting ideas--a globe with a turquoise background would be lovely with your cute aqua table).

wow, I didn't realize my kitchen would be the main photo in the post! The footstool was actually quite ugly and yes, it was an 80's-esque stencil. Not cute. It is now primed and sanded white. I don't really want to do it in one of the colors from the kitchen. I want to bring in a mix of other colors somehow. Maybe a pattern.

As far as my table and chairs. I did them myself. They were originally oak and purchased for $55 from an antique store. It was a labor of love for sure.

Got it... perfect for your 1950's colors. Use the old Mobil Gas station image of the winged horse in red:

http://www.garageart.com/images/prods/5646.jpg

on turquoise. Look at the second page of this article, the photo on the upper left:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/garden/05domino.html

where it is used on the wall. The photo below that combines all of your colors with a strong black.

I would reverse the colors you have going on now and paint it all red with aqua accents. Thin aqua stripes or different sized circles would look interesting.