I’ve Never Seen Kitchen Trim Like This Before (It’s Incredibly Fun!)

There are many fun ways to give standard chair rail or baseboard trim a little more pizzazz. You could combine your trim with a wallpaper border, paint it a bold color, or even go for a silhouette that’s not a straight line. But this trim idea from Katherine Krehbiel’s (@notahumblehome) kitchen is unlike anything I’ve ever seen — and also, most importantly, it’s Katherine’s favorite detail of her kitchen makeover. 

I love the entire kitchen — its color palette, its minimalist-but-warm style, and its tiles that stretch to the ceiling. But I especially love that Katherine sourced vintage Bakelite dominos and added them along the trim of the entire room for a little extra pattern and playfulness. Bakelite is a synthetic material used in lots of chunky plastic vintage pieces (think: bangles, decorative trays and signs, and, yes, game pieces!).

Katherine says on her website that incorporating the dominoes into her trim was a late-night design decision. She found her domino sets on eBay and Etsy, and it took her five months to find enough to add around the room. (She loves the dominos so much, she’s even incorporated them into her website logo!)

“It is a playful nod to trimmed kitchens of the 1930s, the era of our home,” Katherine says, and her kitchen makeover incorporates other vintage-inspired elements, like square tiles, the large 1930s painting that hangs by the doorframe, a gilded sconce from the 1960s, and an antique wooden upper cabinet. To read more kitchen makeover details, check out the previously published Before & After post. 

The dominos add not only a touch of vintage, but also a touch of nostalgia. It “reminds me of playing dominos with my dad as a kid,” Katherine says. “My daughter loves the dominos as well and is learning to count from the domino dots.” Here’s to making math (and kitchen design!) fun.