Colorful Cooking

“I guess we’re just colorful people,” Anita Sipe says with a laugh. “We like our house to look bright and happy, and we’ve never been afraid of using color, since paint is one of the easiest things to change.”

As owners of Blann Hardware in Camden, Anita and her husband, Brent, know a thing or two about renovations and paint. So when they purchased a home with a dark, outdated kitchen—from the small island to the almond-colored appliances and the boxed florescent light fixtures overhead—the couple immediately began making plans for remodeling.

They gutted the kitchen and an adjacent breakfast room, rebuilding the area into one open space with cooking functions on one end, expansive banquette seating on the other, and a tiered island for food prep and counter seating in between.

For inspiration for the room’s color palette and style, Anita needed to look no further than her dinnerware. A longtime collector of Fiesta ware, the colorful china known for its bold hues, Anita has amassed nearly 40 place settings. To showcase the china’s lively mix of greens, oranges, blues and yellows, she opted for light-colored maple cabinetry, Cambria quartz countertops and porcelain tile floors. From that neutral base, she then layered on color in Fiesta ware-inspired shades.

Here’s how she pulled the look together:

1. A mosaic glass tile backsplash mixes multiple shades of orange and cream, establishing the room’s color palette.

2. Rich coppery-orange walls and a golden ceiling complement the tile backsplash. On the banquette, a modern print fabric expands the color range by adding in blue and brown.

3. Streamlined maple cabinetry features clear glass-inset doors in focal areas that display collections, and translucent glass in storage areas.

4. A drum shade light fixture above the banquette, pendant lights above the island, and woven window shades blend together orange and gold tones.

Design Resources

Contractor, banquette fabrication, cabinetry Burroughs Construction, Camden

Appliances Sears, locations statewide

Countertop Custom Floors & Design Center, Camden

Fabrics, window shades Larry’s Inc., Little Rock

Hardware, fixtures, table inset Blann Hardware, Camden

Paint Benjamin Moore, Valspar, locations statewide

Pottery Miller’s Mud Mill Pottery, Dumas; Quicksilver Art & Fine Craft Gallery, Eureka Springs

Tile Elder Distributing, North Little Rock