Red, White and Blue Styling Using What You Have!

Red, white and blue isn’t just for the Fourth of July. It really adds a nice vibe for the entire summer season. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, it’s fun to add a little patriotic color to your decor! Recently, J Thomas Home Goods invited me to style my kitchen shelves in a patriotic theme. I said, “Sure!” and then promptly challenged myself to add red, white and blue using only things I already had!

Incidentally I love my open shelves in the kitchen! Here’s what they typically look like:

My shelves have to function in my small kitchen so our everyday dishes are on one side and drink ware is on the other. It’s a very neutral palette of white/wood/wicker and a few houseplants so I didn’t need to remove much to achieve a patriotic theme.

Here’s what I used:

• Cookbooks – I first scoured my cookbooks, viewing them with and without their dust jackets and found a red one, a blue one and a mixed one. Sometimes it’s a real surprise to find beautifully colored hardbacks hidden beneath the dust jacket!. I rotated out my neutral cookbooks and popped in these. I like using books for decor in general, often as a pedestal for smaller pieces.

• Dish Towels – I had some red and blue ones in my stash, one of which is actually a Christmas towel (you can’t tell unless you look really close!) Because I wanted the color up on the shelves, I rolled them to fit nicely in a vintage white planter.

• Dishes – I went foraging in my closets for dishes that had some blue or red in them – a cobalt blue sailboat pitcher, a blue feather edge platter, an ice bucket with a navy lid and handle, and a small Longaberger basket with navy trim around the edge is what I had to work with.

• Flag Book – This is a vintage Mary Emmerling book. I love its small size and flag graphic and layered it over the feather edge platter.

• Mini Flags – Okay I confess. I bought these. $3 for three at Michael’s! I used a small ironstone pitcher to hold them.

• Fresh Herbs – Although they aren’t red, white and blue, I thought they were a nice complement to the display and functional too! I snipped basil, peppermint and cilantro from my kitchen garden and put them in some white and wicker vessels.

And here’s how they turned out. I hope you are encouraged to look around your home for things that may not be overtly patriotic but can be pressed into service for the color they bring to the theme!

By the way, if you are looking for some vintage red, white and blue pieces, I added a bunch to my Etsy store, including some of the things I used for my shelves.

Happy decorating!

Debra