How To Decorate Your Kitchen for CNY
Bright, vivid, and loud. Chinese New Year (CNY) is all about the festive atmosphere and the celebratory mood it brings. And as with any other festive holiday, the upcoming CNY holidays means you’re going to have to do some house chores.
Namely, most families will go through the motions of tidying up the house for CNY visits. Let’s face it, CNY visits are part of the culture of this awesome celebration.
You wouldn’t want your friends and family to judge your cleanliness based on your home’s tidiness, would you?
That said, another important part of the CNY celebration is establishing the mood. Giving your home the CNY vibes is just as vital as maintaining its cleanliness. A home without CNY deco won’t feel as inviting and festive as one with it.
More particularly, it’s definitely important to decorate your kitchens/dining area to reflect the CNY mood. After all, the kitchen is where your friends and family will normally be at, pestering you while you try to get everyone accommodated. Be it for chit-chatting or catching up seshs, the kitchen is where it’s at.
Here are some of our tips to decorate your kitchen for CNY.
Keep Your Kitchen Clutter-Free
Now, this is not a decorating tip per se but we know how the CNY festivities can get a bit hectic. With all the visiting and cleaning up after guests, your kitchen will be an important base of operations during this period. To that end, it’s important to keep your kitchens clutter-free to help ease your mind while you serve your guests.
We’d suggest streamlining your kitchen appliances. This includes storing your kitchen utensils, pots, pans, etc. Keep those that you only need. Also, keep your countertops free of clutter. And store bulky appliances you hardly use inside your kitchen cabinets.
This tip will go a long way in presenting a kitchen that looks clean, well-maintained, and efficient. And hey, you can cram in MORE CNY deco when you have less clutter. Sort of like a painter working on an empty canvas.
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CNY Colour For Your Kitchen
There’s only one thing you need to know about CNY decorations. It’s red galore!
Red is THE colour of choice among the Chinese. It symbolizes happiness, health, and wealth. Moreover, its vibrant and flamboyant nature makes it an excellent choice regardless of the season.
We’d recommend red furnishing if you’re capable. Aluminium kitchen cabinets will do the job quite well here.
But if you’re not looking to overhaul your entire kitchen for CNY, then we’d recommend the mix-and-match approach.
Your kitchen doesn’t have to be caked in red, that’s going a bit overboard. Instead, you can add dashes of red elements throughout the kitchen. Red-coloured kitchen accessories such as plates and cups will also work. These red kitchen accessories will add that bit of colour to an otherwise dull kitchen.
CNY Accessories To Decorate Your Kitchen
CNY is all about the fancy red/gold coloured CNY accessories. Think knots, red lanterns, calligraphy banners, and so on. Having various CNY-themed accessories in is a great way to create a contrast with your kitchen’s theme. Thereby maintaining a powerful visual impact for visitors.
For instance, the go-to accessory of choice for most Chinese homes is calligraphy banners. These banners are normally written in black or gold ink on a bright red paper.
The simplest and most common calligraphy banner is of a good luck character. These single word banners are typically written on a piece of square paper and pasted on doors. And the most popular good luck character being the 福 (fú /foo) character, meaning good luck or blessing.
Do remember to tilt and paste the banner to resemble a diamond shape. You’ll also want to paste the character upside down to symbolize good luck pouring onto you when you pass through your door.
Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that having too many accessories will take away the focal point of your kitchen. Worst of all, excessive CNY accessories will turn into clutter in the long run. In short, moderation is key!
Make Your Kitchen Livelier With CNY Decorations
A lively kitchen is a healthy kitchen.
In general, one way to make your kitchen livelier is to incorporate living plants in it. Though, the Chinese don’t normally decorate with cut flowers, especially during CNY. The belief is that anything cut represents severing good luck.
Instead, we recommend placing fully bloomed live plants in your kitchen for CNY. The idea here is that live plants represent a sense of renewal and prosperity. Plus, there’s also the added health benefits that live plants bring.
If you would like to place potted live plants in your kitchen, we suggest opting for fresh flowers. Orchids, for instance, symbolizes nobility, love, and fertility. On the other hand, narcissuses are deemed to bring luck. And peonies represent prosperity, peace, and wealth.
Other flowers suitable for CNY include plum blossoms, peach blossoms, azaleas, water lilies, chrysanthemums and sunflowers. Your options are indeed aplenty. Go wild with your flowers to liven up your kitchen this CNY!
Bonus tip: Remember our accessory tip earlier? You could take your live plants a step further by using appropriately coloured vases. It will look great as a complement to your other red accessories.
Flowers Aren’t The Only Option for CNY Kitchen Decorations
We understand that flowering plants may not be for everyone. For one, live plants require daily care that not everyone can afford to do. But if flowering plants is not to your liking, a small citrus tree could be great for you.
A tangerine or kumquat tree is an ideal option for your kitchen CNY decoration. It welcomes a year of growing wealth and prosperity, especially if the tree is full of fruit. Additionally, you can also get creative with your decorations on the tree. Handicrafts made from Chinese red packets are generally used for this.
Interested in a tangerine tree? Might we suggest placing your tree on a kitchen island? It’ll definitely add a bit of colour and life to your kitchen.
Alternatively, a bowl or basket of fresh fruits will also do the trick. Ideally, you could place them in the kitchen or living room. Though, having them in both the living room and kitchen is the best choice.
As for the choice of fruits, oranges/tangerines with their green leaves still attached is perfect for the occasion. Otherwise, peaches are also an excellent choice. Oranges symbolize prosperity, while peaches stand for longevity.
Conclusion
In short, every Chinese family goes through the same procedure each year. They shop for new apparel, clean up the house, and then decorate it. CNY decorations definitely play a vital role in establishing the festive atmosphere. But most importantly, CNY decorations do not have to be the outrageous scene you often see. It can complement your kitchen well if you know what you’re doing.
Imagine clean cabinets and countertops with your new CNY decor to welcome the new year. Looks good, doesn’t it?
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