Room Reno #68: Danish Pastel Kitchen

Welcome back to Room Reno #68 here at The Sims Resource! Today we’re helping a Sim who wants to turn her boring, dreary kitchen into a pastel palace based on the Danish Pastel interior design trend! Let’s meet the Sim we’re helping!

Meet Ellie!

Ellie is a Sim who lives in color. Pastels, to be specific. If she had a color season, hers would be spring (If she got to choose it, at least. I know a lot of that stuff is apparently supposed to be determined by professionals. But how am I supposed to find a professional season-color-assigner? How does someone become qualified to do that job? It just seems like there’s a lot of problems with the whole ‘finding your color season’ thing if you aren’t squarely in one category…but that’s a discussion for another day).

Anyway! Ellie lives for pastels, particularly pinks and greens and blues. She recently moved to Evergreen Harbor and wants to make it as a city planner! But there’s no way she can do that in a home that’s…very sad to look at, if we’re honest. But that’s why I’m here! Let’s see what we’re working with and how we can improve on it.

The Before

Okay, this kitchen is really not so bad. We’ve seen some pretty gnarly kitchens in this series, but there are good bones in this room! Good enough bones, in fact, that I don’t need to take down any walls. I am going to add one, and probably move the archway, but that still feels less drastic than knocking down a whole bunch of stuff. The current layout isn’t all that bad, either. I think the counters can be extended on the left wall to the corner, but the general idea is good–L shaped kitchens can be really functional and keep smaller spaces feeling open and welcoming. The big windows are another big benefit. I love a source of natural light, and these enormous windows are perfect for cooking or working in the kitchen at any point in the day without needing to spend money on lights. Now that’s an Evergreen Harbor way to live!

Now, if you’ve been reading this series for a while, you’ll know about my lifelong dislike of medium and tall height walls. I just think they’re hard to furnish and near-impossible to create nice looking gallery walls (or regular walls!) because of just how tall they are. I live somewhere with higher ceilings, and for whatever reason it’s fine in real life. But in the game? Just drives me…up a wall. *Ba dum tss*. But I’ll try to make it work for this build, just as I have in the past. I’m a pro, after all. Let’s get planning!

The Planning

The layout of the kitchen stayed mostly the same, partially because the space is pretty limited but also because it’s just a solid, functional layout. If it ain’t broke and all that jazz. Most of the problem with this room isn’t based on layout, it’s because of the furniture, lighting, and color choices. Renovation can be as simple as changing the color scheme of a room, and while I’m definitely doing more than that here, I encourage you to try it out in real life if you’re ever looking for a change but find yourself strapped for cash. Swapping out some accent colors (simple) or painting a statement wall  (a little more work) can completely change the vibe of a room for not a ton of money, and sometimes you just need to freshen up a space that you spend every day in so you don’t get sick of it.

The right side of the room is where the biggest changes lie. First, I got rid of the weird fridge nook and plan to replace the wall there so that the room is a proper square. Sometimes these little nooks are useful when building, but a lot of the time they just pose routing issues or make rooms harder to furnish, so I got rid of this one. I also plan to put some island counters along the wall so that I can add barstools, allowing for seating without overcrowding the room like the previous table did. Let’s get building!

The After

Here are the results! I’m really in love with the results, I’m not gonna lie. The pastels make this room feel bright and inviting without making it feel childish, which I was sort of surprised by. Decorating with only pastels immediately makes me think of living inside some kind of giant Easter egg, full of confetti and color. When balanced out by the white walls and other white details, these colors are able to shine without making the room feel immature or chaotic. Instead, it just feels effortless and chic. That’s the dream when you work hard on something like this–you want it to look like it all just came together organically, like the room is just that perfect by itself. We all know it’s perfectly curated, but it’s all the more impressive if it manages to look like it wasn’t.

A lot of this room is made up of super cute clutter. You all probably know how much I love the clutter CC I have from The Sims Resource, and I absolutely adore the objects I was able to use in this one. I highly recommend getting some kitchen clutter for your own builds in the future. They make the rooms feel so much realer when you see little containers of cereal, or pots and pans hanging up, or even cups and plates! This room has a tray of fresh-baked cookies and I think it brings the adorable pastels and warm vibes of the room together perfectly.

Thanks for checking out this edition of Room Reno #68! If you liked this blog, check out Room Reno #67: MinimalSIM or our Gilmore Girls inspired lookbook. Looking for something else? Read about how to build with the FREE Desert Luxe Kit or about the latest game updates! Have a great day 😎