Plain linen fabric, wood, wood sculptures made from driftwood, natural stones, pebbles, .... Think back to raw materials.....what are their basic colours: usually cream, ivory (not white which is manufactured) and browns tans and light greys..... For the beach, jars of seashells you have collected, or a glass jar filled with sand; for forest, pine comes, twigs, or old branches with lichens

Hi Rasa, Nice to hear from you and I’m glad I was able to give you some inspiration for your kitchen tiles. I’ve included another image for you to look at that shows more of a farm house style kitchen with the coloured tiles. If you worried the coloured tiles might look too contemporary for your space, I would advise going for quite soft, muted colour tones to give you the same effect but in a more rustic style. You can see in the attached image how they have used a soft sheen, textured tile in neutral tones, with a subtle hint of colour to be in-keeping with that farmhouse feel. For your tile colours, you could pick up the off white tone of your cabinets with the grey in the granite, and a very soft hint of green or blue to add a little colour to achieve the same look for your kitchen. I have also added some paint swatches below you could use as reference for tile colours to help you visualise the combination. Off white: Greys: Blue or Green: Hopefully this answers your questions for you and I’d love to see some pictures when your project is finished. Good luck with the decorating. Paola Dulux Design Expert www.designer.duluxamazingspace.co.uk

thank you very much to everyone who responded! I'll look into espresso and charcoal grays. As well as the steel backplash. Emmarenes, I'm living abroad in India, and the only granites in my budget are the local ones. I was advised against the gray and white local ones because i was told that they would not hold up well in the kitchen. I could have gone with a black galaxy as well but i have that granite now and despise it because of the way it hides ants and bugs so well. we live in a tropical area and there are always critters here and there. My first choice was a Brazilian white granite but it was triple the price. This granite is called Shiva pink, so it has a pink salmon and gray look to it. Im really hoping I don't hate it once it's installed. The stoneyard was a 9 hour trip up and down and i was just pressured to make a choice after several undecided trips. And I'm getting new cabinets put in. but I think I can wait for them to put the slab before staining the wood. Thanks for that idea :)

@corner Stone designs. sorry if I had given an impression it mud slinging. but objectively speaking the suggestion to go for a chimney just because someone asked for it instead of addressing the real issue us not what I intended to do. one has to understand all the negatives as well veggie going in for a decision . just like you have the right to suggest there is nothing wrong in pointing out the issues in the proposed solution. none of us are internet warriors but most of us are "sold" items that we will never need in our life by creating an illusion. I know that dinner call it business but I am not in such one and I have the luxury to call a spade a spade. Even now the person who asked for is not sure in what they want but they think that a chimney will solve the issue. engineering doesn't work that way. unless we know what the real issue us, which isn't clear if it is the smoke or the smell and the your of food cooked, the frequency, the 80/20 utility of the kitchen we are not even close to understanding the problem. my intent is to emphasize the importance of understanding the problem and then look for issue and not provide a ready made solution. we can all suggest something by seeing a picture that fire will come and catch the chef if it is located in the window but do you think that what you say is practical. you may construct this as much slinging be as a novice I have a genuine question. how many houses have such a fire accident. we don't even know if the stove is electric or gas. if it is electric then they just no question of fire. so I encourage you to objectively approach and not see this as a mud slinging thing as that's not the point.