Some people rely on Pinterest, others just have an eye for style. Jill Anderson is the latter. The Pasadena native who got her interior design certification through Scottsdale Community College has made a career out of curating other peoples' homes through Scottsdale Wiseman and Gale Interiors. When she's not busy beautifying the humble abodes of others or attending the occasional Burning Man festivity, Anderson can be found right at home in her renovated 1970s central Phoenix condo.
See also: Inside Katie Johnson's Vintage-Inspired Kitchen in Central Phoenix
With her kids out of the house, Anderson doesn't need a lot of space. Her one-bed, two-story condo features a kitchen that artfully caters to size constrictions and entertaining the occasional dinner guest. With only two narrow sides of white marble counter space, Anderson has cleverly turned her sink area into space that doubles as island, thus allowing for backseat chefs and house guests to be in the action without being in the way.
To Anderson, the three kitchen essentials are good lighting, decent quality knives and a well-stocked bar — and she has the first one going in spades.
Anderson's kitchen offers a backsplash of white subway, which not only gives it a nice clean looks but adds to the optical illusion of making the area seem bigger than it is. The tiles themselves are oversized, roughly twice the width and length of standard pieces, giving her kitchen an added sense of character.
Anderson has turned to Ikea to create her floating shelves. The end result is an open display kept neat with predominately black and white kitchenware and the occasional fresh cut flower.
Fact: You can never have too many fresh cut flowers in the kitchen... Unless you're allergic — in which case, suck it up. Beauty is pain.
Our favorite details in Anderson's kitchen? That would have to be skull shaped tequila bottle repurposed into a vase and of course the industrial light-up "J" that essentially pulls the whole room together.
In this kitchen, less is more. And more? Well, it's on the other side of the room. Opposite of the kitchen is the dining area — a cozy spot with mismatched chairs and a blanketed couch, all seated around a lovely round wooden table. Above the couch is an art wall featuring an eclectic collage of paintings (including one from her son, Patrick Keig) as well as a two-dimensional car model designed by her brother and a leftover acetate painting palette, which is really a work of art in itself.
What we love most about Anderson's kitchen is how she balances practicality and design in a confined space.
"I think if it's open like that you kind of have to commit to keeping it pretty clean," says Anderson.
What's out on display is not only aesthetically pleasing, it's the stuff she uses everyday: her teapot, her white dishware, and her favorite item in the kitchen, her refurbished Vitamix blender, which as it turns out is only two-thirds the price of a new one (take note, thrifters).
Overall, Anderson says she gets her inspiration from travel, art and nature. But as for us, we'll just take our cues from the designer herself.
