When chef and TV personality Clodagh McKenna moved into her first London home, she didn't turn to paint or wallpaper to brighten up the walls - she reached for a ball of twine and a handful of herbs.
'I clipped a load of the herbs and put them into bunches tied up with twine,' she said, when I asked her about decorating kitchen walls while speaking to me an event for Smeg appliances. 'Then I made a line of twine going all along my kitchen and I then hung all the little herb bunches from it.
It was a simple but effective idea that turned a bare kitchen wall into something warm, rustic and personal. Clodagh enjoyed the look so much that she added to it for special occasions.
'As I was having supper parties I'd write the menus out and I'd peg them up in between the bunches of herbs,' the food writer added. 'It was so beautiful. I still have all the menus in a little box!'
The herb decor wasn’t some curated Pinterest idea, it was born out of necessity. 'I was renting a little coach house and there was nothing in it,' Clodagh explained. 'So I had to really start from fresh with buying and sourcing things, and think creatively about decorating the walls.'
As a chef, decorating with food felt natural. Herbs were the first thing she grew in her new space ('the first thing I do in a new space is start growing herbs!') and drying them for cooking was second nature.
Even though Clodagh now has her own home and spends her time in her beautifully designed kitchen, she's never stopped decorating this way. 'I still do it to this day – I have loads of herbs hanging from a brass rail,' she says. 'But I need to start pegging the menus again!'
If you’re staring at a blank wall in your kitchen wondering what to do with it, take a leaf (or a sprig) from Clodagh’s book. Dried herbs on twine, a few wooden pegs, and maybe even a handwritten note or two – it’s budget-friendly, fragrant, and completely gorgeous.
