Light & Airy Kitchen Renovation
Contributed by Sherry Petersik of This Young House.When we first laid eyes on our 50's ranch in Richmond, Virginia, the house charmed us from the moment we stepped inside. That is until we saw the kitchen, which nearly knocked us off of our house-hunting feet thanks to a trifecta of bad design. Dingy, dated, and dark, it was the last room that we'd ever want to come home to. But beyond the creaking cabinets and copious cobwebs we spied a glimmer of potential. Anyone who knows us knows that we love a challenge, so it's no surprise that we made an offer that very evening.
Before
And then we got to work. The decrepit knotty pine cabinets (which were original to the house) didn't even have drawer slides and the archaic pea green microwave was only funny for a minute (then it was just plain scary). In fact, when our new stainless appliances were delivered, the guys who carted away our old ones joked that we should sell them to a 50's set decorator since they were so insanely old (some of them even had cinder block bases to weigh them down).
Before
But new stainless steel appliances were just the beginning. Over the course of 113 days, we survived only on takeout while we gutted and rebuilt our dream kitchen from the ground up. Literally. From the new oak flooring (scored on the cheap from Limber Liquidators) to the crisp white KraftMaid cabinets (and double the counter space thanks to some smart reconfiguring), things were definitely looking up. And the veiny marble-esque granite along with a sleek stainless range hood added some much needed signature style while the brushed nickel knobs and a seeded glass pendant injected a dash of sparkle. The icing on the cake was the moody gray-blue paint color that we chose for the walls (we loved it so much in our master bedroom, we just had to work it into the kitchen as well).
And after the dust cleared we finally got to cook a homemade meal after 4 months of surviving (just barely) on fast food. But as good as our delicious (and well overdue) home meal tasted- it paled in comparison to the taste of victory. Thanks to seeking out deals on eBay (where we scored our fabulous faucet and undermount sink) and doing much of the work ourselves (and getting a third and a forth estimate when we couldn't) we ended up with a kitchen that's as easy on the eyes as it was on our wallet.
After
For more tasty kitchen details (along with a slew of other before & afters) please visit
This Young House.
Labels: after, airy, before, decorating ideas, design ideas, kitchen, light, micasastyle, misasastyle, renovation, room makeover
Guest Post - Den Makeover
Contributed by interior decorating consultant and entrepreneur, Linda Merrill of Chameleon Interiors.This tiny room was part of a larger decorating project. My client was a busy single woman. This room had become nothing more than a large storage closet and was a sad waste of space.
Before
She wanted a space that was fresh and inviting, yet still classic and appropriate for a coastal New England home. The room itself was small - 10' x 12' - and needed to feel cozy without being claustrophobic.
To create an airy feel, we decided to go with a soft monochromatic look of cream walls (Benjamin Moore's Philadelphia Cream, HC-30) and cream linen sheers (
Pottery Barn Linen Sheer drapery panels in Ivory) and a cream/beige patterned area rug. These sheers come with a 10" deep hem. We chose to hang the panels upside down with the 10" hem folded over to create a valance effect. We simply purchased one size longer than needed so that we ended up with the right length. The panels were hung using clip rings onto wrought iron rods with a basket finial.
The area rug was actually a piece of broadloom that I had cut to the very specific size needs of this room. Going with a custom cut broadloom carpet works very well in spaces that require specific non-traditional sizes.
Once the shell of the space was taken care of, we had the furniture to deal with. This room was to be used as a tv/sitting room and given the shape and size, a small sectional sofa made the most sense. We selected
Pottery Barn's PB Basic Small Sectional in Cardinal Red brushed twill. The color really popped against the soft creams, adding a vibrant warmth to the room. The size of the sectional was perfect and fit in snugly.
My client had several pets. While the room was intended to be off limits to all the animals, it didn't mean they didn't show up in spirit. On the wall was an oil painting of the two dogs. After a lot of searching, I found the perfect fabric to make a couple of custom dog pillows. We loved the "ancestral portrait" feeling of this fabric and thought it added a humorous and personal touch. The fabric was from
Kravet, which is now discontinued. The other custom made box pillows were done up in a Kravet woven stripe called
Bohemian in deep greens, reds and gold, which tied the pillows to the dog portrait.
After
The rest of the furniture in the room was small antique pieces that my client already owned. The small scale and rustic feel of these pieces worked perfectly. The table and floor lamps were black wrought iron
"Twist Basket" from Hubbardton Forge.
While this is a fairly simple space - it was the attention to the details - the repeating basket weave motif in the hardware, well coordinated colors and personalized touches - that brought the whole thing together and made for the perfect, comfy space to rela
x in.Labels: after, before, decor, decorating, decorating ideas, design ideas, guest blogger, ideas, interior design, room makeover
But new stainless steel appliances were just the beginning. Over the course of 113 days, we survived only on takeout while we gutted and rebuilt our dream kitchen from the ground up. Literally. From the new oak flooring (scored on the cheap from Limber Liquidators) to the crisp white KraftMaid cabinets (and double the counter space thanks to some smart reconfiguring), things were definitely looking up. And the veiny marble-esque granite along with a sleek stainless range hood added some much needed signature style while the brushed nickel knobs and a seeded glass pendant injected a dash of sparkle. The icing on the cake was the moody gray-blue paint color that we chose for the walls (we loved it so much in our master bedroom, we just had to work it into the kitchen as well).
