I am going to take you through one of my recent home renovations! I've been so excited to share this transformation with you.
This is the house.
It is a charming 1950's home--or at least it was in its day.
But with a little TLC,we have completely brought back its original charm, along with a few modern updates!
We are going to look at the heart of the home first: The kitchen.
This kitchen was dark and small with outdated wood cabinets. The client and I talked about possibly trying to paint the cabinets, but the fee would have been almost as much as new cabinets, so we decided to go ahead and replace them all-with custom specifications to meet the clients needs. Here are a few 'before' pictures.
This kitchen was quite tight, so we needed to find a way to fit all of the necessities in, but also to make it feel a little more spacious. There was really no room to expand, so we would have to pay particular attention to colors and layout to achieve this. We had originally planned to install all new appliances, but since the cabinets were now going to be new, we needed granite choices as well. The wall and cabinet colors had to be chosen along with the granite, as it all needed to flow and create a uniform finished look . So I pulled some different colors and explored the granite options with them.
Backsplash and floor tile choices also needed to be considered at this point. If you choose all of these items individually, it may not come together in the end...so it is very important that the elements are looked at as a whole. However, sometimes time constraints play a role. Building new cabinets takes weeks, so in order to make the deadline, I had to choose the cabinet color quickly. Knowing that it worked with the tentative granite was enough to move ahead with it.
Once the old cabinet demo started, it was easier to see what we were working with as far as the bones of the room.
With this old cabinet demo, we found a very nice surprise! We found old shiplap underneath the sheetrock! I knew instantly that I wanted to keep the wood as the backsplash, as it fit the masculine look for this client perfectly.
As I started searching for floor tile, the contractor called me in to show me that underneath all of the flooring layers, there was original hardwood flooring that could be in good enough shape to stain. This was such a treasure!!!
There was one hitch with the backsplash- some of it was in bad shape, so it had to be replaced with new shiplap. This meant that the backsplash would have to be stained instead of leaving it in its original shade. The problem with that was that the old wood and new wood would probably not stain the same. I knew that this would create some strategic planning in stain choice.
As the new cabinets came in, the shiplap backsplash was uncovered completely and we could start to see the change. Now I was tasked with finding the perfect stains for the room.
If you follow me, you know that I am a huge fan of samples. So my wood stain guru and I put our heads together (and many color mixtures), and we came up with a few samples. This process is truly an art! We placed samples on old wood and new wood to see how the two matched up. I reviewed them and made a final choice!
And there it was! The stain did a great job of hiding the fact that there were two different periods of wood, and bringing in that rough contrast to the clean lines of the cabinets.
We also did some samples for the floor but I was pretty certain that I wanted to go with a light washed grey. The grey and brown tones in this leathered granite help to pull the entire picture together. I love the matte finish on the granite, as it really sets the tone for this masculine kitchen.
And now for the big reveal. (Drumroll please.)
Simple, clean lines define this space.
This is such a drastic transformation, and I am so glad that I could help this client create a functional, aesthetically pleasing space to create memories for years to come!
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-Amy