THE SETUP Client Background: Our clients, a couple who have transitioned into the empty nest phase, have cherished their home for over three decades without undergoing any significant renovations. With a newfound desire to adapt their living space to better suit their current lifestyle, they’ve embarked on a journey to reimagine their kitchen — the heart of their home. Their aspiration is to cultivate a serene, neutral-toned sanctuary on the first floor that seamlessly merges with their family room, ensuring a harmonious and inviting environment. Design Inspiration: The renovation is inspired by the couple’s penchant for soft, calming neutrals, using their cherished family room and the kitchen’s existing tile flooring as the cornerstone for the color scheme. This approach aims to foster a sense of warmth and tranquility throughout. Design Objectives: Harmonize the kitchen with the family room by adopting a soothing, neutral color scheme, ensuring a seamless flow across the first floor. Enhance kitchen functionality with thoughtfully designed cabinetry, providing a designated place for every item and maximizing storage efficiency. Cultivate an inviting and comfortable atmosphere that reflects the homeowners’ desire for a calm and relaxing space. Design Challenges: The homeowners wish to retain the existing kitchen tile flooring and integrate it into a refreshed, modern design. Accommodating a dining area spacious enough for family visits without compromising the kitchen’s open feel or functional layout. Despite liking the current placement of plumbing and appliances, the homeowners aspire for a more open floor plan to facilitate better movement and interaction. The need to amplify natural light in the kitchen, especially around the sink area, where existing lighting is insufficient. Preserving the half-wall between the kitchen and family room, a feature the homeowners want to keep, while ensuring it complements the new design. THE RENEWED SPACE Design Solutions: By choosing a neutral color palette that complements the existing tile, the design unifies the kitchen with the adjacent spaces. The tile’s grout was cleaned and restored, enhancing the floor’s appearance and integrating it seamlessly with the new kitchen aesthetic. The inclusion of a larger island with seating for two, alongside maintaining a substantial dining table, was achieved by optimizing the spatial layout. This allowed for a sociable yet functional kitchen, accommodating large family gatherings without feeling crowded. Minor adjustments to the kitchen’s layout maintained the preferred locations for plumbing and appliances while introducing an ‘open’ design concept. Strategic modifications, such as angling the pantry wall, improved the flow and accessibility within the space. Replacing the garden window with a broader, standard window significantly increased natural light, transforming the sink area into a bright, welcoming space with enhanced views of the outdoors. The decision to keep the half-wall was ingeniously leveraged to define the dining area while maintaining an open connection to the family room. This feature not only serves as a visual separator but also ties the two spaces together through the shared color scheme and design elements. The homeowners are thrilled with their newly remodeled kitchen, which has become a hub of warmth and hospitality. Hosting a wedding shower and a birthday party, they have shared their renewed space with friends and family, who have been equally enamored. This remodel has not only met their functional and aesthetic desires but has also enriched their home with a fresh sense of serenity and joy. The upstairs part of the home is shaping up nicely. Here’s their newly remodeled primary bathroom.

Inspiration for a contemporary living room remodel in Orange County

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Inspiration for a mid-sized modern wooden straight staircase remodel in Orange County with metal risers

Example of a transitional white tile and mosaic tile alcove shower design in Baltimore with white walls

Example of a 1950s staircase design in DC Metro

Custom garage floor coating in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas. Before/after coating removal and installation on our custome Stonehenge Floor
Garage - mid-sized traditional attached two-car garage idea in Dallas

Molly Christina Barr
Large elegant galley light wood floor eat-in kitchen photo in Minneapolis with a farmhouse sink, recessed-panel cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, beige backsplash, stone tile backsplash, white appliances and an island

Small elegant underground cork floor and brown floor home design photo with beige walls and no fireplace

Home design - small transitional beige tile and travertine tile travertine floor home design idea in Orange County with furniture-like cabinets, brown cabinets, a two-piece toilet, multicolored walls, a vessel sink and travertine countertops

The 100-year old home’s kitchen was old and just didn’t function well. A peninsula in the middle of the main part of the kitchen blocked the path from the back door. This forced the homeowners to mostly use an odd, U-shaped corner of the kitchen. Design objectives: -Add an island -Wow-factor design -Incorporate arts and crafts with a touch of Mid-century modern style -Allow for a better work triangle when cooking -Create a seamless path coming into the home from the backdoor -Make all the countertops in the space 36” high (the old kitchen had different base cabinet heights) Design challenges to be solved: -Island design -Where to place the sink and dishwasher -The family’s main entrance into the home is a back door located within the kitchen space. Samantha needed to find a way to make an unobstructed path through the kitchen to the outside -A large eating area connected to the kitchen felt slightly misplaced – Samantha wanted to bring the kitchen and materials more into this area -The client does not like appliance garages/cabinets to the counter. The more countertop space, the better! Design solutions: -Adding the right island made all the difference! Now the family has a couple of seats within the kitchen space. -Multiple walkways facilitate traffic flow. -Multiple pantry cabinets (both shallow and deep) are placed throughout the space. A couple of pantry cabinets were even added to the back door wall and wrap around into the breakfast nook to give the kitchen a feel of extending into the adjoining eating area. -Upper wall cabinets with clear glass offer extra lighting and the opportunity for the client to display her beautiful vases and plates. They add and an airy feel to the space. -The kitchen had two large existing windows that were ideal for a sink placement. The window closest to the back door made the most sense due to the fact that the other window was in the corner. Now that the sink had a place, we needed to worry about the dishwasher. Samantha didn’t want the dishwasher to be in the way of people coming in the back door – it’s now in the island right across from the sink. -The homeowners love Motawi Tile. Some fantastic pieces are placed within the backsplash throughout the kitchen. -Larger tiles with borders make for nice accent pieces over the rangetop and by the bar/beverage area. -The adjacent area for eating is a gorgeous nook with massive windows. We added a built-in furniture-style banquette with additional lower storage cabinets in the same finish. It’s a great way to connect and blend the two areas into what now feels like one big space!

Bathroom - contemporary bathroom idea in Austin

Tile detail. Speckled porcelain tile with a pebbled band for aesthetic interest.
Alcove bathtub - mid-sized contemporary 3/4 black tile and porcelain tile porcelain tile and black floor alcove bathtub idea in New York with open cabinets, black cabinets, a one-piece toilet, white walls, an integrated sink, a hinged shower door and white countertops

Stripped down to the bones, here is our Velo Cache.
Home design - mid-sized industrial attached two-car home design idea in Denver

Handrail detail Photography by Tanis Seeber, @ tanisphoto
Staircase - industrial staircase idea in Vancouver

The client's large antique radio collection is prominently displayed in this living area. Mid-Century Modern furniture pieces accent the room.
Inspiration for a 1950s living room remodel in Houston

This is what a hard wood futon frame should look like. Notice how the slats are flat wood, not cheap hollowed metal or mesh wire. Your futon frame should be all wood with no metal for best quality.

This one of a kind and authentic bathroom features eye catching details such as the pebble tile that dances across the shower wall. The linear brown tile almost looks like wood planks giving a rustic feel to the bathroom. There is a bench for the shower and a generous bathtub surround. Kelly Knipper, Floorology