Cornerstone Hardwood Floors
Living room - mid-sized rustic living room idea in Dallas

Drapery Panel in alternate fabric from roman shade and banded on bottom.
Transitional master home design photo

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 mid-sized transitional l-shaped light wood floor eat-in kitchen remodel in San Francisco with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, granite countertops, beige backsplash, stone slab backsplash, stainless steel appliances and a peninsula

Michael K~
Example of a mid-sized classic dark wood floor hallway design in Portland with multicolored walls

Curved bottom chord trusses Photo courtesy of Ryan Hale
Example of a mountain style living room design in Austin

I was recently asked to this property in Wimbledon in to see if there was anything we could do to resolve the problem with a recently laid Black Limestone tiled floor. The builders that had laid the Limestone did not cover or clean the tiles prior to sealing with an impregnating seal thereby trapping in all the dirt from the building works. They then grouted the tiles but didn’t clean the grout off the surface before putting on another two coats of sealer all of which resulted in a very poor finish. Naturally the customer was not happy so called them back to rectify the problem and so they came back and tried to strip the sealer off with cloths and a chemical stripper. Then without rinsing the stone to remove the chemicals they added another two coats of sealer; in desperation the lady gave up with them and called me in. To resolve I tried all the sealant strippers available to me but couldn’t budge the mess effectively. The only other option available was to diamond grind the surface so I discussed this with the customer and she agreed to this and left me to carry on. Initially I started with a coarse 400 grit diamond pad but even that wasn’t having much effect so in the end I had to cut back the surface using a 100 grit pad moving up to 200 grit, then 400 before finally stopping at 800. To lubricate the process you need to use a little water and then rinse away the resultant soil after each pad. If this was a polished stone surface I would have continued with finer and finer grits to restore the surface polish however these tiles were rough limestone and I needed to leave it as near to how it should be. Once all the Limestone had been stripped back the stone turned an uninviting grey colour, so to bring it back to black I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Stone Oil which enhanced the colour. I left the floor overnight to allow the Stone Oil to dry out and then returned to seal the Limestone using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that enhances the colour in the stone and will protect it from staining going forward. When the customer saw the final result she was overwhelmed and said she felt like crying with relief, because the floor now looked how she had imagined it to be. It was a great feeling for me to know that I had solved the problems for her.

Living room - mid-sized rustic enclosed medium tone wood floor living room idea in Dallas with white walls, a standard fireplace and a wood fireplace surround

Home design - cottage home design idea in Philadelphia

Castle Rock Construction Castle Rock Construction
Example of a classic kitchen design in San Francisco with a double-bowl sink, shaker cabinets, light wood cabinets, granite countertops, beige backsplash, stone tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances

Finishing and trimming wall panels to cover seams.
Example of a classic basement design in Detroit

Powder room - cottage wallpaper powder room idea in New York

Staircase - small traditional carpeted u-shaped wood railing staircase idea in Orange County with wooden risers

Select Premium hardware
Trendy family room photo in San Diego

Gorgeous owners bathroom after renovation
Mid-sized transitional master gray tile and ceramic tile vinyl floor, brown floor and double-sink double shower photo in Austin with shaker cabinets, brown cabinets, a one-piece toilet, an undermount sink, quartz countertops, a hinged shower door, white countertops and a built-in vanity

Timbertech deck and Belgard Porcelain pavers
Minimalist home design photo in Boise

Example of a minimalist dark wood floor living room design in Denver with beige walls