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.

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Taj Mahal quartzite kitchen at Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Home for the Holidays. This kitchen was designed by Niki Papadopoulos & Mark Williams,Mark Williams Design Associates. Fabrication by Atlanta Kitchens. Natural stone from Levantina Atlanta. Photography by Galina Coada. For a list of all vendors http://atlantahomesmag.com/article/sensational-style

Trend Collection from BAU-Closets
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A new English Tudor Style residence, outfitted with all the amenities required for a growing family, includes this third-floor space that was developed into an exciting children’s play space. Tucked above the children’s bedroom wing and up a back stair, this space is a counterpoint to the formal areas of the house and provides the kids a place all their own. Large dormer windows allow for a light-filled space. Maple for the floor and end wall provides a warm and durable surface needed to accommodate such activities as basketball, indoor hockey, and the occasional bicycle. A sound-deadening floor system minimizes noise transmission to the spaces below.

Chuck Carver- Photographer Brickhouse- Architect Beth Hanson- Interior Designer
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Robert Whitworth Creative
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Photo: Hoi Ning Wong © 2014 Houzz
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PBA was brought in to solve many issues throughout the first floor of this home, the most pressing of which was to create a larger and more functional kitchen. After examining several options, the decision was made to create a narrow addition to the side of the house which allowed the design to meet all of the clients objectives. The floor plan was also opened up to allow for entertaining, and a long corridor was enhanced with trim-work to visually break up the length of the corridor, including the creation of a focal point wall at the end of the corridor. Other renovations included a new mud room, and a guest bathroom and awkwardly proportioned music room were completely reconfigured to create a formal powder room, a significantly improved guest bathroom, and a more intimate music room / sitting room. Photographer: Anne Gummerson

Built-in storage and bookcases around the staircase, utilise all available space. Photo credit: Mark Bolton Photography
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Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture designed this textural, drought tolerant, warm modern garden to complement the mid-century design of the home. The use of various materials including gravel, wood, and concrete mixed with a lush drought resistant planting palette offer a homeowners and visitors a multi sensory environment. Photos by Art Gray

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The traditional area rug helps tie everything in this room together. It pulls colors from the bedding, lounge chairs, and ottoman to make the space feel cohesive. Design: Wesley-Wayne Interiors Photo: Dan Piassick

To achieve the indoor/outdoor quality our client wanted, we installed multiple moment frames to carry the existing roof. It looks clean and organized in this photo but there is a lot going on in the structure. Don't be afraid to make big structural moves to achieve an open space. It is always worth it!

A fresh take on traditional style, this sprawling suburban home draws its occupants together in beautifully, comfortably designed spaces that gather family members for companionship, conversation, and conviviality. At the same time, it adroitly accommodates a crowd, and facilitates large-scale entertaining with ease. This balance of private intimacy and public welcome is the result of Soucie Horner’s deft remodeling of the original floor plan and creation of an all-new wing comprising functional spaces including a mudroom, powder room, laundry room, and home office, along with an exciting, three-room teen suite above. A quietly orchestrated symphony of grayed blues unites this home, from Soucie Horner Collections custom furniture and rugs, to objects, accessories, and decorative exclamationpoints that punctuate the carefully synthesized interiors. A discerning demonstration of family-friendly living at its finest.

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