Photo: Philip Otto Photography

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.

While the lighting of this bathroom is a bit aggressive in the photo, this Atlas Concorde Dune White 3D wave tiles gives a calming feeling while you enjoy your shower!

Example of a mid-sized transitional l-shaped dark wood floor and brown floor kitchen design in Toronto with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, quartzite countertops, white backsplash, marble backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and white countertops

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.

Example of a transitional home design design in New York

Roger Hill/Hill Construction
Example of a mountain style home design design in San Francisco

Another shot of the large arched entry door and matching sidelites.
Urban entryway photo in New York

Inspiration for a victorian dining room remodel in Nashville

Area Rug with Non-skid Rubber Backing, Decorative Modern Carpet for Living, Dining & Children’s Rooms, Bedroom Anti-slip Throw Runner for Kitchen, Bathroom, Hallway & Entry High quality Turkish area rugs for your home decor. You can easily pick a beautiful rug for your decoration from our wisely patterned, colorful prints. No matter you like country, traditional, retro, western, rustic, asian, oriental, bohemian or vintage style. We have unique geometric, checkered, striped, solid, distressed, floral, classic, tribal, braided and fringed designs. Besides we have variety of nice color options including but not limited to neutral, earth, natural and brilliant colors. Chiara Rose area rugs are brand new alternatives of traditional hand-made silk rugs. They are far inexpensive with respect to luxury antique Iranian kilim’s. However they are as soft, shiny and decorative as Tabriz carpets. Unlike tufted, polypropylene rugs it is lightweight yet soft enough. We try to offer you best carpets ever with affordable prices. Great rugs with multiple usage areas. You can use large sizes in your living room, dining room, bedroom, nursery, kids’ and teenagers’ room or guest room in your house. You can use runners in your bathroom, kitchen, hallway and entry. Thanks to its slip resistant leather backing you can safely lay it over all kind of floor like; wood, hardwood, laminate, vinyl, tiles, ceramic and stairs. You can choose it flooring your office. It is suitable for indoor and outdoor use. Thanks to its unique woven fiber technology, Chiara Rose Area Rugs are not heavy and thick like traditional rugs. They don’t cause problems under your doors. Still because they firmly grip floor, you can safely vacuum clean. Extra durable & easy-care. They are machine washable. You can wash it in any washing machine at home by yourself at max 30C or 65F. Please don’t tumble dry. Hang dry in shadow. Product Sizes: 2'7"X5'; 2'7"X6'6"; 2'7"X6'6".

Inspiration for a mid-sized transitional master green tile and ceramic tile bathroom remodel in Jacksonville

Inspiration for a transitional home design remodel in New York

Our Bokhara rug collection is woven with the finest New Zealand and blended Pakistani wools. Mori designs originate from Turkmenistan and other Caucasian locals and are characterized by repeating rows of geometric motifs know as guls. The high lustre wash provides a richness and sheen. Often called two rugs in one, the Pakistani Bokhara appearance from one direction is notably different from the other. One side providing richness and depth, the other an almost silk-like lustre!

TV Wall using Natural Stone Panels. Product Showed: Format Milky Way 2 F Slim Dimensions: 7x14" Thickness: 3/8-1/2"
Family room - modern family room idea in Miami with white walls

shahen mistry
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary master beige tile bathroom remodel in Mumbai with flat-panel cabinets and white cabinets

This ski-in, ski-out condo features a strong Arts and Crafts influence. The interiors feature reclaimed oak floors, mortise-and-tenon carpentry, stone, and custom period details.

Reference: 851703 Luxury paper roll holder with spare for 4 rolls. Made of brass and Polished 24 K gold plated. Designed and manufactured in Spain.
Bathroom - contemporary bathroom idea in Miami