Needless to say, we jumped at the opportunity to be part of their main floor update.  The ‘before’ pictures below illustrate the great potential of the space.  A few modern cosmetic updates quickly enhanced the look and feel of these spaces.

What We Love Most About This Project:

~ We removed a heavy wooden valance over the kitchen sink and replaced it with a decorative pendant.  This instantly made the kitchen feel lighter and updated.

~ The flooring: adiós awkward carpet & tile mixture; hello wide-plank engineered maple!

~The fireplace: we closed up the upper arch, eliminated the tile, and updated the entire look with a clean textured limestone tile and a rustic mantle.

~ The lighting: We replaced all the main floor lighting and fans with elements much better suited to the clients’ “mountain modern” tastes.

~ The furniture:  We wanted comfortable yet modern pieces, so we used an extra-deep sofa & oversized chair, both covered in a lighter performance fabric (it’s bleachable!) to keep the furniture from feeling too heavy.

~ The window treatments:  The original curtains came with the home.  We replaced these with top-down-bottom-up light filtering shades, complemented by linen blackout drapery panels.  (And, for the sake of budget, we were able to re-use the previous drapery rod, and we found pre-made panels so the client didn’t have to pay for custom drapery!)

The final touch was incorporating the existing artwork back into the new space.  Each piece of art holds a beautiful glimpse into their lives: art pieces from travels, their daughter’s artistic owl masterpiece, a hand-crafted Balinese sculpture of their dog, artwork created by family, grandmother’s baskets, and grandfather’s barometer.  The personal details of the home shine a light on what our clients value, and we are so honored to help them create their best space.  

The icing on the cake for this project was surprising them with the fun textures we added through the use of pillows and other accessories.  We were thrilled to have them come home from vacation to see (& love) the completed project!

As always, thank you to everyone who contributed to this project:

~ Flash Contracting (finish carpentry)

~ Vama Flooring (wood flooring & carpeting)

~ Pedro with CL Painting

~ Metro Tile (fireplace tile)

This isn’t necessarily a design-related post, however, it is related to kitchens, and I design kitchens.  I randomly happened upon a kitchen gadget store yesterday, so I stopped in to say hi.  It’s absolutely amazing how many kitchen gadgets there are out there.  I commented to the sales woman that I had no idea there were so many things I needed until I walked in that store.  Yes, I’m a sucker for gadgets.  I admit it.

I restrained myself, and ended up with a single item – the Sprout Master Mini.  It’s a simple divided tray system that comes with 2 sets of seeds.  Supposedly, all I need to do is soak the seeds overnight and water them twice a day, and in just a few days I’ll have healthy, edible sprouts.   We eat a lot of sprouts on our sandwiches, and I’m sick of buying them in plastic containers at the grocery store.  Plus, I miss my summer patio garden, so I’m excited to grow something in my kitchen.

Here they are at the end of Day 1.  You can’t tell from here, so take my word for it.  There are already a few little tiny baby sprouts.

Sounds sorta like a chia pet, huh?