Before and After: Renovation Project

Here are some before and after photos of a recent project where we renovated the kitchen, dining room and family room.  By removing walls and rearranging functions we were able to create a spacious, open-concept space where the areas are defined by architectural details such as columns, vaulted ceilings and stairs.  I love how dramatically we were able to change this space by working within the existing footprint.

Family Room Before

Family Room After

    

View from Family Room Before

View from Family Room After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After - reworked to create walk-in pantry

Kitchen Before 

Kitchen After - we moved the kitchen into this space and vaulted the ceiling

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After: Removing walls made space for a large island

Dining Room Before

Dining Area After - the walls were removed to open the kitchen and dining room to each other

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

View toward Dining Room Before

View toward Dining Room After

Design Details: Walk-in Pantry

While this may look like a new kitchen project, these photos are just of the pantry.  Big pantry, right?  It has a sink, dishwasher, full sized freezer, wall oven and a warming drawer.  Plus beautiful marble countertops, glass front cabinets for china storage and tons of open shelving for food.

The view from the kitchen into the pantry.  The homeowner's dishes and serving pieces are displayed beautifully in the glass front cabinets.

A round window becomes the focal point over the pantry sink.  

There's a lot of cabinet storage space and a long run of counter top.

It's not just pretty, but functional too.  Open shelves for food items and roll-out drawers for small kitchen appliances are hidden from view.

My favorite part?  The pantry is located behind the kitchen range and we placed custom bulls-eye glass windows at the sides of the range provide a little glimpse into the pantry beyond.

Here are some photos of other walk-in pantries I've designed:

Product: Cork Tile

As a designer I get a lot of catalogs and samples in the mail from various manufacturers.  Most of the time these get placed in the recycle bin.  But sometime last year a brochure and a small sample of round cork tile from The Habitus Collection caught my eye and I filed it away.

Later in the year, when it came time to tile my new office bathroom I went back to that sample and decided to incorporate it into the countertop and backsplash of the vanity.

First, we built a vanity out of plywood and installed a cement backerboard over the plywood countertop.

This tile is really easy to install - so easy that I did it myself.  It can be cut to fit with scissors and set with traditional tile mastic.

Another great feature is that the tile is completely customizable and can be painted after it's installed.  I decided on a light gray-wash over the cork.  Finally, I grouted it like regular tile and applied a latex clear coat for water protection.

Here is it all finished. I love the crisp geometric shape of the tile offset by the natural texture of the cork.

This is the same bathroom that I used the sliding mirror in - photos of that later.