this past summer I had the pleasure of meeting my super sweet client, Beth, who was in desperate need of overhauling her 1960’s ranch located in Mt. Holly, NC.. by overhaul I mean complete gut jobs on both of the bathrooms, busting through a wall in the kitchen, configuring a proper dining space, painting all of the cabinetry in the kitchen, tearing out the dated green countertops, painting the entire house & building a large built-in work unit for the computer and filing that incorporated open ‘lounge’ spaces for her 2 cats. this was a huge job and I am so thankful for her patience through the dust, dirt & grim of living through a renovation.
let’s start in the kitchen…..

my goal in the kitchen was to bring everything up to date without being too trendy. since this is an older home I wanted to keep my selections classic and timeless. I love the look of doing two tone cabinets so on the base we picked a warm taupe and the uppers got a nice cream color. the flooring is actually a stick down laminate that you can grout. it is super durable and gives the look of slate. my client decided against a ceramic or porcelain in the kitchen due to the coldness it can give off. I picked a creamy/white quartz countertop that has some grey veins & the backsplash is a mix of glass and stone. it all works together and really warms up this kitchen. the copple’s also got a new range top & vent hood to match their fridge, and a nice new kohler sink with a pull down faucet.
lets look closer…..

one of the challenges with this space was configuring a dining area for the couple to enjoy meals together.. their previous set up was not working. it felt very claustrophobic and there was no flow from the kitchen to the other parts of the house. Beth really wanted to knock down the entire wall that separated the kitchen from the front den, but it was not feasible, so we settled on opening up part of the wall with a nice archway….

one of the other requests Beth had was to incorporate an island somehow, and a storage space for the wine collection the couple had accumulated. I drew up my vision for the island/wine bar that would also double as a place for the trashcan to go underneath and a place to drop keys and mail. attached to the island is the new seating/dining area that incorporates a built-in banquette!

now we move into the living room; this space really just needed to be updated with new furniture and coordinating textiles. Beth and her husband Scott love the outdoors and birds, so when I came across the fabric for the curtain panels, I knew it was a winner and the scheme for the entire house came together in no time.

the master bathroom was next on the list… it was definitely stuck in a time warp! the tub was itty bitty and too low to the floor, the vanity had unusable space and was also too short for my clients to comfortably use and the aesthetic of the entire space was just way off! so I said let’s gut it and start new!!

I had my carpenter build a completely new vanity cabinet with a storage tower, which was great! a large soaker tub with a new tile surround was a must! and the new flooring we picked really brightened things up. when we tore off the old wallpaper we realized the walls were in really bad condition with dips and dings, so we went back in with a textured wallpaper with a subtle stria.

the copple’s are sure to enjoy their home for many more years to come now that everything is fresh & new and brought up to date! it was a team effort to get everything on the wish list accomplished and many thanks to my carpenter Craig for making it happen!!

until next time…
design swell. live well.