It’s 1961; I’ve just found my dream home, and it has a nice, big open kitchen with those modern laminate cabinets with no visible handles!  Oooohh, I just LOVE the canary yellow laminate countertops, and how the laminate goes all the way up to the cabinets….but my FAVORITE is the cheery wallpaper!

“It’s so nice to have these modern conveniences….making it far easier to cook, clean & take care of the kids in my tight dress, heels and stockings……”

“I’m sure this kitchen is timeless in its modern design!”

Alas, I’ve been as guilty as any designer in thinking my designs would be timeless…

…makes me think of all the lovely wallpaper borders we hung as an accent to the room – right over the texture – raise your hand if you’ve ever tried to remove one of those!

Let’s talk about MODERN kitchens, 2017!

Oops…wrong kitchen…ok here’s our beginning point – the Kilgore cottage kitchen today…

PROJECT:  Give this charming 1961 kitchen 2017 style, convenience & panache

CHALLENGE 1:  Do not overpower the intrinsic charm                                    of this lovely cottage with 2017 style

CHALLENGE 2:  Do not overspend the house completely,                                though it’ll be tempting to use the best!

CHALLENGE 3:  Make this the kitchen everyone wants                                    to gather in by creating atmosphere

OK, so first comes the demo; ALL the cabinets will come out (sadly, they’re site-built so cannot be donated)  The appliances WILL be donated; though old, they all work.

I would have left the high wainscoting – love that!  But I can’t see how to save it yet after demo (stay tuned – I’m planning to try)  But that brings up an interesting design dilemma you may want to know about.  Since we’re stuck with 8′ ceilings here, I will have to create the ‘feeling’ of space (aka visual space) by accenting vertical lines, rather than horizontal.  Kitchens have natural horizontal lines, mostly due to the countertops; you can hardly vary the height of them just for visual purposes!

But if you’ve even wondered why you’re drawn to kitchens with varying heights of upper cabinets, now you know why!  It’s not like adding a higher-up cabinet is really of much practical use…..but it keeps from creating yet another strong horizontal line, that being the uniform TOP of the cabinetry!  This CAN be notably different when ALL uppers go to the ceiling…..stay tuned.

These are not finished kitchens, but CAN YOU see the strong horizontal lines in 3 of the pictures, and the way it’s broken up on 2 others?  It’s just one of the tricks when trying to achieve balance and flow….more to come!

Demo Plans!

This shows the kitchen facing the living/dining area; this wall will come out, and be replaced by a long shallow arched opening….and a nice big island goes in it’s place!

To the left of the kitchen sink, I’ll leave enough wall to cover the fridge, and leave enough to lend a “sense of space” to the open dining on the other side….to the right of the sink, I’ll leave OFF the upper cabinets, in favor of some open shelving.  The main kitchen door opens onto this wall of cabinets; things placed in upper cabinets would be rarely accessed!

Sadly, I’ll need to lose this window in the kitchen; with openings on 3 sides of the room, I need a long wall somewhere to support the main section of cabinetry and the gas range.  It was more important to me that the range be centered on the island than to have this large window…you’ll see what I mean on the plan view.  If there’s one thing I cannot stand to see, it’s kitchens where the various elements do not line up!  The smallest attention to detail is what determines whether or not people are comfortable in that space…most do not know what element makes them uncomfortable, but improper lining up of the elements in a kitchen is a BIGGIE!

Note:  you won’t SEE a washer/dryer from this vantage point remember?  They’re going to be tucked into a space where they’re not visible…AND you’ll be looking through my vintage wooden door with double vertical panes anyway!

Soon I’ll share the cabinet elevations, along with colors and materials!  That’s the FUN part!  And remember….I always welcome your comments, like, loves & questions!  Thanks for sharing the journey….it’s all the better for sharing!

Just for fun, I’ll leave you with the new Island Lantern, and two crystal chandeliers that were in the house….destination to be determined!  

Until next time, if you know someone wanting to buy or sell real estate anywhere in East Texas, I hope you’ll give us a call, and check out our website here!

How ugly is this?!  AND it has a window unit…ugh.  There are so many windows that the in-between can hardly hold them up….and how ’bout that astroturf?!

Well, believe it or not…..this will transform into my beautiful master bedroom suite, with wood floors, vaulted ceiling, one brick wall, and all the fantastic-ness one can stand in their private retreat….you’ll have to see it to believe it, so stay with me folks!

Here it is from the outside view; lovely huh?  Well, sitting under all those windows and aluminum, and yes the metal awning, is something very very useful….a SLAB!  So off it all comes!  We will pull the gabled roof out over a completely new room (thus the vaulted ceiling) and this eyesore becomes my favorite room, overlooking my beloved hydrangeas-to-be!

You may wonder, then….what about a super-cool master bath to go along with that new master bedroom?  Just fyi, the house NOW has 1 1/2 baths….and the 1/2 is more like 1/4, or 1/2 made for wee people….it’s going away on demo day!

Ugly weird bedroom to the rescue!

This strangely-shaped excuse for a bedroom DOES have a french door opening into the now-sunroom (yes the one with the Astroturf).  I’m not sure who ever wanted their bedroom opening to the sunroom with all the windows and a french door, or who wanted anyone using the sunroom and back porch to travel through their bedroom to get there…..but no worries because THIS WILL SOON BE THE MASTER BATH!

Just in case you aren’t foundation-savvy….while plumbing is a BEAR to move around in a slab-built home, it’s very do-able when your home is built on pier-and-beam.  We’re all smiling except the poor plumber who has to crawl around under there…but he knew that when he chose his profession!

You’ll see this transformed into a posh bath with 6′ soaker tub, walk-in shower, double vanities etc etc etc….but alas, I had to give up the window to have the separate shower.  Kinda sad about that, but let’s face it:  the blinds would’ve been closed all the time anyway.  And in case you’re super observant, you’ll see that door move to the left so I don’t have to step through the tub to get into the bedroom.

Here’e the layout to start your imagination lining up with mine:

(slight mess-up, as I moved the doors over – oops!)

And just for fun, a view of the super tiny, silly, way-too-small, what-were-they-thinking,  stretching-to-call-it-that 1/2 bath, IN the bedroom that’ll become my home office:

(by the way, lest you think I’m selling it short, you cannot see that half of that wall space is a closet!  The bath ends right where the door moulding is)

while I’m on a roll with the before pics….here’s the laundry room; if you feel bad about it, I’ll tell you what’s already happened in here:

The new AC unit went in last week….IN THE ATTIC! Behind that white door on the right (of the left pic)  sits the water heater, which after much contemplation, I’ve decided to have join the AC in the attic.  Now the washer/dryer will have a nice little tucked in place instead of sitting out in the main walkspace, and looking ugly from the kitchen….which is important because…do you remember………?

Yep…the old wood door I dug around and found at Canton….the laundry room gets the white side,  the kitchen gets the wood side, and it’ll SWING!  But who wants to look through it and see appliances?  Problem solved!

Next time I’ll show you the kitchen and living room; I’m pretty pumped about them!  But I will leave you with my other super-cool find of the week…..I’m thinking I’ll hang this on the brick vaulted wall of my bedroom.  I KNOW it’s almost Joanna-esque cliche’, but I love it!  All designers will agree:  we are ALWAYS on the lookout for a basically round item, architectural item preferably.  And large.  That shape works in so many situations where normal artwork would not do the trick.  A vaulted-ceiling wall is a perfect example; over a mantle is another.

…….sooo when I ran across this windmill in the weathered almost-green and aqua shades I favor, I just couldn’t pass it up……cliche or not!  (my old go-to was a starburst mirror…but that’s now a bit 2005’s ya’ know!) By the way, the colors are soooooo subtle on this weathered windmill that they really don’t show up in the picture…take my word for it – it’ll be amazing in the “AFTERS”!

Thanks for joining me ~ it may be obvious by now, but taking a house apart and putting it back together, better, is play-time for me!  It’s further joy for me to share it with you!