Home Tour - Our Own Kitchen Remodel

INTRODUCTION

I feel like a broken record, but what a weird time we’re living in right now. Going grocery shopping feels apocalyptic, anxiety and stress levels are through the roof, tears spring to my eyes randomly throughout the day and my energy levels are zapped despite prioritizing healthy eating, exercise and sleep, making it clear that my body is just as confused and stressed out as I am. I know I’m not alone in this, despite being physically isolated, and I hope you all are able to hold onto the positives that seem to be coming out of this, like stronger relationships, more self-awareness, and a new understanding of priorities in life.

I’ve completely put this blog on the back burner since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, despite having scheduled posts and topics planned for each week. Suddenly, everything shifted and I honestly just felt weird talking about design while people were suffering so much. Additionally, we’ve had to put a lot of project installs and photoshoots on hold while people are sheltering in place, which has made me have to rethink our marketing strategy for the next few months.

I was touched when I mentioned this on instagram, because the responses I got were not at all was I was expecting! I got so many messages from people saying they just want distractions right now, and want to look at beautiful things. I am HAPPY to help with that, and finally got the motivation to hop back on here and add some beautiful distractions to your days :)

As many of you know, Mike and I were incredibly lucky to have our kitchen renovation completed right before this all started. No exaggeration, a week before the shelter-in place order was announced, we didn’t have a kitchen sink or refrigerator, let alone ANY food in our cabinets, so we got incredibly lucky. Now that it’s complete, after four years in this condo and dreaming of the day our kitchen would be more functional for us (and more our aesthetic), we pinch ourselves every morning while we make coffee, still absorbing the fact that this is real.

Today, I’m taking you guys on a little tour to see what we updated in the kitchen and entryway (hint, literally everything), and how we were able to open and brighten the space up despite having concrete ceiling and limitations in the floorplan.

BEFORE

This kitchen has gone though two changes with us. The first was right when we moved in. As first-time home buyers, we had a tight budget at first but wanted to make the space feel a little more modern and bright. The existing floors were super dark with light oak cabinets and stainless steel oval knobs that never looked straight. The first thing we did after moving in was replace all the floors with light, Ash wood flooring to brighten everything up and give the place a clean feel overall. From there, I painstakingly painted the oak cabinets myself and they needed FOUR coats of white paint, front and back. Since that day, Mike won’t let me do DIY projects in our house…that broke me, hah. To complete the update we swapped in more modern cabinet pulls. This worked for three years while we focused on getting the bathrooms renovated (which you can see here) but it still wasn’t “us”. We actually wanted to avoid investing in the kitchen if we could because we thought we’d only live in this condo for 3-4 years. Now that we’ve been here for four, we’ve decided to stick around for at least another two, which meant it was time to do something about the kitchen.

The things we hated most about the old kitchen we the clunky, old appliances and the dark granite countertops.

We also had no real backsplash, but didn’t want to bother putting one in without making some bigger changes first.

The step-up bar counter on the peninsula was nice at first, but we realized we’d rather lose it, and peel back the countertop to widen up the hallway. We also hated that the faucet handle always hit it when we turned on the sink…little things like that started to drive us nuts, so we knew it needed to be chopped off.

Here’s a flashback to how it looked when we bought it, before swapping the floors and painting the cabinets. It felt SO heavy and dark, but we loved the layout.

THE PROGRESS

I’m going to write another blog post that dives more into the progress and what tips I have for surviving a renovation, but my number one tip is: move out if you are financially able to! We chose to live through ours (despite some incredibly generous offers from friends and past clients to let us stay with them…you guys are the best) because we wanted to check in on the progress each day and we wanted to experience what clients deal with so that we can tailor our process to meet any needs that we were previously unaware of. We’re already working on some new offerings that we’re going to make standard for clients, because honestly, it’s not a fun or easy process to live through and we want to do whatever we can to alleviate stress.

This is what we lived with for about a month. The worst part was we were sleeping on a pullout sofa in the guest room (towards the top left of this photo) while our master bedroom was being updated, and anytime we needed to get something from the living room where everything was stored (behind this photo) we had to put on shoes, and walk through drywall dust.

THE REVEAL

Before I dive into the actual photos, keep in mind that during this shelter-in-place order, I had to take matters into my own hands and photograph this with my iphone so forgive the quality. I hope to have it professionally shot in the next few months, but for now this will have to do!

We have a pretty limited space to work with, so our biggest priority was minimizing interruptions in the design to keep things feeling bright and seamless, while maximizing storage and functionality. For that reason, we chose to go with an integrated paneled refrigerator and dishwasher, and got rid of the above-range microwave, opting instead for a sleek microwave drawer tucked next to the range. We also carried all the perimeter cabinets up to the ceiling so that we did not waste an inch of storage space. We terminated cabinets with waterfall edge countertops to elongate the illusion of the space and make for a more polished/finished entry point into the space.

Another big change we made, was chopping off the bar height bump-up in our peninsula. While this deleted the bar-seating at that space, no one ever really sat there, and instead we preffered to open the space up as much as possible, and provide a clear, unobstructed hallway.

Another intentional design move, was keeping lines really clean and delicate, in an effort to not overpower the small space. In our cabinetry, we chose to go with a 3/8” thick modern shaker profile (standard is typically 1.5-2”) to give some definition to the cabinets while still keeping them modern. We took this one step further by selecting porcelain countertops instead of the more traditional quartz or natural stone. Porcelain counters are newer on the market and have a very thin, European profile to them, complimenting the cabinet profile.

We kept the palette simple and tied in elements found throughout the rest of our condo to create a unified, completed look for the home. The upper cabinets were stained to match the Ash floors. The countertops mimic the marble accents in both bathrooms, and the black metal edge pulls tie in the pops of black throughout the rest of the space. By carrying the countertops up the backsplash, we created a dramatic yet simplified look (bonus points: it’s SUPER easy to clean when I attempt to cook).

This shot was hard to get since there’s no natural light in our entryway and I was working with an iphone, but it’s an important one because it shows the third (and most important ) waterfall edge, which is seen when you walk in our front door. We wanted to create a statement here that gives a hint of what’s to come and makes the kitchen feel as if it continues into the entryway. You can also see the drywall ceiling that we added in, dropping down about 3 inches. Our home, like most high-rise condos, has concrete ceilings, so adding recessed lighting is only doable if you frame out a ceiling. Fortunately, now that LED downlights are a thing, you can add recessed lighting without losing any noticeable ceiling height…it’s a must!

As I mentioned before, we wanted to keep the upper cabinets completely clean and uninterrupted, so we moved the microwave down into the lower cabinets by selecting a microwave drawer (the only thing better would be hiding it behind a cabinet completely, in my opinion) and integrating the hood into the upper cabinets.

We couldn’t update the kitchen without also making some changes to the entryway since they’re right next to each other. Previously, we had horrible slatted bi-fold doors on the right, hiding our washer and dryer, along with a bulky coat hook above the bench. I hated how cluttered it always felt when we walked in, and was borderline mortified that guests walked right into our laundry room when they entered our apartment (that’s city living for you). Laundry doors are tricky because you need to have ventilation while the machines are running. What we opted for, was a modern barn door, stained to match our floors and cabinets. This creates a beautiful backdrop when guests enter our home, and while the machines are running, we can slide it open to provide ventilation without interfering with the space.

The finishing touch was some new accessories on our credenza, and a black marble mirror, tying into the black marble accents in our master bathroom.

This home finally feels like ours and we are so happy to get to enjoy it and hide out here during this pandemic. I hope you enjoyed seeing a peek of our home! Once things are back to normal and we’re able to get the final pieces for our bedroom and guest room, we’ll do a full home tour so you can see how everything ties together.

In the meantime, stay safe, and stay sane!

-dgw