Sometimes you love something and you don’t even know why. You just do.
Growing up my Dad was (and still is) a General Contractor and I don’t remember ever living in a house he and my mom didn’t leave more beautiful than the way they found it. They saw the potential in every forgotten bathroom, crappy kitchen and weird layout. Essentially, my brother, sister and myself have them to blame for our fascination with making old things new.
I have been in the process of doing that very thing at my own home over the last five years so last fall when I happened to be chatting with my longtime bestie (former NFL Cheerleader and Real Estate Agent) Tiffany Harwell and she mentioned her frustration over her kitchen and her desire to renovate, I jumped at the chance to help!
She had a few issues. One, the entire kitchen was brown. The floors, the cabinets and even the countertops where all various shades of brown. There is nothing wrong with a dark kitchen, but my friend Tiffany loves bright, modern, clean design and this is the one part of her home that really wasn’t rising up to meet her or her awesome other half, music manager Kevin Spellman.
They are a gorgeous, energetic and extremely cool couple with great taste and a house full of teenage girls and this traditional kitchen in no way represented who they are. It also stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of their beautiful modern home, which they have lovingly and beautifully designed.
Here are all the details!
PAINT
There is nothing wrong with brown cabinets and brown floors, but nothing extremely special about it either. Updating the traditional cabinetry with Sherwin Williams Pure White was money well spent. It brightened up the entire space and made everything feel more modern and cheerful. Tiffany tried several shades to make sure the white didn’t pull yellow up against their already painted walls and trim. I highly recommend testing several paint colors. We tossed around Alabaster, Simple White and several more. Lighting, wall color and trim color all play a part in how the paint color looks on your cabinets. Test the paint up against your walls and trim and make sure you love it before it get’s painted!
BAR HEIGHT
At one point bar height counters were all the rage. But now they can feel dated and impractical so we decided to cut down the bar (literally) to counter height. This might sound insane and messy but it’s really not that big of a deal. We also had the electrical outlets moved down so the kids can plug in their computers and devices for homework. This one thing really changed the feeling of this entire kitchen space. Instead of that step up, you have one beautiful clean slab of Shadow Storm Quartzite at your counter.
COUNTER TOPS
When I was choosing surfaces for my kids bathroom remodel last year I decided on Shadow Storm Quartizite because I had seen how beautiful and durable it was in the kitchen of my sisters last home. I have had or have just about every surface in my current and past homes so when Tiffany and I got started I immediately recommended this surface for counters. Here is what we ran into. Every single stone source has a different price on surfaces. The price per square foot can very a LOT. If you are trying to stay in budget and have the time it can really be prudent to shop around. Countertops can make or break the budget of a kitchen or any project. You should also discuss how durable they are, and go in person and pick out your slab! The colors can really vary on a piece of natural stone. Quartz and Quartzite are awesome for kitchens because they are pretty indestructible for a busy family and the light color we chose gives you the feel of a more traditional marble without the staining factor that comes with a pure marble. In addition to new countertops, we also replaced the old sink with a stainless steel undermount sink !
TIP: If you are doing a small project, say a powder room ask the stone yards about remnants. My current powder room sink is a beautiful marble that was left over and cost me just $300.
OVERHEAD CABINETY + BACKSPLASH
Tiffany is a minimalist when it comes to the kitchen. She likes clean counter tops and little clutter. So a kitchen full of overhead cabinetry is not a necessity for her, but Kevin loves to cook so getting rid of all of the overhead cabinets didn’t seem wise. So we chose to remove the overhead cabinets on the wall you see when you walk in and tile with a white picket tile all the way up capped off by a brass swinging sconce. We replaced the cabinetry with very affordable pre made stained black floating shelves for display giving the kitchen a clean modern look that goes with the rest of their beautiful home. We continued the same tile around the kitchen as the new backsplash with a light grey grout.
TIP: Custom is awesome, but pre made is usually more affordable. In the case of the floating shelves we got the look we wanted at about half the price.
HARDWARE
Tiffany really wanted bright beautiful brass to replace the knobs and pulls in her kitchen so we chose these knobs in a Champagne Bronze from Home Depot and matched the existing size of the pulls with a new more updated cabinet pull, a super affordable and beautiful replacement. My favorite treasure in this kitchen, Tiffany found and it was also one of the most affordable, this GORGEOUS brass faucet!
Beautiful things don’t always have to break the bank.
PROBLEMS
