Before & After - Historic Home - Kitchen

Historic Fairhaven Home

Kitchen

Before  & After Pictures

This gorgeous kitchen had already been renovated when I came on the scene.  The clients knocked it out of the park on their selections.  The design dilemma  here was adding the finishing touches.  The decorative elements that breathe personality and individuality into a space.  We continued the back splash tile all the way up to the soffit, added custom window treatments - a double dose with cafe curtains at the base and printed roman shades on top for color, pattern and texture.  My favorite part - those pendants over the island.  They are simple, but at the perfect size, scale and color they perfectly marry the contemporary vibe while also having a little flair toward the traditional.

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Details

Before & After: Meal Planning Corner

Disclaimers:  
1.  This is my own house
2.  The before pictures are real (even organizers get too busy to stay organized)
3.  The after pictures are real except that fruit has been replaced with other fruit and my pocket book is thrown in there somewhere now too.
4.  We happily rent this house, which means no home-improvement weekends for me!  I can just live here peacefully and quiet my mind except to think you'd be horrified that your interior designer's kitchen looked like this.  Well, we'll see. Here goes nothing!  

About Organizing Before & After Images:
1.  I rarely show before pictures of my organizing work for client confidentiality reasons. 
2.  I sometimes before-and-after something in my own home because it:
     a.  shows I'm a real human and collect real mess too, and 
     b.  gives me a little reward after completing a project 
          to see how much better it looks
3.  Recently, I have gently bribed some clients into letting me use before images from their projects - you'll see those in the coming months as those projects finish up.  

The Meal Planning Corner in the kitchen is where we store our pantry items, and also houses our paperwork, mail, recipe books, etc.  It's a landing spot too, so our "stuff" collects there quite a bit.  The before image represents a nearly empty cupboard and a colossal mess below with mail, paperwork, junk, etc.  

Disorganized Corner of Our Happy Old Kitchen

Mission: Organization begins using the S.P.A.C.E. method 
Sort:   Categorize
Purge: Check expiration dates, toss empty containers
Analyze:  What's going back?
Containerize:  How shall we store what's going back?  
Evaluate:  How is it working?

All Neat and Tidy!

Organizing is the least expensive way to give your space a quick face-lift.  Also, it helps us to use these healthy food items more frequently - they are top of mind when it comes to planning what's on the weekly menu.  

With these nifty glass containers from The Christmas Tree shops (2 for $5), the pantry goods are visible and appropriately stored in air-tight containers.  

Believe it or not, the white scallop-edge tray on the counter was in there somewhere - buried - in the before shot.  I gave it a quick coat of paint, and it has a new life.

Years ago, I covered a couple of 3-ring binders, which serve as my recipe books, with some remnant designer fabrics - those are the lovely coral-colored binders on the left.  The white binder is different - it is special.  Not only is it not really white, is actually a faux alligator skin :) how chic.  It houses my materials for the MIX Wellness Detox and 8-week "Lose Weight Feel Great" programs.  Learn more about the detox here and the 8-week program here.  Essentially, I teamed up with Kristen Boucher of MIX Wellness Solutions to participate in the cleanse and be an kitchen organizing resource for the participants.  It was a tremendous experience, and I'm in the beginning half of the 8-week program now.  Check it out!  She is a genius, plain and simple.  Let's just say she is partially responsible for all of the dried legumes in this cupboard...

I Love Kitchens

The warmth of Brass, laquered, unlaquered, burnished, antiqued
Image via K Sarah Designs

I LOVE everything about the kitchen.  It is visual, tactile, sensory in every way.  Organize it, use it, destroy it then clean it up again - it's ALL good.  Design and decorate a fresh new space and you're right in my heaven.  I had the pleasure of trekking up north to visit a friend and field some kitchen design questions last night.  This woman is on top of it, let me tell you.  When she told me she had inventoried her whole kitchen before selecting what she needed for drawers, cabinets, etc. in  her new design I nearly leaped over the table and kissed her!  Smart, smart, smart.  SMART!  She and her husband will be so pleased with the outcome of the new space, they have done a phenomenal job.  

So, what the heck was I doing there?  Well, finishes and color selection of course.  We threw around some ideas on paint color; hardware style and finish; back splash details like layout; grout lines and grout color.  Being a sounding board (with an arsenal of ideas and visual examples) as well as someone to help moderate all tricky decisions is part of the job I love.  

True, at one point I did declare that the hardware selection is possibly the most important selection made in the kitchen's design.  After all it is the glitz, glam, jewelry accessory that defines what direction and vibe the space will take on.  Perhaps a bit outlandish, I do believe it's the details in a space that really make it shine (and in this case wine and dine too...)  

Image via House of Turquoise Blog

Subtle dark accents - great shape!
Image via Pinterest, atticmag.com

White on white - interesting country vibe
Image via Pinterest

Can I get some brass, PLEASE!
Image via Pinterest - David Christensen Photography

Edgy, angular and elegant
Image via HGTV.com, TerraCotta Properties

Kitchen Design...what to do above the wall cabinets?

Heather Scott Home & Design

Ever wonder what to do with that space above the wall cabinets in the kitchen?  I absolutely love this!  Continuing the back-splash material - almost whatever it is - right up to the ceiling gives the kitchen such a great look.  Image above - no need for a window treatment!  Image below - the continuity of the back-splash tile frames the wall cabinets like artwork, and decorates an otherwise barren space destined to collect faux plants (please tell me not), baskets, etc.   In some kitchens, a basket, vase, ceramics or other sculptural items might be appropriate up there depending on the ceiling height and what else is going on in the space; however, given the choice and depending on the overall scenario, I'd go with either cabinets up to the ceiling, decorative moldings or the continued back-splash.  

Image via House of Turquoise

Heather Scott Home & Design

Here, the designer's ceiling treatment is phenomenal.  The shine off that high-gloss paint and the detail of the v-groove is so beautiful.  Also, the cabinets on the right go all the way up, AND have a great molding at the crown.  I also love how the wall cabinets have single panels all the way up.  It gives the room such a tall, airy vibe and makes the room feel bigger.

Image via House of Turquoise

Charmean Neithart Interiors

Here is a super-modern take on the concept, but look at that wall!

Image via House of Turquoise, Castaway Villa

And, in a bathroom...such a beautiful tile, such an amazing detail and finishing touch.

Image via House of Turquoise

GEORGE Interior Design