In Progress: Another Kitchen

Thought I'd share another kitchen I've been working on.  It's not close to being finished but I thought you might enjoy a little peak at the work as it's being installed. I also think it's good to see the progress of something.  It takes time and effort.  It's more than just the pretty picture in the end.  I like to show the not always pretty work in-between too.

Here's the before.  The client wanted more light in her dark little kitchen.  She was looking for something clean and streamlined with a few industrial touches.

 Before:  sink wall

Before: ovens wall

Here's a little preview of what's to come in terms of materials and finishes.

And here's the progress that's been made so far. 

 in progress: sink wall

construction by DesignLine Home Transformations

The layout didn't change a lot but we did open up the sink wall with more windows for a lot more light - so much better!

in progress: oven walls

construction by DesignLine Home Transformations

We also relocated the Refrigerator to this wall to allow for more counter and window space.  This is a much more functional arrangement than she had before.

Now I saved the best for last.  My very talented client found this amazing piece that she's going to use as her island/worktable in the center of the room.

I LOVE this I can't wait to see it all come together.

Happy Friday everyone!

In Progress: An Almost Complete Kitchen

Though it's not finished, I just have to show you a peek of a project I've been working on for awhile now.  I'm so excited about how everything is coming together.  My client is so sweet and is also really excited about the progress too which is always fun. Okay now for a taste:

Here's the before:

This was the original kitchen to the house (built in the early 1980s)  The wallpaper was original too.  The client wanted it gone so badly that she couldn't wait for the project to start and started pulling down right after our first visit!

And now the not quite after (remember this is a progress shot - nothing has been styled!)

construction by DesignLine Home Transformations

There are so many things that I love about this new kitchen!  It is so much lighter and brighter.  The island granite has beautiful movement with spots of blue.  The backsplash is a classic subway pattern but with a subtle crackled finish.  We are still waiting on window treatments and furniture.  It makes me so happy to be in this new space!!  I'll show you the full progress of the project in a few weeks once everything is installed. 

In the mean time I hope you enjoyed this little peek into a work in progress.

A Little Catching Up {and a little design too!}

So things have been crazy over the last few weeks here at the Reslus Arms.  I've had my nose buried in drawings for a fab new sunroom project with my friends at HomeMasons.  I hope I can share some of that project with you eventually.

We were also dealing with a tree that fell on BOTH of our cars.  

 see the broken window and dent on on the wagon, ugh.

This is the third time in a year that we've been attacked by a tree. (Tree fell on my husband while driving down the interstate! Tree fell on the house but thankfully didn't do much damage) Hopefully things happen in threes and this will be the last time I have to think about it (or shop for another car!!) for a long time.

I've also been working on a beautiful new kitchen/family room project for a client.  The kitchen is being installed now and I have started to turn my attention to fabrics and furniture for the room.  The kitchen and family room area are open to each other.  Here I've whipped up a little mood board so that we can start to get a feeling for what the family room area will be like.

Of course almost everything has changed but this will give you the feeling of the space.  I'll keep you posted.  I'm very excited to see how it all turns out.

In Progress: Tile Is In, Let's Finalize Paint

I had a meeting with a client this morning to finalize the paint choice for her new Master Bath.  The tile floor had been installed last week (the shower walls and floor are still to come) and cabinetry will go in next.  I thought you might enjoy a peak at another project in progress. 

Here's another view of the tile close up - the camera isn't quite showing you the true color.  It has lots of shades of purple and gray, with bits of terracotta and brown.

The client really likes color and wanted to bring out the purples.  The cabinetry will be painted black with a black granite top.

She had a specific color in mind but I felt that it was a bit too saturated and needed just a touch of gray.  We decided on Yukon Sky by Benjamin Moore.

 
I'm really looking forward to seeing everything else installed.

Starting Over Before Your Begin

 via Cottage Living

I've been thinking a lot about starting over recently.  A client came to me last week just as we were putting the finishing touches on the design plan and getting ready to move into the construction phase for their new sunroom/screened porch/deck to say that after "living" with the plan for a while they have now decided that they want to start over and go in a different direction with their project.  This is not what we wanted to hear obviously, but it was the best thing the client could say.  Construction hadn't started.  We weren't ripping down walls and building them back again, yet!  It is much easier for me to move walls on paper than it is to re-design a project in the middle of construction or for the client to realize AFTER the project is complete that it isn't what they really wanted. 

via Coastal Living

The client did a brave thing coming forward.  They admitted that their inital requests for the project, after some reflection, weren't what they really wanted.  By choosing to mentally live in the new space over several weeks they came to realize that the existing room we were working with wasn't big enough for how they planned to use it; that they would rather increase the size of the existing room and move the new screened porch to a different location.   Had they not thought about it in those terms they would have had a finished space that wasn't big enough to use they way they want.  All of that time and money would have been spent and they wouldn't have gotten what they wanted. 

 via Cottage Living

The trap to avoid in situations like this is to not just be second-guessing yourself though.  If you want to make a big change to your home at some point you have to say yes and make the change.  It's good to re-evaluate your choices but at some point you need to make a decision and actually do the work. 

In your own life and home do you feel like you are good at making decisions or do you always second guess yourself and hold up progress by your unsure feelings?   

Sorry no great project photos, but obviously we haven't built anything yet!

In Process: A Tiny Master Bath Gets An Upgrade

I thought I'd start showing some of the stuff that I work on, showing the process of how it all comes together.  A little bit of process before the big reveal if you will. 

A few weeks ago I went tile shopping with clients to pull together the palette for their tiny bath and I snapped some pics along the way. 

Here's the countertop too.  (we didn't have a sample with us that day which I don't normally recommend by the way!)

After shopping I sketched up some tile patterns for the master has well as the hall bath for the clients to choose what they liked best.

There are still lots of decisions to be made (plumbing fixtures, paint color, mirrors, accessories, lighting, etc)  but we've made a great start and I can't wait to see it once it's complete.  Now we just have to wait for the demolition (and the installation!) to begin.