HarmonY
Kitchen & Fireplace Renovation + Home Furnishing. Arvada Colorado. Completed in 2019
Our homeowners, Diana and Per, had purchased this lovely home knowing they were in for some upgrades. They loved their granite counter tops but felt stifled by the short upper cabinets in the kitchen and were not fans of the natural wood look either. Overall, they felt the heaviness that burdened the space daily and were ready for uplifting change. There was ample space for seating off the kitchen, but the space planning was a struggle for the family. To add insult to injury, the fireplace was an eyesore; so much that they had removed this prior to our first meeting. When we arrived on scene, there was a hole in the wall where the fireplace once stood.
The fantastic thing about these clients is that they have lived all over the globe. From India to Sweden, and now in the states, we had an amazing collection to work with, but new that we needed to select the right pieces to round out the space and maximize use by all family members. Throughout the project we enjoyed working with all members of this family, as it was important that they each had the opportunity to give feedback and make selections together.
Diana longed for taller kitchen cabinets with a lighter look and a balanced space that would accommodate the needs of her, her husband, and two growing teens. This meant space to eat casually as a family, do homework together, play games, read in front of the fire, entertain guests, and enjoy the occasional television program. She wanted to incorporate the collection that composed the story of their adventures, and display artwork that was made by talented extended family and the children alike.
The cabinets were in great shape, the countertop was a piece that everyone in the home enjoyed, and we needed to find a way to make the three spaces cohesive. The key here was to ensure that we carefully selected from the existing furniture and artwork to employ an eclectic look that still felt modern and airy.
Structurally speaking, we needed to address the reason the upper cabinets were so short. The home builder had installed a large and unsightly dropped soffit which visually reduced the ceiling and took away from useable storage. Oh, and about that fireplace: this needed to be scaled appropriately to the volume of the living room, without being too loud or distracting
Since we were not making any layout changes, we focused on where we could make the greatest impact. Namely, removing that dropped soffit and installing new cabinets that reached to the ceiling. We were wise to leave all base cabinets in place, to preserve the counter tops. However, with new upper cabinets going in we needed to ensure that the drawer fronts and doors would be of the same style as the new uppers. We were able to have new cabinet doors and drawer fronts custom made to fit the existing base cabinets. To achieve this look, we were also sure to have the face of the cabients painted to match. Adding a new crisp backsplash, contemporary vent hood, and modern hardware took this kitchen to the top.
In the adjacent eat-in we had plenty of space to play with, but the windows posed a bit of a challenge. We opted for custom, upholstered banquet seating in the corner, finished with a large dining table and two lovely dining chairs. The fabric on the new dining chairs coordinates elegantly with two very contemporary swivel chairs, that traveled here from Sweden. Taking note of these details is what made this design work, as it is tricky to blend so many styles together. The cherry on the top is the LED-integrated pendant that hangs delightfully like a piece of fine jewelry above the glass-top table.
The living room is where were took out all the stops. Upon my first visit to the home, I was taken aback by the beauty of a hand-painted, wooden chest that had made its journey from India. There were two other complimentary pieces, also from India, that I knew we had to feature. The coffee table in this space is made from a hand-carved wooden door with outstanding details. We chose to incorporate a large work made from several species of wood, inlayed to reveal a lounging tiger. (Oh my!)
The key to making these pieces live in harmony together was unifying them through our color palette. We drew the color palette for all three spaces from the hand-painted cabinet, and let the remaining selections sing their way through.
The fireplace was a joy to design. Taking notes from the styling on the cabinet doors for the millwork and rooting the blue hues from the upholstery in a deep and velvety soapstone, we tied this space together simply, yet with elegance.
