award winning british arts and crafts refresh

​ROOMS

​Kitchen, Family Room, First Floor Bathroom, Living Room, Dining Room, Den, Sunroom, and Foyer

GOALS ACHIEVED

​Transform the first floor into a welcoming and functional home for today, while also remaining true to this 110-year-old home’s architectural style.

PHOTOGRAPHY
​​
Kitchen, Family Room, and Bathroom: Scott Edwards, EFG Image

Living Room, Dining Room, Den, Sunroom, and Foyer: Michael Kaskel, Michael Alan Kaskel Interior Design Photography

MORE DETAILS

x

DESIGN CHALLENGE

​This 110-year-old home hadn’t been updated since 2000, rendering the kitchen especially dysfunctional. 
​

• These empty-nesters wanted to cook with their grown children as a family, yet a too-small space between the range and the island created continuing traffic jams.
• Also, the kitchen island’s bar height countertop created a barrier between the kitchen and family room, however the kitchen’s original footprint could not be bumped out.
• The Family Room was very closed off from the gorgeous backyard with only two side windows.
• The bathroom’s layout was awkward, with a too-small-for-comfort corner shower stall.

In Phase II, the new Kitchen, Family Room, and Bath made these clients remark about the rest of the first floor; “I feel like I’m walking into my grandmother’s house.”
​

DESIGN SOLUTION
​

• We added over a foot of space between the new Wolf range and the kitchen island and kept all countertops at counter height to create a sense of openness. We also widened the entry between the Family Room and Kitchen to facilitate this. 
• One of the client’s offhand remarks about always wanting a traditional Southern front porch inspired painting the Kitchen’s ceiling a blue reminiscent of haint blue. 
• The Family Room received a coffered ceiling and the addition of ten recessed ceiling lights, as well as new fireplace cabinetry. ​
• We also added large windows and glass doors to the back wall to open it up to the lovely backyard views.  To keep the focus on the view, we painted all trim the same as the wall color. 
• In the bathroom, we took out a small corner shower and enlarged the shower footprint to a more comfortable size.  Using navy and white penny round tiles, we designed a custom, vintage-look tile pattern on the floor and changed up the subway tiles a bit by laying them in a herringbone pattern along the back shower wall. 

• In Phase II, we added wall moldings to create interest in the Living Room.  A lot of new paint – along with just a few touches of wallpaper (The clients didn’t want to live in “wallpaper house.”) – lightened and brightened these seldom-used rooms. 
• Much of the original furniture was given fresh looks with new performance upholstery fabrics. 
• The original Dining Room draperies were recycled into the new space as the clients wished, while new embroidered linen draperies border a welcoming window seat in the Living Room. 
• A new larger area rug in the Living Room helped unify the formerly chopped up space. 
• New art by Maureen Claffy in the Living and Dining Room gives these over a century old spaces fresh life.