Exposing the Heart of the Home
When clients become friends, it's a truly beautiful thing. But when your clients are already your best friends, it's a different level of joy and satisfaction getting to help them transform and design their dream kitchen. That's the story of this kitchen. Tyler and Jenn are lifers for me and my husband. They are the friends we plan on growing old and senile with. We hope that our daughters will grow up being besties and so far, we're well on our way. So, designing this kitchen was special. I could so easily envision the memories that not only they would be able to make here, but also the meals and conversations our families would share here.
When they originally purchased this charming 1940's home in the Seattle neighborhood of Wedgwood they were amazed at how intact the original kitchen was. It was like a perfect time capsule. The color palette was avocado green and buttercream yellow. The highlights were an original retro built-in banquette and vintage oven! You've got to check out the before pictures on my friend Tyler's blog! The challenge we faced (besides the awesome, but dated finishes) was the closed floor plan that's typical in this era of home and the lack of storage. So, we opened up the kitchen to the adjacent dining and living room, bringing it up to speed with modern day living. In opening it up we also walled off a doorway that went from the kitchen to the hallway, but it was completely unnecessary and allowed us to gain an entire wall of cabinets that didn't exist previously.
For the finishes, we kept it classic with mostly gray and white but brought in a little flare and interest with the herringbone backsplash and brushed brass finishes, because who doesn't love a little gold? Also, we added in color with the finishing details like the rug and countertop decor because those things are a great way to add interest and warmth to a space and can be easily changed when it's time for a fresh new look.