Getting a big bang without Emptying your Pockets!

A couple of months ago, I worked on a small project for a young couple and LOVE the end results!!

They are a newly married couple with a young daughter. They bought a very cool 60's Brady Bunch style house and have kept a modern 60's vibe to the home. They have slowly been updating their home, but needed help when it came to their kitchen.

If I had to describe their old kitchen in one word it would be YELLOW.

From the cabinets, to the countertops, to the walls, to the backsplash--everything was an acid yellow. I honestly don't know HOW they waited this long to rid the room of yellow.

They had a small budget and didn't know what they wanted. They originally wanted soft creams and whites with a granite top. Although we love this look, my boss and I knew that they were too hip and young for a cream kitchen.

Here's what we proposed:

Glass tile backsplash. The tile is mainly beige/white and gray/black with an iridescent finish that adds a hint of blue and green.

Simple Veining Granite-- when trying to save on a kitchen, by using a less exotic vein, you can save a lot of money

Wall color:

ICI Falling Rain

Cabinet/Trim color:

ICI White Room

Drapery Fabric:

Although we kept the expensive pieces more neutral- we made sure that they had a punch of pattern to keep it interesting.

One EASY way to keep costs down in a kitchen remodel is keeping your cabinets. With this client, we simply sanded them down and repainted them.  The hardware was original to the house and had a quite unique look, so those even stayed!


Process Pictures:

After:

For WELL under $10,000 this couple got a young, hip kitchen that fits their lifestyle and the style of the house!

The Reveal....

Ladies and Gentlemen,
After Greg and my Dad spent two days putting up trim and base boards and Greg and I spent every night this week working our behinds off, we finally have this:

TA DA!!! I am so super pumped! We wanted to use the room SO bad, that we blew up an air mattress and watched a movie in our newly finished bonus room! Yes, we are dorks but it was soo much fun!

This was a long project that Greg and I decided to do on our own. Not only did it makes us grow stronger in our communication skills (lifting large pieces of drywall will make you learn to talk to each other, ha!) It was all-in-all fun. The best part is knowing that we did the work ourselves and that with hard work and a little luck, we can do anything! Sorry to get sappy on you guys, I'm just so stinkin' excited about the room!


We decided not to have the builder finish out the bonus room- this is what it looked like May 2010.

 Then we drywalled a couple of weeks before we moved in- June 2010

(Other rooms still had not been finished)

In all our glory nastiness.

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We had someone tape/mud and finish the walls and then we painted. If you ever paint fresh drywall, just know that it takes A TON of paint and the primer smells.

I didn't get any pictures of Greg and Daddy working--but this was the finished product before the carpet went down!

Lola needed an appearance on the blog.

Greg wanted in too!

Now all we need to do is...
-fan
-chandelier
-art (we have some great Auburn newspaper clippings and a really cool picture of Greg's car) that should go up soon!
-draperies
-FURNITURE

Then, finito, DONE!

No Peeking!

Well, maybe just a little sneak peek!

Here's Longwood...almost finished. Just accessories and art left to tackle!!

These pictures are at night, so all the colors aren't showing through. Can't wait to add the art and give it a few pops of color throughout the room!

This is what it looked like about 4 months ago

What do ya think?

Color me Longwood!

Here are some photos of the room along the way... Tile work is supposed to begin sometime this week and I will post more pictures after they start tile work.

WEEK 2:

The Hallway into the bath with doors and walls removed.

Tub and the vanity wall removed.

New shower cavity and toilet niche.

Toilet Niche

 WEEK 3:

Tub surround and bench installed. Quartz countertops installed and tub in place.

New half-wall installed and new counter tops installed.

Shower cavity and toilet niche. Plumbing being installed.

Now the fun stuff~

One thing that I love to do for clients is to draw a color rendering of the space. This allows them to see everything together and understand the overall feel of the room. My first rendering I did for these clients allowed us to start a dialogue and adjust the design to better fit their needs. Here is the final color rendering of the new design.

Our design process began through looking through millions upon millions of magazines for inspiration. We narrowed our inspiration pictures and began building a design. Tons of ideas were rolling around and the client had a hard time committing to a design scheme, so we started looking at tiles. On the first day, we found the absolute perfect accent tile for the room and our inspiration for the room was born. It was a gorgeous glass tile with many color variations and a glaze over it that made more a transitional than modern feel.

Glass accent tile.

After this selection, everything fell into place. We found a wall tile that we LOVED for the shower and tub front. It had great movement while subtle color variations to keep the style "spa-like" and airy.

Shower Wall and Tub Front Tile.

With so much color being in the accent tile and having a very neutral shower tile, we decided to go bold on the floor and bring the design together with the color. The porcelain tile that we found was perfect! It was full color and life and even had the same glazed look as the accent tile.

Bathroom and Shower Flooring.

Our biggest obstacle was finding the counter top. We first looked at granites and natural stones. The client loved the look of marble and limestone, but did not want the up-keep of a natural stone. Our next stop was quartz. After several trips and options, we found one that was beautiful and fit the design of the room perfectly!

Champagne Limestone Quartz

Picking out lighting was so much fun. There are so many finishes and options out there these days! We ended up finding a great line that had the best shapes and finish options that was a blend of the transitional feel of the bathroom and the traditional feel of the rest of the home.

Chandelier and Vanity Lights ( Will be a dark brushed nickel finish)

The room is coming together fast! Check back in a couple of days and I hope to have new progress pictures up for you to see!