When you’re house hunting, myriad factors influence your buying decision. Neighbourhood, curb appeal, size, value, and character are among the chart-topping elements that inform our choice of home. And when the nesting instinct kicks in, we can quickly convince ourselves to see past a laundry list of flaws that need to be addressed. But eventually, the detractors need to be dealt with, and that was the case with this kitchen. Tucked away at the back of the house, with an unworkable layout (and unbearable brown and yellow vintage finishes), an immediate solution was needed to turn it from a ’60s flashback into a modern-day family-friendly hub.
Gaining a bar area and room for counter stools is a major advantage to removing a section of wall and connecting your kitchen to the adjacent room, but another invaluable advantage is the amount of light that floods into your kitchen by opening up your sight lines. Located at the back of the house, this kitchen felt dim and blocked off from the rest, but now it has sight lines all the way through the dining and living rooms, with views of the sun streaming in through the west-facing living room windows. In a house with small children, being able to see into every room makes multitasking and meal prep much easier!
Regardless of the fact that I live in an urban location far from the ocean, I still love a coastal look and feel that the essence of the beach-house aesthetic can be embraced and achieved anywhere, regardless of geography. Seashells, sailboats, and all things beach “themed” are a bit of a miss if you aren’t actually on the water, but there’s no reason to take a pass on the easy, breezy ambiance created by a watery colour palette and creamy-painted furniture. In addition to delivering a lighthearted look, painting your table and chairs is a surefire way to unify elements from different sources in different wood tones, as it looks perfectly coordinated once it’s coated in glossy white paint.
If the goal of opening spaces up is to create better sight lines and a brighter ambiance, you’ll want to think carefully about the lighting you install. so it doesn’t impede your views. To add a contemporary flavour to an Arts-and-Crafts-style home, I chose crystal-clear blown-glass shades resembling inverted brandy snifters for their sparkly finish and lighter-than-air look.
Balance efficiency and functionality with beauty and softness. Fixed elements, such as cabinetry, appliances, and flooring, will instil the the kitchen with functionality, but it’s “the wrapping” that brings the space to life. I always look at the practical side of a room: you want to create a beautiful space that’s relevant by today’s design standards, but you don’t want to be cavalier when it comes to spending renovation dollars by installing a kitchen that is driven by trend-based decisions you may soon live to regret. Always thinking of longevity, I make safe choices by opting for fixed elements in neutral tones, then I allow the story of the kitchen, its essence and personality, to happen through the lighting, paint, fabrics, and accessories.
An eat-in kitchen is a top priority for many of us, but also an unattainable goal in many older, smaller homes without a massive renovation or addition. Before you start editing your wish list and resign yourself to making do without a breakfast bar, think about whether you can reach your goal another way. By removing only the upper portion of the wall connecting the kitchen and the dining room, you can create the eat-in kitchen you’ve always wanted, even if you are short on space. Maintaining the lower section allows you to maximize cabinetry and counter runs on the kitchen side, while also creating the perfect foundation for a raised bar counter and a pair of stools.
When it comes to picking paint colours, I always advocate integrating as many colours as possible into a scheme to create a dynamic palette. Even though you’ve created a connection by opening up the kitchen and the dining room, there’s nothing that dictates using the same paint colour for all the walls. On the contrary, I think it would be a missed opportunity to go for uniform colour. To keep the kitchen light and bright, a wispy green was used to reinforce the tones in the floor, the stripes in the blinds, and the apple-green accents in the counter. In the dining room, the walls were painted an ocean-blue hue drawn from the kitchen backsplash. Each room stands alone, yet the coordinated palettes link the spaces.
