My Favorite Project!

I always get asked “What’s been your favorite or most rewarding project to work on?”

Without a doubt it has to be my Mom’s kitchen. When my Mom retired, she decided to pack up and move all the way across the country to be closer to us. When this cute little side-split, fixer-upper came up for sale around the corner, I knew it was perfect! What sold me were the bones of the kitchen – with its weathered terra cotta floors, cozy cottage feeling and lots of natural light thanks to a little sunroom addition overlooking the backyard.

My Mom grew up in the country and loves to garden so I knew she’d really love the kitchen’s connection with the outdoors. She also is the “Queen of Coffee Talk” and a culinary enthusiast who loves to cook and entertain, so the design of the kitchen needed to factor that in as priority No. 1.

The renovation involved gutting/reconfiguring the kitchen and opening it up to the adjacent Dining and Living Room – without breaking any of the existing floor tiles!

Like any open concept kitchen, sight lines were important to consider in the planning stages. The cooktop and range-hood were designed to be the focal point viewed while sitting at the island or at the Dining Room banquette.

Having never cooked with gas appliances, Mom was a bit intimidated by the Thermador gas oven and cooktop, but I can tell you first-hand her cabbage rolls and apple crisp have never tasted better thanks to the power and performance of these innovative appliances!

Paint, paint and more paint brightened the dreary tongue-and- groove ceiling and beams, as did a funky shell chandelier. An eclectic seating arrangement in the kitchen sunroom sits next to a new gas wrought iron stove/fireplace that is a sentimental homage to my Grandmother (Mom’s Mom) who had a wood burning version in her own country kitchen.

It’s been a few years now since Mom moved into her home, but I can honestly say that hers is one well lived in and loved kitchen – not only by Mom but all of her friends, family and coffee-talking neighbors!

She loves it. I love her… ’nuff said!

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