Every once in a while, I find it crucial to change the entire layout of a room. Sometimes it’s not necessary, but when it is.. it IS. It’s the times that I walk into a room and think, “What in the world….??” I know that selling my job of selling my ideas to the client is about to get a lot more difficult. But that’s where the fun begins!
Here’s the original “design board” of the room.
If design was just about making a room look pretty, this room never would have turned out the way it did.
When I make this many changes to a room, Before and After pictures of a room just don’t do justice. So I resort to the blog.
{I apologize if you follow me on a regular basis. I should write more often about what I do. The truth is, just writing a simple post takes me forever, so they’re few and far between. If I ever get a couple weeks of down time, I might actually go back and share more of my projects. Just for kicks.}
Here is the floor plan of the room showing the layout and how I changed it. You will want to refer back to these pictures as you go through the Before & After shots, because it’s hard to believe they’re taken from the same angle.
There is a full basement underneath the kitchen, which allowed me to make design changes easily.
I was very fortunate to have her contractor present at our initial meeting. Discussing any potential changes with him right from the beginning allowed me to have the liberty I needed to make this room work.
In the original kitchen, a cooktop and wall oven took up entirely too much space. The wall oven cabinet left about two feet to get through to the basement door. If the fridge door was open, it completely blocked the hallway. This major design flaw made whole room feel claustrophobic!
When you have a small room, it makes NO sense to have two appliances that could be condensed into one. I changed these to a single range and moved it directly across the room.
Okay, here’s where you might want to refer back to that original floor plan.
As you can see, the original kitchen had an extra window in it. This window opened into the sunroom, which didn’t actually provide much light or air to the kitchen. I suggested removing the window so that we could gain enough space to move the refrigerator INTO the main kitchen area, instead of the hallway to the basement. Since the home is brick, we also had to pay attention to the way this would look from the outside. On the sunroom side, we decided to turn the former window opening into built-in shelving.
Since my client does not have a TV in her living room, she watches it while she drinks her coffee in the kitchen. To accommodate this, I designed a shelf above the fridge so the TV didn’t need to sit right on top of it as before.
I was hesitant of this next change at first. The original layout had a corner cabinet, which looks like it provided more space.
Upon closer inspection, you’ll find that there really wasn’t any usable space behind the sink area. A radiator was located there, which made part of the corner cabinet unusable as well. We removed the radiator and incorporated an electric baseboard heater on the same wall as her table.
Don’t worry. There’s plenty of storage with this new arrangement!
Of course, the one thing my client knew she wanted from Day 1 was a farm sink. {You know your client is committed to the project when she orders a sink with you on your very first appointment!}
I know I’ve shown you plenty of changes already, but I just can’t leave out the half bath. Wait until you see this transformation!
And….
This is how important a layout is. A room’s function is crucial. We could have just painted and changed the fixtures. But.. by changing the door location and turning the toilet, she gained a TON of space in this room. No more bumping knees on that wall!
A smaller sink helps a lot with the floor space. Since she had to sacrifice a vanity cabinet, we brought in a small corner cabinet that was in her dining room and hung it in here for essential storage.
This client was so amazing to work with. She was, truly, fabulous. Although a major remodel can be full of headaches and inconveniences, she took it all with grace. Her contractor should be mentioned, as well, because he took all of my suggestions and turned them into a reality. Everyone did such a great job!
If you like this transformation, please let me know what you think in the comments. As always, sharing is caring! Feel free to pass this on to anyone who would enjoy it, but don’t forget to credit the original. Thanks!!
