kpvxl senior style editor Joel Bray shares a look at the restoration process behind the Ikea kitchen area makeover in our October 2016 issue.
House & house and Ikea’s annual kitchen area makeover contest is always a fun project. After admiring all the gorgeous kitchens that my colleagues had produced in the past, I was truly ecstatic to be included in this year’s remodel — as well as couldn’t wait to provide deserving visitors a much-needed kitchen area makeover! Here’s exactly how everything came together.
The style process began with a trip to Ikea, where this year’s winning homeowners as well as I made a decision on door styles, selected appliances as well as sorted out a general direction. The owners understood they liked a contemporary look, so I made a decision to do a traditional spin on contemporary — something that felt a bit mid-century. I selected a mix of Ekestad cabinetry, which has a dark, rich wood finish, as well as Veddinge, which is a creamy white.
Soon after our Ikea trip, I came across this motivation shot as well as was persuaded that we were heading in the ideal direction. I loved exactly how the dark wood drawers looked a lot more like furniture than cabinetry — channeling a long, low mid-century contemporary sideboard — as well as exactly how the upper part of the wall had been left clean, white as well as open.
Photographer: Courtesy of Ballingslov
I came across the wallpaper next. I fell in like with Schumacher’s Queen of Spain pattern (in warm Silver) after my associate Stacey Smithers showed it to me. It’s rather neutral, however has just sufficient contrast to be the best accent. It likewise has a subtle, light-reflecting shimmer that you can’t rather see it up until you’re close to it. I didn’t believe I’ve ever liked a shiny wallpaper as much as this one!
With a few of the crucial decoration aspects decided, we started on the structural modifications to the space. when the homeowners’ old kitchen area was removed as well as new walls were framed as well as insulated, it truly started to take shape!
One crucial modification we made to the kitchen, at this point, was enlarging the opening to the breakfast room. We likewise replaced the windows as well as doors to let in a lot more light. You’ll see we made a decision to leave the angled ceiling in tact. I truly like exactly how the shallow slope of the roofing line feels like a contemporary saltbox house, loaning character to the space.
On the opposite end of the kitchen, we added a powder room, little hallway as well as pantry. While this is not the method people tend to renovate these days — so frequently it’s about opening up areas instead of producing smaller zones — this was a best option for a compact house that needed to work hard.
An open floor plan wouldn’t have allowed for all the storage the homeowners needed, not to mention a new powder room. Dividing the area likewise produces a a lot more special experience: instead of seeing the entire house the minute you walk with the front door, the home unfolds as you walk with it.
Next up was flooring. influenced by a limestone herringbone I’d seen in an old church in England, I laid out cream as well as beige porcelain tile in a similar pattern. Ultimately, I believe it’s one of the kitchen’s a lot of appealing features, as well as the warm, chalky tones of the tile work completely with the wallpaper.
Since the tiles were going to be put in a random herringbone pattern, I madesure to be on site the day of installation. I laid out out a little section with the tile installer to get a feel of what the general impact would be. The crucial was to line up the herringbone pattern in the middle of the room, as well as alternate tile colours (we made sure not to have a lot more than three similar tiles next to each other so the floor would look balanced).
We likewise added a Nuheat radiant heating system underneath the tiles, an concept the homeowners loved. Radiant warm not only feels fantastic underfoot, however is a extremely energy effective type of heating. Plus, Nuheat enables you to break up the heated floor into different zones as well as control each one with a thermostat.
With the flooring installed, as well as the walls drywalled as well as painted, it was time to install the cabinets. I’ll admit I’m always bit anxious on cabinet-install day, considering that this is when the kitchen area goes from a drawing to reality! as well as to make the most of the little space, I had made a decision to utilize minimal filler strips in my style — which generally indicated there was much less space for error. Thankfully the building team did an exceptional task preparing the space, as well as the Ikea installers were able to in shape the cabinets precisely as planned.
Finally, it came time to embellish the space. I understood I wished to utilize rich eco-friendly velvet on the breakfast space banquette; the color felt in keeping with the mid-century contemporary feel I was going for. I then chosen other accents in wood, woven as well as white materials. The only exception to the plan was the powder room, which we painted a rich shade of aubergine.
Although this kitchen area makeover was a fun style challenge, the process of renovating a Victorian row home had its challenges, with problems continually exposing themselves (you’ve most likely seen a great deal of them dramatized on decorating shows). From firewall building codes, to extremely picky inspectors, we seemed to encounter everything with this project! Still, we took everything in stride, as well as I’m incredibly delighted with the completed project. I hope it’s a kitchen area the homeowners will like for lots of years to come.
Tour the completed kitchen area in our October 2016 issue, on newsstands September 12.
Photographer: Valerie Wilcox
Source: home & house October 2016