Tag: kitchen

Before & Afters, Interior Design

James kitchen remodel

Featuredby hollybertramLeave a Comment on James kitchen remodel

Are you ready for a dramatic transformation? I sure hope so, because this project is one of my biggest transformations to date. Designing the remodel of this space for my friends/clients (frients with a long I, maybe?) was really such a joy!

Above is the before picture and below are a couple of pictures taken during the remodel.

The original kitchen was cramped with two narrow islands that did not accommodate my clients and their large family.

We moved the refrigerator from it’s original space to create a more fluid work triangle. The sink remained under the beautiful double window and we replaced the two small islands with one beast of an island with cabinets on the front and on the back. 

We opted to replace the tile flooring with a high quality luxury vinyl plank because this kitchen and living room area is adjacent to an outdoor pool. The LVP that we selected has a limestone core and is extremely durable in high traffic, and sometimes wet areas. It is the most wood-like LVP that I’ve found and I had lots of help from my friends at ProSource with finding just the right flooring.

For the cabinets, we chose to paint the surrounding cabinets white and stain the island a natural shade of wood. This combination could not have turned out any better. For the backsplash, we went with an understated, textured subway tile that’s classic and timeless with just a hint of shimmer. My client LOVES her workstation sink, as well as her GE monogram 48” double oven and range.

We used a mixture of hardware, being careful to keep scale and functionality in mind. For the countertops, we went with a neutral builders’ grade granite. Granite is really an unsung hero in the kitchen world. It can handle heat, water, oil and a whole bunch of abuse. Plus, the builders’ grade price is a serious value. 

My clients also opted to add a few special features to the cabinetry, as shown in the videos below. 

This remodel, from start to finish, took several months and lots and lots of phone calls, meetings and texts with my clients. It was absolutely worth it in every way. I enjoyed being around my clients and their sweet family. Seeing them enjoying their newly designed kitchen is just icing on the cake!

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Bent Tree Remodel

by hollybertram2 Comments on Bent Tree Remodel

Hey, hey! Y’all prepare yourselves for an amazing transformation! Before I go into all the deats from this remodel, feast your beady little eyes on this after pic and scroll down for the before.

One of my favorite things about being a designer is the relationship I develop with my clients. I didn’t know this sweet family before showing up for a design consultation and we quickly became friends. They were down to earth and funny. They had updated their kitchen and family room several years prior without the help of a designer. As time went on, they didn’t like the dark look of things and how chopped up the space felt. We opted to unify the flooring between the family room and adjacent living areas with a Shaw engineered hardwood from ProSource in Rogers, Arkansas. It’s worth noting that ProSource offers high end products at extremely reasonable prices and this flooring is a great example. Here’s another before picture to give you an idea of how the space felt.

A well-chosen paint color is a powerful tool. My clients have three teenagers and they liked the durability of wood for the island, so we left that as is. We painted the surrounding cabinets Alabaster by Sherwin Williams. The wall color for the room is Worldly Gray from Sherwin Williams. We kept the existing countertops and replaced the backsplash with an understated hexagonal tile from Daltile, which we also purchased at ProSource.

I love this built in desk. These clients are amazing about cataloguing memories and make photo books of each one of their kiddos. This space provides the perfect place to work on photo books as well as keeping life organized and running smoothly for an active family.

While it’s hard to tell from this picture, the mantle that my clients had before the remodel was warped and sagging on one side. They wanted to replace it and give the fireplace a bit of a facelift. I found an inspiration picture and we hired a craftsman to build a new mantle. Here’s the before shot of the fireplace:

And here’s the fireplace after the remodel. We were able to use the existing stone surround, paint the built ins, replace the mantle and put up that beautiful Samsung frame TV. If you look closely, you can see where my client displays her family photo books. I’ll give you a hint. They are stacked on the third shelf from the top on the left side of the fireplace.

We kept the existing furniture in the family room and added a throw and pillow from Pottery Barn. We took our time looking for just the rug and I found a wool rug, also from Pottery Barn, that my clients are so pleased to have. Wool is one of the most durable fibers, so it’s really great choice for a space that gets a lot of use. The lamps are from Hobby Lobby and my clients made these side tables themselves with plans from anawhite.com. They did a great job and saved a little money.

One thing that I try to make my goal in design is to help my clients find their own personal style. I don’t want every home I design to look like my style. I’m very passionate about helping others discover the look they love and then I try my darndest to help them achieve that look. When we styled the living room, I kept my client’s wall arrangement pretty much the same and just updated a few picture frames. When we finished the job, she sent me this text:

“Seriously, you were so easy to work with. You never made my style not feel like your style…if that makes sense.”

That’s truly one of the highest compliments I can receive as a designer. My goal is to equip homeowners to feel confident in their spaces. She also told me that her teenagers were so excited to show the remodel to their friends. It made my clients happy to see that their kids were proud of their home and pleased with the remodel.

I’ll leave you with this picture of their kitchen in it’s everyday, unstyled glory. We chose this runner from Ruggable and it’s holding up quite well . We searched high and low for just the right desk chair on Facebook marketplace. While we’re all so accustomed to seeing quick before and afters on the interwebs, it’s worth letting you all in on the timeline of this job. From our first meeting to our final meeting to help style the family room, six months had passed. Slow design really is good design. After six months of working together, my clients are in love with their home.

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Tuesday Tip: Pantry Organization Step by Step

Featuredby hollybertram2 Comments on Tuesday Tip: Pantry Organization Step by Step

My hubby and I spent some time decluttering and reorganizing our pantry over the weekend. I love a good before and after, so here are a couple of very rough before photos taken straight from my Instagram stories.

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Step 1: We unloaded each shelf, one or two shelves at a time. I didn’t empty the entire contents of the pantry all in one fell swoop. The goal of this project was to create more peace and organization. I knew that if I unloaded the entire pantry and covered every single space of my kitchen and dining room with the items from the pantry, I’d get overwhelmed. First, I took out all the cookbooks and went through them. I wiped down the cookbook shelves and put the cookbooks back. Next, I took all our paper plates, plastic cups, and basically any disposable product out of the pantry and organized them. I wiped down the shelves where they had been stored and put them back.

Step 2: We went through each group of items that we’d removed from the pantry. We dedicated one area of our kitchen as a space to put things that will be donated and placed unused items there. As we worked, Justin would bag things up from this area and take the bags to the garage to eventually donate. We were snowed in during this project. We would typically put the bags of items to donate directly in the back of my van so that I could donate them as soon as possible. That little trick actually helps me a ton. I really don’t like having random bags in the back of my van, which motivates me to take care of donations quickly.

Step 3: We wiped down the shelves and bins that were holding the items we’d gone through. I honestly didn’t think I’d do this at first. I like to think I’m a fairly clean person and felt that I was maybe a bit above needing to wipe out the shelves of my pantry. Pride comes before a fall…the shelves and bins needed to be cleaned out in a bad way!

Step 4: We put everything back in a way that functions well and looks good. This final step is key! To help your storage space make sense, it’s good to group similar items together. I try to keep canned goods, glass bottles and condiments all on one shelf, but in separate groupings. Storing all of my baking supplies in one space brings great efficiency to my pantry. I love these Sterlite bins for open storage, these Oxo containers for baking supplies and this set of chalk markers and labels to keep it all labeled. If you have some serving pieces that you’d like to see, put them on shelves that you can see when you open the door. I stored my cake plate, a vintage cake carrier, some family heirloom wine glasses and a glass trifle dish on my top shelf so that I can see them whenever the pantry door is open. What I don’t see every time I open the door, are two shelves stacked with not-so-pretty large storage containers that I use often. I like that they’re easily accessible, but they’re not in my direct line of sight. We also keep our microwave on one of the side shelves of our pantry. This is purely a personal preference, but it’s a big priority for me and I’ve had my microwave in the pantry of all our homes. I like being able to use it fairly easily, but I don’t want to lose counter space, or over the oven space to a microwave.

Finally, there are a few things that my husband and I do to help us stay on the path to productivity when taking on a big project like this. First, we really try to start early in the day so that we can finish the project by dinnertime, or even bedtime that night. I don’t know about you, but a cleaning project that takes multiple days is not my cup of tea. Secondly, we each take breaks as we go. Our kiddos were in the kitchen just a chitty-chatting with us during this entire process. We both needed to step away from time to time so that we could have patience with the kids and get back to work with renewed energy.

Another thing that really helps me to stay sane and productive when doing projects at home is to not compare my home to others. My home doesn’t need to look like the cover of a magazine. I do love the look of a perfectly appointed pantry, with every single thing decanted and in matching bougie bottles, but that’s just not my reality. I have four kids who are all learning to cook right now. I often cook three homemade, from scratch meals on the daily. I don’t have the time or energy to stop them and say, “oh honey, please empty that dried pasta into the breakable container that’s labeled in Italian, okay?” Maybe that will be my reality someday. When I’m an empty-nester, you can all come and look at my pantry and ask me how I made it so perfect. I’ll tell you that it’s because the kids moved out and quit needing all our money and emotional energy. And one final tip on how to get a big ole project like this done is to try to laugh and have a good time. I know that sounds so cheesy, but it’s true! There are plenty of stressful moments, just ask our kids, but we’ve found that if we can laugh at and with each other, we have more fun and are more productive. Here’s the final after shot of our pantry clean out. Drop me a comment below and share any tips that help you conquer the big projects in your home!