Saturday, April 18, 2020

Small Space? Big Style!

Bigger isn't always better. Typically it is having your space be utilized more. Some ideas I like to use with potential new clients are how they live and flow through their home. Where do you enter into your home? What do you leave at the entrance? Do your items have homes as well? Do you always drop something at the same place everyday? Maybe making that item feel it belongs there is important. 

These are just a few questions I like to ask when deciding how to start a design for a particular client. Maybe you don't know yet, but I'm here to help guide you through the design process as well as making your home feel less cluttered or that there is just "stuff" everywhere. Think vertical storage. Your walls are your friends and they will help you not collect things on every horizontal surface. 

If you use something daily or almost daily and want to out either on displace or need to access it, then it should have a proper home. Also, if there are items you take with you every time you leave the house those items too should have a home. I'm going to show you some of my little helpers in my home. 


I love blankets! I have like 5 in the living room alone but where should they go? Do they just sprawl all over the sofa or chairs? On the floor? Well I use one of them almost daily so it has a home. Somewhere I can easily get to it but also put it back as easily. As if we were kids learning to put our toys back when we are done playing with them. So these comfy blankets in my home have a basket that sits behind a chair so it appears clutter free on the sofa and chairs but I can grab a blanket anytime I need one or two. Sometimes it doesn't get folded and just in a ball on the other blankets but you cant see that behind the chair. 

One of my more important places in the home is where I enter from, the garage. I have hooks and a key holder, my purse, jacket or keys have no reason to come in the house any further than that so they have a home. I always know where those items are, not in a chair or on the kitchen counter, but in their home on the wall and out of the way of everything else. 


Aesthetics are important in design just like function is important too. Do you like coffee? You probably have a coffee maker that sits on your counter in the kitchen, but what about all the things that go with your coffee maker? Does the bag of coffee just sit on the counter next to it? looks like a piece of garbage waiting to be put in the trash? Well make it accessible and attractive. Get a couple decorative canisters for your coffee and sugar and whatever else you like to have in your coffee. Make it feel purposeful and if it is going to live there make it feel as if its part of the kitchen.



These are just a few ideas to make your home feel like things have a purpose and easily accessible. Do you have any good ideas for storage? Comment below!




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Thursday, April 9, 2020

Kitchen Design Tips to Consider

So you have been dreaming about your less than inspiring kitchen you cook in daily. The time has finally come to make that dream kitchen come to life and join you and your home together again! 

A kitchen is much more than a pretty space to look at. It is first and foremost about function. That's right, it can look gorgeous and by all means make you feel happy when you are in there but there are design elements that go deeper than just the pattern of your backsplash tile. 
 


Layout - the floorplan, the footprint and how you walk and stand in the space is important. Do you have a weird existing layout you have been "just living with" for years?  Or that galley kitchen that could have a second entrance into the kitchen or pull the peninsula away from the wall to make room for a fully functioning island you have always wanted?



Maybe these are issues in your kitchen we need to address or at least think about in your new design. 



Perhaps there are too many entrances into your kitchen from more than 3 rooms, maybe the previous homeowner wanted to knock down as many walls as possible forgetting that sometimes you do need walls for elements like a tall pantry cabinet with fully extending interior drawers to see can you have available not just the ones in the front of the shelf.


Open Shelves, Glass Doors or Closed Cabinets - Lately we have all see the lovely photos of kitchen with open shelving. While this is a great idea to give the space a lighter more open space while still giving you storage, it also opens some people open to collect clutter. I have always said if there is a surface some one will put as much as they can on that surface because it us there to be used. This all depends on the individual, some people prone to do this others are not so the amount of open shelves should be considered based on what works for your storage needs.

 
All the Cabinets - More isn't always better. More efficient is. That 16 foot span of wall cabinets may not be needed if we utilized the base cabinets to be more efficient with deep drawers or pull outs for specialty appliances. Having a home for everything you need to access in the kitchen is the most important thing. if you have 3 crock-pots and want to keep them all, we need to find a home for all those in the new design.



Materials - Easy to clean. That is my first priority in a kitchen. Everyone who cooks can be messy at some point. Oh you really like that white carrara marble but use turmeric (stains a lot of materials even if sealed) a lot in your cooking? That is probably not the best material for you then. Using a material like quartz or something that achieves the look you want but also giving you the functional counter so you don't worry about the bottle of red wine you left on the counter and left a ring that you cant get out easily.



These are just a few things to consider when thinking of remodeling a kitchen. A designer should be able to guide you in making the best decisions for your kitchen you are planning to spend a decent amount of money on. We want it to last for years so selections are important as far as quality, function and aesthetics. 



If you have a project in mind but just don't know where to start, we can help! Contact us
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