Transforming an Outdated Kitchen

     You know the old saying "No matter where I serve my guests, they always like my kitchen best". First impressions matter and your kitchen is more than  likely where you and your guests will end up socializing. If you are living with window treatments and upholstery from long ago, maybe it's time to do a little upgrading and make your home more inviting for you, your family, and your guests.  Need inspiration? Let's talk before and after on a recent project and how we found inspiration to transform and update this kitchen for a more modern look.

     Below is a photo of the project before. I sure wish I'd taken photos of the entire kitchen. It's a very large kitchen with  a lot of white cabinetry, a huge island, and black granite counter tops throughout. So I see where the black and pink floral pattern for the window treatment fit in back in the day. But that was 20 years ago. It clearly no longer works. The fabric is faded and the swag treatments are no longer on trend. There were two pink and white striped upholstered club chairs on each side of the window treatment that needed to be reupholstered as well and all of the dining and barstool seats were worn and torn. So yes, the homeowner was long overdue for a makeover.

Before

     We needed inspiration and decided since the window was a huge focal point in the room and needed to make a statement we would start there.  Before we met, the homeowner had already done some homework and kind of new where she would like to go with her decorating. What was interesting was when she described the fabric she was in love with. It had all of her favorite blue, green, and aqua colors that work well in her home. With that information, I  searched my enormous fabric library and found the fabric she described to me. This fabric became the inspiration for everything we were about to do! (See below)

Our inspiration for the space is this Carole Fabrics Private Balcony Pattern in Color Seafoam

     So off to the drawing board to design a window treatment for this large span of windows. The homeowner knew she wanted something tailored, a more modern look, nothing fussy like what she's lived with for 20 years. So, I proposed a box pleated tailored valance with banding on the hem and side panels to frame the window. Here is the scaled drawing that helped her to visualize this design in her space. I've even placed the fabric on the drawing. This isn't perfect but it is a great visual tool that I provide my clients.

     Once we confirmed the window treatment design and the fabrics to be used, we moved on to find fabrics to coordinate in the room for the club chairs, bar stools, and dining seats. We stayed with the aqua green and blue color scheme. Here are the two fabrics she fell in love with. The plaid was used on the two club chairs and a custom ottoman we made to coordinate with her chairs. She regretted never purchasing the ottoman when she purchased the chairs. It was not a problem as we built one from scratch in our work room. She only needed one ottoman for the chair that was used most in the space. The solid textured fabric is what we used on all of the bar stools and dining chair seats. We also added two pillows with a brush fringe from the same floral used on the window treatment to use as an accent on the re-upholstered club chairs. 

Club chair upholstery fabric from Fabricade Fabrics Pattern: 123640 Color Blue Jay

Dining chair and bar stool seats fabric for reupholstery Kasmir Fabrics Pattern: Sequence Color: Cloud (please note that the fabric is actually an aqua color and looks more green in this on-line photo)

     Now it was time to select the perfect paint colors. She wanted the window treatment wall to remain an accent wall and have all the other walls in a neutral color that worked perfectly with her color scheme. There were so many cabinets in her space that there really wasn't much wall on the remaining three walls in the kitchen. I chose Benjamin Moore's HC-143 Wythe Blue for the accent wall, and Benjamin Moore's OC-09 Ballet White for the remaining walls. Can I just tell you the colors are just gorgeous! They are soothing, welcoming, and just plain stunning! She just loves the fresh look of what we put together.

Benjamin Moore HC-142 Stratton Blue

Benjamin Moore OC-9 Ballet White

     The final result was absolutely stunning! Doesn't it look fresh and new?  Fabricating a new window treatment in a colorful and fabulous fabric pattern was our spring board for everything else. New paint colors, new upholstery for the club chairs, a new custom made ottoman, and new fabric on all of the dining chairs and bar seats easily transformed the space. 

The final result!

     It's easy to update  your home using a new collection of beautiful coordinated fabrics. With our huge library of fabrics to choose from, we know we can help you transform any space in your home. Love your home! We can help!