This Fairfax Dwelling Renovation Exhibits How you can Make Your Kitchen the Centerpiece of Your Home

At first, Kirsten Kaplan’s shoppers simply needed to rework their outdated kitchen, she says, recalling what sparked the whole redesign of this five-bedroom, 6,847-square-foot Fairfax residence. “However after they realized that the open-plan first ground meant that the kitchen design can be a really seen and exquisite function of their residence,” says the design professional, “they determined to broaden their scope and search our assist.”

Kaplan of Haus Interior Design turned concerned with the venture in April 2020, together with Dynamic Renovation Contractors and Larry Rosen of Jack Rosen Custom Kitchens. Rosen’s work was lower out for him: The prior kitchen had stained cherry cupboards, darkish granite counters, and an odd double island (two counters at totally different heights, the decrease one containing the vary) taking over a lot of the kitchen’s once-tiled footprint.

“There have been additionally tall cupboards on the entrances to the ‘room,’ leading to a closed-off look,” provides Rosen.

The owners, who’re empty nesters, craved a kitchen the place they might comfortably entertain their youngsters, grandchildren, and buddies, and that’s precisely what the design staff gave them. The brand new area options white-painted cabinetry, a big central island with a stained wooden base and counter sink, and a customized hood for the brand new vary, which was relocated to a fringe wall.

“The sculpted element on the island offers an ideal response to the swooping hood,” says Rosen of the craftsmanship. “Kirsten’s collection of hanging pendants provides the island its sense of area.”

Flooring on the primary stage was unified by eradicating the kitchen ground tile and changing it with the identical wealthy stained oak used elsewhere within the open ground plan.

Off the kitchen is a hexagonal sunroom and a step-down nice room with hovering cathedral ceilings. The kitchen’s eat-in space serves as a bridge to each areas. The entrance of the home has a proper front room and eating room which can be open to one another via cased openings, and the eating room is seen via the kitchen.

The décor beforehand had a red-and-gold palette, conventional furnishings, minimal architectural detailing, and ornate window remedies.

“Our shoppers determined none of their current furnishings might be salvaged to work with the brand new design aesthetic, and we had been entrusted to pick new lighting, furnishings, rugs, wall coverings, window remedy, and accents for each room,” says Kaplan. “The day we pulled down the overwrought window remedies was probably the greatest days on web site!”

Taking cues from the high-contrast palette within the kitchen (white cabinetry paired with darker parts, such because the stained wooden island base and the black metallic lanterns), Kaplan formulated a impartial palette of taupes, grays, and lotions, punctuated with darker accents. For shoppers who favor impartial décor, Kaplan says, “It has endurance and gained’t ever exit of fashion. I additionally discover that the bigger the venture, the extra shoppers really feel snug with neutrals that unify all the areas, whereas offering a typical backdrop for wealthy textures, artwork, and lighting.”

For instance, within the formal front room, two tufted Chesterfield sofas in a silver-gray velvet chenille with nailhead trim are paired with dark-taupe leather-based armchairs, all set round a hexagonal-shaped wooden cocktail desk. The cocktail desk performs off the form of the sunroom for continuity of sample and geometry.

“Earlier than our involvement, the sunroom was hardly each used and served as an area for haphazard storage, regardless of its beautiful views of the yard and plentiful pure gentle,” says Kaplan. “We determined to spotlight the room by including a bespoke ceiling-beam design, putting a pendant at its middle, and organizing the furnishings plan [around] it. This dramatic transformation introduced the room again to life and made it a particular spot to benefit from the morning daylight and occasional.”

As a result of the owners have grandkids, the comfortable furnishings usually are not solely stylish, clean-lined, and transitional in fashion, but in addition sturdy and hard-wearing so that they’ll age effectively.

“Considered one of our challenges was making the two-story-high nice room really feel extra appropriately scaled and intimate,” says Kaplan. “We achieved this by including traditional boxed molding all through, a limestone hearth, and suitably sized furnishings to fill the huge room and make it inviting.”

An oversize double chandelier additionally brings the ceiling peak down and fills the vaulted area.

In the meantime, the eating room is a gem unto itself, and since it’s used for particular household events, Kaplan made some bolder selections, like wrapping its partitions in a moodier impartial wallcovering enlivened by a diamond sample. That sample can be repeated within the X-trim on the glass-fronted customized china cupboard and within the delicate wooden inlay on the eating desk. However the star right here is the attractive avian-patterned textile on the backs of the eating chairs, giving the room’s neutrality full flight and making it something however boring.

“As soon as we determined to spotlight the angles of the house and add bolstered ceiling and wall moldings, we carried these shapes subtly into the general décor,” says Kaplan. “Almost each room accommodates furnishings and materials with apparent geometric references to the structure.”

For instance, the grid sample on the eat-in chairs references the wall moldings added to the adjoining household room. It’s delicate, but it surely’s there, creating a house that sings with impartial continuity with factors of curiosity at each flip.

This story initially ran in our Could challenge. For extra tales like this, subscribe to our month-to-month journal.