The Kirk Home
Part 1: The Biggest Kitchen EVER!
No seriously. This bad boy was HUGE and gorgeous! We’re talking alllll the heart eyes for all those big beautiful cabinets! My clients had 42-inch uppers, an island, PLUS a bank of cabinets on the wall parallel to the island. Fifty door and drawer fronts in all. Cabinets 👏🏾 For 👏🏾 Dayyyyyys. Buckle up buttercup because this was an undertaking! Let’s get into it, shall we?
How It Started
If you’ve read my other posts, you know I like to have my clients utilize Pinterest to begin (if they haven’t already) curating inspiration for their space. You get to know a lot about somebody when visiting their home and discussing what they’d like to see happen style-wise. I probe and take good notes. Understanding what you really want is what I’m after. This understanding helps me curate your style and get a feel for the kind of risks with color or texture I might be able to get you to take 😏. For example, check out exhibit A below…
EXHIBIT A: The Colors
An opportunity to do something fabulous presented itself in an area of the kitchen where there was a corner hutch with an appliance garage. I thought it was well within the bounds of my client’s personality to suggest a two-toned color scheme that would make this cute little hutch pop. In my mind, it was a bonus kitchen feature that was absolutely begging for attention and deserved it!
The Look
This here is the direction I suggested heading in. Painting all the uppers a creamy white & the bottoms and the tall members in just the right contrasting color.
More Contrast Needed
My client entertained the idea but wanted the contrast to be a bit more subtle. You can’t tell, but these two door panels are actually two different colors.
Playing It Safe
Since the subtle difference in the contrasting colors was barely distinguishable, we ended up with this! It still stands out in that luscious sugar cream white color.
EXHIBIT B: The Island
Turning our attention to the color of the island, I saw another opportunity to take a risk and do something fabulous: using a paint technique to give the island a french or white oak wood look. By this time I had enough of an understanding of the client’s style to make this suggestion. Although this would have been an absolutely gorgeous application, in the end, this look would’ve been too similar to the client’s current flooring and we wanted a bit more contrast here, where it’s generally expected.
The Look
This was done using primer, a grey Minwax gel stain, and Espresso Minwax stain.
The Inspiration
Example of the wood technique against the white.
Current Flooring
The Backsplash
Next up was the backsplash and what to do to freshen it up with the rest of the kitchen. The tile was like a honed travertine stone, so, a lime wash was the perfect solution! And super inexpensive, especially compared to tearing it all out and replacing it with something new. The pictures here do not do it justice! I even checked in with my client a year later and she said something along the lines of, “The lime wash is holding up just fine!” I thought as much because the lime wash formula is built to withstand exterior conditions like prolonged sun exposure and rain.
The Hardware
My client agreed to go with something in the golden or black family. But with soooo many cabinets and all this inflation, you can imagine how pricey replacing all the hardware could get. Especially, if you would rather wait and save up for what you reeeeally want. In comes Rub ‘n Buff. And boy did this stuff give her old hardware new life! I wish I had a before picture (I couldn’t find one). The spray paint didn’t come close to the character Rub’n Buff brought out in each piece. We ended up settling on the gold leaf color—you’ll have to check out the final look!
Also, Don’t Sleep on Hobby Lobby
Ok, I just thought I’d pop in here and take the time to mention that whatever you do, if you’re in the market for hardware DON’T FORGET ABOUT HOBBYYY LOBBYYYY. Please don’t. I’m begging you. Look at these pieces!!!! It’s giving old-school Restoration Hardware, no?! And they were around $2.00 and $4.00 EACH because they were half off at the tiiiiiiime! 😱😱😱😱
(like I said, do not sleep on them or you’ll miss your blessing)
How It Ended
I can not describe the immense satisfaction I felt completing this job. The design consultation and style curation process should be fun and result in a refreshing transformation. Especially when you use most of the beautiful finishes you already have!
Now, if you thought this was nice, just wait till you read part 2 😏…
With ❤️,
