ECLECTIC STYLE: AN ORGANIC KITCHEN MAKEOVER
I first met and worked with Jack & Julie back in 2013. We were called in to decorate their apartment, situated in the Inner West of Sydney and sitting in a bright & relatively new suburb called Breakfast Point. I was particularly excited to meet the couple, as they had said in their initial design questionnaire responses that they loved ‘Patterns that clashed’. This was definitely an indicator that they were into a little left of the middle decorating wise, and I was eager to see just how much of that was true! Thankfully it was going to be. Yipee!
BEFORE: Jack & Julie at our first consultation back in 2013. The wall to wall carpet and beige colour palette was soon to be transformed into a living space with colour and personality.
Cut to 2014, and we had completely redecorated the home, minus the bathrooms and kitchen. The wall to wall carpet was replaced with wide oak floorboards. which included taking up the tiles in the kitchen to continue running the boards through. There were two phases initially, the first was living areas and Master bedroom, the second was the two additional bedrooms in the apartment. Fast forward to 2016, and we’d had the project published in the August 2016 issue of Home Beautiful magazine, tiled ‘Diminutive & Devine’.
See the full article here.
AFTER: New floorboards, custom furniture and vibrant colour!
Kitchen Makeover [2019]
Having held a wonderful rapport with the couple [whom are now good friends as well as clients] I was asked back in early 2019 to re-design the kitchen. The Kitchen had only received a minor update in 2013, as the tiles had been removed in light of the floorboards and we installed a mirror to the gyprock wall above the sink [this simple add on opened up the space vastly]. There was always though, the opportunity to connect the kitchen more to the rest of the open plan living area, so I was pleased to get started on the new design.
*See below. This was the original kitchen before any renovation had taken place. See the original tiled floor, which was ripped up when we replaced with aged oak floorboards.
BEFORE: Tiled floors, light Caeserstone bench tops & honey toned oak veneer cupboard doors. The only change back in 2013 was adding a mirrored section above the sink and ripping up the tiles for new floorboards.
The kitchen also had a green under-toned wooden veneer on the cabinet doors with dated chrome handles. I wanted to get rid of that as well as the cream Caeserstone benchtops, which also continued on as the splashback. The client’s were also ready for all new appliances, so a good time to update everything within the existing layout.
*See below-this image shows the kitchen in early 2019 with the flooring changed from the original renovation but not much else.
BEFORE: Just about time to reno!
The couple wanted to keep the kitchens blueprint as this was a strata title and needed minimal interruption to everything around it. No changes to the Galley layout, but we wanted to rip out existing cabinetry and update it for 2019. So, I went to work and presented the couple with my computer aided visualisations. I wanted all the old veneer to be gone and to add a combination of blue/grey and brighter white for the kitchen cupboards. I chose Porters paints ‘French Slate’ for the grey and ‘Popcorn’ for the white, which was sprayed on new cabinet doors and panels.
In my original kitchen presentation, I had selected some very colourful Mexican tiles for the open shelves, but Jack & Julie weren’t so keen! I then had to re-select. See below my original render showing the tiles as well as an open shelf which the couple didn’t feel was needed in the update.
First choices aren’t always nailed in the initial presentation, but the follow up selection of a mixed hexagon tile called ‘Cementine’ was more subdued, but still a knockout!
Below is a flat lay ‘mood board’ of the final choices for kitchen finishes..
KITCHEN PRESENTATION: You can see that Julie wasn’t too keen on the bright mexican tiles!
One half of the apartment was painted in Porter’s ‘Elegance’ back in 2013, which has a blue undertone, so I wanted to tie this into the kitchen finish selections. I chose Caesarstone’s ‘Excava’ for the kitchen benchtops, which added a real wow factor to the space. The cement like resin finish has ‘patinas of casting and oxidizing, combining the authentic features of rust and concrete.’
AFTER: The beautiful ‘Excava’ by Caeserstone made a huge impact as the new benchtop and partial splashback above the sink area.
Wanting to continue with the organic feel, I added hand cut herringbone tiles as the splashback above the oven. These Italian finds were from my friends at Di-Lorenzo, as were the Cementine Décor tiles, I selected to line the revived open shelves on the other side of the kitchen.
The final choice of the Cementine tile created an organic and muted ambience as the backing to the new grey oak shelving. Enjoy some style shots below!
Another highlight we all love, is copper lined detail on the tops of the drawers. I added a Laminex copper banding called ‘Crafted Copper’ which added a metallic flash as you walk through the kitchen. It’s the little details like this that make the difference in new kitchen design, especially when you aren’t making any changes to the structure.
COPPER CALL OUTS: The Laminex product ‘Crafted Copper’ gives a flash of interest to the tops of the drawers and cupboard doors in the newly renovated kitchen.
So, although the overall structure and blueprint of the kitchen space didn’t change, all of the kitchen carcasses had been replaced, as well as all of the appliances. The new finishes were designed to add colour and interest, and make a significant change without needing to knock down walls of perform any construction. The results are truly pleasing and Jack & Julie are thrilled with the end result :)
COOKS KITCHEN: Owner Julie regularly whips up delicious treats in her new kitchen, including these gorgeous Raspberry & Coconut friands we devoured after the photoshoot was complete!
A big thank you to Keith and Tracey from Abbey Kitchens for being such an easy going and fun team to work with on the renovation and installation of the kitchen.
Photography: Gunawan Red
AS