THE VISION
Our clients have lived in this home for many years and love the home and the neighborhood, but the home was long overdue for an update. They were ready to say goodbye to the browns and beiges of the '80s and hoped for a sleeker and more contemporary feel that still blended well with the existing surrounding areas.
In addition, they built the home before starting a family. Now that the kids have grown, they felt it was time to make the home work for their 21st-century needs. They were looking for a more open-concept plan for entertaining on their main floor, a basement office with loads of storage to manage a library of printed documents and books, and finally an update to their primary bathroom.
The Team
Design: Melanie Grabarkiewicz
Project Manager: Meadowlark Project Management Team
Professional Photography: Sean Carter
DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
Schematic Design
Although this home had great bones and had been well maintained by our clients, it had the typical 1980's layout with segregated rooms and lots of golden oak and browns. The clients were looking to lighten up the finishes and create a more open and modern feel. However, they didn't want the remodeled spaces to stand out like a sore thumb next to the adjoining spaces. Nor did they want to buy all new furnishings.
The challenge to our designers was to create the clean, modern look and feel our clients were yearning for, but have it complement the existing aesthetic of the adjoining spaces and furnishings.
Design Goals:
- Create better flow from kitchen to the dining room
- Lighten up finishes to create a sleek modern feel
- Add more storage - including designated storage for a beloved mug collection
- Finish the basement to include an office, bathroom, casual living space and loads of storage options
- Update the primary bathroom
Design Development
Kitchen: Removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room created the more open feel our clients were looking for. The lost storage was made up with a longer island with storage on both sides, a new pantry twice the size of the existing pantry closet and new overhead cabinetry in the breakfast area.
A reconfiguration of the back hallway and the removal of an outdated wet bar in the family room created a better flow to the garage and laundry area and also provided the perfect opportunity to create the new larger walk-in pantry.
Basement: A large office with loads of built in cabinetry and storage help to manage the mountains of books and papers our client works with on a daily basis. A casual family living area and a full bath were also added for when the kids are home with friends. Spray-painted unfinished, open ceilings and polished concrete flooring are budget-friendly options that are practical and give the space a cool industrial feel.
Primary Bath: Updates to the vanity and shower meld seamlessly with the existing soaking tub and toilet. New tile on the floor ties the old and new together.
- Semi-custom Cabinetry: Holiday
- Kitchen Countertops: Cendre quartz
- Kitchen Backsplash: Rain Glass Silver Subway Tile
- Basement Bath Counter: Carsten quartz in Heather Gray
- Master Bath Counter: Quartz in Bottocino Classic
- Office Desk Countertop: Maple butcher block
- Site-built custom pantry and basement closets shelving
- Flooring Main: Rift and Quartered white oak
- Flooring Basement: Polished Concrete
- Basement Ceiling: Historic Colors paint in Charcoal Slate HC-178
- Master Bath Floor and Wall Tile: Rhyme by Florida Tile in Desert Harmony
The Results
Our clients came to Meadowlark looking to explore options to reconfigure their home to create more of an open-concept feel and look to their unused basement to create additional living spaces that would accommodate their needs far into the future. Working with Meadowlark’s design team they were able to come up with design solutions that not only made the home work better for their family, but also brightened up the home with lighter finishes and more open flow from room to room — blending the 1980's with the 2020's in perfect harmony.
Our team is so proud of this project. It was such a success that it was even featured in this article from The Scout Guide National!
