A kitchen rebuilt after a devastating fire

Here are a few 'before' pictures of my friend's home that was hit by lightning almost 2 years ago.

They were blessed to at least, in this situation, have a clue and somewhat of a plan! He is in the building industry and he and my husband Jim worked together on jobs at Disney Long, Long ago. As I mentioned in my 'before' post, they had basic plans drawn of a home they wanted to build someday and they have a relaxed, Italian style which led them through their design process. It's so much easier to plan a new home when you know how you want to live in that space and visually how you want it to feel and they had this pulled together from the start.

When the plans were given to me from the first design phase, the kitchen had a large L shaped peninsula. It was just too 'builder grade' for what they wanted and I started drawing different options, hoping that they would be trusting and let me move forward with a double island plan which is not 'standard' at all! It's hard to wrap your head around "two islands?" if you haven't seen it before but I love the way it functions and looks. They loved it!

Here is their new kitchen, taken from the coffee bar area.

We had a couple challenges, as any kitchen design has. One was that the actual wall space was sparse. The new open space designs that are so prevalent today create easy flow from different living spaces but its only draw back is the loss of walls! With the window and a hood, there's not much space left! I had to fit the microwave in and decided to built this into the center island. I have mine in the same area and it's so nice when your young children can pop their own popcorn and I love NOT seeing it as a focal point. This next area really fell out of the kitchen area in regards to function--all things that are needed in the working area are in between the 2 islands (DW, sink, trash, microwave) and the range and refrigeration area. We decided this area needed to be set up for a food service area or drink bar area with great storage. They moved back in right before school started and have finished lots of the decorating that is on their long list. One thing she is looking for is a unique wall scroll with an Italian saying on it to go above this window and I can't wait to see what she finds!

Another detail I had to work through was how this space would look as you entered their home. If you look at the first picture, the front door is to the right on that back wall; the kitchen is essentially their entry. I threw out a rather fun idea that I felt would really transform the back of the center island which is what you see first. The 'norm' would be to finished it with wood panels and while that would look great, I really wanted to do something unique that ties into the way they live and would fit well with their style. I had NO idea if they would want to 'play it safe' or really work in something fun. They let me do it and we all love the end result! Here it is--a chalkboard! Isn't it so Pretty and Neat??? Here is their kid's after school schedule for the week! She also writes menus on it during parties.

My next challenge was to somehow define the entry area from the kitchen. I accomplished this by placing bookcases at the ends of both islands. There are plugs in both bookcases which is one thing I always try to work into bookcases and office cabinets since we have SO many handheld items these days. My goal is to NOT see charging phones on any kitchen counters and I work this into any kitchen I transform! She has a gorgeous table on the main wall of the entry and it really flows nicely. These end cabinets create a barrier from entry to kitchen yet still tie into the islands as a cohesive piece and maintains the open feel that was the ultimate goal. Oh a side note, check out those cool stairs! They are not the main stairs which are right behind the entry and are very traditional and lead up to a landing area that leads to 4 bedrooms and a fun Family Room. You can see behind the kitchen is a cafe style sitting area and a dining room and the wall behind the range is a home theater, complete with projection television right onto the wall, theater seating and a popcorn machine! These stairs that you see are 'ladder style' and each foot goes on a different plank, don't know if the way I described it makes sense but it's really unique and one of the many things that makes this home such a fun relaxing home. Oh, they lead to a huge family/game room that you don't expect--it's a fabulous space.

Okay, I'll stop talking about the rest of the house and won't go on and on about her fabulous 2nd story decks that look over a horse farm or tell you about the large back patio area that they are currently transforming and will instead get back to the kitchen. Behind the entry and kitchen is the cafe! How cool is that? They have a cafe! Yup, I'm jealous too. And I have curled up in those fun chairs with coffee and she truly has created a relaxed, comfy home that is so perfect for their family. And there is the coffee bar!
The coffee bar was quite simple on my end--lots of drawers for storage and they found a really cool sink and faucet to finish it off! Here is a straight on view. Gee, now I think I need to end this and get some coffee!

I really enjoyed not only working on their kitchen but being there to support friends through such a nightmare. They were able to take a mess and at least turn it into a stored away dream, though the path required to get there was not enjoyable at all. I am thrilled they are back in their home and wish them happiness in their new space.

How's this for a "Before"?

This Before occurred in June of 2007.

Great friends of ours had their home hit by lightning and it was stunning to see first hand how life can go from 'all is well' to this.

Both of them as well as their 5 year old son and 8 year old daughter were home one early evening when they smelled smoke during a bad storm. Within hours of what one can only imagine was terrifying to watch, their home looked like this. They went to a family member's home that night with less than what any one of us would head off to college with. Even things like a toothbrush or address book or favorite hairbrush--gone. Baby pictures, wedding mementos, your shoes, your spare contacts, even a change of clothes for bed that is in a few hours--gone. I really couldn't imagine what this must feel like . . . for the adults let alone their children who had not even their comfortable pillow or favorite toy.

Because I am a fun decorating blog, I have to tell you that a fabulous kitchen 'after' is coming for you to see! But before I do that, I thought their 'after' couldn't be told without their 'before'.

My brother is a fireman and though I certainly know nothing more than the average person about the science of fire or the aftermath of fire, I am someone who always paid great attention to any news of fires and read stories about fires. Yet when I walked into this home I was stunned at things that I didn't quite understand about what a quickly extinguished lightning fire could do! So, I thought I'd share some of that with you. When the topic of my friend's home being rebuilt has come up, I often am asked "So, it burned to the ground? Nothing was left?" With the assumption that if it wasn't 100% soot that it wasn't quiet so bad and perhaps something could be salvaged. I recall being told it happened in the roof and mostly engulfed the second story and I went over the next day thinking "maybe I should see if I can help clean out the kitchen"--as if it wasn't a 'total loss', since it was still kind of there. Well, here's a collage of a few things:

My most surprising moment was when I saw the paint that was melting off the wall (bottom left). Then I was confused by the spider web like feel of wires and didn't know what it all was until it was explained that all the pretty white and blue and other colorful, plastic coated wiring and cables and cords installed in your home melt and all that's left is the exposed tiny lines of wire. It's so thin that you can barely see some of the thinner lines (top right) but it felt like you were seeing a metal spiders web and you couldn't just walk through a room without moving around all this. You can clearly see (bottom right) that the fire didn't reach the downstairs family room but look at how that strong metal rod bent from the heat and how the ceiling fell in from the 2nd story into that room as well as onto the staircase (top left). Between the water from the fire hose and the soot and burned mess that fell, you can imagine now how bad a home that has sustained fire damage is, even if you can see the outside walls and think it wasn't a 'total loss'. It was!

I am certain that you can't say that there is a 'light at the end of the tunnel' with this kind of loss and I am also sure that if they could go back and have this not happen, they would. The inevitable thing does happen though to a family with homeowner's insurance and you do somehow get through the next day and get through the next day and eventually end up with a NEW HOUSE! I was privileged to be able to design and create their dream kitchen and I can't wait to show it to you! They had always dreamed of building a new home. They had plans drawn and had hoped to one day find a lot and looked forward to the process and excitement that comes with building one day. They have great style and got their gorgeous home but accomplished this through great loss and amazing stress throughout the entire process. No planning, no dreaming, no excitement--just urgent reaction. I wouldn't wish this for anyone but am thrilled they ended up with a beautiful home and will show you how I was involved in their project later this weekend!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Since this week is Thanksgiving, I thought I would post pictures of my Fall Decorations! I don't do Halloween since we are in a rural area where people don't trick or treat (don't worry, we go somewhere else, my kids are not deprived of 15 lbs of candy that they don't need). Instead, I do "Fall" and leave it up until the end of November! Though I will admit that this year is a bit different. Because I am hosting a baby shower here the weekend of Thanksgiving and going out of town the following weekend, I decided to start Christmas early! But normally, Fall is up through Thanksgiving weekend! I stopped decorating and tweaking once I realized that things had to change but here is what I did before I had to take it down!

I thought about not showing you my front door because I'm not loving the garland above. It was very heavy and didn't 'swag' very well but whatever, I tried it and it didn't work! Next year I will get something that drapes better, deal with it!

Here are some areas in my entry:

This is living room and dining room areas-I didn't do much in either as I still like clean spaces when it comes to where we spend a lot of time!

Here are pictures from my kitchen:

Even my coffee bar got some fun candles!


I am looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and a busy weekend celebrating the pending arrival of new nieces! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Stacked Laundry Area

One functional decision we made when building our home was to put a washer and dryer in our master bedroom, in addition to a set in the upstairs laundry room. Anyone with a master on the 1st floor and kids rooms on the 2nd floor knows the frustration of having laundry on only one of those floors. We had this in our last home and I loathed carrying the laundry up and down the stairs. This was an easy decision for us!

When you walk into the closet, those stacked machines are the first thing you see. We custom build a hamper in a lower cabinet and then had the surround built around the machines to maximize storage. People have asked if you can stack this type of machine. They are so large that you can't imagine how tall they will be and picture it huge! You can see that they are a bit shorter than a standard closet cabinet which is to their left and is not as bad as you would perhaps have pictured. My 9 year old can reach the top controls just fine, though my 7 year old can't. There are other chores he can do so that's okay! It works great for us and I think it's easier on your back too! If you have a tight space and want to maximize your storage, this is a great solution.

I didn't love that you see the side of the machines when you walk in. Building our surround storage deep enough to cover the sides would have taken up too much space and I felt it would have been more of a "wall" than I wanted so we opted to leave it open and set the storage back. This storage, though large, would have also been too deep to function well, sometimes "less is more". I found this fun decal through Uppercase Living and I think adding this turned something boring into something fun with a bit of whimsy! I smile when I walk into my high functioning closet and what else could a girl want really?

Flat Screens, Game Systems and Cords, Oh My!

Cords are an inevitable problem whenever you have a flat screen and/or game systems. There are very expensive solutions to this and anyone can figure that out, however, I'd like to show you a trick to 'fix' this without hiring a framer, electrician, drywall guy and painter!

Here is an example of a flat screen mounted on the wall with the cords hidden in a tunnel in the wall. Once the tv is installed, it is very hard to add a cord so once the Wii was purchased, there's still a visible cord! As with any system, lots of games and remotes were added to the pile. And LOOK at the cords on the floor! There's not a lot of room to tuck in cords at the tv so all the excess ends up on the floor.

Here are some simple solutions! The cord was run to the right of the tv (taped underneath!) and two plants were put there to make it disappear. Two coordinating baskets were added to the area--the smaller one holds games and the everyday remotes and the large one on the floor holds the larger accessories. A simple frame or canvas print works perfectly to disguise the mound of cords--this one was around $15 at Old Time Pottery. The pot of flowers just adds an extra element to balance the basket. It became a beautiful area with just a few accessories!

There is a phrase in the design business--"Decorate Around It". This is a perfect example of when this rule can be used successfully!

If you are mounting a flat screen in your existing home, it is a tricky project to get it right but you can do it! First, determine where it needs to be mounted based on your framing and the height you want. Before you get the tv up, determine where the available space for cords will fall on the wall and then find an area between the framing to poke a hole through. Cover it with an outlet plate that has a large hole in it. Make sure that space does not have electrical on the floor. Do not saw but 'poke' so that you don't cute any wires if they are. Determine the best spot behind your console/table and poke through again. First get the cords up to the tv by dropping a long wire and then pull it all up--be patient here! Attach it all from there and enjoy your gorgeous new tv!

FYI, If you are building a home, you should have your framer make a solid area in the spot where you plan to hang your tv. You should have an idea of the size you plan to put on the wall as well as the height. The 'rule' is eye level when you are sitting but I think if you live like my family does that it should be closer to eye level when standing. Anywhere within that range works, in my opinion and if you are in a large area where you walk around often, like watching TV from your kitchen island in the attached family room, go higher! It has never bothered me to look up from my couch but it would certainly bother me if I couldn't see the TV from the kitchen because it was being blocked by heads on the couch! Then have them make a 'tunnel' from the very bottom of where the tv will be (look at the back for the cord space) to an area within the first 2 feet on the floor where you can run all the cords up to the tv. Plan ahead--if you think you are going to add something, get the cord in the tunnel!

Kitchens

I believe kitchens can be functional and that things can be in easy reach without being cluttered. As a kitchen designer as well as Mom to two boys, I strongly encourage appliance garages. This kitchen, which I designed for my own home, has two. The one in the corner has a plug in it and the toaster is always plugged in. The one on the right hold those 'all the time' things like bread and salt and pepper and the butter dish. The paper towels are even on the counter but you can't tell because it is behind the hand towels on a beautiful rack I found at http://www.ballarddesign.com/. I have many ideas when it comes to where things should be placed and how food should be organized and would love to help you reorganize your kitchen so it functions better for you. If you are building in the future, I can assist you in two ways. #1--I can work with you through out the entire design process. I am the designer for our family owned cabinet company, Interior Cabinet Design and we sell 4 brands that can cover any design element you require from the very high end where the options are limitless to our lower price point that provides gorgeous, high quality cabinets with flexible yet affordable design features or #2-- if you have a cabinet company in place but want to ensure you are maximizing your new spaces for the way your family will live, I can provide a design consultation to ensure you are maximizing your storage, space and functionality. Everything CAN be in your reach without it being seen!