Last winter we did a complete kitchen remodel in our Denver home and it was such a labor of love. We went from a dark, wood, dated kitchen to a bright, white, modern style. Our designer, Kristin Miner, was our visionary, collaborator and project manager (and sometime therapist!). She was amazing and worked with us from beginning to end helping us with sketch ideas, finding all the right vendors and pieces and helping us fix some catastrophes (more on that later)!
Doing a remodel is so fun, but also stressful. And we did our remodel while I was 6 months pregnant with our third child! We wanted demo and construction to be done before the baby came and we needed the work to be done during my slow season as a wedding photographer, in the winter. We spent about three months living out of our basement, watching a lot of movies with our two young boys and making food on a hot plate. But it was worth it!
Some of my favorite things in our new kitchen are our beautiful cabinets, our custom-made over-sized table that can seat 10-12, our hidden coffee bar, new Miele induction stovetop and speed oven, oversized sink and, simply, the ease of an open design with everything in its place.
Another huge transformation was removing the island and moving a doorway. Kristin had the brilliant idea to cut the closet out of our mudroom and move the main entryway over to give us more countertop space in our kitchen.
Check out the before and after video! It is pretty striking!
And this video shows the demo and some of the other rooms we redesigned, including the living room, mudroom, bathroom, and office.
Our cabinet and table makers are a talented group of local artisans in Colorado, E.C. Hall.
So much time and consideration went into all of the details. I was very specific about wanting a matte white tile for our backsplash. We decided on the Bedrosians Makoto 2.5″ x 10″ Matte Ceramic Wall Tile in Shoji White. We were really excited to find a white oven and speed oven by Miele. We must have looked at thousands of countertops all over Colorado before we decided on Volakano quartz from Colorado Surfaces.
Catastrophes: Well, there are the obvious ones: Supply chain issues caused delays or items to be out of stock. Wayfair constantly sent us items that were damaged (although they had good customer service and were always able to fix the problems). But the biggest catastrophe by FAR was an issue we had with painting.
Demo was done and painting was one of the first projects. Our painters were wonderful, but something went terribly wrong. Paint was drying and then immediately peeling off the walls in a way that looked like our house was one hundred years old. After a bit of research, we found out that somehow we were sold paint that had frozen. After freaking out, some long conversations with a Benjamin Moore rep, texturing and repainting, we finally had beautiful walls.
Our project started with the kitchen and then quickly turned into an entire first floor remodel when we decided to put in new flooring and paint every room. After you make those decisions, it seems like the best timing to go ahead and update light fixtures, put in wallpaper and add some new furniture.
Shout-outs:
Kitchen & Interior Designer and Project Manager (the BEST): Kristin Miner, kminerdesigns@icloud.com
Custom Carpenter, Cabinets and Kitchen Table: Chuck Bufmack, E.C. Hall
Countertops: Volakano Quartz from Colorado Surfaces.
Oven and Speed Oven: Miele
Kitchen Tiles: Bedrosians Makoto 2.5″ x 10″ Matte Ceramic Wall Tile in Shoji White
Mudroom Brick Tiles: Capella White Brick
Wall Paint Color: Grey Mist
Flooring: Flooring Group
Kitchen Chairs: West Elm, Slope Leather Dining Chair
Metal Lantern Chandelier: Jonathan Y, Target
Sconces: Pottery Barn
Glass Chandelier: Anthropologie
Bathroom Wallpaper (in video): Lulu and Georgia
Office Wallpaper (in video): Anthropologie
Wallpaper installation: Da Vinci Coatings
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