indoors
REAL-LIFE RESCUE
DISCO VERY: MAXIMIZE POTENTIAL
IMPROVE FLOW
An arched doorway
replaced a swinging door
to the dining room; a
wider opening on the
opposite wall also helps
the flow. Removing layers
of linoleum and laying
matching oak flooring
eased the transition
between rooms. '‘People
still stand in here like
sardines, but it feels much
more open,” Rebecca says.
LIGHTEN UP COUNTERS
“My husband and I talked
about having granite,
stainless-steel, or concrete
counters, but decided
they’d look and feel too
cold in here,” Rebecca
says. For a warmer, lighter
look, they went with maple
butcher block—“which
might be a splurge to do
on a large scale, but not in
this case, since the space
was so small.”
EMBRACE COLOR
Small kitchens don’t need
to be light in color. In fact,
a pale palette “would have
been too much of a jolt,”
Rebecca says. To unify the
downstairs rooms, she
worked with similar warm
tones; cabinets were
painted a greenish-gray.
“We just added more
lighting options so it
wouldn’t be too dark,”
Rebecca says.
t w a s lo v e a t f i r s t s ig h t
f o r R e b e c c a a n d J a s o n
B a r n e s . “ W e ’d f o u n d a
h o u s e w i t h it s a b s o lu t e
o r ig i n a l k it c h e n ,
c o m p le t e w i t h y e l l o w
_ a n d b la c k - a c c e n t e d t i le ,
a n d v in t a g e s in k a n d f ix t u r e s ,” s a y s
R e b e c c a , a D a lla s a r c h i t e c t w h o ’s
n o w a s t a y - a t - h o m e m o m . S o o n ,
r e a lit y ' s e t in . W i t h n o d is h w a s h e r
a n d o n l y o n e s h o r t w a l l o f c a b in e t s ,
t h e 8 x 1 1 - f o o t s p a c e w a s n ’t w o r k i n g .
THE CHALLENGE
R e b e c c a w a n t e d to
g iv e h e r k i t c h e n a c la s s ic lo o k w i t h
m o d e r n c o n v e n ie n c e . O n h e r lis t:
M o v e a w a t e r h e a t e r , a d d s to r a g e ,
im p r o v e t r a f f i c f lo w , a n d u p d a t e
l i g h t i n g a n d a p p lia n c e s .
THE SOLUTION
R e b e c c a m o v e d
a d o o r to m a k e r o o m f o r m o r e
c a b in e t s a n d c o u n t e r s . S h e r e lo c a t e d
t h e w a t e r h e a t e r t o a c lo s e t o n t h e
b a c k p o r c h , f r e e in g u p r o o m n e x t
to t h e n e w r a n g e . A c a b in e t m a k e r
f a m i l y m e m b e r h e lp e d b u i l d o ld -
s t y le c a b in e t s ( a n d k e e p c o s ts
d o w n ) . D e s p i t e t h e k i t c h e n ’s s iz e ,
“ w e k n e w w e c o u ld h a v e a w a r m ,
i n v i t i n g s p a c e ,” R e b e c c a s a y s , “ a n d
w e w e r e r i g h t .”
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56
NOVEMBER2008 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
