Unbeknownst to me and Dan, Louise had been envisioning orange in her kitchen for quite a while. After we had presented our design ideas, she produced several colour swatches,
some of which were very similar to the orange color Dan used in his sketch.
Dan and I took this as an indication that, as well as understanding our client’s needs, we had a good understanding of her taste.
Since Louise loved all our design ideas and wanted to implement each one, our next step was to come up with a plan for turning our ideas into reality.
We decided to make it a team effort. Louise painted her kitchen, Dan created detailed sketches,
and I constructed everything from scratch in our basement.
During the construction process I took a break so that Dan could see how things were shaping up.
The panel for over the stove was nearly ready to hold Louise’s most frequently used pots — and also to provide a place to rest a hot pan, tray, or dish.
On the other panel, the shelves were just the right size to hold oils and spices.
Things livened up as soon as I started painting the wall panels; Louise had selected “Festive Orange” as her kitchen accent color.
Meanwhile, at her apartment, Louise gave the kitchen a fresh coat of “Cream Pie.” Also, per our design, she applied metallic gold paint to the lower backsplash area of the main wall.
As soon as the wall panels were hung in place…
the festive spirit kicked in. Louise announced that it was time to celebrate.
An adjacent wall, where Louise had painted a block of orange, provided the perfect backdrop.
We all agreed our work was champagne-worthy…
even upon close scrutiny.
When we asked Louise what her favourite thing is about her new kitchen, she told us it wasn’t actually in the kitchen — it was in the living room.
We knew what she was referring to. We had proposed that Louise designate the top shelf of a living room bookcase…
for glassware.
In doing so we were able to free up space in her kitchen cabinets and extend the kitchen functionality into the living room in an integrated and appealing way.
Again, it was a team effort. Louise painted the back panel of the bookcase, and I added LED strip lighting from IKEA — to accentuate the ‘festive!’
live. enjoy. repeat.