Mrs R's Great Room and Kitchen design

I've taken a break from blogging for a little while. It seemed that a fun filled jam packed summer turned into a busy fall too. Although the posts have been few and far between, I have been busy with lots of fun projects.

Mrs R's Great Room and Kitchen design was started at the beginning of summer and finished in late July. I just recently got all the pictures of the finished space photographed, and ready for a fantastic reveal.  I want to start with some of the before shots to show you just how far we've come.

I was approached by Mrs R about her desire for a brighter lighter Great Room, Kitchen space. I was excited to see the possibilities inside her darling home.

This home has fantastic bones!!! Beautiful details inside her home include, to die for hardwood floors, custom molding and doors, a gourmet kitchen with gorgeous granite counter tops, beadboard island and custom cabinetry. Her dining nook is the perfect space for great family dinners filled with windows overlooking the back yard. The windows flow along the back wall of the Great Room into a spacious Family Room. This room has a large corner stone fireplace, that's a amazing focal point in the space. What a gold mine to work with!!!

When she suggested that she wanted more of a light and a brighter look for the space, I thought that maybe there wasn't adequate lighting or enough windows, however once I took a look, I realized that the colors and textures all tended to be on the darker brown side of the color wheel.

After the initial consultation, we discussed a plan and a budget. One of her main desires for the space was to have plantation shutters installed on the entire main floor of her home. I loved the idea and dream about shutters in my own house. We talked about going with white shutters throughout to brighten the space, but her husband had a dark wood tone that matched the kitchen cabinets in mind. After much debate they decided to go with a dark wood tone plantation shutter throughout. You might think it would be hard to brighten the space while bringing in a dark element like plantation shutters, but they actually add a architectural accent to all of the lovely windows her house offers. Here are some great examples of a light and bright room with dark plantation shutters.

The next step was to change the paint on the walls, ceiling, trim and doors. When the house was built a 6-7 years ago they used a darker two tone tan color on the walls and ceiling, and a dark brown/green color on the doors and trim. Now a few years later styles have changed to a more white/brighter look. After looking at some color schemes, Mrs R decided to go with a creamy yellow for the walls, a bright white for the ceiling, trim and doors. She also wanted to accent the nook in the dining area with a light Robin Egg blue color. Here are some of the color schemes that helped her decide.

One of my favorite go to's to help a client decide on a color or color scheme for their space is Pinterest. Pinterest has lots of pins that show color schemes and colors, and is a great visual reference for clients. Be aware however, that the actual colors might vary quite a bit from the picture you see on Pinterest. It's always a good idea to have the actual paint chip in hand and a test sample of the color to be sure.

Mrs R loved the creamy white and light blue from the top picture with pops of red and yellow from the bottom picture. Off to Sherwin Williams I went to get a sample. The colors listed in the picture from Pinterest did vary quite a bit. I did my best to match the colors and tried a few samples of their creamy white until we found the perfect shade, "Eggwhite". The blue she picked for the nook was "Copen Blue", and the ceiling, trim and doors were painted "Snowbound".

Wall Color

Dining Nook

Ceiling, Doors and Trim

With the plantation shutters taking up the bulk of Mrs R's budget, she and her husband painted the entire space (walls, ceiling, trim and doors) themselves. YAY way to go!!! This was not an easy task, but saved them a pretty penny in labor costs.

The immediate change was very dramatic. The space seems so much brighter and happier with the lighter ceiling, trim, door and wall color. It also made the custom darker features of her home...kitchen cabinets, fireplace stone, etc stand out more. I love it!! 

Come back tomorrow to see how we continue to brighten this space and bring fun color to make it POP.