Tag: before and after

Inspiring + Vibrant Craft Room Reveal

Written by Jenna on July 29, 2013. Posted in Decorating, Room Reveal. 14 Comments on Inspiring + Vibrant Craft Room Reveal

It’s been a while since I gave you an update on the mega craft room & office space that I’ve been working on for a local client. The room is 98% complete minus a few wall decor pieces. Aside from that, the space is looking dynamite, so I thought I’d give you a tour.

Before

After

The space will be used for the clients new business, Creative Nest, a new informational craft blog that will be launching later this year. I asked my client to share a few thoughts about the space and here is what she shared:

The development of an arts and crafts room in my home has, for years, been one of my goals. I envisioned a very special place where my son could make messy discoveries and be free to make his own place in the world with glitter, glue, and paint.

I had the perfect location: Our living room. In most houses, they’re big, stuffy rooms filled with nice things that kids aren’t allowed to enjoy and not typically a welcoming environment for a child. Instead, I wanted to fill the space with shelves, bins, and drawers, all overflowing with materials. I wanted a room that inspire my son’s imagination, a nurturing environment that would be as attractive to him as TV or video games. And that’s all true in this creative nest we’ve developed.

Fittingly, this art room is also the heart of another Creative Nest, which is the name of an informative craft blog I’m launching later this year. The blog will provide parents with plenty of ideas and craft projects to do with their children, and will feature tips and resources from art teachers and other experts. I hope Creative Nest becomes a resource that makes it easy for parents to share art time with their kids and show them that there’s more to life than precut shapes and step-by-step directions. As all parents know, great art often comes from happy accidents and the full exploration of the imaginative process. Having this wonderful space and this creative nest in which to play and share has been an amazing experience. I am so happy with the results.

The work large desk gives ample space for creating. At about 5′ long, quite a few artists can work at the same time. The ghost chairs are the perfect seat by allowing the architectural millwork to “speak” and having the ability to easily wipe away mistaken spills.

Cubbies are the ideal way to stay organized. There is a place for everything & everything in it’s place. Crayons. Markers. Paints. All put away in their own containers.

The storage zone is the ideal spot all the crafting supplies.

I didn’t take a picture looking from the craft space to the office, but here’s a progress pic during construction…

This is what the desk space looks like now. Beautiful and functional.

On the other side is a comfy, cozy lounge space with a humungo built-in bench with a lot of storage below and an awesome built-in shelf at the end. The owner’s son is an amazing 6 year old artist and mom loves to display his creations in each of the recessed panels. I’ll tell you, the panels were not created for the pictures, but it just so happened that they were the perfect fit and they bring gorgeous color and meaning to the space.

Refreshing. Energizing. Inspiring. Creative. Fun. All words that, to me, describe this incredible new craft room space.

Before and After: Kitchen Makeover

Written by Jenna on March 19, 2013. Posted in before-n-after, Decorating. 20 Comments on Before and After: Kitchen Makeover

I hope your week is going well and you’ve had some time to shop!

A few weeks ago, I shared a teaser about a kitchen that I just finished up for a local Client. The transformation is pretty spectacular and the space not only looks amazing and is now completely updated, the way it functions is SO much better.

Here is the breakdown of what needed to change with the old kitchen…

To start off, the Client and I evaluated what was wrong with the kitchen and how it was not functioning the best way possible. We discussed widening the space by adding an addition to the outside wall, but the cost would have been way too much. We discussed moving the sink location to the outside wall, but decided the current placement was better. In the end, the only large appliance to be relocated was the refrigerator, since ‘before’, it dominated the main focal wall. Other details that had to be addressed were:

1. The unused space above the upper cabinets

There was about 12″ of unused space, so we brought the new cabinets to the ceiling plane which allowed for additional storage, plus the taller cabinets heightened the entire room.

2. We removed the angled wall & countertops

The wall that separates the living room and kitchen was extended to define each space more. The layout is still an open concept, put eliminating the angled wall allowed for more definition and cabinet space.

3. The cabinets were dated

Enough said about that! The client wasn’t sad to say bye-bye to the old white cabinets.

4. Same with the countertop – dated!

The turquoise blue countertop wasn’t a color that they wanted to keep, so that also had to go!

5. The placement of the large refrigerator was dominating the main focal wall

Figuring out a new location was tricky! In the end, there was a pipe chase on the other side of the room that was boxed out around 1 pipe. It was crazy that this crucial floor area was going unused. After calling in a plumber and electrician to move the pipe location, the new-found floor area resulted in the new home of the refrigerator.

6. With the refrigerator location moved, wall space was freed up for more cabinetry = more storage!

The unused wall space next to the ‘before’ refrigerator allowed us to create a beautiful “china-style” cabinet.

7. Last, but certainly not least was the removal of the “popcorn” ceiling.

“Popcorn” ceilings create shadows resulting in the space feeling not as high as it actually is. It’s a pain to take down, but well worth it. For this Kitchen Makeover, the clients tackled it themselves (using Brittany’s tutorial) and they did a damn good job!

So that’s it in a nutshell.

The transformation is incredible.

The cabinets are all from Lowe’s and the team there was very helpful. I worked with the Client every step of the way in choosing the three-toned cabinet colors and all of the other selections. The Lowe’s team was great at helping us with all the nitty-gritty cabinet sizes and options.

AFTER

Tackling a kitchen makeover is quite an endeavour, but if planned out correctly from the start, the process doesn’t have to be overly grueling. My best advice is to plan ahead and choose / purchase all the new selections before anything in the space is touched.