The 1930s brick Tudor had seen a kitchen remodel fairly recently, but the fussy details did not compliment either the house generally, or one of the primary architectural features in the home - rustic hand-hewn open beams through the living room.
The floor plan was broken up into discreet, small rooms, with a small passage into the dining room.
The solution was to bring down the dividing walls, opening the space and bringing light from the front, West-facing windows, all the way to the kitchen.
Cladding the openings with natural wood to match the look of the living room beams provides linkage from one room to the next and is an organic counterpoint to the primarily contemporary finishes.
Quartered walnut custom cabinets bring rich wood tones to a kitchen that is otherwise finished with lighter colors and spare finishes, with shelving over the sink.
They combine beautifully with the Serra quartz counters by Pental and Parc series backsplash tile.
The same cabinets are used in multiple locations to create storage and a bar area.
The effort to replicate Tudor details really pays off, with sculpted plaster door trims and windows and doors designed to match the originals.
One element that required a complete overhaul was the living room fireplace. The out-sized brick is now gone, replaced with black slate, and a raised, honed hearth in absolute black granite. The same quartered walnut cabinets are used to cover a concealed television above the fireplace, with a rolled steel frame.
Removing the old top-nailed red oak and replacing it with a rough-hewn Sheoga flooring mirrors the texture of the trusses above. Complimented with carefully selected furnishings, the result is both elegant and comfortable. It’s an outcome that is reflective overall of the careful consideration and expertise that went into the design and a collaborative effort on the execution.