Home Refresher

The owners of a historic summer home in Newport, Rhode Island sought to update their kitchen, enlarge their small family room and create an area comfortable for entertaining family and friends. Without changing the footprint of the home, our design team came up with an imaginative way to open up space and satisfy all of the project requirements.

Flipping the location of the kitchen and family room, and taking down a wall between the two spaces, resulting in an entirely novel floor plan.  The original layout had a bathroom off the family room and a large laundry area off the kitchen, near the basement steps. A new breakfast area where the old bathroom had been, a combined toilet and laundry room in the old laundry space and an enlarged landing for the basement steps (taken from some of the old laundry room square footage) were key elements of the renovation. An intimate deck along the back of the house has access from the new breakfast area through a set of French doors.

White cabinetry and tile provide the perfect backdrop to the accent color throughout the new space: Benjamin Moore Sour Apple. The kitchen work-flow has been vastly improved with perimeter countertops in Verdi Butterfly granite. A center island allows for two seats and extra storage. Stainless steel appliances, glass-front cabinets, pendant accent lighting and playful hardware contribute to the contemporary sensibility of the project.

The living area features two window seats flanking the fireplace and a freestanding wall, created from an old closet, houses a flat-screen television on one side and storage on the other.  The dimensions of the family room are greatly improved over the original, narrow space, allowing for better flow and conversational groupings.

The laundry room has a more intense green hue, Benjamin Moore Wales Green, with a Caesar Stone counter in Apple Martini. The excellent functionality of the renovated laundry/bath area is another illustration of innovative space planning and creative use of the square footage available. Overall the renovation gives this Newport home a refreshing appeal.

From the minute Peter saw our Newport house, he had a  magnificent concept of how to renovate to produce a superb back end of our house. This included a modern kitchen, family room, laundry room, half bath and deck. We are thrilled and may never sit in front of our house again.