Before & After: This “Very Dark, Cold” Living Room Transformed into a Bright, Airy Kitchen — Fireplace and All

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At first glance, it mightiness beryllium a situation to ideate your home’s room anyplace different than wherever it is. But erstwhile Bob and Anne-Laure Lievense moved into their 300-year-old location successful nan Netherlands, they knew instantly that nan existent setup wasn’t doing nan abstraction immoderate justice. 

“It was very acheronian (a north-facing room) and acold (literally, nan cellar is underneath nan kitchen),” Anne-Laure said. “There was a large acheronian greenish wall, nan beamed ceiling was painted oxblood reddish and white, and nan walls were white.” And nan mates was fresh for a caller look.

They decided that nan surviving room, pinch its immense windows, was a overmuch amended abstraction for their room — it had a monolithic fireplace pinch a expansive mantel and checkerboard terracotta floor. Anne-Laure wanted a cozy, classical kitchen, and Bob was looking for immoderate modern flair. “The main wish was lots of storage, tons of worktops, a large stove, and a large array that is nan halfway of nan home,” she said. 

Anne-Laure and Bob didn’t person a group fund for nan task but put money from their erstwhile home’s waste towards nan transformation. Luckily, they recovered ways to trim costs — for illustration doing astir of nan updates themselves and buying secondhand items to furnish their home.

How They Remodeled Their Living Room into Their Kitchen

First up, nan mates installed nan mandatory basics for illustration insulation, electricity, and plumbing. In nan meantime, Anne-Laure painted nan walls successful Farrow & Ball’s “Loggia.” They didn’t want to region nan fireplace, which she noted “dominated nan room.” Instead, they decided to spot their secondhand stove underneath nan mantel — which past became nan cleanable retention shelves, too. 

Next, they designed their caller room cabinets utilizing IKEA’s online readying program. The original cabinets worked fine, but Anne-Laure, who was inspired by Laura Jackson’s home, wanted to create civilization cabinets. Using medium-density fibreboard wood arsenic nan room furniture beforehand base, they took mosaic wood level tiles and glued them connected 1 astatine a time, sanded them, and varnished them. 

The past measurement of this shape of nan room task was creating their countertops. Anne-Laure had ever dreamed of having marble counters, but it wasn’t precisely successful their existent budget. Thinking extracurricular nan box, Bob — who useful for a institution specializing successful microcements — created DIY faux marble countertops.