Kitchen Sitting Rooms

(Reihl Designs)
I love a kitchen that has a little sitting area.  We all gather in the kitchen and it totally makes sense to have a couple comfortable chairs in the kitchen for those that you are entertaining. 
Most kitchens these days allow for a kitchen table to be in the kitchen.  However, if you have two eating areas in your home you have options.
(Apartment Therapy)
If your kids are grown and you really don't have a need for a table then I'd suggest you get rid of it and turn the area into a sitting area.
(Horchow)
Purchase 2 comfy chairs and if you have room, get some ottomans too.  Create a wonderful area where you can curl up and read or chat with your husband or with a friend. 
(House Beautiful)
Or you can go all out and create an entire sitting area.  You should USE the space in your home.  If it's not working for you with table and chairs, make it an area for great conversation.
The above eclectic mix has such style.
(Traditional Home)
I'm still in the stage where I need my kitchen table.  However, I'm in the process of trying to find great comfortable chairs to go with my farm table.
This photo above is ideal!  A wing back chair, wicker chairs and a sofa!  Conversational and practical for family meals as well as incorporating the table so it's functional for the family meals.
(Richard Taylor Architects)
It's not always possible to have extra furniture in your kitchen but this kitchen looks like there is plenty of room to have a table and a sitting area.
(Style at Home.com)
This kitchen definitely has a "gathering place"
Sweet!
Just because your "eat in area" is meant to be for a table doesn't mean you have to do it that way.  Mix it up and make your home work for your lifestyle!
Visit my website DecRenew Interiors to see my before and after portfolio.

Family Room Before and After

So much fun to finish this project for my client just in time for Thanksgiving with their family.  We gave their family room and kitchen an update with paint, new furniture and accessories.

BEFORE
The fireplace was a cream stone and had such beautiful detail.  However, the detail was lost because the fireplace didn't make a grand statement, it just blended into the wall color.
AFTER

We fauxed the fireplace surround a graphite gray and it now has much more grandeur. I suggested they paint their bookshelves an off white so their accessories could be showcased. Collectibles always look better against white.

AFTER
They had a patterned carpet in the room already but my client wasn't too fond of it!  I found a rug that complimented it well that we  placed on top of it.  This added dramatic color and interest to the room and made my client really happy!  The leather sectional was a must because this is their TV watching room where lots of football watching goes on!
Of course you have to have reversible pillows for those that love instant change!

A seven foot mirror really added a WOW to the room! 
This console table matches the fireplace color.
I found this metal urn and painted it and then aged it.  Added some driftwood and it's a fantastic addition to the bookshelves.  Notice the wonderful cinnamon color behind the bookshelves!

Every room needs a touch of animal print.
Sorry for the TV reflection. I couldn't figure out how to turn it off!  I really tried to personalize the room so it didn't look staged! Family photos and special items were hung on the walls to make them feel surrounded by their special things.  The crosses were gifts from family and friends.

This stone was our inspiration for the color palette for the paint colors.

Adding candles in the same color scheme really adds a magic to the space.

Enjoy your weekend! 
I'll post more about their kitchen later. Wait til you see what we did with their enormous island!
Visit DecRenew Interior's Website to see Ruthie's Design Portfolio.

Kitchen Makeover Before & After

Everybody wants their home to reflect how they live and who they are.
This is especially true when you purchase a new home and it doesn't have your personality anywhere to be found.  My client who purchased this new home was smart when they decided to buy this incredible gem because it had great bones and character.  It just lacked those special touches that made it feel like home.  It needed an extreme makeover and lots of TLC.
BEFORE

Dark and dreary but not for long.  The center island and the back counter top was black tile with a stainless steel back splash.  Way too modern for my client who wanted a open, fresh and inviting kitchen.
It's been about a 5 week process but this week we finished their kitchen remodel. I stopped by today to take a few AFTER pictures while the cleaners were there. They were busy getting everything ready for the homeowners to move in this weekend.  My client is incredibly pleased with all the finished detail and loves the way every room now flows together with a purpose. 
AFTER
New crown molding added to the top of the cabinets, new paint and glaze, wrought iron hardware (the jewelry of the kitchen), new counter tops (with a different color for the center island), new back splash, and new wood floors throughout most of the house. 
 The entire house had different tile in each room which looked crazy but not anymore.  We also stained the bar area the same color as the wood floors and that really made a HUGE difference to the feel of the kitchen. 
It's hard to see in the photos  but the cabinets do have a subtle glaze like the above gently rubbed on them. 
The adjoining dining room..  It is so beautiful with the complimentary crown molding!  Sherwin Williams "Breezy"

The homeowner keeps telling me how refreshing and rewarding it has been to work with a decorator.  Having a professional by their side to assist them with ALL the overwhelming choices that come with remodeling or updating a new home has been a life saver to them.  In the long run it has saved them thousands of dollars because they have avoided bad decisions that could have cost them a significant amount of money if they had made wrong decisions during this process on their own.

The distressed floors turned out beautiful
From paint colors, floor selections, grout color, lighting placement, granite color choices, carpet color, vanity selections, etc. it is so overwhelming to make these decisions alone.   The homeowner can honestly say now that it's all done...."WOW, we love it and it feels like US" 
BEFORE
It was a construction zone for about a week with all the tile demolition in the house.
AFTER
(before grout)
BEFORE
AFTER
From a different angel but you get the idea.  The back splash really looks beautiful with the center island granite.  The client was really hesitant to do something different like this but now that it's done, it's their favorite part of the kitchen.  The granite is like a piece of art.
AFTER

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  The Slate fireplace is being installed as we speak so I'll post pictures of that later on. 
Have a great weekend!
Visit my website (DecRenew Interiors) to see more before and after photos.

Award Winning Home; Punta Barco, Panama

Our family was incredibly blessed to be able to stay in this award winning home during our recent Spring Break trip to Panama City, Panama.  
This home is in Punta Barco about an hour from Panama City. 
 I mentioned in my last post that I'd give you a tour of this incredible indoor/outdoor home.  Here goes.....don't miss the video of the home at the end of this post!

The home won the 2008 single unit International Property Awards in association with CNBC and New York Times.  After staying here for 6 days, I can tell you it's the best in the area!  An architect built the home so that explains a lot.
The house had direct beach access and amazing ocean views with a totally private beach.  My husband and I were absolutely in awe when we first saw the view we were going to look at all week.  It took my breath away!
These were the lounge chairs we enjoyed on the beach.
We came down this long passage way and wondered what was around the next corner.
It was never ending which made us very curious if we were even at the right house.
The home had 3 levels and there was a surprise around every corner.  This is the first indoor/outdoor living room.  The thatch work was absolutely amazing!
This is the second outdoor living space.  I fell in love with the coffee table. 
The dining room was perfect for our big families.  I loved the built in benches throughout the home. 
This table was awesome for lots of people to sit around and its rustic texture was so practical.
We spent tons of time in this little sitting area which had an incredible view.
The stone top coffee table on a tree trunk was an inspiration to me and I immediately had my husband take note :)
These nautical glass floats added such great interest to this patio and the green glass sparkled in the sunshine.
Isn't it cool how they added this conch shell to the railing?  This was my favorite detail in the home!
We spent a lot of time at this table listening to the waves as we ate the wonderful meals the guys cooked for us. 
The guys loved this outdoor grill. We did grilled zucchini one night and when we all sat down to eat and cut into it, we realized it was cucumber.  When you shop in foreign grocery stores, you guess your way around and we guessed wrong on this one.  It looked like a zucchini but it was a cucumber.   Grilled Cucumber is not very tasty I tell you.  We all had a good laugh though. 
I'm crazy, but I  love the feel of bare feet on tile.  It makes me feel like I'm somewhere tropical.
Patio on the lower level, closest to the beach.  Perfect for morning breakfast and coffee.
This old canoe was just resting on these stones as artwork.
This canoe was underneath this beveled glass counter top in the guest house.  Way cool.
Driftwood pieces that the owner had collected on the beach were all over this home and placed in fun and creative places.
I want one of these planters for my patio.
The towel rack in the kitchen is pure perfection.  Behind it is a broken lid and the knob is used as another spot to hang a dish towel.
Fresh flowers and coconuts from the garden.  Fresh coconut is amazing!  So much fun to try it again after all these years.
These wrought iron spheres were in the entryway above the light fixture coves.  Don't you love the way the light makes it such a focal.  The reflection on the ceiling was my favorite.
The niches all had wonderful, old pieces placed inside them.
There were hand carved wooden columns throughout the house.
Architectural pieces tucked away in little corners.  Loved the variety of stones just laying side by side on display for you to admire.
An old broken pot on the wall.
The kids loved the garden and we parents loved that there was a beach shower!
The Guest house and gardens.
Our good friends that live in Panama came to stay with us over a weekend and their family stayed here.
I even got to see a horse rider on the beach which I thought was an extra blessing.   Read my previous post here (Beach houses and life lessons).
Now that you have seen the photo's, how about a video?  My daughter made a video with her flip camera and it gives you a great idea of what I've explained above.  It's a little shaky but hang in there, it's worth it.  I think she did a cute job and she even added tropical music (it's starts to get a little repetitive after a while so get your mute button ready).  The kids loved their bunk room!
Enjoy!
Click here to see video.  Punta Barco Beach House, Panama
Life is good at a beach house!
Visit my website DecRenew Interiors to see before and after photo's of my work.

Crazy and beautiful pumpkins to inspire

Here are a few ideas I thought you might like for the Fall season.  The beauty of our fall decor is that you can have it out for a few months (October & November) so it's worth doing something special.
Wow, don't you just love this pumpkin.  These are thumb tacks (nail heads).  Make yourself a template and go to town!  You could even use coffee beans here and glue gun them on.

This is the cutest thing!  If you really wanted to have some fun and be a little quirky, go at it with this fun lampshade.  Isn't the nose fabulous!
Kids would have a blast carving these.
This witch is absolutely darling.  I'm not that crazy into witches but she is lots of fun!
.
This is just wire curved with pliers and inserted into the pumpkin.
Cute little hair bows add the finishing touch to these boots.
This design is created with a sharpie!
Sequence is used on the below pumpkin but you could use a sharpie here too, makes the pumpkin have some fun detail.
Adding some sticks from your yard, a bit of moss, pine cones, berries, pumpkins and you have a great centerpiece or entry piece.  The beauty of all this is it lasts all the way through Thanksgiving.
Simple gold ribbon adds a soft touch.
I love simplicity like this for the kitchen counter, bar area, even for the back of the toilet..
Again, simple yet beautiful.
To do this above, just put another vase inside the big vase.  Fill the candy corn in between both vases and then add your flowers to the one you inserted.
Spray paint your pumpkins to change it up a little.  Who said you can't do this.
My girls are dying to try this!
Love adding spindles, antique urns, etc. to the arrangement to bring in some charm and character.
Very inviting if you have a front gate!
We all  have glass vases around.  Fill them with nuts, pears, acorns.
Awesome entry or back porch ideas.  It's all about the different heights of these items.  Creating different levels makes the scale look put together.  Notice how the same thing is done on the table.  Different heights make your eye notice all the details.
You can get items for the above pumpkin at any craft store in their jewelry section.  Ears could even be door handles or pulls.
These are just created by using something that makes a nice big hole.  Punch through and you have something stunning all lit up!
Always forget about artichokes and pomegranates but they add lots of color.  We all have some kind of ceramic bowl or urn you can use to put all these items in.  Add some candles and you are set.
Corn adds some great texture.

These are doilies!!  Cheap idea and oh so cute.
Okay, my creative adrenaline is bubbling.   Hope yours is too!