This project is a true case of thinking outside the box----or should I say, outside the walls. The layout of this house was mostly wonderful, aside from the fact that the kitchen----as is often the case in historic homes----was awkwardly shaped and cut off from the main living spaces of the house.
There was also a strange little powder bath jutting off the back of the house in what appeared to at one time be a back entrance to the house (you can tell this because it's a step down, and there are actually cement stairs going up to the siding on the outside!). You can see the original layout below on the left.
In the early planning stages of the project, we thought about removing the back staircase to create a larger footprint for the kitchen, but that wouldn't give us the access to the dining room we were looking for, nor would it address our hope to move the bath into a less awkward location.
Then we realized we needed to think outside the walls!
This house sits on quite a large piece of property for a city house, so we decided to capture what was originally a small sunroom on the back of the house into the kitchen space and add a complete new addition on to the back of the house. This also gave us the space to move the powder bath inside, in addition to creating space for a beautiful new deck on the back of the house.
The new kitchen will be directly off the dining room, while still attached to the very convenient butler's pantry, which allows for a perfect walkway from the front to the back of the house without needing to walk through the living and dining rooms.
This new layout also prevents the kitchen from needing to function as a hallway to access the back staircase, and it allows provides more privacy for the powder bath since it is no longer in the center of the kitchen.
We'll blend the historic style of the home into the new kitchen by using custom windows and trim to match the originals throughout the house, as well as by recreating the beams that are in the current kitchen. We'll also mimic the style of the doorway between living/dining areas between the dining/kitchen to make it appear that it was always that way.
We plan to feature a large arched door that will lead onto a gigantic beautiful back deck, which will over look the family's large fenced yard. This will allow easy access from kitchen to the grill to make summer parties and barbecues very easy to host. We also plan to do a historic style tile floor throughout the pantry, kitchen, and powder bath to maintain continuity throughout those spaces while also being super functional and easy to clean.
This type of project is incredibly fun and challenging! It's sort of like a giant game of Tetris, trying to figure out where all the pieces will fit most efficiently, and how they will best fit together without feeling like an obvious, awkward addition to your home.
If you're frustrated with the current layout of your home, we'd love to be the team who takes on the creative challenge of your renovation or addition project!
Work with Lauren Figueroa Interior Design
LFID is a full-service interior design firm serving West and Southeast Michigan. We work with clients from Detroit to Clarkston, Grand Rapids to Holland, up to Traverse City, and anywhere in between, and we pride ourselves on creating bespoke, people-centered spaces—because after all, people are what this life is all about!
If you have a project on the horizon, get started by telling us a little about your vision here, and you can view past projects here. Thanks for stopping by!
