A Cosmetic Update

  A Cosmetic Update


   I love design.  I live, eat and breathe it every single day.  As a matter of fact, when I'm not working I find myself in small design shops, antique malls, furniture stores, and book stores checking out the latest products and design trends.  Sometimes, I'll stumble across someone who shares my love of design but needs a little help.  Meet our client's Mickey and Morry Trent.  The Trent's were out shopping in Leeper's Fork when I first met them.  Before I knew it we were talking about design.  They explained to me that they were thinking about updating their kitchen and they really weren't sure where to start.  According to them they had never worked with a designer and really didn't know if they wanted to either.  So, I explained that design is basically a thought process,  and if you know how to think through  your  projects you typically won't make any mistakes.  One thing that I have realized over the years is that there are some do it yourself people out there who would never dream of using a designer but could use a little help from one occasionally,  and for that reason I wrote  a book entitled, "What Were You Thinking?" Recognizing the Costly Mistakes that Everyone Makes.  The store where  we met actually sold our book and the Trent's purchased it that day.  I mentioned to them if they still needed some help to call us.   A couple of days later I received a phone call from Mickey.  She said that she had read the book and that she and Morry decided that they would like a little help in their kitchen.
     Fortunately, the Trent's kitchen had great bones,  it just needed a little cosmetic update.  Their cabinets had a dark red cherry finish on them with a white Corian counter top.  The walls had a beautiful faux finish on them so we decided to keep it.   We just needed to create a little more drama in this space to show them off and paint is an inexpensive way to add drama into any space.  So, we painted the cabinets in two different colors.  The ceiling was painted in gold and all of the trim was painted  in a dark brown.  Rob Laws of Decorative Concrete Systems replaced the Corian with a stained concrete counter top.  He also made a concrete top for our kitchen table as well.  You see the Trent's had an antique game table that had a green felt top on it.  The base on the table was beautiful but the top was too simple and not really useful in the kitchen.  So we asked Rob to make us a removable top that could be placed over the existing top.  This kept the value of this antique in tack while at the same time making our table a lot more user friendly in the kitchen.  Next, we replaced the chandelier and added lights under the top cabinets.  A faucet and new hardware replaced the old brass hardware.  New chairs were added around our table to add pattern to our space.  Mickey and Morry had plenty of accessories to complete our project.  So you see, a kitchen renovation doesn't have to be expensive.  Sometimes all you really need is a cosmetic update.