Somewhere In Between
When you buy a house many considerations will affect your decision to sign on the dotted line. Usually a homeowner will love a majority of the house and they often have a list of things they would like to change, too. It's easy to paint the walls or perhaps you want to rip out the carpet and replace it with wood or tile floors. Maybe your goals are more ambitious and you want to completely gut the bathroom or redo the kitchen.
The following photos show what can be done when the changes you would like to make are somewhere in between involving a simple can of paint and having a 20-yard dumpster parked in your front yard to haul everything away. This homeowner loved their kitchen cabinetry but wanted to make a few small changes. They wanted to add an open bookshelf with wine storage cabinet, an island in a contrasting color, and they also wanted the window resized and reconfigured along with lighting and crown moulding. The pictures below are the end result of working the new ideas in with the old cabinetry.
A word of caution for any project similar to this: color. Keep in mind the existing cabinetry may have been made by a different manufacturer or even if it was made by the same manufacturer, dye lots will vary. Another variable to consider is the length of time the original cabinetry has been in place will affect color due to influencers like sunlight or the type of wood used (cherry and pine, for instance, change colors easily). With that in mind the client accepted the color variation and everything really turned out beautifully. As far as the island cabinetry was concerned, the client wanted a rich warm cherry wood in a bourbon finish with black glaze to balance the perimeter cabinetry which was a golden finish on maple wood with a black glaze. The rich, warm colors of these Shiloh cabinets worked well with the existing cabinetry and looked great with the rest of their furniture and decorations. LIghting under and over the cabinetry added a great finishing touch to the whole project. This was certainly a beautiful way to personalize their new home.
