house& home | Apr i l 2012 | house and home on l ine . com26

before && after

Subtle changes in form and function refresh and refine a tiny condo kitchen

A Splash of Style

Going to the hair salon is not the usual way to gain a client, but hairdresser

Cathy Clark was having problems with her condo and needed my help.

“The kitchen backsplash decision was getting on my nerves and just wasn’t

working,” she explains. “I couldn’t figure out how to pull it all together. The

backsplash had me really stumped and I could not figure out what color to

paint the walls,” Cathy said.

Since we had worked together before on her living and dining rooms,

(Houston House & Home, April, 2010 “ Finding Harmony”) Cathy knew

what to expect and felt confident with my recommendations. We met at her

nearby condo and had a look. Since her kitchen was small but wonderful, it

just needed a few tweaks to make it spectacular. With one meeting, followed

by a few emails, we transformed her condo kitchen. “You made it so easy,”

she exclaimed. “The more I had looked at tile, the more confused I became

about what I wanted,” she explained.

BY JOETTA MOULDEN • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JANET LENZEN

BEFORE (above): It was easy to see how small this condo kitchen was and howmuch it needed a smooth-flowing color scheme with the adjoining living/dining room.

AFTER (top of page): Because the kitchen was diminutive, function and color flowwas important.

BEFORE

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BEFORE (above right):The lack of a backsplash wall behind the desk led tounsightly marks on the surface, while the area behindthe top of the refrigerator was lackluster; the refriger-ator door opened the wrong way.

AFTER (top of page):Flipping the hinges and restyling the top of the fridgewas easy and made a huge difference. Adding thetile backsplash to the desk not only balanced theroom but keeps the pencil cup from marring up thewall, too.

BEFORE

This agony went on for about six weeks

until Cathy contacted me for help. “What

a relief! You shuffled through my stack of

59 tile samples, selected just the right one,

and we were on our way,” Cathy said. “I

was very excited about it and was also

relieved to be rid of my indecision.”

TIP: Your eyes will first go to the lightest

and darkest items in a photograph.

Using fruit and flowers to create contrast

with neutral paint and tile often gives you

the most bang for the buck and helps for

resale, too.

To expand the small room visually, I rec-

ommended that she have her contractor,

Gus Lemus Residential Services, paint the

flat walls in her kitchen to match the

already-painted cabinets, which were paint-

ed in Pratt & Lambert Downy Gray #2255

satin enamel. This color coordinates beauti-

fully with the Cadet Gray # 2243) flat wall

paint in the adjoining living and dining

rooms.

I also noticed the door of her fridge

opened the wrong way, increasing her frus-

tration level because she had to walk around

the fridge to open the door.

Gus switched the hinges — an easy fix.

From the number of tile samples she had

gathered, we chose a backsplash tile from

Home Depot — MS International Crema

Ivy Bamboo Stone Pattern Mosaic Polished

Marble. It looks great with her existing

Bianco Mineral Formica solid surface coun-

ters installed by Lowe’s and her Blanco

under mount sink and Blanco faucet pur-

chased online at www.ebay.com. The oil-

rubbed bronze pulls and knobs are from

Bering’s Hardware.

TIP: Cabinets don’t have to stand out.

Sometimes painting them the same color

as the wall can make them “disappear” in

a small kitchen.

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AFTER (left): Walls thatmatch the cabinets con-trast now with the newHome Depot backsplashtile. The existing counter-top and sink contrast withthe new backsplash andexisting wood floor.

before && after

To increase the storage in the kitchen, Gus installed chrome pull-out draw-

ers from Container Store inside the cabinets to the right of the washer dryer.

“The pull-out shelves have lowered my frustration level and probably my

blood pressure, too,” she smiled.

I gave Cathy the name of my great tile installer. The professional installation

included wrapping the tile completely around the pass-through wall above the

sink as well as extending the tile beyond side of the washer/dryer cabinet and

to form a backsplash on the existing desk. “The tile looks fantastic and is so

easy to live with. I really liked your idea of tiling up the wall and around the

pass-through and behind the desk. Nothing was difficult and the project went

so quickly and smoothly,” she explained. She was confident it would turn out

after the success of her living/dining room project.

“My family and friends say they love it, even the ones who don’t mind

telling me if they don’t like something,” Cathy said. “I definitely recommend

professional design help. I would probably still be wondering what backsplash

to put in without your input—never mind all of the small touches that make

such a big difference,” she smiled.

TRADE SECRETS• Think green. Painting existing cabi-nets and adding new hardware keepsthem out of the landfill and savesmoney, too.

• Pay attention. Sometimes the easi-est changes—like flipping refrigeratorhinges—can eliminate frustrations youdidn’t even know you had.

• Get creative. Covering the entirewall around a pass-through with tileadds style and impact.

• Sometimes the most effective strat-egy is not to gut your kitchen but tofirst rethink the pieces that are alreadypaid for.

BEFORE (below): A two-tone diagonal backsplashand a total lack of fireprooftile along the washer/dryerwood wall enclosure did notmeet code; the walls need-ed lightening with paint.

BEFORE

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