New York Avenue
A popular design concept inspiring many homeowners today is the open floorplan concept. Open floorplans allow your home to feel larger and makes entertaining a more social experience. An active family from Absecon, with three children and a love for entertaining, recently decided it was time to upgrade their originally small and disconnected kitchen to an expanded living space.
Designer Danielle McDonald of Colmar Kitchen Studio worked in collaboration with Eccard Designs and Meloni Construction to create the kitchen, dining, and living room of her client’s dreams. Danielle always takes design inspiration from those who will experience it every day, her clients. This kitchen and entertainment space was met with extra kindness and enthusiasm from the family which made the project all the more enjoyable. The family at hand was open to pushing a few boundaries and straying from their normal comfort zone, allowing Danielle a good amount of creative freedom with their needs for function kept in mind.
Danielle and the homeowners made the decision to forgo an unused mudroom to expand the kitchen, creating enough space for dual islands, one large enough to be surrounded by seating. The kitchen was also extended into the original dining space that was part of the kitchen, while the dining room was moved into part of the living space. A wall was opened from the original dining room to the living room, allowing natural light to illuminate the space. A barrel arch was fashioned to help distinguish the living from the dining areas, with more square footage given to the living area. Book shelves were also installed to help the transition from dining to relaxing while adding plenty of display space.
The project took around nine weeks to achieve the desired end result. "Overall, I am very proud of creating a kitchen and living space that was more practical for how the family lives," says Danielle. She made sure to draw attention to the smaller details as well, such as the installation of a wet bar in the dining room complete with a wine fridge. There was even a new access point added that leads to the backyard, which contains a swimming pool, making indoor/ outdoor gatherings easier. Danielle points out that, "being able to customize your home to your lifestyle and taste is one of the many wonders and rewards of working in design!"