#designmatters Archives – With the Barretts

Hildring House Transformation – Before & After – Part 2

Part 2 of the amazing Hildring House transformation in before and after pictures.

Sorry that it has taken me so long to get around to continuing the before & after shots of the Hildring House transformation. Things have been pretty busy, what with Valentine’s Day and getting ready to move.

That’s right. Hildring House soon will have new owners and Debra and I will be off to a new remodeling adventure. For now, though, let’s keep looking at the changes that took place at Hildring House. Once again, unless otherwise noted, all of the “after” pictures are by the wonderful Trey Freeze.

Let’s start back in the dining/living/kitchen area.

Living, dining, kitchen before — Before.

See how isolated the kitchen was? And not just because of the wall. The dramatic change in flooring material segregated the spaces. The pass-through, while a pretty convenient idea, did nothing to help the flow.

Removing the wall, installing the bar/island, getting rid of the fluorescent light box, recessing the kitchen lighting and carrying the same, wonderful oil-rubbed wood flooring throughout all of the area – and painting everything white – made it miles more open, welcoming, and accommodating.

2 Examples of Why Design Matters from Debra

Listening to Debra talk about some of her recent projects, I asked her to do another “Why Design Matters” post. As usual, my comments will be in italics. Here it is:

I’ve done a couple of consultations recently that really made me happy and I’d love to share them with you:

Color Consultation

I finished an exterior color consultation last week for a dear friend. She bought her darling little place 16 years ago and she has done a ton of work over the years … but she’s never been happy with the brick.

After a big hailstorm last year, she got a new roof. She chose black – and immediately hated it. The roof was lovely. The real problem was that it just didn’t work with the brick. So, she recently decided to take the plunge and paint the brick. Continue reading “2 Examples of Why Design Matters from Debra”

Why Design Matters – Part 1 of Many – Post by Debra

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Design Matters

I was having lunch with an interior designer friend the other day and she confessed that she was many years into her career before she realized how important her job truly was. I can understand this; I’m sure many people think of interior design/decorating as frivolous or inconsequential. But it’s not. Design matters.

Design has always mattered intensely to me – I am a homebody, I love to be home and I need to feel loved by home. I want that “aaah” feeling every time I walk in my door. And lucky for me, creating designing, decorating, these are my favorite things. I realize it’s not so for everyone:

Shelves After — After – using only things found around the house

Continue reading “Why Design Matters – Part 1 of Many – Post by Debra”