An Interior Designer's Take On A Heritage Remodel | Tips For Renovating Your Home with Shea McGee

We have a new old home to share with you today and it's our Maryland Heritage Remodel Project. This is our client's childhood home and she ended up moving into it with her family. She has three young boys under the age of five and had a lot of time in the home to dream. She had lots of ideas of how it should function and look and feel and we came in as a design team to help bring those ideas together in a more cohesive vision. Our team on the project was Jonathan Rivera on the architecture and Pyramid Builders on the build and on the exterior Jonathan helped execute a simplified Cape Cod style that our client was in love with. On the interior we moved a few walls, did all new finishes and gave the furniture a completely new look. We really wanted to honor the style of the home which is traditional but our client has a very clear vision of having everything simplified and so you'll see that throughout every single selection. They're classic, they're timeless and they're a bit pared back. The footprint of the entryway itself stayed the same but the flow of what was happening around it changed. So we opened up the area from the entryway to the formal living room and dining room and then off to the other side our client wanted to be able to open up double doors into a craft room space and then all of that created kind of one big circle and that worked for the function of how the family lives. An entryway really sets the tone for the entire home and in this one particular it did just that. We kept the original staircase and it had great bones. It needed a refinish, fresh paint, a new stain. We did a new stair runner and then we added molding to the walls and this is a no-fail approach to elevating your entryway, adding trim work. This entryway layout is one that we've seen many times. It's very familiar and we could have done a round table with an arrangement and stacks of books and boxes but with three young boys under the age of five having a grand round table wasn't a good fit. We needed to push things up against the walls a bit so we did a small console underneath the stairs and we raised your eye up with a mirror and then off to one side we did a bench. Even with the slanted staircase don't be afraid to decorate the wall in front of it. It just needs to kind of follow the shape so that you're filling the space below the staircase. We did update the experience from the entry into the dining nook and kitchen by turning that opening into a barrel arch that you walked through and we also concealed a door into a powder bathroom through that space so it felt more continuous and that you're getting more of that molding experience that elevated the entire entryway. I think anytime you can find an opportunity for a surprise in your home it doesn't need to be a loud experience but just something that feels really thoughtful and this barrel arch with a concealed door into the powder room is a good example. In fact the surprise is that it's concealed instead of being loud and then you walk in and you have this beautiful wallpaper that is a really nice jewel box moment. The sink in this space was a vintage find from Round Top. Again you'll find those moments throughout the entire home that blend old and new. Walking through the barrel arch you turn to the left and you see this gorgeous classic kitchen. Our client had her heart set on a white kitchen with a wood island. People love a white kitchen and people love to hate on a white kitchen and I think that if you're faced with that decision and you just really love that look the key is detailing and being innovative and thoughtful to help it not feel like a generic white kitchen. First of all we used a creamy white paint instead of a stark white paint to add softness and warmth but it's all about what we did from there that took it to this place. We always start with the layout of the kitchen and the cabinet drawings and the placement of the range influenced a lot of the decisions. So it's asymmetrical on the wall but centered on what would be the island and there are so many people that are faced with this question do I center it on the wall or do I center it on the island and for me the answer is typically always centered on the island so you get this great focal moment with pendants and the range all balanced and symmetrical and then you can kind of build out from there. So here we had like one small cabinet to the left of the range and then we had all this space off to the right so we created this really beautiful swooping hood and developed this concept of following that swoop detail this curvature on to the backsplash so you see that that quartz is brought up onto the backsplash and we had them cut it with this nice kind of graduating curb detail and that ties into not only the hood but one of my favorite features in the kitchen which is the oval window. We had a long stretch of wall and we were replacing windows already so we saw the opportunity to create some balance and interest in the kitchen by adding this sweet oval window in the corner and even just the styling in that corner is brought to life because of that thoughtful moment and then across the way you have the refrigerator and freezer panels that were also taken to the next level with thoughtful details and we designed that to feel more like a piece of furniture or a hutch instead of just typical cabinetry and when you bring all of those things together it really sings and feels timeless but also thoughtful all at the same time. Just off the kitchen is a really charming little pantry and I think this is the opportunity for the surprise in a home where you have a neutral kitchen and we pushed for this moment of soft green and I love the impact that it has. You know I love a green pantry. I have a dark green pantry in my house. This is a light green one and we created a custom door that had some vintage detailing that really just adds again another thoughtful moment but it also took that oak tone that was on the island and tied it in in one other place. There is a kitchen nook with a round table and slip cover chairs and I think that people are often overwhelmed with the decision of picking two different types of chairs that go together so we have the counter stools at the kitchen island and then we had the chairs to select around the table and it's all about contrast in material so we had woven and wood by the island and so going upholstered made sense around the table but with a young family outdoor fabric was very important and so we had those upholstered in a really durable performance fabric. Then in the family room we followed some of those similar concepts so a contrast of materials with the coffee table using durable fabrics and then true to our client's aesthetic it's a very soft and light palette that feels really classic. Then around we're gonna keep going around this circle here so off of the entryway the craft space I mentioned earlier is actually a multi-purpose space that acts as a mudroom a laundry space and a craft space for the kids and we did a really cute checkerboard pattern on the floors and then a round table in the center. We couldn't move the windows we had an existing closet to work with and our client had a lot of needs to pack into this footprint and so we did a lot of different configurations and back and forth and then landed on a built-in on one wall and we had to bring it in on the side so it didn't hit the window and then we tucked the washer dryer into an existing closet space and then I think that centering a table gave the room some purpose and then closing everything else off allowed it to not feel jumbled and I think that that's a key if you are doing a multi-purpose space just make sure you're closing as much as possible so that it doesn't feel messy and cluttered because that space needs to serve so many purposes. On the opposite side of the entryway is a semi-formal living room and dining room. We changed the opening into this space to widen it it was pretty small before and we also added beams. The vision was not to do anything too fussy but very livable for this young family but take the existing architecture like the windows there were already built-ins in this space our client had her childhood piano and so we had a few points to really start from because we already had a lot of things that were existing so it was all about furniture configuration because this living room is a pathway essentially to the formal dining room. I'm not always an advocate for pushing a sofa against the wall but in this case it made the most sense so that we got a good flow of traffic between the ottoman and the piano and also maximized how much seating we could get in this space. I think that this entire home mixes wovens and soft materials and you'll see that throughout every single space so we have chairs that have woven backs and then a soft sofa and ottoman and it's all about comfort and when you have a young family yes you need to blend comfort but then make selections that feel cohesive so that no one you don't want to walk in and say like that's a durable room you want to walk in and say that's beautiful but then just have a good experience because the selections were thoughtful for the family. There were existing built-ins on the sides near that really cute piano but then there was an existing built-in in the formal dining room so we had our plan kind of already set for how the layout would work we just needed to refresh the paint and then add some interest so with our client really liking these soft light neutrals we weren't going to go with a moody wallpaper it just wasn't a good fit so we needed to add interest but in a light neutral and so we did a really classic light stripe on the walls and I love that this gives you pattern and it gives you movement throughout the space but it's not overwhelming. I love when homes have a little bit of division between spaces that provide a good stopping point for wallpaper those openings allowed us to isolate one room for wallpaper and I think that when you're selecting a wallpaper and you have connection points between other spaces just make sure that you're not only thinking about the one room that you're putting the wallpaper in but that you're also considering what it connects to because you're going to be able to see it from multiple vantage points. So upstairs we have several bedrooms and we designed them to have that soft neutral aesthetic that our client loves but really push to incorporate some subtle patterns to bring some interest to the space and you'll see that through roman shade details and pillows and some wallpaper that helps bring it to life. With specific taste things can become redundant and so what we do in this case when we're designing is you always want flow throughout a home. Lay out everything like all your textile choices and see how they connect together but then make sure that every single space has like one signature element that sets it apart from the rest and then that way you'll get some connection but then you'll also get differentiation between your spaces. This works for bedrooms but it really works for any room in your home. Remodels are not easier than new builds they often present challenges but challenges present opportunities to be creative and I also love when clients have lived in the homes for a little bit because they've had time to think about how it should function for them and we've done this process many times and when our clients have lived in the home they really have an understanding of how they want it to feel and this is a great example of that.