At the recent Master Painters Assoc Awards of Excellence, Sartorial Interiors won the Colour Award for the Glebe project, pictured below. It was a huge night with Doltone House's ballroom filled with experts in the field of colour and application of paints and special effects. There was a great buzz and we were so chuffed to have got the gong in such a high calibre of competitors!
This project was fun, I have to admit! I really enjoyed working with the colours and finding creative ways of stretching the budget so that we could really finish it with a bang! I think it would've been frustrating had we not been able to do the barstools or the artwork for example - it just would've lacked spark had that been the case!
So, what was the brief?
The brief for this kitchen was to incorporate classic elements such as the beading detail on the joinery with pops of happy colours. We hand painted the joinery for a premium finish in a gorgeous grey/blue called "Alcatraz Escape" from the St James Whitting collection from Resene and contrasted that with pops of fuchsia pink in the bar stools.
The black and white tiles from Tile Cloud were laid in a triangular pattern much to the tiler's horror (he wanted to do them in the traditional diamond pattern commonly seen in European grand houses and palaces) and added a black border to finish it off nicely. (Note - the tiler asked to take photos afterwards as he ended up loving it! Moral of the story - stick to your design guns!!).
The other element you'll notice is that you can't see the appliances (fridge, ovens, dishwasher). They're all concealed behind blue doors which makes the space look less kitchen-y (and besides, they would've looked too 'heavy' for the palette we'd chosen). The door over the ovens retracts so it's neatly tucked out of the way. We did this (but half doors instead of the full height) for the tea and toaster station and another one in front of a telly and ipad charge bar.
We used gold hardware (Hepburn Hardware), tapware (special order Brodware) and pendants which added a touch of sophisticated glam and the custom upholstered bar stools in fuchsia and apple added a punch of contrasting colour.
At window end of the kitchen, we did a long banquette style seat in fun, multicoloured striped velvet from Christian Fischbacher. Underneath that we added four large drawers for kids' shoes, school bags and sporting equipment to help all that clutter organised!
Because there was a lot going on with the tiles and the blue, I specified Corian in Salt for the benchtops and splash back. But perhaps the main reason we went with Corian is because the bench is over 4m and we didn't want a seam showing. We did consider having grey veined marble (bookended with a seam half way down the bench) but opted for the simpler Corian. We also felt that having a tile splash would've been way too busy too.
Behind the wall with the ovens runs a long butler's pantry and a powder room (pix coming soon), which was a neat use of space.
How much did it cost?
To give an indication of cost, this kitchen renovation which included the laundry, powder room and pantry, was around $100,000 all up. Just to give you an idea, there's about $15,000 worth of stone alone in the 4 spaces and over $15,000 in appliances.
Kitchen renovations start from about the $25k mark for a small, basic reno and depending on size, finish and appliances, it creeps up from there. But in the end, if you want a showstopper, you will need to extend not only the budget but even more so, the creative side of it. One of the things I enjoy the most is being creative with a budget because with some clever moves, we can really achieve a lot - especially achieving that all elusive wow factor. And I think you'd have to admit, we achieved the wow factor with this one!
And if you would like to see what it was like before, here it is below! What a HUGE transformation, no?? It was super tired (the pantry was literally falling apart!) and the layout was ridiculously dysfunctional. So, we gutted it and whipped it into shape. It's not recognisable, is it! And of course, with the colour of the new kitchen, it has loads of character and a wonderfully happy vibe.
If you'd like to discuss how we can help you achieve a show-stopping kitchen, give us a tingle on 0450 284 922!
Comments