by Alestasia315 | Jun 28, 2021 | Interior Design
Welcome to the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge Week 8 Reveal Day!
We made it! The reveal day is here and after so much toil, sweat, and tears, I must say I’m excited to present my new Haute Bohemian kitchen. Even though it’s not in the most perfect and pristine state of being just yet, it’s baked well enough for presenting in today’s reveal.
If I had to create a themed title for this post it would be an emotional transformation in kitchen renovation. The design was ambitious. The labor was hard. The tears were real. However… we somehow rocked the design I had envisioned and finished in time to snap photos and create this post for reveal day. If you’ve followed along my journey in the previous posts then you’ll understand why this design means so much to me. Not only does reveal day signifies the completion of a beautiful new room, but it also means that I get the room of my dreams. As I said, go back and read the other posts. Then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
The goal for this project was to renovate my old outdated Tuscan-style kitchen without any demolition and to spend less than $3000.00. While we made the first goal with charming design left to spare, we sailed past the limit on the 2nd goal by about a clean $500. Given that my rule of thumb for renovation markup comes in around a 20 – 25% increase, we still hit the goal at $3549. Unexpected repairs and a series of oops and bloops increased the bill a bit. These things happen during a renovation.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the before just before we get to the reveal of the after.
Before my kitchen was outdated and filled with greasy crevices. The design lacked balance since I basically have a u-shaped kitchen with an eat-in dining area. While the terra cotta color rocked 15 years ago when I first added the orange hue to the design, the walls had faded. The only thing I saw was the color orange. The tired Venetian plaster wall was cute back in its day. However, my need for a more sophisticated design had changed in taste. Like the old chipped laminate countertops, the kitchen needed a complete redo. To the edesign drawing board, I went and came up with a new design.
And here my friends is my new Haute Bohemian kitchen.
Filled with tons of dark and loveliness to spare, the kitchen was inspired by this photo of a French Parisian cafe.
I wanted to recreate the same romantic vibe in my kitchen. Shades of a rainy Parisian stroll, unique statement pieces such as this flush mount crystal chandelier, and a combination of timeless paint colors brought my Parisian cafe dream to stunning life. Don’t get me wrong light and airy is beautiful. However, I felt the world of social media needed something a bit mysterious and different.
While I adore the charm of a Parisian cafe, I wanted to stay true to my love of the Mediterranean and Italy. So I kept the kitchen floor, installed a Venetian bronze double curtain rod, and chose exotic plants to adorn my new shelving space.
Can we talk about my new open shelves and the bead chandelier light that brings this new section of my kitchen altogether?
As mentioned earlier in the article, I have an average-sized u-shaped kitchen layout. The island is attached to the wall closest to the patio door. The cabinets take up most of the area by the fridge and over the stove. The whole layout created a heavier design near the window. Adding the open shelving, storage, and mobile cart created balance in the room. I no longer feel as though I’m walking into one half of a kitchen the way I did before we renovated. Both the closed cabinetry and open shelving compliment and balance the other element out.
Storage wasn’t left out of the game plan. My pantry was long overdue for an overhaul in the design arena. Especially since I left the pantry design out of the last kitchen refresh we did. The pantry’s walls received a dark and moody makeover the same as the other areas. Instead of painting the shelves, I chose a bit of Haute Bohemian
The final piece of the Haute Bohemian kitchen puzzle came in the forms of wall art, plants, and yes! Rugs! When making the decision to include rugs in the kitchen, I went with a washable design for the main area. This pretty baby was waiting for me on Home Depot’s website.
The colors and design were perfect for my Parisian cafe-inspired design.
Let’s talk about the power of paint. While I called in the pros for the electrical work and the plumbing, my sons and I handled the paint job and shelf installation. And believe me, there were a LOT of paint-related tasks in this design. In fact, I could easily label this as an artisan kitchen due to the fact that the paint colors we chose created the backbone for the design. The ceiling, walls, cabinets, countertops, and yes, even the hardware received painted makeovers.
Overall, I learned a great deal from my participation in the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge. I’m extremely happy with the way the design turned out and can’t wait for my countertops to cure so that I can add the finishing touches.
I hope you had as much fun following me along in this journey as much as I did traveling this design road. I’m not sure if I’ll be participating in the Fall ORChallenge yet. However, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head into my new Parisian style, Haute Boho kitchen now. Details on the brands and paint colors and all those goodies will be in a follow-up post scheduled to go live later this month.
Thanks so much for joining me on this emotional and life-changing adventure.
Don’t forget to have a look at the reveal rooms of the Featured Designers and Guest Participants!
by Alestasia315 | Jun 10, 2021 | Interior Design, News
Welcome to the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge Week 6
Hello design lovers and gurus. This week was difficult. It was probably the hardest week of all so far. I wasn’t feeling all that well for one thing. I had a ton of problems with a root canal. Fun and lovely right? On top of all the challenges, I faced antibiotics which were supposed to help played a role in the drama as well. At the end of it all, we managed to trudge through the renovation block. However, the feat wasn’t accomplished without difficulties.
So what does one do when faced with the Impossible? Well, we go shopping of course. That’s exactly what I did. The design needs the little frilly things right? The flowers and shelf liners and curtain pullbacks weren’t going to find their way into my kitchen by themselves.
The adventure in finding the perfect storage bins, plants, wallpaper, and shelving liner started out at the hardware stores. With the Fitbit fully charged and ready to go, I trudged out into the weekend wild. I had no clue of what kind of plants I would find. However, I knew that I needed three of them. I also wanted to find grasses as that is the new heart of Bohemian design. I particularly wanted to find different size greenery to provide adequate warmth and contrast in my dark design. I needed a plant for my beautiful new shelving, one for the floor, and something in between those two.
My adventure took me from the hardware stores to my local At Home and HomeGoods. I also stopped off at World Market because they have some of the most exotic items in the home decor game. I had no luck finding realistic faux greenery at the hardware stores. No surprise there, right?
If I had been looking for live plants then perhaps I would have had more luck. However, unless you’ve been living under a design rock then you probably know that faux plants have come a long way. My plan for the future is to use a mixture of live and faux plants. For this project, I’m going with all faux plants since this is the kitchen and I prefer not to have live plants in the room. This is totally my personal preference. I’ve always been a big advocate for the silk plant as you know if you’ve been following my blog Live Well Be Fabulous.
After about five hours of frustration shopping and no progress, I finally found the one. A plant by one of my favorite designers, Hilton Carter. Target turned out to be the one go figure. The second plant was a cute arrangement of faux succulents in the perfect flower pot. I found this little gem in World Market’s clearance section. Score number two. Number three however still hasn’t happened. I have faith that the third plant will show up in my life before the reveal day happens next week.
Now that the plants had been taken care of, I moved on to the last portion of my adventure… Finding storage bins. I needed the perfect size for my beautiful new shelves. The dimensions couldn’t be any longer than 12 inches or any wider than 7 inches. This task turned out to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Since week 6 had been all about overcoming difficulties, I was prepared for this new obstacle. I took my time and traveled around 3 cities and wound back up where I started… at HomeGoods.
They had every single storage bin you could imagine and then some. I was in storage bin heaven. I found the exact colors that I needed and made a mental note to come back for more. I can’t wait to use these pretty little babies during the decoration phase aka the reveal.
Overall week 6 wasn’t the most frustrating design dilemma I had faced, but it came pretty darn close. I’m still not sure if we’re going to make it to the finish line. There are so many aspects and elements to this project. I underestimated the scope so very much that it’s not even funny.
Will we make it to the reveal with all of our ambitious design elements intact? I guess we will see.
Tune in next week for part 7 of the 2021 Spring One Room challenge as we double our efforts to reach the finish line. Don’t forget to follow along each week to see the progress of each of the
Featured Designers and
Guest Participants!
by Alestasia315 | Jun 4, 2021 | Interior Design, News
Welcome to the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge Week 5
Welcome to week 5 of the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge. It’s hard to believe that time has passed so quickly. Yet I’m excited about the direction my project is taking. This week we finished redesigning what used to be the dining nook in our kitchen. Even though the project is far from over, achieving this milestone at this point in the challenge sets my heart aflutter. To see my design come alive in full bloom living Color truly makes the blood, sweat, and tears worth every while. And believe me, there have been plenty of each one.
This week we focused on prepping and painting the walls and assembling some of the new furniture pieces. I also spent an entire weekend looking for storage bins for my beautiful new open shelves. Aren’t they the prettiest thing ever?
Week 6 will be focused on painting the cabinets and changing the hardware. We’ll also be installing the new range hood and ordering the kitchen sink. Some of my decisions have been fly by the moment. The original design board that I started out with won’t look exactly like the finished design. Other elements are still present the nature of the renovation game always calls for modifications. You should always be aware that things will change when you are remodeling a room. Don’t get discouraged or upset. These things happen to all of us including designers.
Some really pretty things I found this week or this palm plant by Hilton Carter which I love. And yes it is a faux plant. No, you cannot tell the difference. I also found a last-minute lighting piece.
This beautiful wooden bead Chandelier from Amazon completes the Haute Bohemian lighting element I needed for this design. In my kitchen. I always include one hanging light fixture and one flush mount simply because I live with tall people. So this discovery really made my day.
I’ve also modified the choice in window treatment. The original curtains were rather busy. I decided to go with a more pared-down look in the form of curtains that are similar in color to the wall paint. I chose a semi-sheer for the middle panels and room darkening curtains for the ends. This wasn’t my original plan. However, there came a point where I realized I wanted complete privacy at night. The window in my kitchen is large. When I’m at home I want to feel as though I have privacy while sitting in my living room.
The cute little storage bins have a story behind them. I looked everywhere for wicker bins. I didn’t want natural wood simply because the butcher-block countertop and the rustic wood of the new baker’s rack already presented plenty of natural tones. I wanted to go with black and I wanted some type of pattern on them. After pounding the pavement for hours, I found my perfect bins at Home Goods and couldn’t be happier.
This was the week of plan modification yes. However, the project is moving along even though it’s not going as quickly as I had hoped it would. The important thing is that the kitchen is starting to take shape and I love it.
Stay tuned for week 6 when we take on the cabinets’ new range hood and install both lights in the kitchen. Don’t forget to follow along each week to see the progress of each of the Featured Designers and Guest Participants!
by Alestasia315 | May 31, 2021 | Interior Design
Welcome to the 2021 BHG Spring One Room Challenge Week Four
We’ve entered week 4 of the One Room Challenge and I’m here to tell you I’m already feeling the pressure. Last week I was off the renovation grid because I had to have a major procedure done on my mouth. So this post covers progress made in both weeks 3 and 4. If I had to put a theme on the posts over the past two weeks, it would be a story of the emotional dilemma of choosing a paint scheme.
Last week, I settled on the color for my cabinets after a great deal of patchwork. There wound up being six contenders for the cabinet prize. Then there were three: Sands of Time, Portobello, and the winner, Dromedary Camel. The goal was to find a timeless golden color that would play along well with my dark and moody kitchen color scheme without looking like a mistake. Making this decision was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
The two main colors of my kitchen are Raisin by Sherwin Williams on the walls and the 2021 Color of the Year, Urbane Bronze, on the ceilings. Now originally I wasn’t going this dark on my ceilings. The plan was to leave them white. However, over the last few weeks, I felt the pang of making what I called a half-ass commitment to my new design. I thought of Jason Alexander’s old slogan from Desperate Landscapes…”Go big or go home.”
In the case of my kitchen design, the slogan needed to be modified a bit… “Go all in dark, or go back to light and airy.” Well, that won’t be happening anytime soon. The transformation of my kitchen from its original Tuscan-inspired color scheme to its current Haute Bohemian one is an event a long time in the making. I’d spent years pouring over Instagram accounts of dark and moody queens like Abigail Ahern, Pati Robbins, and even Kelly Wesrstler who manages to bring the drama of color into her designs. It was time for me to explore the dark side. And no, I’m not talking about the Darth Vader style darkness either.
As a newly made empty nester, I found myself faced with the decision of reinventing my life. My sons have created their own lives and pathways in the world. The ranch house we all painted and renovated into a Mediterranean escape also needed a new direction. Your home holds the heart of your personality. There’s a reason we interior designers stress the importance of jazzing up your daily abode to reflect who you truly are as a person.
When someone walks into your home they should immediately say: “Yep, I can see you all this design.” Paint is one of the simplest yet most effective and cost-efficient ways to do this. Over the past few years, I’ve been transforming our Tuscan abode into a dramatically Haute Bohemian escape.
I chose the kitchen as the room for the 2021 One Room Challenge because a) It was the only space in the main part of the house that hadn’t been repainted in our new inky color scheme and b) what better way to hold yourself accountable to a design plan than posting your progress weekly for the world to see.
The transition to dark and dramatic marks a new stage in my life. The emotional turmoil associated with the paint and flooring choices comes on the heel of a traumatic and unusual last three years of my life, a time during which I’ve grown as both a person and a mom. It was time to take my home in a new direction as well.
The plan for our $2500 jewel box kitchen didn’t come together easily. However, the important thing is that the design materialized in the end. Designers spend most of their days creating the perfect space for everyone else. Yet when it comes to making decisions for our homes the muse oftentimes decides to take a last-minute creative vacation.
Thankfully both my sons helped me get through this creative block. A long time ago, we painted the dream home we’d just bought, a true fixer-upper, and turned it into an Italian villa. My boys were only 7 and 8 years old at the time. Fast forward sixteen years later and they’re now helping mom create her forever home, the place where she’ll ultimately slide into retirement one day and then pass down to one of them. Painting over that mural of Venice didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Instead, covering the photo signified a new direction for all our lives and a new canvas for adding something special to come.
Tune in next week for part 5 of the 2021 Spring One Room challenge as we tackle the cabinet design. Don’t forget to follow along each week to see the progress of each of the Featured Designers and Guest Participants!
by Alestasia315 | May 13, 2021 | Interior Design, News
Welcome to the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge Week 2
We’ve made it to week two of our 25k jewel box makeover and I must say I’m excited to see how the edesign I created is finally coming to life.
This week was all about the color! If you’ve followed along on my blogs and Instagram posts over the last six years then you’ll know that my design style leans towards the dark and moody. The official design term would be Haute Bohemian. So how do you bring the uniqueness of an exotic sense of inky mood and free-spirited travel into a kitchen design? Well, that’s where your edesign plan comes into play.
For this round of the ORC, I chose to refresh my kitchen. You can read about the backstop behind my decision in last week’s post. To come up with a viable plan that would not only look great on the IG but also tackle functionality in our space, I used the same edesign process that my clients also have the privilege of receiving.
Edesign presents a convenient way of viewing your plan before the first stroke of paint goes up on the wall. You can change the plan and make as many color mistakes as possible without worrying about breaking the bank. Take a look at the 4k rendered plan for my final kitchen design.
The look changed many times before I settled on the current color scheme. Having the ability to go back to these images and tweak certain elements in the plan, I was able to understand what I needed to include in my design and the elements that could be left out.
The result turned out to be a kitchen filled with moody intrigue that I can’t wait to finish and use. Furthermore, I found the ability to create a specific budget easier to manage since I’d already created the final plan.
Let’s take a walk through my kitchen design. The way my kitchen is structured means the base paint color I chose had to play along well with the living room since the longest wall runs continuously along the full length of both the kitchen and the living room. I went with Raisin, a reddish brown-based neutral that looks good with every single color in the book. No kidding. I love this color and can see myself being happy with it on my wall for years to come.
The laminate countertops will get an epoxy treatment that brings a great deal of glam into the plan via a black speckled stone treatment. At this time I’m choosing between the black galaxy version by Stone Countertops or the granite treatment from Home Depot. Stay tuned for further details on this project in the next couple of weeks.
The cabinets proved to be a bit tougher. I wanted a shade that played along well with the style While remaining timeless in its design style. After many trips to Sherwin Williams (sample jars are amazing btw), I finally settled on a pretty mid-tone brown appropriately called Portobello.
The ceiling will be treated with Urbane Bronze, another neutral that looks good with anything under the sun, including skin tones.
I’m stoked about the final color plan as this scheme was a personal choice that required a great deal of advance planning. A scheme that wouldn’t have come together as easily had it not been for the ability to visualize the plan before getting started.
Tune in next week for part 3 of the 2021 Spring One Room challenge as we begin applying this scheme to our walls. Don’t forget to follow along each week to see the progress of each of the Featured Designers and Guest Participants!
by Alestasia315 | May 7, 2021 | Interior Design, News
Spring 2021 One Room Challenge Kitchen Refresh
Welcome to Week 1 of the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge 2021! During the scope of this project, we will be remodeling the Bramasole Due’s kitchen. Now the premise of this entire project revolves around remodeling for less than $3,000. What do you say? Is this even possible? Renovating your kitchen for less than $3,000 without demolishing anything. I don’t believe it! Start believing because it’s totally possible. And that is what we’re going to cover over the next eight weeks. Our kitchen is transforming using paint, textures, an Haute Bohemian color scheme, and a crapload of gorgeous finishing Touches.
I’m going to show you exactly how the design process works from concept to execution and everything in between. Any questions that you had about the popularity of virtual design will be answered during the next eight weeks. Follow along on our Instagram profile at KaSonndra Leigh Designs for behind-the-scene looks at the process. This week was all about finalizing the selections for our concept board. As a designer, I find it easy to help others transform their spaces without a hitch. However, when it comes to creating a design for my own space, the inspiration demon arrives on the scene and steals my muses gusto.
For this project that I’ve nicknamed the $2500k Jewel box kitchen, we will create a hot bohemian escape where wine will be on display, pots will be organized in some of the most beautiful ways, and cooking will become a luxury experience versus something do because I have to. Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it?
The design scheme we’re going for is dark and Moody. I’m talking about dark ceilings, walls, finishing Touches, cabinetry, open shelves… The works. I’ll be going bald my home with this design. Over the last 13 years, I’ve lived in a Mediterranean kitchen. While it was beautiful during its early days the thrill has worn off as well as this design Style. Time for a super sultry update. And what better way to do so than With The Ball Z notion of dark and Moody maximalist design in a kitchen. Can we pull it off?
Find out over the next seven weeks. Stay tuned for part two of our Spring 2021 One Room Challenge!
Don’t forget to follow along each week to see the progress of each of the Featured Designers and Guest Participants!
