Follow the (Design) Leader

Willing to take risks with a slightly edgy style and geometrical forms, Lisa guided them further onto a splashy path. Tile companies had recently unveiled new lines and one stood out as a possible wild card, a graphic that allowed for a totally custom, whimsical layout. It was fun, funky, and elegant all at once. Lisa showed how this option allowed them to break out of standard patterns and perpendicular lines. “They lit up, said ‘this is it!’ and let me go with it,” she said. With that go-ahead, the rest of the aesthetic followed suit. We laid the tile as the kitchen backsplash and on the island’s kickboard. An added bonus is tile can be wiped clean when little antsy feet leave shoe marks on the island wall. The kitchen’s outcome was an eclectic blend of finishes and patterns. Copper elements complimented the tile’s hues and anchored the home’s mid-Century vibe alongside contemporary choices.

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Typical Family, Atypical Solutions

It’s a fact that families buy in bulk at Costco. The brightly lit walk-in pantry allows for lots of deep storage. Electrical outlets mean small appliances are accessible daily yet tuck behind a door for visual tidiness. As per usual, pantry doors do get left open so cheery wallpaper lines the back wall.

This kid-centric family has the usual suspects of papers that deserve saving or displaying: a rotation of children’s artwork, pizza coupons, school reminders, and the like. We leaned into that by adding a custom cork bulletin board on the pantry barn door. Art supplies live in their own under-island cabinet facing the living room.

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This Window Really Knows How to Party

Party windows – those that open widely and have a countertop bar – have become wildly popular. Colorado weather makes them ideal for warm weather entertaining and extending kitchen space. However, they require special attention so our cold winters don’t make the window a sieve. The threshold engineering was a headscratcher for months. Again, the family trusted us to find the solution. We finally found the right product that properly created a weather seal between the interior and exterior countertop. It was worth the exploration and we’ve become experts in party windows.

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Split Personality

The home’s split-level layout has its kitchen on the top floor. We built a sizable deck off the kitchen that doubles as an outdoor dining area. Take a look at the louvered slat position, an idea the homeowner poached from a Westminster recreation area. Slat angles shift from vertical to horizontal from the bottom up to provide privacy – the raised deck floor is at the neighbor’s eye level – to a horizontal plane to let in more light and views at the top.

Elegant Whimsy

The main entry hall walls were covered in shiplap paneling. To keep costs down we painted it Benjamin Moore’s “Stonybrook,” providing depth and dimension. We then added a sculptural element via a pendant to balance shiplap’s uniform striping. The light fixture is meant to evoke fireflies lit at night, another example of sophisticated fun. Its effect is stunning against a darkly painted wall.

Moral of the Story: Trust Your Team

This family knew SoBo as a trusted advisor in terms of constructibility, process, and overall design. It resulted in a spectacular outcome that’s unique to this project. Anyone entering into a remodel should have a strong level of confidence that the partnership is collaborative and the design firm has a high level of experienced talent. We come at every project and family’s personality with a proven process that guides, collaborates, and delivers. We’re always happy to provide referrals; the fact that many of our clients are repeat customers speaks volumes about our work.

Photos: Dane Cronin Photography