Congrats To Us….This is our 500th Blog Post!!

How Do We Stay Inspired To Write This Many Blog Posts?

More than once we have been asked “where in the world do you get the ideas for a blog post?”  Follow along today and we will show you how our 500th blog post wrote itself!

Endless Interior Design Blog Post Inspiration

To catch anyone up, who has not been with us since post one, LBD blog is not our main gig.  We have a day job.  We are privileged to work with hundreds of full service interior design clients.  If we gave up sleeping, both Kristen and I could write a blog post everyday and never run out of ideas.  Every project we take is unique with different limitations and opportunities.

Here’s How A Project Starts

Notice this is a black and white photo of the same existing kitchen above.  Ok, go back and look at the color photo.  Why do we remove the color in the before photo?  Color is a powerful and persuasive element.  The absence of color requires us to look more carefully at what we have to work with.

This is a nice kitchen.  Our job is to make this an “I can’t wait to get home and be the next foodnetwork sensation star!” kitchen.  And, we also have to update this 2007 property enough to add value without a total gut renovation.

Identifying The Assets Of A Project

Even though you can’t see the other wall of the kitchen, take our word that the layout is good.  It is both compact and spacious at the same time.  Great working triangle with refrigerator, cooktop and sink all a twirl away.   Retainable stainless appliances, with no stoop wall ovens and ample perimeter counter space to place hot items.  Large enough island and frameless euro cabinets.  Good lighting and duct work all disquised in a nifty tray like ceiling.  Beautiful wood flooring.

Areas That Need Improvement

Ok, back to the color photo.  Yuck.  Way too much woodgrain.  The flooring is hidden under a too warm of a color rug and lets not even talk about these bar stools.  Maybe just one comment…this is not the way to mix modern and traditional styles.  The counter tops are actually a nice mixed granite/quartz stone, but not the best choice for the modern euro cabinets.  The sink is 12 years old and faucet can be way more cool and more trim.  Oh, and we don’t think we like the faux stained crown but are keeping an open mind for now.

The Initial Design Concept

We look through our hundreds of thousands of photos we have archived, many now on our Pinterest site, and start making “what if” notes.  Here we go…we will talk aloud.

What about white counter tops with our darker stained modern slab door cabinets.  Similar stainless hardware.

Let’s waterfall the island counters to eliminate some of the wood to wood that is happening and make a neat little home for modern counter stools…not Henry the 8th chairs!

No wait, maybe a waterfall is too overdone.  What about a modified leg that is just short of the top.  Watch the quartz choice…not too trendy please.  Still have the home for tucked in stools and maybe we want a little black thrown into the design.  How about a sink that blends right into the island with a sleek, kick ass faucet?

What if we do full splashes on the perimeter?  Put the stone pattern there with more solid white counters and don’t forget to upgrade to an induction cooktop since we can cut the stone to accommodate.  What about new hardware…this black and slim line euro style is chic.  But we have wood grain doors.

Ah, but we can change out the doors easily.  That’s the beauty of frameless euro style cabinets.  Lots of finishes to choose from and sourced from a laminate fabricator quickly.  Look at this combo of black and white cabinets with wood accents on the splash.  That might be a glass overlay on the splash at the range.  Interesting snack bar counter design.  No hardware on these cabinets….could do push release on new doors.  Yep, we need some new doors.

But we don’t need all new doors do we?  We like the way the wood cabinets house the stainless refrigerator.  Let’s add white stone to the back of the island when we do whatever waterfall we decide.  We can paint the pair of laundry area doors and walls a flat black and do a full stone splash on the perimeter.  The sink side of the island cabinets can stay stained as well…or we may do them in black.  Then we will decide about the door change out on the other perimeter cabinets.

The stained crown is history…and I think we are onto the right path!

Wednesday “Wow”!

Another Blog Post Has Written Itself!

So you see, and truly understand if you are a blog writer, the best received blogs are a combination of authors talking to ourselves and supporting what we want to convey with the almightly photo.  BTW, the think tank photos are all from Pinterest and during an attempt to image search we were unable to find proper credit.  Please share if they belong to you and we thank you for your wonderful designs! 

Please…..Follow Us!

It’s fun, informative and loads of good interior design advice.

Let’s Talk About “BIG” Art!