One of the especially fun parts of working as a designer is finding a balance between clients’ design styles and creating a space they both adore. It is a challenge I love, and in the end the combination of design styles results in a unique, beautifully-layered, and individualized space.
When it came time to create a kitchen design plan for the Norvell Project homeowners, it was about pops of color meeting practicality!
At its core, this is a gorgeous and classic white kitchen. She has a love for modern, chic, colorful design and he loves simple style and practicality. So this kitchen and dining room design plan provides room to embrace color and ever-changing accessories, all the while staying true to a classic white kitchen that will stand the test of time.
And great design is all about planning. But it is also about happenstance. Lauren Liess calls it the “je ne sais quoi of design.” It is those intangible elements that beautifully finish a design with a sense of individual personality and expression. And those bits often come by happenstance. Sometimes a homeowner stumbles upon an old, tucked away memento during renovation, a painting their grandmother did or a set of old croquet mallets. And suddenly the whole design takes finish, the elements click into place. So while I am a designer emphatic upon smart planning, I also believe in allowing the last 25% of a design to come together organically. And it always does so in ways so much more interesting than I ever could have planned.
In this kitchen design, I suggested one of the elements we left to serendipity was the drapery. Because just look at how the simple change of drapery color influences the entire design! So fun! I knew she would be drawn to a pop of color, and he would be drawn to white. We’d nailed down so many details of this newly expanded kitchen (it’s going to be so good!) — I knew that somewhere in the midst of knocking down walls and installing gleaming white cabinetry and crafting the most beautiful, open-concept, family-friendly kitchen — the answer to the draperies would appear like magic and they’d both say, “That’s it!” Like hard work that leads to magic. :) Granted, he also says that in the end if she’s truly happy, he’s happy. Sweet sighs.
So my design advice is to plan, measure, plan and plan some more. Because great design benefits from great planning. But also leave a few of those final elements to play out as they will. Believe in design serendipity. And one day in the midst of the kitchen renovation, the answer to whether these curtains should be white, lagoon, or navy (or maybe even a patterned fabric!) will present itself. And it will be perfect. I’ll keep you updated!
