The Next Opportunity

Kids take up a lot of space, both in our homes and in our lives. It's all consuming. And rightfully so. But eventually they grow up and have their own lives and often children of their own. When the kids are grown and you finally gain a bit of freedom back, where do you go and what do you do? We reach this point of our lives and it becomes necessary to take a moment for reflection. Our children take up so much space in our lives, our homes and our hearts, but when they grow up and fly away, what happens next?

Redefining your home is a new opportunity. This family moved to the North Shore of Boston, where they had been visiting for years. However moving into a cozy new england home has it’s own challenges. Older homes often have interesting renovations, and strange corners that can be prove difficult for a cohesive design.

This home has stood in different versions of itself throughout the years. At one point an addition was made, and brought the roof lines to meet in funny angles and weird places. The kitchen was based around an island with cabinetry for storage. The island was home to full size drawers on both sides. Which meant the island in the center of the kitchen was massive. There were tight corners along the edges and it wasn’t very functional.

 When it came to redesigning the kitchen, the island was cut in half. Still home to plenty of storage, but cabinetry was added around the perimeter so that there wasn’t a need for the island to be quite so large. The resulting space has the bright and open feel the homeowners were looking for.

A previous addition allows for picture windows high on the ceiling of the south facing kitchen which helps capture more of the sun’s rays, a crucial feature during short winter days.

The white frameless cabinetry from Shiloh provides contrast with the warm wood floor and other accents in the home. The blue accent wall with floating shelves is home to the growing pottery collection on the wall. Before this family moved in, this pottery collection had been growing over the years, mostly from a studio in Cape Cod the family had frequented. Now, the shelves contain something more. They are a home for the artwork and dishware made from their own two hands at a neighborhood studio. A small showing of a new life, in a new home.