We love a great eDesign before and after! Today I have a wonderful kitchen transformation to share with you!
We recently received some after photos from our lovely client Tanja who purchased a Kitchen refresh eDesign package. One lesson of many that you’ll learn in either of my live workshops is that blue marries very well with pink beige.
Her pink beige tile floor was staying so that means she needed a countertop that would relate to her floor to make it look like this kitchen was all installed at the same time.
A 💛 Testimonial 💛
This is what she said along with her photos:
“A big thank you: The design plan helped make the vision in my head come alive (actually miles better than what I planned), but without poor decisions and regret. Your team helped me avoid a potential disaster – not crashing over the ledge with marrying the pink beige floor with marble or white. And it took faith I must admit, to blindly trust in the moments I could not see it. I knew the foundation of your expertise was solid and it would work and that I had to trust and let go. The result is a timeless gorgeous kitchen that we love. Every person who has seen it or even just looked at photos says it looks like it comes out of a magazine. Sorry Maria about the eyeball hitting lights. I love them.”
Designer kitchens never have this
One of the first improvements was straightening the island. It’s really rare that an island looks good on an angle, or as a triangle or any other shape than a square or a rectangle. (But builders love to do this!)
I have said this for years, if you can’t find it in House Beautiful, then it’s probably not a good idea.
The best thing about painting cabinets
Tanja was debating whether or not she should paint the cabinets. Besides creating a dramatic transformation, one big advantage of painting cabinets is that you can fill in less than optimal hardware holes. You can see in the before above she’s got a builder standard 6 inch pull on every cabinet and drawer.
Don’t underestimate the impact of pretty custom hardware!
The inspiration
Here are a couple inspiration images from her Pinterest board (notice the pretty hardware!). And the pink beige tile and countertop here as well.
Ta da!
And here’s her fabulous after!
The first image (below) has a good view of her new countertops in pink beige which are paler than her floor but relate beautifully.
When you understand colour like a True Colour Expert, you don’t have to rip everything out to achieve a beautiful result.
Painting the cabinets also allowed for another big update – boxing in all the uppers to the ceiling eliminating the dated mountain range staggered heights look.
Her West Coast home has warm wood windows and trim throughout, so keeping the lovely row of windows unpainted ties in perfectly.
Instead of a tile backsplash, the row of windows looks perfect with a clean modern kick (if you scroll back up to her inspiration images, you can see they both have a kick rather than a tile backsplash). This is an option I often recommend.
Look at how much counter space she gained by straightening the island!
If your kitchen needs a little love but you’re not ready for a full renovation yet, check out my Kitchen Refresh eDesign package here.
My free webinar on navigating your home projects without regret is happening tomorrow! There’s still time to register here, even if you can’t make the time live we’ll send you the replay if you sign up to watch it here!
And if you are working with existing finishes where you need to coordinate neutrals, you’ll need my neutral wheel, get it here.
Want to learn how to create beautiful spaces with colour and timeless details? Sign up for live training this fall!
Related posts:
Why a Beige Kitchen is a Tricky Design Project
Are your curtains installed correctly? (Pssst. They are in this living room)
I love that medium muted blue with the pink beige floors. Will you tell us the cabinet and wall colors.
Simply gorgeous now! I love everything about it, especially the timeless simplicity. Well done!
So fresh and pretty! A wonderful transformation!
Nice refresh, IMO more styling and smaller or less stools. Looks a bit cramped .
Beautiful! Love it! The only thing I see that I would change is to remove 1 chair (looks a little crowded) or maybe move it to the side of the island where there is extended countertop there…:-)
Beautiful!!
Beautiful! But I’d paint those window casings the same color as the walls. Why look at that yellowy wood tone when – if they were painted – you’d look at the view?
Nah.. that is lovely and the perfect accent. Natural wood also deserves to be shown and appreciated
In some of the other photos you can see the living and dining rooms have those same lovely stained window casings, so I think it was right to leave them stained in the kitchen to tie into the rest of the house seamlessly.
Beautiful kitchen redo. I’d have a hard time painting my cabinets an actual color, these have such a designer look. Good on the clients for trusting your expertise. I like the backsplash kick idea. Ya know, never hated on the pink beige, so I’m glad some of it can live a new life.
Just gorgeous! I love the changes and that it wasn’t a complete gut job! Plus I relate to the floors.
I’ve been looking for new quartz countertops for ages and there’s nothing I’ve found to harmonize with our 18×18” shaded neutral tiles put in when 18 x18 was new and considered huge!
While I’ve always said the beige floor undertone was yellow, it actually is orange and with orangey cherry cabinetry that would cost between $12,000 and 16K to paint (really!), but that I like otherwise, I’m just trying to embrace the warmth. (We have too many other house projects that must be done to sink that much money into cabinet painting.
With Ben Moore’s Woodlawn blue on the wall, great new panels at the sliding glass door, I’m just hoping the quartz companies come out with some warmer neutrals that play nice with the floor. I’ve never had so much trouble finding a counter color, having done it for so many clients. And I was going to paint the wall behind the counters,not do a backspace (contemporary kitchen), or do oversize glass subway.
While I hate to toss out wood cabinet doors, have you thought about refacing? You could get that done for probably less than painting them and have more options, such as another lighter wood. I actually prefer wood cabinets because I like the warmth and they’re easy to fix with some stain as opposed to nicks in painted cabinets. It does sound like you have a lot of projects! I feel the same about quartz countertops–what I’ve seen is way too much of a lean towards pink undertones in quartz and I’d like something warmer, too.
Beautiful, Love that Blue!
What color is that Blue?
Is there a certain undertone in blue that goes well with pink beige?
I really feel the windows need some roman shades or valances. They are just “there.” The right shades could pull in the blue and dress up the windows. In my opinion, a hallmark of a finished home is window dressings. Kitchens are full of hard finishes, so soft shades help.
This is beautiful, soo difficult to get the right colour of blue. I agree with some of the comments – too large or too many stools and I would definitely paint out the window casings my eyes are immediately drawn to them rather than taking in the room.
In one of the other photos, the opposing wall still has some of that natural wood, so I suspect the casings were left stained so they can relate the the other natural wood in the kitchen (and perhaps adjoining rooms).
I like them, I think they’re warm and inviting, but I appreciate what you’re saying about them being white instead.
She was incredibly lucky the tile was under the diagonal island had it not been it would have been impossible to find the tile to replace the change of the island. Tile is like a fashion trend always changing, never think you’ll find replacements after 27 years in the flooring business I know it’s true.
The previous owners of my house left us a few boxes of almost every tile they used in the house. While I hate most of their choices in tile, I have to applaud their foresight in buying extra, all the way back in 2005.
YES!!!! That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Not so easy when there is not tile under the island. Then the expense goes way up!!!!
I love that pretty blue color, it works so well with the pink beige! I have very similar, but lighter pink beige floors in my kitchen and I painted the walls a similar blue. I would love to know what quartz your client used so I can add it to my list of colors to sample for when we eventually replace our laminate countertops. That won’t be for several years, but you have taught me it’s best to have a plan BEFORE doing anything!
Lovely! May I ask what is the blue paint color you used for the cabinets?
I dislike beige, especially pink beige. The redo of the blue kitchen is nothing short of miraculous. The “after” is definitely magazine worthy. And best of all, I don’t notice the pink beige tiles.
Any chance the new countertops are Eternal Marfil quartz?
Love the travertine floors with the blue cabinets! What a fantastic solution!
BEAUTIFUL MARIA!
I think you’ve earned your Doctorate Degree now🏆
Tanja is a good friend of mine and I’ve seen this kitchen before and after in person. The transformation, especially in person, is phenomenal!