Interior Design: 3 Ways to Design Smaller Kitchens to…

January 5, 2018

Karen Mills' blog — Interior design by Karen Mills/Photography by 29Pixel Studios, LLC

1. Open up kitchen to rest of the house

In this kitchen we took out the wall to the former dining room and the wall to the maid’s quarters on the opposite end to create a space that lives large and even has enough room for a sit down island. Once the walls were removed we matched the wood floors of the dining (now hearth) in the kitchen which also visually expands the kitchen so it lives larger.

2. Use lighter colors on walls and cabinetry

By selecting colors that are similar in hue and lighter in color, this kitchen becomes more cohesive and ultimately feels larger because the lighter colors bounce light around the room.

In this kitchen by designing a lighter white/gray color palette including the table/chairs, back splash and wall color, the room seems to visually expand also as light is reflected throughout.

3. Add great lighting

Great lighting can make or break a room, especially a kitchen. Here in this kitchen we not only added great under cabinet lighting, beautiful chandeliers, extensive general lighting. and lit glass cabinetry but we also coordinated the lighting to be the same color temperature so it flowed together beautifully.

Here’s another example of a smaller kitchen where we layered lighting to create a wonderful ambiance and a happy place to spend cooking or entertaining.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Decorating: 3 Ways to Refresh Your Living Room…

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017

Add Pops of Color with Pillows

By simply injecting a couple of new pillow and or throws in the room you can create interest in your room and another layer of design. The blue drapes in this room also add to the room’s design along with the artwork over the mantel.

2. Introduce art and/or accessories

Art and accessories are like the jewelry for a dress – they can make or break it. In this photo, the art colors are repeated in pillows, and accessories.

3. Add Texture

Texture is key to good interior design because it adds warmth to the cold surfaces of walls, ceilings, and often flooring. One of my favorite ways to introduce texture is with a beautiful area rug that also helps connect your upholstery into a cozy grouping.

For more great information on how to finish your living space, read my Houzz article here.

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/query/6-questions-to-ask-if-living-room-feels-unfinished

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Ways for Small Bathrooms to Live…

December 15, 2017December 21, 2017

If you’re tired of your cramped small bathroom and considering remodeling here are 3 tips to help your refinished bathroom live larger!

1. Monochromatic color scheme – One of my favorite tricks to make a small bathroom look bigger begins with using one color on all the walls, furniture, floors, and decor such as bright white to give it a fresh clean look and bounce existing light around the room like the photo above.

2. Reflective surfaces – To visually enlarge your small bathroom, use mirrors to reflect light and a shower of glass surfaces to give your space a light airy feel like we did in the shower above.

Adding legs to your vanity like the one above also makes your room feel larger.

Interior design by Karen Mills

3. Increase your floor space – Start by swapping out an existing vanity cabinet for a floating vanity/sink or pedestal style sink (see photo below) or swapping your swinging door for pocket doors or barn doors like the bathroom we completed above.

You can also install your toilet tank in the wall along with more shallow sink vanities or use a floating vanity like above.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: Bold Color Forecast for 2018

December 6, 2017

If you’ve been paying attention to interior designers or the fashion runway this fall you may have noticed bold colors popping up everywhere from red and yellow to bold blues. Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore have announced their exciting bold new colors of 2018 but Lea Eiseman with the Pantone Institute has yet to reveal their color of the year which impacts all types of industries from fashion and design to autos and appliances.

Do you think Pantone will select the hot new mustard yellow color or something else?

Benjamin Moore’s color of the year 2018 is a bold hue and one of my favorites! I especially love it contrasted with white like the room shown above.

Bold blue hues like this also look great with beige colors, red, and orange along with citrine, a yellowy green.

In the room above we incorporated a bold blue hue on the ottoman to give the space pizzazz.

Benjamin Moore selected Caliente Red AF-290 as their color for 2018. Of course red has been a favorite color of mine forever because its such a vibrant unexpected color that instantly creates drama!

What’s your favorite color for 2018?! Post in the comments.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: Top 4 Bathroom Design Trends of 2018

November 22, 2017November 21, 2017

The bathroom remodel industry has continued to explode this year and doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon. As a bathroom designer I’ve been immersed in so many bathroom remodels the past two years I’ve lost count and the phones just keep ringing. But during this season, I’ve noticed four bathroom trends in the U.S. that I believe will continue into 2018.

Clean Lines with a Zen Feel – Hotels and restaurants figured out years ago that ambiance is key for creating an inviting atmosphere and homeowners are starting to crave this inviting look too. To create a simple zen feel, opt for cleaner lines, less pattern, a mix of textures, and vanities that look more like furniture than a boring row of cabinetry along the wall.

2. More Timeless – For years our interior design firm has advocated interior design with staying power in our custom bathrooms but now its becoming a trend as seen in the trend towards classic marble, cleaner lines, less ornate architectural details, simpler tile designs, and less patterns.

3. Luxury – The word luxury doesn’t mean that your bathroom design has to cost a fortune or be stuffy. Luxury can be had through beautiful options like free standing tubs, steam showers, heated floors, custom cabinetry, or technology. Technology could include heated towel racks, a coffee bar, hidden plug ins for hair dryers, adaptable cabinetry for more efficient storage, or remote control window treatments.

4. Rustic Elements Products that fall into this category could include wood walls made of boat wood (duck board or engineered wood flooring, wood surrounds for tubs, concrete vanity tops, concrete wall finishes, river rock vanities, rock floors or walls, stone vessels, or rustic tiles, among others.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: How to Succeed at A Classic Kitchen…

November 17, 2017

Karen Mills' blog

BEFORE AFTER

Are you dreaming of a kitchen like the one on the right but your reality is the one on the left?

As I toured this historic high rise condo on the plaza in Kansas City for the first time as the interior designer, the reality of the situation was bleak. The condo hadn’t been updated for years and the warren of tiny rooms made it difficult to imagine a beautiful open kitchen. On top of that the small elevator and restrictions limited what could be done with cabinetry, counters, and much more.

To start I knew we had to enlarge the kitchen so we took over the tiny adjoining maid’s room shown above to gain a few more feet.

Our end goal was a large open inviting kitchen full of natural daylight that was a classic so to start we tore down the existing entrance wall (shown on left) to open the kitchen up to the existing dining room and we resized the mismatched windows in each room to flow together as one big window area.

We also relocated the adjoining dining room to the over sized living area and made the former dining room a hearth area that opened into the kitchen.

Karen Mills' blog

To make the rooms feel more expansive but also timeless, we tore out the flooring in the kitchen and wove in new wood floors to match the existing wood flooring elsewhere.

Next we began to lay out a floor plan that included a gorgeous custom island along with designing custom flush mount European style cabinetry that was also functional and a lighting plan that would make the room pop.

On the right we designed a beautiful custom stove hood with lit glass cabinetry and large drawers underneath to hold pots and pans. Plus we took the beveled subway tile to the ceiling to add height and drama to the space.

In the back we designed a pantry area that disguised the crooked structural wall and added doors that opened to reveal a coffee station and appliance storage along with additional glass lit cabinetry.

On the left we created a bar area with a wine cooler, additional sink, and storage along with lit glass front cabinetry to hold glassware.

And on the island we added a mitered top to give the beautiful Cambria marble style top even more importance!

The result – a large open living/work space that lives large and is also functional.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: The Making of a Beautiful Bathroom

November 10, 2017November 10, 2017

Interior Design: The Making of a Beautiful Bathroom

Interior Design: How to Inject Autumn Orange into Your…

October 20, 2017

Injecting fall hues like orange into your home for the season can be as simple as fall leaves in a vase or a ceramic pieces like this entry we designed in orange.

Other possibilities for layering in the warm color of autumn could include toss pillows like the great room here, a throw, or even a rug underneath.

And if you’re a big fan of orange, why not make a bigger commitment like painting one accent wall with orange or installing drapery with orange hues.

Simpler options might include pumpkins or oranges grouped together in a clear glass container or orange decor.

For more great ideas about how to inject orange into your home for autumn, click here to read my latest Houzz article – https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/92328651/list/7-rooms-that-fall-for-orange

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Decorating: What Your Favorite Color Says About You

October 13, 2017

Ever wonder what your favorite color says about you, the meaning of color, or how to use it to design your interior?

As an interior designer and color expert, I can tell you that’s not always an easy task because it takes years of experience to learn how colors colors can impact a room in different lighting situations.. No wonder painting is currently listed as the most common home improvement project since countless homeowners waste money having their spaces repainted after selecting a color or combination that doesn’t work.

So here’s some insight on your color’s meaning that may help and ideas for using it in your home.

If you love red like I do you most likely live life to the fullest with spontaneity and excitement. But what does a red interior say to others? The color, associated with blood, raises your blood pressure and grabs your attention! So if you don’t want to go completely red, try using it as an accent color to make your space a little more vibrant.

Blue, however, exudes stability and calm, making it a perfect color for bedrooms where you need to unwind. Lovers of this color tend to be dependable, responsible citizens who do the right thing.

Yellow, like a ray of sunshine portrays warmth and optimism in a room, making it perfect for a kitchen or a sunny living area, and fans of this color are often optimistic people with a positive encouraging attitude.

Green, the color of nature exudes calmness and warmth, which makes it a good color for bedrooms or spaces where you need a more relaxed feel. And fans of this color are usually warm, kind, and charitable.

Purple fans, often a more complex and creative type of individual, are fascinating individuals but sometimes may seem mysterious or dark to others who don’t understand their creativity.

Orange, the color of hunger and vibrancy fits perfectly into that dining room or kitchen area where you need some life. And if you’re an orange lover, you probably show the same vibrant spirit as the color with your enthusiastic zest for life.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: Why White Kitchens Stand the Test of…

September 29, 2017

If you’re like the majority of homeowners around the world, you love the ethereal feel of white kitchens, especially warm inviting ones with layers of texture and interest like this kitchen photo where the table top, formerly a door, was refinished in gray and leather chairs were slip covered in a washable fabric.

Some of you I know will disagree about the appeal of white kitchens but this kitchen has been featured repeatedly in the news, both in national print and on television, plus its a favorite of our clients. And I think its because of its simplistic, light, classic design and marble counters even though existing cabinets weren’t replaced during the remodel.

As an interior designer who specializes in remodels I believe we secretly crave these airy white spaces to work and play in because they not only feel clean and fresh but also reflect light from outside and around the room, enhancing the way we look and often feel when entering the space.

One of the other reasons I believe white kitchens are popular is because can go with almost any accent color and can easily be changed to another color scheme when we tire of the original one.

Interior design by Karen Mills

But if you’re looking for something different besides a simple white, you might consider having your kitchen cabinets painted with a white that has been tinted with a favorite color like this photo where cabinets and walls have a hint of green.

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