Closer to Home

“ wanted the kitchen to have the feel of an old English farmhouse,” says Beth Joseph of Studio3, the designer who handled the kitchen remodel. “And sometimes it's fun to add a few modern touches.” Stainless steel appliances blend beautifully with the classic cabinetry and warm wood floors.

Green plays a minor role in the color palette used throughout the home's first floor, but upstairs it takes center stage. The master bedroom's calming green walls are tied into the home's overall color scheme with the addition of cream and chocolate-brown accents.

Just off the living room, the study is a decidedly masculine space, but slender side tables and an elegant chandelier soften its chocolate-brown walls and substantial sofa. “You feel like it's definitely a masculine room, but it flows with the [living] room that has a little more femininity to it,” says designer Tami Wakeman of Blanc Canvas Interiors.

CH&L: This home is so charming, with its cozy Colorado setting and classic European sensibilities.
Tami Wakeman: It's sort of a blending of the two. The husband is from Colorado Springs, and met his wife in Europe. She's from England. She definitely wanted a little more English sophistication. She had some antiques that she'd purchased in England and family heirlooms that she'd collected. Her husband wanted that [look] as well—but he wanted everything to have just a hint of modernism. Cleaner lines. Not everything Old World or old fashioned, or even country. He wanted the home to have a little bit of a twist.

You certainly found the right mix. How did you blend the new with the old?
 [The homeowner] had a bunch of miscellaneous tables, and she had this wonderful settee—very Art Deco in its feel—and two charming chairs, so we blended them in. She didn't want to reupholster them, and they were done in a buttery yellow, nice, lovely soft cotton, so we grounded the yellow with dark, rich colors.
We brought quite a few new pieces in, but you can't really tell the new from the old. The pieces all work really nicely together.

Let's talk about the color palette, the serene colors with pops of brighter hues.
The color palette sort of came to [be] because of the living room area rug. We found an area rug we loved, we brought it home, tested it in the room, everybody loved it—and then we pulled the colors from there.

Think Outside the Triangle

For decades, designers have modeled kitchens around the three workhorses—the refrigerator, stove and sink—and the most efficient path between them: the much-lauded, ergonomically minded kitchen work triangle.

But kitchen appliances aren't what they used to be, what with microwaves, food processors, panini presses and espresso machines joining the ranks of the old stalwarts—so kitchen efficiency has taken on new meaning.

Dare to think outside the triangle, says Beth Joseph, a designer at Boulder-based Studio3, a firm that specializes in kitchen and bathroom design. (Joseph did the kitchen design for this home.) “People do talk a lot about the kitchen triangle,” she says, “but the way designers are designing more and more kitchens is looking at them in terms of zones. Whether it's a prep zone or a baking zone or a clean-up zone,” home chefs will find that having all of the ingredients and gadgets close at hand for any given task is much more functional.

Read the rest of the interview in the April issue of CH&L, where you'll find more dramatic remodels and tips to bring home.

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