Keeping the "Old World" today Kitchen and dining remodel
Brady Architectural Photography
GETTING IT RIGHT
Though the 1920s Mission Hills home was rich with Spanish Revival architectural details, a 1980s remodel did nothing to honor or even respect them.
Some two decades later, the current homeowners brought in award-winning interior designers Margaret Dean and Robert Longdyke to undo the damage by designing a new kitchen that was appropriate to the era and lived well with the grandeur of the rest of the house. The clients also wanted the kitchen to be multifunctional and up-to-date.
“Our first move,” Dean says, “was to reconfigure the space, which included the kitchen, a small broom closet and, in back, a guest bedroom and hallway.”
She converted the closet to a passageway to the bedroom, redid the bedroom into a small sitting room with refrigerated wine room, and closed off the bedroom and exterior doors to make room for a boot-bench niche.
With space planning complete, Dean and Longdyke focused on design details.
“The colors were inspired from the home’s original tile and trompe l’oeil,” Dean says. “The alderwood cabinet doors with teal and yellow accents mesh perfectly with the ambience of the home. The cabinet door profile mimics the panel of the front door.
“Robert Longdyke was instrumental in the selection of products, color scheme and accessories,” Dean says. “With over 45 years in the interior design field, he has accumulated a wealth of knowledge that was vital to the outcome.”
Dean redesigned the existing pantry to maximize storage options and added a hutch off the breakfast nook for glassware, fine china and beverages. The hutch includes a base refrigerator with custom grillwork door panels. To keep the symmetry, the designers repeated the grillwork to face another cabinet on the opposite side of the hutch.
They sealed a “small, ugly skylight” with a teal-colored soffit that adds height to the eight-foot ceiling. “This also allowed for a spectacular antique light to be hung. Design of the new round chandelier above the table was inspired by the vintage rectangular light over the island.”
The tile work on the hood and backsplash reflects the colors, tone and whimsy of other areas in the home.
Lighting, chairs, ceiling