Before and After Vintage Colonial: Dining Room and Kitchen

This might sound odd, but the inspiration for the design of the entire house came from the dining room light fixture.  As soon as I saw this light fixture, with its mix of satin nickel and brushed brass, the design just clicked.  I fell in love with it.

























At that moment, I knew I wanted to use nautical charts for wallpaper.



































And I knew that to balance the charts, we needed a simple, tall wainscoting below it.














Add to that striped linen drapes that I had in my storage unit and bright aqua bowls, and it really started to come together

Foyer to Dining Room - Before

When that approach is connected with the major walls that we removed, well, here's the result!

Foyer to Dining Room - After

By opening the wall between the kitchen and dining room, both rooms feel larger and more welcoming.  Now you can sit at the island and chat with the chef.  Or the kids can do their homework after school.  And we kept the original china cabinet, which really adds some antique charm to the space.

Dining Room & Kitchen - Before

Don't you love how light and bright this kitchen is??

Dining Room & Kitchen - After

This will give you an idea how much work was involved in moving these walls! 

And one of my favorite features?  These custom glass inserts that Jim Nutting of Maine Art Glass made for me.  They sparkle and give the room so much personality!

And the glass penny tile above the stove?  Well it connects the entire color scheme!!! 

The third wall we removed was the one between the kitchen and living room.  This gave the house a real circular floor plan.  We had a thank you reception for the neighbors last week and confirmed - this is a fantastic party house!!!  

Kitchen Before

With the wall gone, look how the kitchen just flows into the rest of the living space!  

Did you see the Downeast Magazine article  about SoPo Cottage in their May issue?  Where they talked about my quest for the perfect foyer fixture?  Well this is it!!  It's part of the new Mitzi line and I LOVE it!!  Totally worth all those hours of searching!

As you can see, this was a lot of work.  But we're just thrilled with the result!!  

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