1970 Dogwood Street, Author at 1970 Dogwood Street

A Delicious and Healthy Breakfast

October 21, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street Leave a Comment

Good Morning! I have been starting my mornings with a yummy bowl of oatmeal layered with protein, fruit, and chia seeds! I make oatmeal with steel cut oats in my Instapot. I make a large batch and have enough for myself for the week, plus the kids and hubby if they want. Sometimes they do. It can also be made on the stove top.

Once cooked, I swirl in a scoop of almond butter, defrosted sweet cherries, blueberries, and chai seeds. I get all these ingredients at Trader Joe’s!

It’s delicious and keeps you full until lunch!

How Paint Can Change a Room

October 14, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street Leave a Comment

This bathroom got a jolt of color and flash with a simple paint job, plus a few accessories. We love how the round mirror is repeated in the shower curtain and the color block rug brings a modern touch. The color is Blustery Sky 9140 by Sherwin Williams.

Check out the “before” pics below!

Before/After :: A Dining Room to Welcome Guests and Enjoy Everyday

October 7, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street Leave a Comment

This dining room received an influx of new furniture, after careful consideration and input from the homeowner. She wanted a more updated vibe, with comfortable chairs that allow you to linger. The new sideboard provides lots of storage and serving space, without overpowering the room visually. We’d added the mirror as a first step and we love how it helps to bounce light around the room. We also removed the rug to highlight the beautiful inlaid detail in the hardwood floors. How gorgeous is this solid maple table??

Here’s the dining room with the “new” mirror and the existing furniture set. What a difference!

Before/After :: A Welcoming Sitting Room

September 30, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street Leave a Comment

This room is the first thing you see when you walk into the spacious foyer and the homeowners wanted a space that invited you right in to their beautiful home. Because the room is almost square in size, we designed a seating group to allow for instant conversation and maybe a sparkling cocktail? These comfortable chairs from Bassett provide a stylish space to unwind and relax.

The arched mirror from Ballard Designs and the round coffee table from Arhaus help to expand the space visually and ease traffic throughout the room.

Here’s a few pictures of the room before we got started!

Before/After :: Completely Updating a 60s Townhouse Kitchen

September 23, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This stunning kitchen is the result of many week of painstaking work by our amazing contractor crew, who turned our vision into this gorgeous reality. The wall between the former galley kitchen and the dining room was removed, and the space was completely gutted. You see the refrigerator in the new walk-in pantry, which allows for a spacious feel in the kitchen workspace, definitely created with a home chef in mind.

We chose a beautiful quartz countertop and a matte black hexagon backsplash tile, which echos the black in the pendant lighting and the under mount sink/faucet combo.

The floating shelving provides a break from the cabinetry and adds an organic touch — we like the pairing of that with the timeless wood floors to ground the space.

Here are some “before” photos of the old galley-style kitchen and the adjacent dining room — all opened up and flooded with light!

There are three large windows along the front of the house — they are now all accessible from the new spacious kitchen.

Before/After :: A Brand New Modern Bathroom

September 16, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This was a complete gut job!

It’s a small bathroom, so the footprint remains the same, but we did elongate the bathroom by 18 inches, since there was room to spare in the adjacent bedroom, and we added a pocket door, to avoid the “which way should the door swing” issue! Plumbing and lighting locations completely remained the same.

Can you see a peek of the new shelving in the linen niche?

The new floating vanity and modern toilet give the illusion of more floor space. The new mirrored medicine cabinet provides loads of storage. And the tub-to-shower conversion is just the right touch.

Here’s our “before” photos — enjoy the original 60s pink tile.

Before/After :: A Sunny and Sophisticated Living Room

September 9, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This client had lots of ideas and a plan before we even walked through the door! She was determined to update the look of her space with a few key changes, and re-use a lot of the same furniture. Scroll down to see what the room looked like before!

She ordered new custom slipcovers for her pair of comfortable arm chairs and updated the lighting and end tables.

She replaced the rug and made new curtains

She had the bench seat cushion and the back cushions recovered, while keeping the body of the sofa the same — she also reused the same bookcases (ordered one more) and had them all painted!

Before/After :: Transforming a Hallway into a Tech Nook

September 2, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This is the result of one of our most challenging projects to date.

We are so pleased with the results of this project — making over a dead-end hallway into a space crammed with functional purpose, storage, and lighting. In fact, we rearranged the entire area — small coat closet, powder room, hall to former laundry area. Laundry was relocated to the lower level, and this area was created by simply changing the door opening from the adjacent powder room so that it was on another wall, and “cheating” 8 inches from that powder room. (That’s code for “moving a wall”.). The former laundry area (behind this wall) became the pantry for the new kitchen.

It allowed us enough space to have a tucked-in and customized area — we used kitchen cabinets that are 12 inches deep for the base of the nook, topped it off with quartz countertops, floating shelves, and a penny round backsplash. Lots of outlets to charge devices, and the space even has its own light switch. We added a wall-mounted mirror to mimic the feel of a window in this space. Mission accomplished!

Here’s a perspective from the adjacent stairwell — you can see the new entrance to the powder room, and the kitchen beyond that.

The beautiful newly tiled backsplash, before floating shelves were added.

Here’s the original hallway — you can see entry to former laundry/current pantry straight ahead with entrance to adjacent bathroom on the left.

This is taken from the opposite viewpoint and shows where the wall used to be.

This shows the future pantry, and the bathroom plumbing before wall was moved.

What I’m Reading : The Dutch House

July 1, 2020 by 1970 Dogwood Street

This is a great summer read! If you have not read any Ann Patchett – you are in for a treat! If you have – this is another really good one. It is a wonderful story told by the son and brother who grew up in what was called The Dutch House. The story is complex, nostalgic and tenderly told. I highly recommend you put it at the top of your reading list!