Yesterday a client with a kitchen job recently completed had me run over to do some styling as a new magazine for Reading (a new quarterly magazine I just heard about) was shooting her kitchen. It was a great opportunity to snap some pics of the space done. I got involved on this project mid point in the design. The client had already designed and ordered the kitchen but wanted some help on a bar area that she wanted to take some risks with and have look different from the rest of the classic kitchen as well as pull together a millwork package for trim and ceiling treatments. Right up our alley!

I sketched out some simple cabinetry layouts to start for the bar area integrating some refrigerator drawers and we discussed some creative open storage ideas above. I had an idea for something open and integrating some metal finishes – like old apothecary type shelving. New hardware proved to be crazy expensive and we had pretty much abandoned the idea when I stumbled (literately) over some salvaged nickel ones on one of my antiquing trips in Maine – at a 1/10 of the cost of the new ones! Woo hoooo! All we had to do was get new glass cut. I am so thrilled with the outcome. That combined with a rich graphic tile backdrop and we certainly have a great little bar space!

Added to that the client wanted to  bring in a pop of turquoise (NO people, I did NOT suggest this; it really was all her!) She bought the kitchenaid mixer and we matched the Tolix stools to the mixer and then to round out the color pop we went to Jill Rosenwalds studio and picked out some colors to have a bowl made to pull together our colors. Done!

Pictures below of the apothecary shelves I found on a day trip antiquing the coast of Maine. They had exactly the pieces I needed and the height was just a little taller than we were looking for. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

Shots of a couple angles of her ceiling, where we spent some time debating how to differentiate the kitchen area from the eating area. She also had the cabinetry already ordered so I had to work out some details that would work dimension-wise with the existing height available for crown moulding.

Sources: Cream crackle tiles and moroccan navy crackle tiles are from Discover Tile in the Boston Design Center. Turquoise tolix stools are from Antiquaire.