Vignettes of Italy Part 1: Life and Design
How do you honor a friend that has passed? By simply remembering them? By understanding who they are? By holding their name in your brain and hearts with a reverence, maybe.
And what do you do with a home that has been remodeled for a person that has recently passed? Well, you talk about it and share it with others, the way the owner would have wanted to do.
Homes are not just buildings that we live inside. They are a part of us. Who we are and our self-expression. One beautiful, wonderful thing about the interior design industry is how clients and designers form a bond and really get to understand one another. When a person decides to invite you to renovate their home, they are sharing an intimate piece of themselves with you. And through creativity and understanding, together you produce something new, a home that the owner is proud of. One that makes them smile.
Lisa loved color. She was an outgoing, fun, happy person. And I wanted to create a home where you felt welcome the moment you walked in. I wanted her home to be an introduction to who she was. Lisa traveled. She loved art. She loved Italy. And she was full of laughter.
Lisa and I were just planning to spiff up her kitchen–to remove some existing cabinets and freshen up the paint. But, then she went to London where she fell in love with a Miele oven and AGA cooker and needed to have them in her home. So, we redid the kitchen!
The first step of this renovation was deciding to open the kitchen up by increasing the size of the passthrough and shortening the existing wall to form a better relationship between the kitchen and the living room. This allowed the living room to shine with its intense pops of color, and the incredible view of Lake Oswego to really come through.
Lisa loved Italy and had a local artist paint a mural on the wall in the kitchen. The idea of surrounding herself with memories of her travels fulfilled her deeply.
Custom Kitchen Tile, Custom Furniture
Since Lisa’s desire was to keep her kitchen white with fuchsia accents, it was decided that the countertops would need to be dramatic. I spied the Azul Crestola granite at Bedrosians Tile and Stone (formerly known as Oregon Tile and Marble) and immediately called Lisa. As someone who makes decisions quickly, it only took one look of the stone and she was in love!
Since the house is on the lake and is used for entertaining, Lisa needed a floor that could handle spills and water drips with minimal maintenance. Loving the look of concrete tile, I and her staff went on a hunt to find a tile that looked like concrete, but with none of the maintenance issues. Artistic Tile had just the perfect product, a porcelain tile with a strong black, white and grey pattern.
The wall field tiles were custom made from Mediterra tile. Lisa loved good wine, and after selecting her favorite labels, the RRF team worked with Tempest Tile to reproduce the labels on the tile. The result is an incredible art installation and homage to good company and fond memories.
The kitchen table was a custom project from Dan McCarl and Makers Woodworks, and the hot pink banquette was made by Castellano.
Home Transformations
Lisa’s home was filled with family heirlooms. Working with a previous designer, it was suggested to keep most of the furniture white with accents of fuchsia.
The walls were painted mid-grey. Beautiful, but subtle. Taking inspiration from a few art pieces, we suggested adding strong accent walls; turquoise was suggested for the main window wall, highlighting the blue water of the lake. The house isn’t overwhelmed with color, the bold blue highlights heirlooms and creates a mood of warmth and happiness. The home sits in the middle of classic and contemporary holding and creating space for both.
Stay tuned for the next post, and find out how I transformed the Garden Room in Lisa’s home. And make sure to follow us on Instagram to see even more pictures of this and the rest of our projects!
