Modern Ranch In the Woods

As a very new designer, I was shaking in my boots when two of my best friends asked me to design their new house for them. To say it was a learning experience was putting it lightly but I honestly couldn’t have asked for better couple to take on a job like that head on with. The trust they put into me was honestly one of the best compliments I could have got and I will never take that granted.

When we originally started playing around with what the kitchen finishes would be, it was an all white kitchen. She had a last minute change of heart and something told her to go black. We rendered it up and it was all it took to see it virtually for her to know she was making the right choice and I am so glad she did. Not many people are willing to go this bold, and for it to be a new construction house, not many stray from the safe bet of white, myself included. I am lucky I was able to play around with such a statement kitchen so early on in my career.

I won’t lie and say that this space wasn’t tricky. Anytime you come across an open concept it can be somewhat challenging to keep the flow while still letting each part of your home have a moment to itself. One thing I run into when it comes to clients getting nervous is wood tones. They are typically concerned about wood tones matching. In this case, they have some really beautiful wood toned LVP floors and also, the wood range hood being the star of the show in their kitchen with the rustic wood floating shelves coming in right behind it. I like to throw out the word “matching” when it comes to design and like to use the word “cohesive”. As long as I am incorporating wood tones in a sense of one pulls out the warmth or coolness in another, I am all for mixing up.

Now, I can’t take all the credit for how this kitchen turned out. The homeowner put a ton of her own ideas into it like picking out the fixtures and hardware and I love that she went into the design with confidence in knowing exactly what she liked and wanted and was able to execute those details while still leaning on me for the overall design. It was a great partnership and a really lovely experience as a designer.