A home’s interior doesn’t have to be dramatic and bold to make a statement or lasting impression. Sometimes, less really is more. This is the direction associate designer Elizabeth Reich of Jenkins Baer Associates took when she designed the kitchen and sunroom of this gorgeous Clarksville home.
“We wanted fresh, clean and modern traditional,” Reich says. The existing kitchen was dated, having never been changed since the home was built. “We added modern touches, such as an antique brass chandelier over the island, and simplified the ornate moldings with clean-lined pieces,” she says. While they were at it, her team also removed old flanking cabinets and replaced them with floating shelves to “let the space breathe a bit.”
A young couple with three children, the homeowners wanted to make sure these spaces were also practical for their lifestyle yet still beautiful.
“They recently installed a pool, so the flooring needed to be able to withstand wet feet,” Reich says. “We found a beautiful 24-inch tile that looks like a gorgeous wood parquet floor, which gave us the look we were going for with the durability of a tile. And it had to be cozy because we ran it all the way through the kitchen, family room and sunroom.”
The homeowners also wanted elements that required a little less maintenance, so Reich opted for a quartz countertop rather than marble to keep a similarly rich and luxurious look without the fuss.
“We hand selected the slabs together and decided upon the soft veining that looks like calacatta marble,” Reich says. “The quartz is nonporous, and there is no need to worry about a little spilled red wine because it just wipes right up. We decided to use it also on the backsplash behind the hood and also on the larger set of floating shelves on the adjacent wall.”
And the addition of a farmhouse-style sink that uses the same quartz material throughout is the perfect traditional touch as well, tying into the other prominent kitchen features.
In the sunroom, the overall natural and warm theme extends with neutral colors for the furniture that also includes contemporary lines and soft, lightly textured rugs. The use of tall plants and wooded features effortlessly brings in the same naturistic vibes seen from the home’s lush backyard, which is debuted in full effect from the sunroom’s grand windows.
Natural, clean, homey — the overall space is exactly what the designer and homeowners had envisioned.
Reich says she went with a classic design that felt authentic to the space and didn’t “try too hard.” Adding, “cozy, clean lines and an updated twist on modern traditional is what I mostly aimed for.” And this simple but impactful vision was achieved.
