Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » before & after: cecile’s home + gillian’s kitchen

today’s final makeovers are tackling larger spaces. first up is a living room and dining area in northern california. designer cecile lozano in san francisco was able to make over this space for a young couple with children in orinda, ca. their 1950s ranch was in a great location, but the interior didn’t reflect their style, so cecile created a new color palette of “not-so-timid green and deep mocha”. two-tone tan stripes were used along one wall and new window treatments were used to add color and pattern. inexpensive rugs from west elm were mixed in with existing furniture to give a more modern, streamlined log and vintage accessories from the local flea market were added for the final touch. i love the new look- well done, cecile! ["after" images by julie mikos]

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your (low res, please) images]

CLICK HERE for Gillian’s beautiful kitchen makeover (I love the lockers!!) after the jump!

this fantastic before & after comes from gillian grimm at dried figs and wooden spools. i love the lockers she put into the side of the kitchen for storage and the beautiful new countertops. not to mention the new appliances! great transformation, gillian!

before and after

oh wow. i love love love that kitchen. it feels so timeless, like it won’t need renovating again in 10 years because it looks dated. this is definitely going in my inspiration file. it is just perfect.

The kitchen is amazing! I absolutely love the use of the lockers. Such a good idea. And the teal-ish color with the navy (they are navy, right?) cabinets and mustard yellow dishes – such a great color combination.

These are so inspiring! I love how the many layers are equaling one wonderfully tranquil space. Any information on where you found the floor lamp next to the bookcase? I’ve been looking for something just like it!

Well, I’m afraid, I don’t like this livingroom makover that much… i got the feeling that it is too ”done”, not natural enough for my taste. The dining area is very nice though.
As for the kitchen… it’s amazing! Perfect!

There have been a lot of before and afters here that I love, but this living room might be my favorite. It’s so cozy, I could totally see myself living there. Plus that green is my favorite color. :)

These are gorgeous, though I much prefer Before & Afters that aren’t reliant on “We hired a designer, bought new stuff at West Elm and changed the camera angle to make the space look bigger.” Give me a good ol’ “I refurbished this chair with elbow grease and persistence” any day.

I looked at the first photo and almost immediately recognized the living room. And then I realized it is almost exactly like my mother-in-law’s house in nearby Lafayette. So funny! What was familiar to me were the tall, rectangular windows and the beams — very northern California. Beautiful space (and makes me homesick)!

Well thanks everyone, you are so sweet! The shelves are from here http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ and the coffee mugs are vintage denby, I think the pattern is called Ode. Kersten we didn’t hire a designer, although my husband is an Architect/Urban Planner. We actually did everything ourselves except for knocking down the wall and hooking up the gas stoves. We even poured the concrete counters (whew was that a big job!) but thanks for the compliment! :)
Oh, and the lamp is an ikea frame (it had tiny lights, dont remember the name) that we looped three strands of twinkle lights around. One of the “hanging” wires is actually the plug wire for the lights.

I really love both of these makeovers. The living area in the first is fabulous! On the kitchen, I am digging the contrast between the concrete & butcher block and the paint color of the cabinets.
This post is now bookmarked in my favs!

beautiful kitchen! did you use a book or some guide in pouring the counters? we are thinking of doing the same and are very intimidated! thank you.. very lovely and inspiring! oh and what source did you use for your farm sink….

Regarding the living room seeming too “done,” I agree, but the room is such a vast improvement over its previous incarnation. Before, it was drafty and cold feeling. Now, it is warm and cozy and inviting. I think the “done” comment could be addressed easily by getting rid of the matchy-matchy art over the fireplace. When art is such a focal point, it really matters what you choose. Those panels look like a cheap/temporary fix, but hopefully they’ll find something more permanent that will give the room a more personal touch. In the meantime, it’s still a beautiful room.

I feel a DIY chandelier project coming on! And maybe a DIY concrete countertop project, too, if I could get up the nerve to tackle such a big one. I would love to hear more about the process of both of these. Great before and afters!

I absolutely LOVE the green in the living room. And the lockers in the kitchen are a great idea!
I read AT and didn’t remember the kitchen…maybe because I wasn’t lured in with a beautiful green living room!

Love this kitchen! I am using lockers for storage in my living room for misc craft supplies and media storage, but I have yet to find shelves for the interior that maximize the space. Where did they get these?

OK, hopefully I’ll answer everyone’s questions, re-ask if I missed one :) The counters are concrete. We poured them ourselves using a mix of Cheng supplies and some ready made cement. We used the Cheng book for a reference. you can read the whole saga (it wasn’t that bad! Really!) here http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/2009/09/not-for-weak-of-heart-but-also-not-that.html
The fridge is actually two undercounter refrigerators with small, zero degree freezers. At some point we will get a chest freezer in the basement for our garden produce, but up till now have not needed any more space than the two fridges provide. We actually really love the set-up. The Sink is Ikea as is the base for the light. We bought a GLANSA light (the small one) , wrapped and massed three strands of white Christmas lights in and around it and then wired it all together. The power cord is one if the hanging cords. The locker shelves we did with scrap lumber and using those little “L” shaped pegs into the holes that were already inside. Although my husband did drill a couple of extras for a specific height I needed in one. The cabinets are from kitchencabinetdepot. They no longer have the style we bought but they were polyurethaned alder when we got them. We sanded, primed and painted . You can read about that process here http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-kitchen-isnot-done-but-getting.html

Hope that answers everything. I’m happy to answer more, so glad people like it, we are so pleased with how it turned out. It makes me happy every time I’m in there, and I’m in there a lot! :)

Thanks for asking Oonafey-the window treatments were custom made. I picked out the fabrics and had them made. Because the front and back window areas were each 16 feet long, we had to have them made. Individual panels would not give us the look we wanted plus we wanted something that no one else had.

Thanks Ashley for your comment on the fireplace. My client and I spent 5 hours rubbing in a mixture of water and a little latex paint over each stone. We wanted to leave the stones they way they were but just give it a more cohesive look.

Thanks to everyone for your great comments. We spent many hours on this project from painting the walls ourselves to refinishing the fireplace to repainting existing furniture to shopping at the local flea markets to keep it all affordable and something my client and I are proud of.

That is an amazing kitchen makeover. I love the blue with the white subway tiles. you must smile everytime you enter the kitchen! Wondering where you purchased the wall organizer? Is it from Pottery Barn?

These are both gorgeous! The living room “not-so-timid green” looks just like my living room paint so I’m taking loads of inspiration from the color scheme. And that kitchen – amazing! What a beautiful turn-around.

Ok.. this may be such a dumb question. I recently purchased a fabulous shade (much like the one you have over your table) to replace my standard oh so boring light that i currently have. Where did you get the electrical stuff for your light hanging over your table? Can you find that at Lowes? I’m about to DIY and somehow make it work. Right now, it has a chain and a cord that is supposed to plug into the wall but that will not look good in my kitchen so I want to have something a little more “Finished” looking like you have. I am probably over complicating thie situation but I’ve never done anything like this before.
THanks! I love the makeover.. it is AMAZING! :)

The cabinet’s color is gorgeous! It’s got me inspired to paint an old media cabinet that lovely dark blue. I’m too afraid to take the step of painting built-ins since I haven’t done this before. Can you tell me the name of the color you used? Beautiful!

There’s actually no reason to DIY the kitchen chandelier as Ikea has a large and small version (and black or white options) for sale right now.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80150788

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60150794

Wow, I love the kitchen! I am so inspired. I have wanted to remove my upper cabinets for some time. I wondered what type of paint did you use on the cabinets? I am afraid to make that step. Yours look awesome!

Green is my favorite color, but I just cant wrap my brain around “pea soup green”…maybe it was all the avocado appliances that came with my first house in the 70’s. The kitchen re-do is wonderful!

Oh thank goodness! I was reading the description on the first makeover and I got a little nervous. But it came out great. Custom windows look beautiful. And I am also loving the lockers in the kitchen. Very clever!

Sorry if this has already been asked, but where can I get the fabric that the panels are made out of in the green/brown living room? or can you at least tell us the designer/manufacturer? I love them! Thanks so much :)

Hi Jessi -
Glad you like the drapery fabric.
The green and brown fabric was purchased from Durlee. They have a showroom in the San Francisco Design Center. They only sell to the trade, so if you are not a designer you would have to purchase the fabric through a designer. Hope this helps.

re: custom drapes: to everyone, not that hard. Find great fabrics at Ikea or online at FabricGuru.com. Find a good sewing instruction book like Singer’s at the half-price book store; you can easily do grommets for a current look and easily do two tone or three tone contrast fabric strips; make pillows to complement. Same with shower curtains. Hire an experienced teen sewer from the high school or college, or a “senior” from an area senior apartment to help.

Thanks again everyone!
The paint is Wrought Iron Gate from Valspar, we also coated it in a satin polyurethane for extra durability. The tea cups are vintage Denby – the pattern is Ode. The soup bowls are from World Market, the oblong serving bowls are vintage Russel Wright and the pale yellow bowls (actually they are just big tea cups we use for bowls) are Denby Fire.

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