Magnolia Midcentury-Modern Residence

A First-Time Home Buyer’s Kitchen Remodel | Seattle, Washington

The year is 2016. It’s the start to a not-so-carefree Summer in June. The setting is Seattle, Washington. It is seemingly the heat of the market. The first-time home buyer is an interior designer, interior architect, jack of all trades, if you will. She works on construction sites and with the trades all day, at least five days a week. She had the newly found confidence of hope for a functional kitchen after finally getting the tenth offer on a home finally accepted, fully realized, after scrounging as much funds as possible to make single-family house living with a yard (there was a wild heeler puppy involved, after all) a possibility. But wait, there are so many (load bearing and full of electric) walls enclosing this potential for an inviting, dinner hosting kind of kitchen with no more money left to spend. And don’t even get started on the popcorn ceilings throughout, and seemingly Level 1 finish, heavily textured lath and plastered walls on every surface. What’s a limited resourced gal to do? Knock down the toughest, most return on investment obstacles with her bare hands—quite literally (don’t worry, proper PP&E were involved).

As a living resident in this refresh and kitchen remodel, I sought out to relayout the flow of the kitchen and refresh (textured walls be gone!) the 1,100SF house before it was far too cold to work and live in a non-heated home from the construction dust. Beginning in August 2016 and a limited budget of $10,000 (all in, including appliances and equipment), working from room to room and culminating in the treasured kitchen, all walls were personally mudded and refinished to a Level 5 finish, new trim and moldings throughout, popcorn ceiling removal, and a gut kitchen demo and renovation with new electrical and plumbing locations (a washer and dryer closet was moved from the existing kitchen and put in the hallway’s coat closet). A beam was installed to structurally support the demo’ed walls to create an appliances suite, where once the washer and dryer lived.

Tile and finishing work all personally done by this now hand-arthritic interior designer, who gained an even more appreciation for our tradesmen in the field. My superintendent on my at that time ongoing Amazon project warned me in mudding and taping my own walls and advised me to come see him when I come back crying. Let’s just say, he was not wrong. But I must declare I surely will not be the infamous interior designer on your project that you hate receiving an email or field report from—promise. See the before images below.

Behind the Scenes