By Anne Ruisi
The tiny pantry in Amy and Brad Bailey’s home in Edgewood is gone, as is the peninsula countertop in the kitchen. In their stead are a butler’s pantry and a kitchen island, two significant changes made during an overhaul of the first floor.
“We had a tiny little cabinet pantry,” Amy Bailey said. “I thought, you know, if we’re gonna do this, I want to have a nice big kitchen with a big island and I want a big pantry and so we got it.”
Changes that led to a larger kitchen with longed-for features came as part of a renovation the Baileys planned with Twin Construction of Homewood.
The house in the Homewood neighborhood was about a year old when the couple moved in 16 years ago. Their daughters, Campbell, 15, and Sarah, 13, were raised in the home. As the years went by, the family decided it was time “to do a little renovation and get it updated,” Bailey said.
Lydia Smith, an interior designer with Twin Construction, said she and other workers learned the family loves to entertain frequently and wanted bigger and better spaces in the house to do that.
Opening up spaces and developing a floor plan that flowed more logically became central to the overall design, Smith said. Planning started when her colleague at Twin Construction, plan designer Crystal Tucker, met with the Baileys to talk about the layout and reconfiguration of the floor plan. Then Smith joined the project to help them design what they wanted in those spaces.
The Baileys had to move out of their home during the four-month remodeling project because of the scale of the work, which included knocking down walls and adding windows to let in more natural light. The family found a rental house in the neighborhood, Bailey said.
Construction plans for the kitchen included expanding its size, replacing the cabinets and adding the island, which doubles as the family’s casual dining table.
Opening Up the House
The kitchen was “kind of closed off” from the living areas of the house, Smith said, so the design called for rearranging some spaces to make it larger and more open. Using space in a screened porch and what was formerly the dining room, a big great room open to the kitchen was created. That allowed the contractor to extend the size of the kitchen and rework the footprint.
What was the old kitchen became the new butler’s pantry, which Bailey described as “wonderful.” Space was added to the back of the house to expand the den. The powder, laundry and mud rooms were moved.
Bailey “wanted to have space for a double oven and she wanted to make sure she could have a gas cooktop and some places for storage” and better functionality, Smith said.
Improving functionality included adding an appliance garage for the coffeemaker. The Bailey’s have easy access to the appliance, but when it’s not in use, it’s stored out of sight just by closing the doors on the designated storage spot for small appliances.
The Baileys worked with Smith to pick out décor for the kitchen, such as updated countertops and tile in neutral tones. For the backsplash, Calcutta gold marble tiles were applied in a herringbone pattern, Smith said. Quartz countertops in Mysterio from Surface One were installed, as was a large stainless steel undermount kitchen sink.
New lighting was added, including recessed can lights to offer good task lighting for cooking, Smith said. A pair of pendant lights were installed over the new kitchen island, providing soft lighting for when the family is eating dinner at the island.
As the kitchen area was reconfigured, the old cabinets were removed and new cabinets that go up to the ceiling were installed above the countertops, expanding storage space.
The existing hardwood floor was refinished by sanding and staining it and the walls were painted in White Dove by Benjamin Moore. The rest of the interior was painted to brighten it up and freshen the look, Smith said.
What didn’t change in the house were the dining room, the master bedroom and the stairway leading to the second floor.
Bailey said the family is pleased with the completed project, especially in the time it took to do the job.
“It was a quick renovation for what we did. It was a lot of work and it’s just gone very smoothly,” she said.
After four months in the rental, the Baileys were ready to go home and have started to move back in. They’re looking forward to entertaining again and Brad Bailey, who loves to cook, is looking forward to preparing the family’s first meal in the new kitchen, his wife said.
“He’s so excited. We’ve got a brand new, large range and we are already thinking about what we are going to cook first in our new kitchen,” Bailey said.