Retro Renovation

I’ve had this image for some time, as it illustrates quite beautifully some nice tips about creating built-ins — built-ins, of course, being essential in a retro renovation!:

1. “Built-in” means a nice solid wall on both sides. There’s definitely something about the solidity of a nook like this.
2. Really nice how this design uses wallpaper on the inside, then transitions to white paint on the outside. Again, creating a nice enclosed feel.
3. This is a really nice use of a can light. See, they had round ones in the 60s! Put the light pretty much directly overhead your work area in order to avoid shadows.
4. The built-in shelves are really nice. Not too deep, otherwise they would just attract clutter.
5. The brick wall is what really makes this built-in, introducing another surface material.
6. A simple laminate top is all you need.
7. Recessing the desk in the space really makes a difference. It subordinates the area from the rest of the kitchen. Anytime you can create nooks and crannies, but still in a ‘fitted’ way, will give your room greater interest.
8. Excellent wallpaper. Visually synchs up so beautifully with the red-orange bricks, and you can kind of see the nice golden-oriental design in it, too.

The bigger your kitchen - the better the whole thing will look if you can create various visual centers of interest. Then, the room won’t just feel like one big mass of cabinets. In my kitchen, I carved out a “coffee nook”….some countertop is broken up with a slab of butcher block…and in another spot, there’s stainless steel on the counter. None of these things really cost any more…it was all a matter of up-front planning.

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