Choosing beauty can be a radical act. 

Choosing to call in beauty again and again is powerful. 

We loved working for a second time with these clients to transform their Jersey City historic brownstone. 

For our first project together, we renovated the ground floor – creating a mudroom to store their bikes and ski gear and transforming an old playroom into a modern lounge – and updated the children’s bedrooms. Check out their first before and after. 

For this project, we transformed the kitchen and living area.

The family had redone their kitchen when they first moved in, more than 15 years ago. Similarly, their adjoining dining room table and chairs moved in with them, and the furniture was a bit worse for wear. 

Initially, they had planned to simply update the kitchen cabinets, countertops and fixtures. But when we gathered for our first design meeting, the wife shared that she had noticed that morning how much time she spent walking around the giant kitchen island. 

So during the design phase, we carefully considered how they use their kitchen every day, and created a brand-new kitchen layout that would complement that. 

Our team raised the kitchen window to achieve a wraparound, U-shape counter, which is ideal for cooking. The U includes a peninsula into the dining room and an overhang with bar tools, which makes it a great place to entertain. 

We got rid of a pantry area that wasn’t working, and replaced it with top and bottom storage cabinets and a counter for small appliances. (The family regularly uses 3 coffeemakers, and we wanted to help them keep the main counter clear of clutter.)

In terms of the design, the family loves their historic Jersey City neighborhood, but they have a much more modern aesthetic. They wanted the kitchen and living area to reflect that. 

The final design includes modern white top cabinets with no pulls and contrasting lower cabinets that are custom-made walnut. 

Ready to upgrade the living area as well, the couple asked us to propose a furniture scheme. They ended up buying all of the exact furniture that we proposed! To finish off the room, they added a cool concrete dining table to replace their outdated one.

Take a peek at their old kitchen – and marvel at what a difference intentional, beautiful design can make.

Photo Credit: Megan Maloy Photography