Jeff Malone lived in a house he and his wife had only built five years ago and questioned the need for a kitchen remodel. It had a lot of space and nice closets – what couldn’t Amanda like about it?
Amanda Malone uttered the words many homeowners say about their own kitchen: “It was too dark.”
Dark hardwood floors combined with dark, wood-stained cabinetry and beige counters and backsplash looked fine, but when Amanda looked at photos of new kitchens on Instagram and Pinterest, she knew she wanted something different for her Towne Lake, Cypress home.
So her request for a birthday present for a kitchen refresh turned into a remodel that included remodeling for an over-the-top guest bathroom, an underrated powder bathroom, an overcrowded wash / mud room, and a home office that was in the front of the nearly 6,000 square foot house.
“When I first walked in I thought, why am I here?” Said interior designer Nikole Starr of Nikole Starr Interiors. “She had a good sense of design and size and fine art on the walls. I started walking around thinking we can take it to the next level. “
While the kitchen got new counters, backsplash tile, and an additional top tier of cabinets, it was paint that did much of the work of remodeling the space. Those dark cabinets are now painted white and the island has gone from white to teal (Sherwin-Williams’ rainstorm).
Starr found a way to save money on the kitchen project by fixing the flaws in the cabinets rather than simply replacing them. Originally, they should look rustic, with nicks and flaws. Starr’s subcontractor filled in those notches and holes to make them smooth enough to look like new cabinets.
The room received new jewelry with gold-colored furniture fittings and fittings, as well as three gold pendants over the island. And backsplash tile may not be considered “jewelry,” but Starr found some in beveled diamond shapes with gold brass beads cast in.
Because the Malones entertain so much, they needed more cooking capacity. They exchanged a hob and the cupboard space below for a new Thermador range to complement the double oven built into a wall.
“We have all the family holidays in our house – Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and birthdays for both sides of our family,” said Amanda of family celebrations that can accommodate up to 50 or 60 people. Workgroups can be even larger as the Malone Media Group’s advertising agency employs 100 people.
A nearby butler’s pantry has been similarly refreshed with teal paint and gold fittings on the cabinets, as well as beveled mercury glass subway tiles for the backsplash.
Since the parties generate a lot of dirty dishes, they also added a second dishwasher to replace a little-used sink in the laundry room.
This wash / mud room appeared spacious and practical to visitors. Most of her friends and family members entered the house through the side door and the mud room – not the front door.
They went in to open racks with a mishmash of clothes on hangers, an oversized island that Amanda, 37, referred to as a “dump truck,” and a sink that she never used.
“Jeff didn’t like the hanging mess – he’s a clean freak. There would be dry cleaning and school supplies out there, ”Amanda said. “It’s the door that most of the people who know us walk into. You go straight to the laundry room and there are brooms and pugs on the wall. It looked gross. “
Rigid tidied it up with better wall-to-wall cabinets – Sherwin-Williams’ Sea Serpent painted, deep dark blue – that they could use to hide the brooms, pugs, and other utensils that didn’t all have to be out of the house by the time. In addition to the extra dishwasher, they installed a tall glass-fronted drinks fridge to help out at parties and to store Jeff’s growing wine collection.
Acrylic furniture fittings with gold accents add shine to the room, as do new floor tiles with a subtle fleur de lis pattern.
In the main bathroom, Jeff, 38, got his request for a large steam shower. The rest of the bathroom stayed the same, but taking the original shower to a new level took some effort. Instead of conventional buttons or levers, this high-tech shower has a touchpad that controls everything.
Because it’s 20 feet wide, it has his and hers glass doors on each side of the bathtub that sits in front of it. Because Jeff’s vision of a steam room calls for a more comfortable seat, Starr designed a bench with a reclined back so he could feel himself in a natural lounge position.
They got bold with tile here, choosing three different patterns: a vivid print for the back wall that you see from the rest of the bathroom, a deep blue and gray subway tile that was laid with herringbone showerheads on the side wall, and one Off-tile. white tiles for the bench and the front wall so that the eye has a place to rest in this stunning space.
His home office has a 20-foot ceiling so any other room could fit the furniture nicely, but in this case it was too small.
Starr’s plan took this room from a predictable suburban home office to one that every man wants to show off. A built-in bookcase was designed for the back wall and is the same color as the butler’s kitchen island and pantry.
On the shelves are sports memorabilia Jeff collected, including baseball and soccer balls from his favorite teams: Astros, Texans, and Dallas Cowboys. Photos of the couple’s children – 8-year-old Paxton and 6-year-old Maddox – also emerge.
The brown desk was replaced with a more stylish one that Jeff loved, but never thought he could have it. They found it on RH (Restoration Hardware) and it looks like an airplane wing – seams, rivets, and everything – bent into the shape of a desk. The desk and its surroundings sit on a patchwork carpet with hair animals and spray testosterone.
A guest bathroom and the powder bath were renovated. The guest bathroom was often used by their parents or friends who might be staying longer. They wanted it to feel more like a guest suite and have features for the age on-site. That’s why they removed the combination of bathtub and shower and opted for a spacious walk-in shower with a glass front and additional shower heads / controls that are easier to use.
The Malones had decorated their powder bath with a blue art painting that they were never entirely satisfied with. That is why Starr brought in painters who could give this room a new treatment with a silver-gold wall treatment. The bathroom’s new vanity unit has a mirrored front and a pretty lamp that hangs over a curved mirror.
Both the dining room and large breakfast area had furniture the couple liked, so these rooms only needed a small elevator.
For the large breakfast table, which offers space for 10 people, a large chandelier was added, which not only beautifies the room, but also brings in the required light.
The dining room also received a new chandelier – with rings covered in antique mercury glass – and a new wall treatment that includes an art painting over paneled paneling.
Now that everything is done, the Malones are both glad they made the changes and are expecting more now that the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.
“During this quarantine, it was nice to have all of these things done. It was used very well, ”said Jeff.
“I told Nicole a month later that her business was going to blow up,” added Amanda. “Everyone is home and I can hear people say I hate this kitchen. She’ll have people calling left and right. “
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