Kitchen Undergoes a Contemporary Transformation and Wins NARI Design Award

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It is a fairly common occurance for Normandy Designers to meet with homeowners whose tired kitchens need some new life.  The owners of this Orland Park home had a kitchen that hadn’t been updated in 25 years, and the space felt outdated and isolated from the rest of the home.

They began working with Normandy Designer John Long to transform the space – and the final result is absolutely stunning.  The homeowners’ main goal was to update the kitchen and redesign it to achieve a more open floorplan.  “We determined that the two partition walls were non-load bearing and could be completely removed,” says John, “This opened up the space in a truly dramatic way.”   The desire to have the kitchen more connected to other areas is an increasingly popular trend among homeowners, and a solution that worked beautifully in this home. The final effect makes everything seem more spacious and the entire first floor flows more naturally.  The new kitchen exceeded the homeowners’ expectations and has greatly improved their dining and entertaining experience.

John’s creativity transformed the kitchen in a contemporary way the homeowners’ didn’t believe seemed possible at first, and received flattering recognition from remodeling and design peers.

The kitchen has been recognized with an Honorable Mention 2011 Remodeling Excellence Award from National Association Remodeling Industry (NARI) Greater Chicagoland in the Residential Kitchen $30,000-60,000 category.

Check out more projects from John or set up an appointment with him for your upcoming kitchen remodel by clicking here.  Or register for our free upcoming seminar entitled “The Live-In Kitchen” which will cover the increasing popularity of these open floor plans and living spaces.

 

Oak Park Addition Wins First Place NARI Award

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It’s common for families to outgrow the size of their homes – which leads to two options, either add on or buy a new home.  These homeowners decided that they loved their home and their neighborhood, and an addition would suit their growing family the best.  They had several specific requests when they began working with Normandy Designer Stephanie Bryant for their home addition.  Being located in a community of Frank Lloyd Wright homes, they requested that Stephanie be sensitive toward the existing architecture, without stressing the style. Also, the wife (being the only lady of the household) desired a master bedroom suite with a luxury bathroom to serve as her “escape.”  Those requests among others, led to the final result of a two-story addition, with a full basement.

The entry to the addition welcomes you into a great room with a coffered ceiling, with a simple but charming fireplace as the focal point.  The room features elegant French doors leading out to a new deck, ideal for entertaining.  The wife’s escape was achieved on the second floor with two walk-in closets and a five-piece bathroom, featuring an oversized shower and privacy water closet.  “The homeowner and I decided on a Robin’s egg blue for the walls to add a sense of calmness and serenity to the room, giving the bathroom a spa-like effect,” commented Stephanie.  The new portion of the basement consists of an office, exercise area and a full bathroom.  To further meet the homeowners’ entertaining needs, a media area and wet bar were also included in the new basement.

The finished addition has been recognized with a First Place 2011 Remodeling Excellence Award from National Association Remodeling Industry (NARI) Greater Chicagoland.  More importantly, the homeowners love their new addition!  Their 4th grade son was so happy with how the design affected their family, he used their kitchen as his topic for a Social Studies project – click here to read his story!

If you’d like to see more of Stephanie’s projects or are interested in working with her on your own remodeling project, click here to learn more.

Hinsdale Voted Top Town of the Western Suburbs

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West Suburban Living Magazine recently ranked Hinsdale, IL the top western suburb!  The rankings were based on qualities that are generally valued by everyone, such as the total crime index, high school graduation rate and home values.

At Normandy, we’re happy to call Hinsdale home because we recognize and appreciate the closeness of the community and the warmth of the residents.  After completing over 400 remodeling projects in Hinsdale, we agree that it is a wonderful place to live and work – congratulations Hinsdale!

Next time you’re in the area, stop by our showroom at 440 E. Ogden, Hinsdale IL - we’d love to say “Hi”!

The Remodeler’s Remodel: The Final Reveal

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It’s taken some time, but now that the remodel is complete, Normandy Designer Leslie Lee‘s home has taken a huge leap into the 21st century.  With her kitchen remodel receiving the biggest overhaul, the rest of the house received some needed updates as well, such as the powder room and a new front door.  Leslie is overjoyed with the results, and goes into detail of how well everything turned out.  To read Leslie’s remodel story from the beginning, click here.

Well, I’ve been a total slacker on the blog because we are having so much fun organizing and cooking in the new kitchen. Those of you who predicted that I would spend days organizing my utensils, pantry goodies, pots and pans – basically every fun thing I have in the kitchen – well, you guys were right on the money. And I’m having success finding the perfect place for everything. I kind of went crazy customizing the inside of the cabinetry for all of our things, but it was well worth it. My favorite spot is the cabinet above the beverage refrigerator. Everyone needs a junk drawer in the kitchen – and I made sure our version of it had plenty of space. We keep mail, sunglasses, coupons, cell phone chargers and all kinds of fun stuff here. And the doors close to hide everything when we have visitors. The space is everything we hoped for and more. We love cooking dinner for the family almost every night together.

We love the end result of the other more minor projects we did around the house. The new front door looks amazing – I love the gray color on the outside. I can’t wait to paint the house white with black shutters. And I’m so glad we decided to keep the fireplace in the kitchen, and painted it white to give it a fresh look. Although it would have made a great space for a walk-in pantry, we love have the ambiance of the wood burning fireplace in the winter. And I was still able to fit in a huge pantry cabinet – so we are covered there. The new front loader washer and dryer downstairs have been put to good use already. The drawers underneath raise the machines up about 15” which means a lot less bending – so nice. It’s really great to have a powder room that looks like it belongs in the 21st century, and not 1965. I guess that’s kind of my feeling for the whole floor now. It finally feels like it all works together and belongs in this decade.

What’s next – on to the bathrooms – maybe 2014? They need serious help.

Click here to see more of Leslie’s projects, or schedule an appointment today to get started on your kitchen remodel!

Normandy Wilmette Kitchen Featured on “Designer Kitchens of the North Shore” Kitchen Tour

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Normandy Remodeling will be sponsoring the “Designer Kitchens of the North Shore” kitchen tour of 2012, held by the Junior League of Evanston – North Shore.  The money raised from this event will fund future projects and programs of the organization such as scholarships and the “Job Readiness” program..  “The Junior League of Evanston – North Shore does a significant number of meaningful projects for the community, and it made sense for us to sponsor such a respected organization,” said co-owner of Normandy, Andy Wells.

One of Normandy’s award winning kitchens was also selected as one of the seven kitchens to be featured on the tour.  From the smart storage in the crisp white cabinetry to the subtle, organic accent color, this kitchen has a truly timeless appeal.  The owners’ main goals when remodeling their 1968 Colonial was to open the kitchen to the family room so it didn’t feel so isolated and to accommodate a large eating area.  “They wanted to create a ‘living kitchen’ that would function as the central gathering space for the family,” said Normandy Designer, Vince Weber.  The existing kitchen was bumped out 10’ to make room for a cozy banquette to satisfy the need for an eating area.  The dark stained island was designed to look like a furniture piece, and helps to connect the kitchen to the adjoining family room.

To read more about the details of this beautiful kitchen, click here.  If you would like to learn more about the event or purchase tickets, click here.

Normandy Remodeling Voted Best of Remodeling by Millions of Houzz Members!

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Normandy Remodeling has been awarded “Best Of Remodeling” 2012 by Houzz, which is the leading online platform for residential remodeling and design.  Houzz has rapidly become the largest community of active remodelers, providing homeowners and design enthusiasts with first-hand advice from Houzzers who have been through the renovating and decorating process,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of marketing for Houzz. “This is a real stamp of approval for Normandy Remodeling from the Houzz community and we’re thrilled to welcome them to this elite group of ‘Best Of’ winners.”

Vintage Victorian for the 21st Century

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The owners of this stately 1850s Victorian home loved its character and history, but found that it didn’t quite meet their 21st century needs.  They began working with Normandy Remodeling’s Troy Pavelka, who was challenged with the task of meeting their growing family’s needs while further enhancing the beauty and charm of their home.  Troy welcomed the opportunity to work on such a historic and architecturally stylistic home and took painstaking steps to ensure that the remarkable details that made this home unique extended throughout the remodel.

The two story addition that included an attached two-car garage, mudroom, master suite and home office, featured the very intricate details found on the existing home that defined the Victorian style.  Replicating these vintage elements required creativity and perseverance as intricate mouldings were custom replicated, vintage door hinges and push button light switches were sourced, and dozens of details, large and small, were extended to the newly constructed addition.  On the home’s exterior, 36 corbels were custom made to identically match the existing corbels and even the unique cresting on the roof was seamlessly extended to the addition.  The restoration of the home’s original turret turned out to be the crowning jewel of the residence, with its copper roof boasting of the home’s elegant past.

The completed addition and renovation on this old and architecturally significant home was a detailed and challenging task, but one with spectacular results.  “Many people have asked me where the original house ended and where the addition begins,” says Normandy Designer Troy Pavelka.  The skillful addition of the two car garage, master suite, mudroom and home office has not only been appreciated by the residents of LaGrange, IL - it has also gained national attention.  This project recently received a “Best of the Best,” award as well as a “Master Design Award” from Professional Remodeler and Qualified Remodeler, respectively.

You can learn more about Normandy Designer Troy Pavelka, or you can schedule an appointment for a free in-home consultation with Troy or any of the award-winning Normandy designers by clicking here.

 

The Remodel is Really Cookin’!

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The appliances are in, meaning the end is in sight for this beautiful kitchen remodel.  The Abt appliances selected by Normandy Designer Leslie Lee finally make the space feel like a kitchen, and she can’t wait to get started cooking and entertaining guests – and this kitchen is perfect for both!  To catch up on the remodel, start with the first blog by clicking here.

Wow – it’s almost ready to go. Abt came to install the appliances, and they look so cool. I think the hood is my favorite part. It has built-in halogen lights that shine down on the cooking surface, and four different fan speeds. Appliances always look so great in the appliance store, but even better in your own home. I can’t want to start cooking.

The faucet is in now, and there was enough left over tile to install over the window. I love how that turned out. There is very little exposed wall left over to paint in the kitchen, which is kind of nice.

Window treatments are something we need to start thinking about. The sun is pretty bright coming through the kitchen windows. I have looked at a few solar shade type options. It’s a bit of a contemporary look, which I think will go well with the overall feel of the kitchen, family room, and eating area.

A Touch of Backsplash

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The backsplash tile is now going in to Normandy Designer Leslie Lee‘s new and improved kitchen.  The tile brings the room together just as she had hoped, and I think you’ll agree that it adds a lovely dimension to her newly remodeled kitchen.  You can follow the entire kitchen renovation from the beginning by clicking here.

The backsplash is going in and I love it.  This 1″ x 4″ brick pattern is a new size for this particular tile.  I love the color, the textured glass, and the shape.  It seems to complement the granite and cabinets just as I had hoped.  Originally, I had not planned to have tile installed above the windows, but I think it will look so cool.  We always order extra, for cutting purposes, and in case a few tiles are broken.  So hopefully there will be enough left over to do the space above the window.

 

Once tile is completed, the appliances should be coming soon.  I wanted to create a wall of built in appliances, so we chose a 42″ built-in style refrigerator, built-in double ovens, and a beverage refrigerator which will hold wine and extra drinks (water, soda, beer).  For the cook top, we chose a commercial style 36″ range top with a griddle in the middle.  Once these are installed and the kitchen is up and running, Gary and I get go to the Wolf / Sub-Zero showroom for a cooking demonstration, and learn how to best use our new appliances.  Looking forward to that!

Countertops are Here

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The end is drawing near as Normandy Designer Leslie Lee shares the progress of her kitchen renovation, step by step as she experiences it.  This steady renovation progress is due in large part to our amazing project superintendent, Rick Ruh.  Rick has kept a close eye on the schedule and all the details for Leslie’s project to ensure the everything moves along quickly and smoothly.  You can always click here to find the first story in the series which includes some amazing “before” photos and see all the wondrous progress that’s been made so far.

The countertops are now installed, and although Sophie doesn’t look too impressed (there she is looking tired and bored – but what do 14 month olds know anyway) – Gary and I are psyched.  I was able to work with the fabricator to be sure my favorite part of the stone, the big white and gray blobs, were located in a prominent spot, right on the island. 

The kitchen sink is in place now too.  I choose a great Kohler stainless steel model with the smart divide feature.  You can see that middle divider is lowered so that it’s much easier to clean big pots and pans.  Love that feature.

 In the powder room, the new vanity has been set up too.  It looks like a little piece of furniture, rather than a built in piece.  I like this look for a small bathroom space.  It seems a bit lighter.