Doing More with Less: A Townhouse Kitchen Remodel



Space Sacrificed:
An Unused Porch Before

 A tiny and dark galley kitchen in an urban townhouse usually equals a variety of daily frustrations: cramped cooking space, difficulty entertaining guests while slicing and dicing, and the cliched, yet extremely common too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen issue, among many others. Often the only solution is a smart and carefully executed remodel. That's where Wentworth came in.



Space Gained: Sunny
Kitchen Addition After

When a couple downsized from a suburban home to a 1920s historic townhouse, the tiny kitchen had to fit their lifestyle. Working within the confines of a small space has its limitations, but our clients were willing to sacrifice their back porch for additional kitchen space. This sacrifice paid off: a sunny breakfast nook with a view of the garden now sits where the porch used to be. The space is cozy, warm (thanks in large part to the kitchen's energy-efficient radiant heated floors) and sure to be enjoyed year round.


Let the Sun Shine:
The Finished Kitchen


Innovative design features maximize space elsewhere in the kitchen - from cabinets with roll-out shelving to turning unused space under a stair into a pantry. These features and the resulting open-plan kitchen fit the client's informal lifestyle, proving that you never have to sacrifice style for function or space. For more on this project, visit the Hill Rag's January Home & Gardens Feature, Making the Most of Townhouse Kitchen.

The Stroke of a Feather: How Inspiration Meets Design for Wentworth’s Interior Designer Christopher Patrick, ASID

Christopher Patrick, ASID

Wentworth, Inc.’s interior designer, Christopher Patrick, ASID, knew from an early age he’d be painting clients’ rooms in bright and bold colors with successful results. At the age of 10, when most parents are fretting about dirty handprints on walls and muddy footprints on freshly cleaned rugs, his parents already trusted him to paint his bedroom. It wasn’t long before he’d moved onto bigger, more important rooms.

Fortunately for Wentworth, Inc.'s clients, Christopher is involved in more than just paint choices. Because Wentworth, Inc. is uniquely able to offer architecture, interiors, and construction under one roof, Christopher’s aesthetic as a designer, which he defines as clean and streamlined, informs all aspects of a client’s home remodel.



The Stroke of a Feather

Christopher says his design sense, a mix of the old and new, is often inspired by nature. A recent remodel of a client’s study/home office was transformed with the stroke of a peacock feather. Actually, says Christopher, the peacock feather was more of an inspiration, a way to convince a client who wasn’t afraid of color to paint her new study/home office bright teal and an adjacent bedroom pale olive. “This certainly wasn’t your traditional color pairing, but I convinced her through a series of images showing how pale green and teal make an excellent, albeit nontraditional, color combination.”

Christopher has a knack for working with Wentworth clients to make sure their vision is carried out, while simultaneously guiding them through the many nitty-gritty product and finish choices that come with a remodel. Even though clients often come to Christopher with an idea – pictures, samples, advertisements – of what they’d like their room to look like, Christopher works with them to find their way through a world of endless options.

Looking a Little Green

As an interior designer, it’s Christopher’s job to keep abreast of the trends, from the newest in green innovations to the hottest paint colors. A recent kitchen remodel offered just the opportunity to utilize the latest green building products, and Christopher was more than happy to help the client navigate through the growing pool of eco-friendly building products. When the client decided on an Oceanside Glass backsplash comprised of a combination of pre-consumer, post-industrial, and post-consumer recycled material, Christopher suggested they also consider using Icestone for their island countertop. Made of recycled glass and concrete, Icestone is as beautiful as it is eco-friendly. Although the client was originally concerned with the durability and cost of a green product, Christopher knew it was the right choice. And it was. The client was thrilled with the finished look.

And that, Christopher says, is what it’s all about at Wentworth: “A client will usually tell you what they want, the givens - bed in the bedroom and table in the dining room - but how we style it and bring it all together, it’s a collaboration between us and the client. We take a vision and make it happen.”





A Custom Painted Floor

By Bruce Wentworth, AIA

Painting your wood floors is a wonderful way to give your home variety and create a custom look. If you keep it simple it can be a cost effective way to enhance your old wood floors. If you want a more refined, detailed look it will cost a bit more.

A recent design problem involved oak floors for a kitchen and adjacent dining room. The kitchen was being remodeled with a new 9’ wide opening to visually link the dining room and gain natural light from the south facing room. Custom mahogany cabinets, and dark gray limestone counter tops, were a dressy touch for the new kitchen. The design dilemma was how to handle the wood floor finish. The homes’ existing oak floor had a medium dark stain - but continuing the stain color into the kitchen did not provide visual contrast with the cabinets; it would have been muddy. And changing to a lighter stain would have looked odd against the existing dark oak floors. Solution: paint the wood floor. Paint provided a natural break from the existing stained oak floors, and a color compliment to the new kitchen cabinets.Of course, once paint was selected we had to decide upon the color and pattern. Without too much agony, a light gray neutral color was selected because it worked well with the gray limestone counter top and complemented the mahogany cabinets. I was fortunate to know Maxine Cohen who had experience with painted floors. I knew that painting a monolithic gray would not suffice – so with the idea of a two-tone gray floor, I prepared several drawings with subtle striated patterns.

Conceptually it is a rectilinear pin wheel; a small rectangle, in a solid gray, placed as the center of the pinwheel, around which a large rectangle and a large square are placed. The square and the rectangle are differentiated by the differing widths of their stripes.

The pattern creates a gentle visual movement on the floor and never feels dead. Maxine made three test mockups to get it just right and cleverly cut rubber squeegees with different size slots (like combs) to create the stripped patterns. It worked like a charm…but took seven days to paint. The long days of taping the pattern, painting, and letting it dry to implement the detailed design was worth it - as the evidence shows.

Wentworth, Inc. earns Six NARI Metro DC Capital COTY Awards

NARI METRO DC Honors Wentworth, Inc. With Six Capital CotY Awards

Wentworth, Inc. (www.wentworthstudio.com), a residential remodeling design/build company located in Chevy Chase, Maryland was honored with six 2008 Contractor of the year (Coty) awards from the Metro DC chapter of the National Association of Remodeling Industry (NARI). Each year, Metro DC NARI members submit their best remodeling work to be considered for the Capital CotY Awards. The Capital CotY represents the best in the remodeling and design-build industry in the metro DC region.

The honors were announced at the 2008 Metro DC NARI chapter’s annual awards banquette, January 24, 2009. Wentworth, Inc.’s awards included two Grand Prizes and four Merit awards:

· Residential Addition under $250,000: Grand Prize

· Residential Kitchen over $150,000: Grand Prize

· Residential Interior $250,000 and under: Merit Award

· Residential Bath $30,000-$60,000: Merit Award

· Residential Kitchen $50,000 to $100,000: Merit Award

· Residential Exterior Specialty Merit Award

Wentworth, Inc., founded by architect Bruce Wentworth, specializes in the design and remodeling of older urban homes. Previously, Wentworth, Inc. has won five Capital COTY awards, for a total of eleven awards in the past three years:

· 2007–Grand Prize—Residential Interiors

· 2007–Honorable Mention—Residential Kitchen

· 2007–Merit Award—Residential Addition

· 2006–Honorable Mention—Residential Kitchen

· 2005–Merit Award—Residential Bath

“These awards are a tribute to the Wentworth, Inc. employees for their expertise and collaboration on every project.” -Bruce Wentworth, AIA

Contact:
Candice Carver
Wentworth, Inc.
P 240.395.0705 x108
F 240.395.0707
ccarver@wentworthstudio.com
www.wentworthstudio.com
(photos available)

2009 Trends for Interiors

2009 Color Trends

Inspired by tones to create a retreat from the stresses outside your home, color trends for 2009 are soothing and reflective of calm natural tones. Base colors create a casual attitude and neutral canvas for bright pops of color with a combination of warm and cool grays reflecting the purpose of the space. Neutrals range in vegetative and mineral shades found in nature like olive green, khaki, and bright pale blue. Contrast these with warm brown and golden leathers and woods in shades of camel, rust, and walnut to create a sense of warmth and coziness. Also, don’t be scared to brighten your home by using a play of light and dark with the use of silky pastels with vivid shades. Lavender and Yellow are your go to accent colors for the year.

To view more 2009 trends for Interiors, be sure to check out the 2009 issue of "Living Design," Wentworth's free annual newsletter. Contact us at newsletter@wentworthstudio.com to recieve a copy.

ASID Award

Wentworth, Inc. is proud to announce a recent kitchen remodel won an Honorable Mention in the Residential Kitchen and Bath category of the Maryland ASID 2008 Interior Design Awards with Chesapeake Home. You can see the project in the October issue of Chesapeake Home.

photo by Ron Blunt