We recently completed this remodel of a beachfront condo in Southern California, the low-rise mid Century building built on the sand with an Iconic view of the Santa Monica pier.
While the interiors were dated (and not in a good way) the design plan was to keep the clean lines and accentuate the feeling of space and wonderful light the unit has. Because of time and budget considerations we choose to use products almost exclusive from Ikea. While I am a fan of Ikea I have seen my share of bad results from consumers "high on saving a buck", a little design restraint and always a good plan goes a long way . . .
Following are some before and after images, (click on the photo to enlarge)
The kitchen was bad. It was dark and felt small, the full depth refrigerator was barley three feet from the sink cabinet. One word sums this up "Demo"
We were able to borrow a foot from the closet behind the refrigerator wall, this helps expand the space and the addition of floor to ceiling pantry storage behind white glass sliding doors was huge. This enabled us to eliminate wall cabinets and use 1" white glass tile giving a wonderful reflective surface under the stainless steel shelf.
Oh my! While I have nothing against mirror, this is just wrong. The combination of the gas fireplace (which did not work) and white shag carpet, did not say welcome to the beach . . .
We found this cool electric (and very realistic) fireplace framed in honed gray limestone, along with simple framing details to create niches the room has a relaxed sophisticated vibe.
The bookcase niches are covered with thin stacked porcelain tile and the floating Ikea shelves are back lit with LED lights
The before photos of the bathroom were to ugly for public viewing, (think White shag carpet and silver mylar wallpaper with sea shells covering walls and ceiling).These cool "floating" sink cabinets with integral porcelain sink tops really cleaned up the bathroom spaces. We repeated the white glass tile and the mirror doubles as medicine chest on one side.
Unifying the whole space is this wonderful wood floor, actually it is not wood at all but vinyl planks from the "Free Fit" collection. I loved the driftwood gray reclaimed effect, not to mention how practical it is at the beach.
Holy cow! The floors are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI came across your Blog after searching for images of FreeFit Flooring as we are considering this for our basement remodel. Can you tell me specifically what color you used for this remodel? Was it the Reclaimed Oak color FF120?
Thanks so much!
Elizabeth
This is a exactly a good post because my cousin need to buy a condo for her wife to give a surprise gift for their anniversary. Her wife really love condos near the beach. I will suggest this to my cousin, thanks for the info! :)
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HI, Very inspiring to see the before and after :) I will As Iw ant to do with my home too :D I like white kitchens and bathrooms, but the question is doesn't get it dirty too fast? You know, all the finger touches, prints etc. I already want to change my sink from white to something made with stone so no one can figure out any dusts on it :D for example Eden stone sink I think it;s going to be a good idea :) same with floor, never white and clear colours. Cheers! nice work :)
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