*Lyrics from Matthew Wilder’s hit 80’s song “Break My Stride.” The video is pretty remarkable – the fashion, the dancing, the Solid Gold. I’ve been saving this one up for today’s post.

Day 1: Client Kitchen & Bath Renovation

It’s hard to imagine that last year at this time Jeff and I were excitedly and nervously counting the days in our own renovation, already hitting day 11 by the beginning of August. Well, today was day 1 for my clients’ (heretofore known as Mr & Mrs K) kitchen and bathroom renovation. I don’t know that they’re as nervous or excited as we were, but I know that they’ll be counting the days as we did. How can you not? I mean, when more than half of your house is taken over by teams of people, tools and materials; when the only sounds you can hear during the daytime are hammers banging, power tools vibrating, and things being heaved into a large, and loud, dumpster, it’s pretty hard not to pay attention.

Though today was the first real day – the first day that proper, noisy, dusty and space-changing demolition began – the power and plumbing loss kicked off the start of the process last week. And it is a process. It begins with an idea, then follows a budgetary path, zigging and zagging all over until a clear design path emerges. It settles into a trajectory that’s hard to escape once launched, and onto a journey that seems to continue on for months after the actual finish. At least that’s how we experienced it. Mr & Mrs K will have to judge for themselves if that’s what they feel after they go through it.

For now, though, I am (happily) surrounded by familiar faces, familiar sounds, familiar issues and fluidly changing design plans. One thing (of the many, many) that I learned (the hard way) during my brief time at NESAD (New England School of Art and Design) was how to let go of a specific design idea in the service of a larger concept. Mr & Mrs K are having to do that now – both with their budgetary ideas and their combined vision for the space. The design will continue evolve as we unearth unknowns; as they make choice after choice (and purchase after purchase); as the physical parameters of the space inform our own imagination; and, as the days march on, enumerating all of our commitment to the vision, the end goal, and the process that is renovation.

The scope of the renovation is clear – put the sad, sagging kitchen out of its misery so that a new, beautiful, useful and timeless one may rise in its place, not unlike a phoenix. From ashes to ashes, and sawdust to sawdust, so too shall the space be reclaimed by newer, non-broken, non-disintegrating parts. We thank the former kitchen for its life, but welcome a new life in its stead. Some pictures of the before and the during. Enjoy!