“The family room and kitchen were cut off from one another, which affected the light that could get into each space and further isolating the person cooking and cleaning from the rest of the family,” recalls architect Libby Raab.

“Their existing kitchen was very narrow with a cooktop in a tiny island and layout that was not conducive to supporting the client’s sophisticated cooking skills as well as their neighborhood gatherings,” Libby shares. 

“We kept the board and batten exterior siding and chose to paint it a dark color with contrasting white windows,” Libby explains.
“This added a new level of sophistication to the feel of the ranch home that had minimal exterior revisions. It also allows the new landscaping colors to pop against the darker canvas of the house.”

“The client wanted a very large television in the family room,” interior designer Krista Hoffman says. “My first reaction was to find a way to hide it, but I quickly realized that a wall of built-in cabinetry would have felt too heavy in the space. I eventually embraced the television’s large scale and created a custom floating wall cabinet with soft white painted frame, stained oak doors, and vintage brass hardware punctuated by Urban Electric’s Glenwood wall sconces in bronze with linen shades.”

“Luckily, the client was not afraid to use natural stone in the kitchen, so we selected soapstone for the perimeter and statuary marble for the island,” Krista says. “These materials combined with rift oak and soft white painted cabinetry, handmade ceramic brick tile, and the beautiful LaCanche range set the tone for the rest of the pieces in the kitchen — the creamy white painted pendants, the woven and wood counter stools, the bent arm chairs and glass pendant around the eat in banquette. The result is a welcoming light-filled interior where people want to linger.”

“If the refrigerator was the appliance that launched the project, the range was the appliance that inspired the rest of the kitchen design,” Libby says. “It is a non standard sized LaCanche with a long lead time (8 months). It was the first thing ordered by the client as soon as the project began and everything needed to work around the (gorgeous) look and feel of the range.”

“We kept the existing furnishings in the dining room (wishbone chairs, antique mirror, and Ochre pendant) and added linen and cotton pillows to continue the feeling of softness and light,” Krista says.

Libby explains, “We re-imagined the laundry room at the end of the hallway serving the family bedroom. We added a French door with glass to the side yard (featuring an outdoor shower/hot tub/kitchen garden/batting cage) as well as obscure glazing in the door from the hallway to the laundry room so that light could flow from the outside into the hallway and not feel blocked off. We also removed the furnace from the laundry room and put in a new high-efficiency furnace in the attic to clean up the space and keep it dedicated to only the laundry function.”