Kitchen & Sitting Room Renovation: Our Plans for our Cottage on the River
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I am asked about our kitchen – why I rarely show it, when we will be renovating it (all in good spirit) and today, I am thrilled to share that we begin the in early November! I truly believe that the kitchen is the heart of the home—a place where memories are made, meals are shared, and creativity comes to life…but it’s time for a fresh look and improved functionality. Today, I want to share our current kitchen, the inspiration behind our new design, and a sneak peek at the plans. Bonus, we are revamping our Sitting Room to bring it purpose vs. collecting dust…scroll to the bottom reveal! Thank you for all of your support as we go through this journey.
Kitchen
The Before
Our kitchen was one of the selling points of the home. The size, the current layout is great and we love the way it balances hosting and daily life. However, it is over 20 years old and lots of it is falling apart, on top of being the complete opposite of our style. It also lacks optimization of the space, making it hard to host as we would like.
The Inspiration
Our home is an old colonial right on the river. It speaks to my soul, but I believe it is important to lean into and maintain the style of your home to design it appropriately. Leaning into the cottage look, the goal is to modernize while making it feel like it was always here. I have always been drawn to the timeless, cozy elegance that blends a Nancy Meyers aesthetic with modern, traditional colonial cottage vibes. From warm tones to functional layouts, my inspiration board is packed with ideas that emphasize both form and function. Think large farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets in antique white, and rich walnut accents that bring warmth to the space. You’ll also see elements like beautiful mullion glass cabinets, integrated custom appliances, and detailed crown moldings that bring a mix of modern functionality and timeless design. Below are some sources that greatly inspired the space, with credit as applicable:
Dark walnut island, muted cream cabinetry with a statement range alcove and brass finishes.
Range shape and beams, overall similar aesthetic.
Dining nook built in bench and cafe curtains.
Right side cabinet alongside nook.
The Plans
Our cabinets are from The Cabinet Joint! While it is a DIY type of solution with more work from a planning and selection perspective, and you have to put them together yourself (or with your contractor, which is what we are doing) their product is top notch, priced very well and comes with many options to customize. We saved thousands over local custom cabinetry options. As mentioned above, here are some highlights of the plans:
Perimeter Cabinets in Antique White: These cabinets will give the space a clean and classic feel, while being practical and spacious.
Custom Island in Walnut: This piece will be the focal point of the kitchen—perfect for gathering, meal prepping, and casual dining.
Apron Sink Base: For that classic farmhouse look, paired with an efficient layout of base and wall cabinets.
Integrated Appliances and Custom Panels: Including a refrigerator and dishwasher seamlessly blending into the design with custom face frames.
I’ll be going into much more detail here, but as mentioned we maintained the layout while maximizing the space with really intentional and thoughtful cabinet placement and layout. We wanted to keep a statement alcove, and create an appliance garage and maximize storage, removing the double oven concept. Our island will now house much more storage, and, hides the microwave!
All of our appliances are panel ready, much more detail on that in another post!
Here is an arial view of the initial draft plans from Intuitive Design, where you can see the nook concept. We’ve added to it to personalize the space as we plan to include a tv and other design details. I have to leave some things hangin’ – stay tuned!
Sitting Room
The Before
I am sure that most of you are shocked we are touching these shelves, but hear me out. We don’t have a ton of functional space in this house, and I want to make every inch count! While beautiful, these shelves 1. are very poorly made and are falling apart and 2. serve zero purpose to us. As an extension right off of the kitchen, from the day we saw the house, we had other plans…
The Inspiration
With the entry to and from the mudroom, I wanted to find similar concepts that have deep cabinetry surrounding the doors. This is a fantastic execution!
Driscoll Design & Decoration (Random Pin)
This is very similar to our paint color and helped sealed that we would keep our current blue. Paneled fridge and a dark wood countertop to match the kitchen island.
The Plans
As you see from the inspiration, this will be a beautiful wall of cabinetry that will be alongside a sitting space to both relax and entertain guests. Additionally, provide proper storage for glassware, alcohol and other serving necessities. We decided during the planning to add this onto our project (Thank you, Rachel and Becca!) to not live in limbo in our new kitchen space.
The open space between the left cabinets is for a wine rack and shelf.
We’ll also be featuring a fun detail at the end of the project, can you guess what it is?
Follow along over on Instagram for daily updates as we begin demo soon!