Jamie Gasparovic 9/25/18 Jamie Gasparovic 9/25/18

Touraine Project | Great Room Reveal

Hey strangers! My blogging game has been weak lately, but now that we’re (semi) settled into our new house, I really want to get back in a groove with it. What better way to ease in than finally revealing our previous house, aka The Touraine Project?! I’ve shared plenty of glimpses of it over on Instagram (are you following us yet?!) but wanted to dive a little deeper and share it here on the blog too. First up is the biggest - some may even say greatest - room in the house…the Great Room! Which is the catchall term I’m using for our open concept kitchen, living, and dining room area.

Let me take you all the way back to the year… 2016. When Ryan and I first walked into this (not so) great room, here’s the magic that greeted us:

Orlando Home Renovation Before and After

That may or may not be a pee-soaked mattress on the left there… charming right?!

As you can see, you walked right into a wall, which I’m pretty sure is universally frowned upon. Ready for some afters?!

Orlando Interior Designer Home Renovation Before and After

Mid Century Living Room Before and After

I’m currently sitting in that chair up there writing this blog post. I got two of them off of Craigslist for 60 bucks, and Ryan HATED them. I think they’ve grown on him a bit though… they’ve obviously made the move with us and are #heretostay! ;) You can also see a blurry peak into the dining room, so let’s jump over to that area. Here are a few of the scary before photos…

We had a lot of walls, a lot of brown, and a LOT of extremely dusty ceiling fans on our hands. Ready for the afters?

Orlando Interior Designer Home Renovation

Orlando Interior Design Before and Afters

I could not love this space more and am obsessed with how the photographs turned out, thanks to Sarah’s mad skills! I chose to mix a more farmhouse style dining room table with modern copper chairs for contrast. It’s one of my favorite things to do with design - it just adds so much interest! I added sheep skins to the chairs for texture and comfort. Although we sold both the table and chairs to the new homeowners, the sheep skins made the move with us, and are looking mighty fine draped over our new dining chairs.

Painting the brick on the fireplace and adding a distressed wood mantel really lightened things up in here.. We added shiplap on the walls next to the fireplace and after living with those walls painted white for a bit, ended up painting them Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart. I’m so glad we did! It was looking (dare I say) TOO white in there, and there’s nothing I love more than balancing bright and airy with moody! The dark walls accomplish that and ground the space.

And the room everyone really wants to see… the kitchen!

Orlando Kitchen Remodel Before and After

Orlando Kitchen Renovation Before and after

There was a huge wall dividing the kitchen from the dining area, making the kitchen into a tight, galley-style layout. The cabinets were falling apart and everything was dirty as all get out. After a few minor changes (ha!) here are the afters:

Hickory Hardware Williamsburg Pull Rose Gold

So much better without all those walls! We gained so much space in the kitchen, and got to add an 8 foot island that made me feel like I was on a cooking show when I stood behind it. My darling husband tiled that whole backsplash (and may or may not have wanted to kill me for making it go all the way to the ceiling…), installed the open shelving, and added the cabinet hardware. Talk about pressure - there’s really no room for error when you’re drilling into your brand new tile/cabinets.

When I look at the before photos of the kitchen remodel, I can hardly believe it’s the same space. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and, let’s be honest - money) to take this space from the before to the after, but it was well worth it. There’s not much that’s more satisfying as a designer - taking a space that’s rundown and scary and turning into something beautiful and functional.

Stay tuned for more Touraine Project reveals! And if you have your own Orlando renovation project to tackle, don’t hesitate to reach out - I’d love to help you design the space of your dreams!

Pssst - if you’re interested in sources for anything, you can now shop our house! I am slowly but surely getting everything possible up there - if it’s not on there, it’s probably from Craigslist or Homegoods! ;)

Guest User 7/21/16 Guest User 7/21/16

Homespo Reno - Weeks 10&11

I've been putting off writing this post, because SO MUCH has been happening over here the last two weeks! We've got an (almost) functioning kitchen! We've got an (almost) functioning bathroom! Lots of exclamation points are necessary! It really looks like an actual house over here, and I never want to leave. We're shooting for this weekend to start staying here full time, and I can't even wait.

Kitchen Cabinets Installed

After a few delays, our kitchen cabinets and island finally arrived last Tuesday. The outer cabinets are all white, and the island is gray. We've got drawers, doors, and lazy Susan's a-plenty & I couldn't be any more in love with how it all turned out. The shaker style doors look awesome, and they'll only look better when we put some bling (ahem, hardware) on them.

White Shaker Cabinets and Farmhouse Sink

Countertops Are IN

I've always been a fan of concrete countertops, and had been torn between those or quartz for our kitchen. When I found out the quartz I wanted would be significantly more dough, the decision was easy. Concrete it was!

The original plan was to have plain white-ish/light gray-ish concrete counters. That was, until I found out that the guys doing our counters could do so many badass things! I ended up giving them a marble coaster and saying "I want them to look like this!" - and they so delivered. It's truly insane the things they can do with concrete - can you tell I'm kinda impressed? To say I'm thrilled with how our counters turned out is an understatement. They look like marble, but they're way more unique, durable, low-maintenance, cool, etc, etc. I. Am. In. Love!

Concrete Countertops White with Gray Veining

Guest Bathroom (Mostly) Finished

Priority number one before we move in is to have a functional bathroom (not counting the port-a potty that's still in our front yard...) so we've been busting our butts trying to get that room finished up! We planked the bottom third of the walls and painted them Benjamin Moore's Simply White. The top 2/3 we painted Benjamin Moore's Dark Harbor.

We've got our toilet in and working, and just need to scrub the shower and put the finishing touches on our dresser-turned-vanity!

Painted the Closet

I suddenly decided that I was dying to paint something in our house black. It's still a neutral, but it adds some draaaama and makes a statement! I started off small, and painted the bottom 2/3 of our master closet Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black. I have no regrets. #PaintItBlack

I think Ryan's concerned I'm going to start painting the whole house black now. Not to worry - I only have plans to paint some doors and one of the office walls... so far. ;)

Moved a Uhaul Worth of Stuff

Last Friday Ryan conned two of his oh-so-lovely co-workers into helping us move. They grabbed the Uhaul and moved over all of our big stuff like beds, dressers, and the couch. It's so nice to be able to sit on our couch again! And to have our bed over here - even if we are still sleeping on an air mattress at the townhouse currently...

The only things we have left to move over are our day-to-day essentials like clothes and toiletries. Hoorah!

Hung Curtains

We got the curtains hung in the two front rooms (and by we, I mean Ryan) and it's amazing what a difference it makes. My office feels so much fancier already. Even though they are definitely nothing fancy - a $20 curtain rod from Lowe's and $25 curtains from IKEA. ;)

So that's where we're at! We're actually in the home stretch now, and should be spending the night here in a few days - we can't wait!

Guest User 7/7/16 Guest User 7/7/16

White Gray and Copper Kitchen Mood Board

With our kitchen cabinets coming in sometime in the next week, our dream kitchen is getting closer to becoming a reality! I wanted to share the mood board that I put together for our white, gray, and copper kitchen. A few of the pieces we ordered have already come in, and I'm so in love! I'm sharing the sources below.

White Gray Copper Rustic Industrial Kitchen

Pendant Light // Rose Gold Faucet // GE Slate Range // Farmhouse Sink // Runner // Flooring // Cabinet Pulls // Knobs // Herb Planters // Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Moonshine

What do you think? I can't wait to see our kitchen come together in real life, and share pictures with you guys!

Guest User 3/13/16 Guest User 3/13/16

New Kitchen Inspiration

One of the biggest changes we'll be making in the new house is the kitchen. The whole thing is being gutted and redone. New configuration, new cabinets, new floors - the whole nine yards. I've been pinning inspiration photos like crazy (are you following us on Pinterest yet?) and wanted to share a roundup of my kitchen inspiration in a post! Enjoy!