This Austin, Texas kitchen a part of a 130-year-old home possessed by Houzz reader Robert Mace. A mishmash of classic pieces and salvaged materials, Mace explains the area’s look as “Grandma on acid”
The majority of this home was constructed in the early 1890s, in a normal Louisiana shotgun-shack design. Mace purchased the home after falling in love with the home’s tall ceilings, paned windows, and heart-of-pine floors — all wrapped up in a comfy 1,110 square feet.
The home was filled with history, and just what he was looking for — except for the kitchen. When the house was constructed, the kitchen has been on an open rear porch using a lean-to roof. When it was purchased years later, the new owners closed from the porch, and threw on a few awkward developments. Mace needed to brace himself for a remodel.
We have a glimpse of it lately in our roundup of all Houzz readers’ real-life kitchens. Here is a closer look:
“When we bought the home, the kitchen still had the sloping, linoleum-covered porch flooring, the 7-foot porch ceiling, and the awful appliances, cabinets, and countertops,” says Mace. “Everything was sloped, for example, countertop. When we spilled some thing, we needed to run to another side of this room to catch it before it hit the wall or dripped off the counter!”
Mace determined he wanted to remodel the kitchen that it made sense with the rest of the home’s unique character. Instead of attempting to make it something it wasn’t, he decided to embrace its funk and give it some style.
Structurally, he’d the ceiling raised, added marginally larger windows, and leveled the ground and countertops. The new counter is a sturdy, red-dyed concrete.
During demolition, the contractor found the first flue from once the kitchen was found on the rear porch. “It was hidden behind drywall from the back of a cupboard,” says Mace. “It was a pleasant surprise. This flue joins the kitchen to the house’s history, and gives us a great place to hang our pots and pans”
It is clear Mace wanted a playful sensibility to dwell in every nook and cranny of this kitchen. A classic lover set, a dustpan made out of a license plate, and a George Nelson Ball Clock are just a taste of this quirky style that Mace infused to the space.
Mace decided to paint the walnut flooring different colors prior to painting it the last colour of green. “We did this so that as the flooring is worn, it seems like history is gradually being revealed,” he says. He told the contractor to not protect the floor while functioning, and the consequent dents gave the flooring an even more aged look. “Additionally, it kept us from worrying about our own denting and dinging later,” he says.
A refrigerator covered in every sticker and magnet possible sits next to a standalone pantry. All of the cupboards in the kitchen are created from salvaged materials on the home’s site. The cabinet is made out of a repurposed door that was between the kitchen and the workplace.
Conveniently, Mace’s neighbor was redoing his kitchen in the same time. Some of his older cupboards reside on in Mace’s kitchen. “Rubbing them with purple paint brought out this cool crazing from the older paint,” says Mace. All of the cabinetry can be modular, so every piece could be removed and replaced separately — in case he ever gets sick of this look.
Look closely on either side of the counter, and you’ll see what appears to be an old fashioned gas heater grill. Since Mace loves to listen to songs while cooking, he repurposed two heater grills in the bathroom as speaker components on either side of the kitchen.
To say that Mace’s kitchen is a collection of tchotchkes and trinkets is a understatement. This corner shelf houses an array of spices in glass bottles in every shape and size, topped with a last classic fan.
“This remodel is currently 10 years old and it still seems as fresh as it did when it was first finished,” Mace says. “Ironically, with well-worn or classic materials and pre-aging fresh substances has retained the kitchen out of aging at all over the last ten years.”
Additional ideas:
23 Inspiring Real-Life Kitchens
Your Kitchen: Mix Wood and Painted Finishes
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