Renovation spices up old space

[attach]2841[/attach]Jack Stern describes his kitchen as the centre of the universe.

The Forest Hill area resident and his wife, Beth Merrick, had their kitchen renovated last year as part of a TV makeover for Pure Design on HGTV.

The kitchen was always a place in which the couple and their family spent a lot of time, but it was outdated, had a lot of wasted space, and above all, just wasn’t functional.

“We wanted to spend more time there,” says Stern, adding that both he and Merrick grew up in families where the kitchen was the focal point of the home.

“It wasn’t as comfortable as we wanted it to be.”

The couple’s goal, working with the show’s host and creative director Samantha Pynn: make the kitchen reflect their casual, comfortable and contemporary style and way of living.

“We’re not frilly, fancy antique-y people,” says Merrick. “And we’re not slick minimalist people.”

Aside from some hideous 1990s lighting and a generally outdated look, there were other issues with the room: the fridge was in an awkward position that stuck out. There was no counter space, and the kitchen table, tucked away in a corner, was functioning as a dumping ground for papers and such.

“It was just used to pile stuff on,” says Merrick. “We didn’t eat there at all.”

And speaking of wasted space, there was a huge empty space in centre of kitchen — dead space, if you will.

However, here were elements the couple wanted to keep. Merrick preferred to hold onto her grandmother’s wood table (which was functioning as the unused kitchen table). Two other pieces they also used — a tiny wine fridge and a small TV — also had to stay.

The end result, which Stern and Merrick played a role in shaping, was a more usable and comfortable space. A new fridge was relocated to a corner, new flooring and cabinetry was added, and the space was reconfigured to make it more functional. The designer even built a cabinet around the wine fridge.

Merrick says the value of working with a designer came out in the small details that made the space not just more functional, but more homey too.

Pynn was able to pull together colours from the rest of the house and come up with a colour scheme that Merrick and Stern didn’t even know they had. Those colours were incorporated into elements like cushions and other accessories — not in a matchy-matchy way, says Merrick, but more organically.

While Merrick felt strongly about the wine fridge and the TV staying in the space, Stern was adamant the kitchen have an island that filled the unused space in the central part of the kitchen.

He says he thought it would be a great place to prep food and entertain around — and he was right.

Before he and Merrick used to eat all their meals in the formal dining room. Now they opt to have most breakfasts and dinners at the island. When they entertain, which is often, it’s a like a magnet.

“We huddle around our island now,” says Stern.

“That’s where people congregate,” adds Merrick.

They use the bench and kitchen table area, which can seat six people, when they have more people over or dine as a family. Merrick’s grandmother’s table, now sanded and refinished, is no longer a stuff receptacle.

Merrick says from her experience it’s vital to work with a designer who doesn’t push out his or her design agenda. She and Stern liked that theirs integrated the homey touches that were part of their lives.

[attach]2842[/attach]With an extensive and varied art collection, Stern and Merrick always had art in the kitchen. After the reno there was way more, and now they rotate and rearrange it every time they buy a new piece.

As Merrick puts it, their philosophy was to not limit art to adult spaces, but rather to hang it where they spend time — namely in the kitchen but also in places like the bathroom.

Another homey touch that was reintegrated into the new look was a batch of photos and invites that formerly occupied the side of the old fridge.

“It was our own Facebook page,” jokes Merrick.

The solution: all the photos and invites were stuck on huge piece of corkboard surrounded by a fancy frame painted gold.

Now the couple spends more time than ever before in the kitchen. Merrick agrees with her husband’s assessment of the room and how they use it:

“It’s the heart of the house.”