How to Remodel a Kitchen and Family Room

Decorate your kitchen and living room with the same color palette.

Your kitchen and family room are the heart of your home. And by using remodeling techniques specifically tailored to open floor plans, you can create a welcoming environment between the two spaces, separating them on the one hand, yet establishing harmony on the other. In this way, your remodeled kitchen and family room will feel larger and more comfortable, a great place for family and friends to relax together.

Instructions

Separate the Two Spaces

1. Separate your kitchen and family room with a wall room divider made from wood or plastic lattice. Unlike a solid wall, the open pattern of a lattice will let in light, maintain the feeling of open space, and decorate the kitchen and family room. Measure the distance from the ceiling to the floor, then from one side wall to 2/3 down the width of the room, leaving enough open space for free passage between the kitchen and family room. Optionally, plan to hang an additional short lattice over the remaining 1/3 distance to frame a doorway overhead.

2. Use your home improvement store’s cutting services to cut the lattice to size. Hang the lattice from the ceiling using garden swag hooks with toggle ends.

3. Connect two lattices to each other using multi-purpose ties whenever the lattice is too short to reach the floor or too narrow to divide the space.

Create an Even Color Palette

1. Select a color palette for your kitchen and family room remodel using color swatches from the paint section of your home improvement store. Choose two shades of the same color and one accent color.

2. Remove any wallpaper from the walls, then paint the kitchen in one shade and the family room in the other. If the rooms share a single wall, create the color divide where the lattice intersects the space.

3. Cover sofas and chairs in slipcovers of the same shades. Add pillows in the accent color and the same style rugs in both the kitchen and family room.

Update Furniture and Appliances

1. Modernize old kitchen appliances with stainless steel paint. Clean the surface with glass cleaner followed by acetone or nail polish remover to remove any remaining oil residue. Prime the surface with water-based primer applied in straight lines from top to bottom.

2. Wait one hour then paint with stainless steel paint in the same direction. Wait another hour then apply a second coat brushing in the opposite direction. Finally, wait two hours more then apply one coat of stainless steel clear finish for a matte surface or two coats for a glossy one.

3. Prime worn furniture surfaces with water-based primer. Wait one hour then paint them with the accent shade of your color palette to freshen their look and bring harmony to mismatched bookcases, tables and chairs.

Repeat Decor Motifs

1. Use the same picture frames to decorate your kitchen and family room.

2. Add identical mirrors in both spaces to create similar reflections.

3. Place the same style candle holders on both your kitchen and family room tables.

Add Window Treatments

1. Look for drapes that match the furniture slipcovers and hang them in both the kitchen and family room.

2. For added privacy, mount bamboo blinds inside the windows and faux wood blinds outside.

3. Place similar window decorations around all windows, such as wind chimes, stained glass decorations or window sill ornaments.

References

• Main Street Kitchens: "Danville Kitchen Family Room Remodel"
• Home and Family Network: "Decorating Room by Room"
• Inventive Home Improvement: "Lattice Wall Room Divider"
• Inventive Home Improvement: "Turn an Old Fridge into a Modern Stainless Steel Fridge"