I want to go to there. What AMAZING transformations!

oh wow. i love love love that kitchen. it feels so timeless, like it won’t need renovating again in 10 years because it looks dated. this is definitely going in my inspiration file. it is just perfect.

Both of these makeover are amazing! Cecile, where are your new drapes from? They’re lovely.

I love the play of elements in this spaces! The ultra modern light fixture with the country sink, concrete counter tops, and those GREAT lockers make this just an outstanding space!

I am so glad to see that someone kept the fireplace the way it originally was! I am really tired of seeing painted brick everywhere!

The green on the sides of the fireplace look great.

I <3 it!

The kitchen is amazing! I absolutely love the use of the lockers. Such a good idea. And the teal-ish color with the navy (they are navy, right?) cabinets and mustard yellow dishes – such a great color combination.

that kitchen makeover is AMAZING!! the lockers are genius. thanks for sharing.

I right-click-saved the pictures of that kitchen like there was no tomorrow.

lockers and what look like navy bottom cupboards in the kitchen? yum! Making me rethink my all-white scheme.

These are so inspiring! I love how the many layers are equaling one wonderfully tranquil space. Any information on where you found the floor lamp next to the bookcase? I’ve been looking for something just like it!

wow! great makeovers!
with little details it looks vibrant now :)
makes me want to change some things at home :)

That kitchen is awesome! Love the tiled wall and the lockers. Not a giant fan of the alphabet magnets, but they must become a prerequisite with kids, huh? =)

Any details on how they did the lighting in the kitchen B&A?

I love the chandelier in the kitchen….do you know where it came from??

man, i’d be happy if my place looked as nice as cecile’s BEFORE photos.

that said, the After is even better! {lusts after such wonderful redesigns…}

Love this!! I especially love the lockers and the split marble/butcher’s block island counter. So practical and beautiful!

cute kitchen redo!

Well, I’m afraid, I don’t like this livingroom makover that much… i got the feeling that it is too ”done”, not natural enough for my taste. The dining area is very nice though.
As for the kitchen… it’s amazing! Perfect!

There have been a lot of before and afters here that I love, but this living room might be my favorite. It’s so cozy, I could totally see myself living there. Plus that green is my favorite color. :)

Wow, I WISH that was my kitchen. But sadly, my rental kitchen isn’t even as nice as her “before”.

I love the blue of the cabinets, and that countertop and those white subway tiles don’t hurt either. A really great transformation and space.

This is incredible. One of my favorite transformation ever!

Love, love, love the contrast in Gillian’s kitchen! Gillian, I also have to ask where those ochre coffee mugs are from. I love their shape!

These are gorgeous, though I much prefer Before & Afters that aren’t reliant on “We hired a designer, bought new stuff at West Elm and changed the camera angle to make the space look bigger.” Give me a good ol’ “I refurbished this chair with elbow grease and persistence” any day.

any ideas on where the stainless steel shelves came from??

saw this on apartment therapy a week or so ago and loved, loved it. i love it again…even more.

wow, bold move to get rid of the top cabinets, but it makes that space look so more bigger and the lockers are a genius alternative! the chandelier is what really pulls this all together though.

I looked at the first photo and almost immediately recognized the living room. And then I realized it is almost exactly like my mother-in-law’s house in nearby Lafayette. So funny! What was familiar to me were the tall, rectangular windows and the beams — very northern California. Beautiful space (and makes me homesick)!

I love the kitchen as well and am interested in the stainless steel shelves.

Well thanks everyone, you are so sweet! The shelves are from here http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ and the coffee mugs are vintage denby, I think the pattern is called Ode. Kersten we didn’t hire a designer, although my husband is an Architect/Urban Planner. We actually did everything ourselves except for knocking down the wall and hooking up the gas stoves. We even poured the concrete counters (whew was that a big job!) but thanks for the compliment! :)
Oh, and the lamp is an ikea frame (it had tiny lights, dont remember the name) that we looped three strands of twinkle lights around. One of the “hanging” wires is actually the plug wire for the lights.

Love it! are the countertops concrete or marble? what is the source? thanks a million!

Yes, Grace/ someone, can you please provide more details for the chandelier in the kitchen? Is this a nest of holiday lights? Where can I get this/ directions for making it? It is perfect!

beautiful makeover, gillian! i’d love to know where the refrigerator was moved to, as you can’t get a sense for it in the After pics. Also, where are the cabinets from?

I really love both of these makeovers. The living area in the first is fabulous! On the kitchen, I am digging the contrast between the concrete & butcher block and the paint color of the cabinets.
This post is now bookmarked in my favs!

well done! high five!!

I remember the lockers from Apartment Therapy, but am now happy to see they whole kitchen!! LOVE IT!

beautiful kitchen! did you use a book or some guide in pouring the counters? we are thinking of doing the same and are very intimidated! thank you.. very lovely and inspiring! oh and what source did you use for your farm sink….

Beautiful kitchen! One question, though: where is the refrigerator?

i love the room! the green is to die! what a great color palette!

Regarding the living room seeming too “done,” I agree, but the room is such a vast improvement over its previous incarnation. Before, it was drafty and cold feeling. Now, it is warm and cozy and inviting. I think the “done” comment could be addressed easily by getting rid of the matchy-matchy art over the fireplace. When art is such a focal point, it really matters what you choose. Those panels look like a cheap/temporary fix, but hopefully they’ll find something more permanent that will give the room a more personal touch. In the meantime, it’s still a beautiful room.

Yes, it was pretty much just those fabulous lockers that were featured on AT. I, too, am delighted to see and admire the rest of the kitchen!

I am so pleased to see the 60s/70s house revisited in period, yet up-to-date, style — including avocado green!

This looks alot like what we are currently doing to our kitchen. Fantastic job! It is really well done, and I really love the locker/pantry.

I feel a DIY chandelier project coming on! And maybe a DIY concrete countertop project, too, if I could get up the nerve to tackle such a big one. I would love to hear more about the process of both of these. Great before and afters!

I’m DYING to know more about that chandelier!!!! Any how-tos?

I absolutely LOVE the green in the living room. And the lockers in the kitchen are a great idea!
I read AT and didn’t remember the kitchen…maybe because I wasn’t lured in with a beautiful green living room!

amazing transformations even though i’m not a fan of the green/brown color scheme. I do love the bench in the living room and the locker storage is genius.

Aw, stop: now you’re just spoiling me! They’re both beautiful transformations but that kitchen colourway really does the trick – love it.

Love this kitchen! I am using lockers for storage in my living room for misc craft supplies and media storage, but I have yet to find shelves for the interior that maximize the space. Where did they get these?

I love that they incorporated lockers into their kitchen for food storage! So great as a built-in function!

Wow who did the window coverings? They are soooooo gorgeous! I think they really set the room off in a stunning manner.

OK, hopefully I’ll answer everyone’s questions, re-ask if I missed one :) The counters are concrete. We poured them ourselves using a mix of Cheng supplies and some ready made cement. We used the Cheng book for a reference. you can read the whole saga (it wasn’t that bad! Really!) here http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/2009/09/not-for-weak-of-heart-but-also-not-that.html
The fridge is actually two undercounter refrigerators with small, zero degree freezers. At some point we will get a chest freezer in the basement for our garden produce, but up till now have not needed any more space than the two fridges provide. We actually really love the set-up. The Sink is Ikea as is the base for the light. We bought a GLANSA light (the small one) , wrapped and massed three strands of white Christmas lights in and around it and then wired it all together. The power cord is one if the hanging cords. The locker shelves we did with scrap lumber and using those little “L” shaped pegs into the holes that were already inside. Although my husband did drill a couple of extras for a specific height I needed in one. The cabinets are from kitchencabinetdepot. They no longer have the style we bought but they were polyurethaned alder when we got them. We sanded, primed and painted . You can read about that process here http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-kitchen-isnot-done-but-getting.html

Hope that answers everything. I’m happy to answer more, so glad people like it, we are so pleased with how it turned out. It makes me happy every time I’m in there, and I’m in there a lot! :)

um, wow. that is a serious improvement! cecile is amazing.

Both are lovely! I particularly like that olivey green in the first room.

Thanks for asking Oonafey-the window treatments were custom made. I picked out the fabrics and had them made. Because the front and back window areas were each 16 feet long, we had to have them made. Individual panels would not give us the look we wanted plus we wanted something that no one else had.

Thanks Ashley for your comment on the fireplace. My client and I spent 5 hours rubbing in a mixture of water and a little latex paint over each stone. We wanted to leave the stones they way they were but just give it a more cohesive look.

Hi Micha- the floor lamp is from Crate and Barrel

Love the green living room! What a great transformation. The draperies are amazing. I live in Orinda and I haven’t seen any 1950′s rancher look this good! Great job Cecile!

Hi PleinJane – this home is in Orinda , which is next to Lafayette. So, no wonder it looks familiar. Great area to live in.

Hi Anastasia- they were done in partnership by Leong Interiors and me.
I think you know her.

Thanks to everyone for your great comments. We spent many hours on this project from painting the walls ourselves to refinishing the fireplace to repainting existing furniture to shopping at the local flea markets to keep it all affordable and something my client and I are proud of.

Both are fabulous. I love the colors in the kitchen.

That is an amazing kitchen makeover. I love the blue with the white subway tiles. you must smile everytime you enter the kitchen! Wondering where you purchased the wall organizer? Is it from Pottery Barn?

I LOVE the lockers in the kitchen! My husband and I use old gym lockers as our linen closet but in a kitchen is even better!

These are both gorgeous! The living room “not-so-timid green” looks just like my living room paint so I’m taking loads of inspiration from the color scheme. And that kitchen – amazing! What a beautiful turn-around.

Both spaces are beautiful! The kitchen especially is an amazing transformation! I love the lockers!

i NEED to go home and renovate!! so inspiring.

Ok.. this may be such a dumb question. I recently purchased a fabulous shade (much like the one you have over your table) to replace my standard oh so boring light that i currently have. Where did you get the electrical stuff for your light hanging over your table? Can you find that at Lowes? I’m about to DIY and somehow make it work. Right now, it has a chain and a cord that is supposed to plug into the wall but that will not look good in my kitchen so I want to have something a little more “Finished” looking like you have. I am probably over complicating thie situation but I’ve never done anything like this before.
THanks! I love the makeover.. it is AMAZING! :)

The cabinet’s color is gorgeous! It’s got me inspired to paint an old media cabinet that lovely dark blue. I’m too afraid to take the step of painting built-ins since I haven’t done this before. Can you tell me the name of the color you used? Beautiful!

I meant the kitchen cabinets… sorry :)

I love love looove that fireplace!

Where did you find the dining room light? I’ve been looking for something like that.

I love the retro feel of Cecile’s living room!

The yellow bowls – where are they from?

Really love the kitchen…where did the clear storage canisterswith the stainless tops come from?

There’s actually no reason to DIY the kitchen chandelier as Ikea has a large and small version (and black or white options) for sale right now.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80150788

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60150794

Built-in lockers?! Genius.

Wow, I love the kitchen! I am so inspired. I have wanted to remove my upper cabinets for some time. I wondered what type of paint did you use on the cabinets? I am afraid to make that step. Yours look awesome!

Green is my favorite color, but I just cant wrap my brain around “pea soup green”…maybe it was all the avocado appliances that came with my first house in the 70′s. The kitchen re-do is wonderful!

Wow, Gillian, it is incredible that you guys did so much of this yourselves — it looks sooo professional! So, so inspiring!

Oh thank goodness! I was reading the description on the first makeover and I got a little nervous. But it came out great. Custom windows look beautiful. And I am also loving the lockers in the kitchen. Very clever!

Amazing transformations to both rooms. I am inspired and sooo will be copying that diy kitchen chandelier!

Sorry if this has already been asked, but where can I get the fabric that the panels are made out of in the green/brown living room? or can you at least tell us the designer/manufacturer? I love them! Thanks so much :)

Hi Jessi -
Glad you like the drapery fabric.
The green and brown fabric was purchased from Durlee. They have a showroom in the San Francisco Design Center. They only sell to the trade, so if you are not a designer you would have to purchase the fabric through a designer. Hope this helps.

Hi Jenny,
The dining room chandelier came from http://www.seascapelamps.com/. We had to order a 36″ extension which isn’t the standard way it usually comes.

you are my kind of decorator; very warm and inviting in both spaces and very chic and “current”; I love the colors and everything you did

re: custom drapes: to everyone, not that hard. Find great fabrics at Ikea or online at FabricGuru.com. Find a good sewing instruction book like Singer’s at the half-price book store; you can easily do grommets for a current look and easily do two tone or three tone contrast fabric strips; make pillows to complement. Same with shower curtains. Hire an experienced teen sewer from the high school or college, or a “senior” from an area senior apartment to help.

Dying to know where they got that sleek bench in the living room. Any leads? Thanks in advance!

Hi Sarah,
The bench was bought at a close-out sale in San Francisco. The bench cushion was custom made. I picked out the fabric and had someone make it for me.

love it!
Anyone know where those cups are from (last kitchen pic)?

My couch is kinda the same green as hinted in the living area. Now I want to try a different color scheme^^

the kitchen is absolutely lovely! very creative..

Cecile — would you share the source/style of the area rugs you used? Great job combining style with what looks like a very warm and livable, family-friendly room!

Thanks again everyone!
The paint is Wrought Iron Gate from Valspar, we also coated it in a satin polyurethane for extra durability. The tea cups are vintage Denby – the pattern is Ode. The soup bowls are from World Market, the oblong serving bowls are vintage Russel Wright and the pale yellow bowls (actually they are just big tea cups we use for bowls) are Denby Fire.

Hi Anne,
The area rugs were from West Elm. Glad you liked them.

Great touch on the lockers! Genius!!! Looks so inviting…

Cecile,
Excellent work! Beautifully planned and executed. Love the colors!

Wow, I LOVE your kitchen! Sources?

Nearly a year later I still think about this kitchen and imagine remodeling mine to look similar. It’s fantastic!