Rearrange & Renew

Kitchen Clairvoyance
The area previously reserved for dining was turned into the kitchen. The former kitchen now houses the dining room. The location is ideal because it opens into the dining room on one side and a screened porch on the other. “The French doors are open to the porch 9 or 10 months of the year. Even if the temperature is in the 50s, it is likely that those doors are open to the outside,” Lindsay says.

A kitchen island is the perfect way to visually divide the kitchen from the rest of the room. Lindsay thought about how she works in the kitchen and had the essentials installed accordingly. “I chose to have the sink rather than the cooktop on the island so I could look out over the room. I spend more time at the sink than at the stove.” A small pine table and Windsor chairs tucked next to the island are a surprising--and more comfortable--alternative to barstools.

Mind Over Matter
No matter where people are in the room, easy interaction is possible. Lindsay says one of her favorite things is being able to talk to her family and guests while she’s in the kitchen area. “The acoustics must be good or it’s just the perfect-size room because I rarely have to raise my voice to be heard by someone watching TV,” she adds. The television is wall-mounted on a swivel so it can be viewed from the kitchen too.

During a typical evening at home, Jack and Lindsay make use of every area of this room. “We usually work our way across the room. Preparing dinner in the kitchen, sitting at the table. After dinner in the colder months we sit by the fire with the newspaper or books. Eventually, we end up on the couches in front of the TV falling asleep,” she says.