Las Vegas, NV - 2009

When we bought this Vegas ranch in 2009, the housing bubble had just burst which allowed us to get into a beautiful neighborhood. Our hope was move back closer to family in the Midwest at some point, but in the mean time we wanted to make this house feel more like our own. At the same time I wanted the space to be 'ready to show' should the opportunity to move  present itself at any time in the future. (Please pardon the watermarks in these images — the best ones available to me so many years later were taken by the realtor!)

The main issues that I had with the home: the interior color, the color of the kitchen cabinets and countertops, the fireplaces, some light fixtures, and the front door. 

The Color

I repainted the entire open living space in one of my favorites, Benjamin Moore Berkshire Beige in eggshell finish. It is an amazing chameleon — a neutral beige/grey which changes beautifully with changing light qualities throughout the day, and blends well with many wood tones, white trim and fixtures.  I have used it many times!

The Kitchen

The kitchen had a small peninsula that extended out from the dining area into the living and family room spaces. It had an undersized drywall base and the same brownish-black granite as the rest of the counters.

We lightened up the entire space by painting the cabinets white, and replaced the counters with a grey and silver Silestone quart countertop. We tore out the peninsula and replaced it with an enormous bank of storage drawers with oversized stainless hardware. I found these Le Klint light fixtures and used them over the kitchen and dining room tables. I wish I would have taken them with me when we moved as they have more than doubled since I bought them.

The color of the bank of drawers was inspired by Tiffany Blue boxes. That space saw many meals and countless hours of projects and school work. It truly became the heart of the home.

The Details

I wish that I had taken photos of the original fireplaces that flanked the outer walls of the family and living rooms, They were covered in plaster treatments meant to look like Roman marble — decorative statement pieces awash in gold and rust colored paint. Not really my style, and not at all true to the contemporary open air style of the home.

New fireboxes are very expensive so I took apart the original fake gas log sets and stripped the inside down to the concrete block shell and gas flame unit.  After spray painting the entire inside silver, I had a fabricator line the walls with sheets of stainless steel. I covered the floor of the fireplace with lava rock up to the edge of gas flame unit and used fireplace glass in a pale aqua tint for the top layer. The lava rock is very inexpensive so I used about two thirds lava rock to one third glass, which is much more costly. The glass spreads easily over the lava and edges of the gas  unit, allowing the flames to radiate through and heat both the glass and the stainless walls. The effect was magical and very affordable.

The home had a delightful courtyard entry off the driveway but had a very heavy and sad wood front door. I replaced it with a deep red aluminum clad door with horizontal lights. This change both warmed the look of the courtyard and allowed a beautiful view into the courtyard from many angles of the home.