Santa Barbara Beach Bungalow Reveal 02

Today on the blog, we're bringing you part two of our reveal for this adorable Santa Barbara beach bungalow for the sweetest family! If you missed last week's post, read up right here to catch up on the exterior, entryway, and living room transformation. We're diving into the work we did in the kitchen and dining room today... which is only seen in all of it's beautiful glory because the client decided to give up a bedroom to allow for a larger kitchen!

Like we mentioned last week, this home is primarily a vacation house for a large extended family, so the main gathering spaces being as spacious as possible was really a priority.

The original galley kitchen could only be accessed through a small doorway, and kept whoever was cooking away from the rest of the family. And we had this big space right behind the wall...

The plan had it labeled as a third bedroom, and the previous owners had staged it to be more of a den. But the access straight to the patio, and its proximity to the main areas of the house made it the perfect way to expand the kitchen, add an island, and increase the dining area space for big family feasts!

You can see here how cut off the kitchen and third bedroom were, with just those two doorways for access.

Look how much bigger it looked just with the drywall removed! Having those two walls taken down may be the biggest transformation for the house! But you tell us...

Now this is a showstopper kitchen if we've ever seen one!! We now have a U-shaped kitchen with an added island, and 5 added counter stools where there was no previous seating at all.

The brass touches in the lighting and hardware really warm up the kitchen, and pop against the dark cabinetry! For paint, we used Benjamin Moore Simply White throughout the house, and opted for a bold choice of Narragansett Green for the kitchen cabinetry.

When the entire family is together, they truly like to spend as much time together as possible, so we opted for a custom bench seat for the dining table because it takes up less space than chairs, and you can squeeze a few more grandkids onto a bench more easily! We commissioned this beautiful custom dining bench with Twist Custom, using Walter G fabrics.

And you know we love an open shelving moment where we can get one! Just to the left of the sink kept the sight line from the front door more open as you walk in to the entire area, rather than looking at the side of wall hung cabinets.

You can almost hear the laughter and conversation that will be had around this table, can't you?

We especially love the large scale chandelier for that touch of brass in the dining room as well, and the fact that it's still visually open for its size, and allows you to see straight through to the backyard.

This is by far one of our favorite kitchen transformations! What did you think?

And don't you worry - we still have bathrooms and bedrooms to reveal, so stay tuned in the coming weeks!