Color-Filled Corners

January 13, 2026

A teensy Drummond renovation leans into midcentury whimsy, becoming a photographer’s dream.

Words
Christine Emming

Photos
Kaley from Kansas
@kaleyfromkansas

Designer
Maggie Routon Studio
@maggie.routon

hen Maggie Routon and her brand-new spouse asked their wedding photographer and her partner to meet for drinks, she never guessed the couples would soon live down the street from each other.

“We hit it off immediately and became really quick friends,” says Routon, who founded Maggie Routon Studio three years ago.

Now the couples share more than dinner parties—Routon has helped transform key spaces in her friend’s midcentury home, including this tiny, once-dark hallway and bathroom.

After years shopping for a home built by iconic Kansas City architect Don Drummond, the young couples’ letter writing finally paid off. In 2019, the new homeowners first slept in their Drummond home the same night as the Routon wedding. This pair of passionate midcentury enthusiasts began renovating little by little; but when it came to this part of the house, they were stumped.

The long, dark hallway led past an unused side door to the backyard, then continued on to their guest bedroom and bath. All visitors to the home utilized this space. Candles or nightlights lit the way, as the bathroom had only a hanging wire where the light should have been installed. A washer and dryer, stacked at the end of the passage, impeded the walkway.

“The whole area was an afterthought, as far as design,” Routon says.

While the space had been previously renovated, it hadn’t nailed the time period of a Drummond home with builder-grade porcelain floor tile, IKEA closet doors, and a cookie-cutter shower. Because it’s such a small space, Routon explains, “Everything stayed in its spot, we just reimagined it.”

The homeowners, who love to entertain, wanted their guest zone to be fun, colorful, and inviting, but also to function well for them on a daily basis. Swapping the backyard door for a floor-to-ceiling window flooded the area with natural light and was a perfect first step for the project, as it allowed for better use of color. Hallway lighting was hung: a handmade, pink, ceramic fixture that shines onto the laundry space.

“We were intentional about all of the finishes, selecting smaller, more artisanal makers,” Routon says.

Perfectly midcentury, the bubbly bathroom mirror lends a whimsical air that was absent in the former, dreary iteration, and a butter yellow concrete sink brightens the room at all times of day.

Handmade shower tile plays off the gorgeous terrazzo floor work, making a lengthy statement out of the finite space. A European-sized washer and dryer solve the laundry issue, nestled side by side in a custom birch frame with slider doors that hide them from view.

Despite a lack of storage, the homeowners weren’t even using the full wall closet because it was ugly and hard to see. Routon added custom shoe shelving and three sliders—one mirrored—to the closet to make it aesthetically pleasing—the perfect backdrop for a live-in photographer!

Routon, currently busy designing the couple’s nursery, sees her friends using the hallway as a backdrop on their Instagram feed.

“It’s so special for me to be, in a small way, a part of that,” she says.