To increase the home’s value and make a big impact while keeping in line with area home values, the couple decided to renovate in 2022. As an interior designer and project manager, Neely was fully equipped to organize the project. The first issue the couple tackled was increasing connectivity, and they removed an entire wall that sequestered the kitchen away from the living room and entry.

“We created a lot of the visual interest with better visibility,” Neely says. “We removed one wall, opened up the kitchen to adjacent spaces and removed an entry coat closet to enlarge the dining room and connect to the kitchen.”

Those few changes allowed for better visibility of the large windows and higher ceilings from the newly-adjacent spaces and made better use of previously unusable space. The couple also gutted a small closet in order to create drywall return shelving, giving the room a clean, sophisticated look with extra storage. Crafting an open feeling to the entire area with new access to light, the kitchen now shares sightlines with the living room, dining room and entry.

Moving into the kitchen, the couple tackled a classic U-shape layout with a cozy eat-in area the Neely family simply wouldn’t use. In planning the redesigned space, they nixed the eat-in nook and added that square footage back to the usable kitchen space, changing the entire flow. The central, quartz-covered island includes the sink and dishwasher and adds more prep and serving space.

The range hood box is drywall with a micro-cement skim coating over the top. Extra storage was brought back into the kitchen by using tall pantry units with glide-out drawers. Open shelving in the overflow space offers storage for wine and oversized cutting boards. Beautiful, unlacquered cabinet hardware, brass sconces and artful lighting accentuate the stone and open shelving.