How Julia Arceri Used Our Snow Zellige in a Chic Kitchen Transformation
Interior designer Julia Arceri has transformed nearly every room in her home. She consistently assigns herself renovation and organization projects that give her house’s living room, dining room, and bedrooms an air of moodiness with European design elements.
Julia’s kitchen didn’t fit the theme. The white cabinets with small gray and white backsplash tiles brightened up the room but didn’t quite match the dark hardwood floors or light brown window shade.
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Not to mention, the kitchen didn’t fit in with the rest of the house’s rooms: a dark-walled living room with a chandelier and candlesticks on the fireplace; a rustic-looking wooden footstool sitting next to a black cabinet with ornate black handles, topped with a heavy gold mirror and a vase of leafy branches. So Julia devised kitchen tile ideas, a new color scheme, and countertop decorations.
Much like the rest of her home, Julia redesigned the kitchen. She painted the snow-white cabinets a light taupe and replaced their long, rectangular black handles with gold half-moon and knobs from Armac Martin. The dark floors remain, but now an intricate brown and green rug covers a space in front of the gold-faceted sink.
To keep a bright white element in the kitchen, Julia replaced the backsplash with Snow White Zellige 2″x6″x1/2″ tile. This kitchen tile idea, when installed vertically, elongates the room, drawing your eye up to the top of the tall cabinets.
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Julia added crowning to the topmost kitchen cabinets, contributing to the moody European theme throughout the rest of the home. Items once stored atop the kitchen’s high cabinets now sit on exposed shelving, decorated with a plant and a small white bust that matches the countertop’s vase and bouquet of flowers.
When it came to the range hood, Julia wanted the color and design to match her cabinets. She used Meoded paint and plaster to give her range hood that Venetian look. Meoded color matches its plaster paint, lucky for Julia, who customized the paint on her cabinets — a 75% lightened version of Racoon Hallow from Benjamin Moore. Though Julia’s contractors put on the first few coats of the paster-paint, Julia finished up, since it’s easy to apply.
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Julia wanted to make the range hood the kitchen’s feature statement, eliminating as many counter appliances as possible. So she installed a shelf in one of her cabinets and slid her microwave inside. She considered making a built-in microwave inside the cabinet, but the shelf solution was cheaper. In her new kitchen, Julia stores cookie sheets in the cabinet underneath the microwave.
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The details make this kitchen look extra Venetian, with a wooden pizza palette propped behind the stove, a hefty bowl of artichokes, and another vase full of leafy branches. On top of the greenery and golden hardware throughout the kitchen, Julia added a little extra light to the space with ornate wall sconces: two candle sticks on either side of a mirror, surrounded by gold.
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We think it’s a space to brag about.
