Dayna Flory Rasschaert, designer and owner of Dayna Flory Interiors in Bloomfield Hills, took on a Birmingham family’s kitchen, breakfast room, laundry, and mudroom remodel, and the results are stunning. “This project was the perfect example of how moving walls and changing materials can completely change a home,” she says. “My clients wanted an open and cohesive feeling. Led by the wife, the appearance of the space also called for a certain level of sophisticated ‘pretty,’ ” she says.
Working with the homeowners and the trades, led by Masterworks custom home builders in Macomb, the residence was transformed into an elegant, livable space. “The 11-foot original first-floor ceiling height and overall footprint was exciting to reinvent,” Rasschaert says. “Bringing in light and achieving a fluid feeling between spaces was the main design objective.”
The open floor plan provides modern living in a traditionally designed home. The challenge was removing interior walls while maintaining the structural integrity of the home. A clever solution came from a floor-to-ceiling, double-sided glass cabinet that provides ample storage and display space. The tower of stacked cabinets fabricated by EuroCraft Interiors in Sterling Heights creates a striking feature. Black frames add contrast to the crisp white kitchen with its thick marble countertops and chrome accents.
A breakfast nook blends a cozy banquette with an oval shagreen table and brass armchairs. An organic concrete pendant layered with abstract art contributes to the sophisticated seating area.
“Symmetry was a key design element,” Rasschaert says. This is evident in the perimeter cabinet elevations contained in drywall surrounds and a pair of paneled Sub-Zero fridges and freezers along the window wall. A Wolf range set off by a full-slab marble backsplash also highlights the symmetry.
More walls came down to create a new mudroom with custom lockers that combines open and closed storage. The walnut bench, metal lattice, and brass hardware contrast with the painted iron cabinets. A cerused black-and-white wood console table offers the perfect landing spot for personal items, while an iron chair provides a place where you can sit down and put on shoes.
On the second floor, a cedar closet became a convenient laundry room that was relocated from the main level. “Layering black-based cabinets with white uppers made the space feel larger. The black cabinets also help visually reduce the size of the washer and dryer,” Rasschaert says. “It’s the first room you see walking up from the first floor, and the umbrella-shaped tiles are a happy greeting.”
The designer hesitates to take all the credit for this project, as she praises Masterworks, the contractor, and EuroCraft Interiors, the cabinet manufacturers. “I couldn’t have done it without them,” she says.
The woman of the house can’t say enough about Rasschaert and the creative team.
“Dayna is so talented and so nice to work with,” she says. “We were new to the area and we loved the location, but the house needed updates. The kitchen was very choppy, and we wanted to open it up and make it light and bright. We’re extremely happy with the outcome.”
MORE INFORMATION: daynafloryinteriors.com
Text by Jeanine Matlow & Photography by Martin Vecchio
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