When Hattie Sparks was approached by longtime clients to redesign their recently purchased summer home in Washington, she knew it would be a challenge. The pandemic was about to enter its first winter surge, and Hattie was over two thousand miles away in New Orleans. If that wasn’t enough, Vashon is a small island with a limited number of contractors and a logistical challenge for most—let alone for someone who was completely transforming a space from across the US. Hattie says, “I was communicating with people across the country who I had never met and trusting them to execute something, so I had to be very concise and communicative about what we needed. But as much of a headache as it was sometimes, it really did in the end help me out a lot.”
Having worked with the family before, Hattie was able to hit the ground running (figuratively, of course). And as the mother of two young children herself, she knew how to create a space that was family-friendly but still elevated. The client wanted a design that felt cohesive with the natural environment of the island, so Hattie used darker colors to emulate the lush greenery and surrounding water. Luckily, since it was the family’s secondary residency, Hattie was able to push the envelope with patterns and palettes. She says, “When we did this home—because they’re not planning on selling it anytime soon—we really wanted the design to reflect them, their tastes, and their personality.” And, as Hattie notes, “With second homes, we can have more fun, because people want to escape; [they] want [it] to be a little bit different.”
Location: Vashon Island, Washington
The before: The original home and interior were built in the late ’90s, so there was an abundance of track lighting, frosted glass, and honeywood cabinets. The previous owners had updated the appliances, which helped mitigate the cost of the renovation for the new owners. However, it left the rest of the kitchen feeling even more dated in comparison.
The inspiration: The homeowners grew up in the Pacific Northwest but eventually settled in New Orleans. This Vashon Island home was purchased as a secondary residence for their family and sits atop a hill, surrounded by greenery and overlooking the Puget Sound. Hattie explains the darker colors, saying “The client really wanted to tap into that Pacific Northwest [palette]. We wanted it to feel a little bit more cohesive with where it is.” This meant relying on colors like navy blues, dark greens, and creamy whites.
Budget: Hattie had a budget of $100,000 for the entire house and around $25,000 for the kitchen.
Square footage: 100 square feet
Main ingredients:
Cabinet Hardware: Amerock Blackrock cabinet pull from Build.com
Countertop: Cashmere Carrara Quartz from MSI Surfaces
Tile: Angela Harris Dunmore Vechio Decor polished ceramic wall tile from TileBar
Pendant lights: Anders Pendant from Shades of Light
Wall paint: French Beret from Benjamin Moore
Cabinet paint: Ashen Tan from Benjamin Moore
Counter stools: Jeni Stool from Lulu and Georgia
Most insane splurge: Hattie thinks about this for a moment before saying, “We probably spent the most on the new countertops. There’s that pretty big stretch of bar, so that was probably the biggest ticket item, followed by the tile.”
Sneakiest save: Not having to replace any of the appliances, which were recently updated by the previous owners, allowed Hattie to keep the costs down quite significantly.
Favorite part: “Definitely the cabinets,” Hattie says without hesitation. She expands, adding, “I loved seeing them get painted. That to me made such a huge difference, and I would say we could have just changed the cabinets and the countertops, and it would’ve completely changed the kitchen.”
What I’d never do again: Hattie laughs and says, “I would’ve checked for blocking behind that wall, so we could have known if we could do floating shelves or not.” But she’s kind to herself: She thinks about this project—her first entirely virtual renovation—and notes that it was an important learning experience. She says, “We had to do everything remotely, and that was really challenging at times. It helped me grow a lot as a designer because it pushed me beyond my comfort zone.” Luckily, everyone was very happy with the final kitchen—even without the shelves.
Final bill: Right at budget around $25,000
