After photo by Can Türkyilmaz
Jeff and Anja Woodson
Address: 5210 Swiss
Built in: 1900’s
Remodeled in: 2010
The mission: Kitchen facelift
Before kitchen remodel at 5210 Swiss
Simple lines and calming colors define the 100-year-old, prairie-style home on historic Swiss. When Jeff and Anja Woodson remodeled their kitchen in 2010, they knew they wanted to stay within the same soft contemporary theme as the rest of the house, and East Dallas-based home design experts Bella Vista Company helped them figure out the rest. The first thing the Woodsons did was knock out the bar area, which was taking up too much space. “It was more a storage area than anything, so we took the bar out, and it opened up this whole area,” Anja explains, indicating, with a sweeping motion, the entrance to the kitchen. While they were at it, they removed a chimney in the corner where the refrigerator is now. Ample windows and a custom-made, extra-wide glass door helped give the room an open, airy feel. “It’s really not very big. We didn’t enlarge it,” Anja points out. But the use of space and colors — soft grays, greens and a hint of purple — seem to lend extra light to the room. Before the remodel, the kitchen floors and countertops were brown granite. “It was pretty. It was a very slick kitchen, but with that and the tiny windows, it was always dark,” she explains. They replaced the countertops with designer concrete, which was cast in molds on site by Designer Concrete & Supply Inc., so the Woodsons were able to pick the color tone and finish. Many of their appliances — such as the refrigerator and dishwasher — are smartly masked as drawers or cabinets by wooden covers. Once the heavy work was done, designer Tiffany Fulmer of Cozy Couture Interiors helped the Woodsons apply the finishing touches to the kitchen with Ann Sacks tiles, Sonneman Bubble Light Pendants from Lights Fantastic, and “floating” shelves. For an extra pop of color, Anja says, she loves to add vibrant flowers and books to the shelves.
