Becki is a reader who lives with her husband and daughters in this 115-year old house in Missouri. They bought it two years ago and began updating it to suit their family. When she told me it was featured in Vintage KC magazine, I had to check it out…
Their newly remodeled kitchen made the cover. It’s come a long way since they bought the house. It had an awkward layout with an inoperable old chimney running through the middle of one wall:
Becki says, “The chimney removal only added 10 feet to the kitchen work space but it made all the difference in the world.” They added a pantry in its place:
“We had a wonderful contractor to help us with the project that took around 5 months. I am not a professional decorator but tackled the decisions and design on my own.”
She painted bread boards for her kitchen with her house numbers on them as part of her fall decor:
I love that they have a staircase off the kitchen:
They found a couple of old, original windows in the garage and put them in the stairway to let in more natural light.
“We essentially did a complete remodel but tried to salvage as much original woodwork, doors, hardware, etc as possible.”
The mag also featured her daughters’ rooms upstairs:
Check out the summer issue of Vintage KC to read the article by Kim Antisdel and see more photos of the house by William and Jill DiMartino. Thanks to Becki for sharing it with us! You can follow her on her charming blog Little Mrs. 716 and on Instagram.
I love hearing from readers and seeing where you live, whether your house was featured in a magazine or not. If you’d like to share your own remodeling project, shoot me an email.
Click here to see more Readers’ Houses, including…
Great use of the new layout! I imagine in cases like these, having a professional is totally worth the dime; I’d have a hard time imagining the space redone. The angles in the family room seem odd, but they seem to have decorated and used the space well. I like the hanging fixture over the coffee table and have wondered how that would work someday in my own home. I can see my tall husband nixing the idea. When it’s not over a dining room table, do tall people hit their heads on it?
Okay, how cool is it that there IS a magazine called KC Vintage?
I feel like subscribing!
These photos makes a gal want to choose a herringbone brick floor for her kitchen!
is there a pic of the new kitchen from the same angle as the old kitchen ? I can’t gage the pic because it isn’t from same way/angle.
Becki saw your question and sent me a photo of the kitchen from that angle. Just added it!
I’m in Kansas City and I love VintageKC magazine but somehow I missed this issue. Thanks so much for sharing it. I love the way the incorporated the old with the new. Especially those windows in the staircase.
Those windows were one of my favorite things in the remodel, too. Not only pretty, but practical!
What a lovely home! Very welcoming and I LOVE that kitchen..!
What a huge kitchen! Very nice materials used as well. I’d probably have a big farm table and chairs in the middle instead of the extra counter space of an island, but I’m currently working with about 5 square feet of counter space so maybe I’m not a good judge! I’m glad they kept the woodwork in the house.
It is big — especially for an older house. There’s usually a lot less space to work with in them. 🙂
I truly LOVE the kitchen…but it needs some color. Maybe the pendants in a bright color. But amazing renovation!
I LOVE that they repurposed the old, pretty, leaded glass windows and put them in the kitchen stairway. The color and finishing choices in the kitchen feel too cold and modern for this house, but I applaud them on keeping the original natural woodwork in the living room. The exterior of the house is gorgeous, too.
Julia, thank you again for featuring our house today. I appreciate you sharing our remodel and my blog with your readers….I post various pictures from time to time on the blog and my social media if your readers would be interested in following:
https://www.facebook.com/littlemrssevenonesix
https://twitter.com/littlemrs716
http://www.pinterest.com/littlemrs716
http://www.instagram.com/littlemrssevenonesix
Hi, Becki!
How serendipitous! I live in Shawnee, Kansas, love Vintage KC and loved the feature on your house! It’s beautiful! AND…I have had contacting you on my to do list ever since I read the article. I adore that oil on canvas of that cow. And I’ve found a few similar options, but your cow…she’s just right. 🙂 Would you please tell me where I can find her? BTW…this is serendipitous, because I just happened to click over from Thrifty Decor Chick! Such a happy accident! 🙂 Thanks for any help!
I love happy accidents. 🙂
Aw, thanks, Julia. And thanks for being the vehicle! Love your blog! 🙂
Hi Autumn…it is so nice to connect with you! I included all of my social media links above…you can also subscribe directly to my blog to receive post via email. Now on to my cow. It must be the Midwest blood in my veins, I LOVE farm animals. I frequent Warehouse Weekends in the West Bottoms here in Kansas City. A great shop there called The Painted Sofa carries these cow canvases for a song. Please let me know if you need more specifics again you can find me via the links above ;). Thank you again Julia…it’s so fun connecting with your readers!
Oh. My. GOODNESS! I was JUST there (West Bottoms) last weekend for First Friday! Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to The Painted Sofa. 🙁 So much to scour, so little time! Ack! Okay, well thank you VERY much. I will be hitting The Painted Sofa next month for SURE! And you can consider me a regular reader from now on. 🙂 I LOVE home/design blogs. Especially when they’re local! And one more thing…I second that emotion regarding farm animals! It MUST be a Midwest thing. Okay, thank again, Becki!
Thank you Autumn! Keep me posted on cow canvas progress :)…Julia thank you again.
So gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!
How lovely! When you aren’t a designer but you still want to do the things yourself, it might be a little bit difficult but the effort is worth it. When we were reconstructing our garden, I found some inspiration on pages of blogs and local garden companies. It really helped me a lot because I also found a list of local companies in Toronto where I live now. I’ve learned pretty much from them and I was able to create the design better and actually made it come true with some help of a gardener too. So I know how much time it takes to DIY and I admire Becki for dealing with it so well. The whole house? That’s a lot of work to do, even with a good contractor. I must tell you, I really like the big sink which belongs to the list of things I’d like to have in my big dreamt-of kitchen one day. How about your dreamt-of kitchen? Do you have any?
I agree with Jen – the kitchen almost looks like an operating room – no warmth and doesn’t fit the house very well. But the exterior is just beautiful!
We moved to NC from Liberty, MO early last year! We lived in Liberty for almost 2 years. I probably saw this house, actually, as we liked to walk and drive through the older areas of town where all the beautiful old, historic homes are. 🙂 We lived in a new build there, but I’ve always loved the charm of old houses this like this.
Small world, Jessica! 🙂
The windows on the staircase wall is a brilliant idea.
Beautiful remodel. I could only dream of a kitchen with that much space. Her front door looks like the color I just picked for mine! So pretty with stone.
I just want to comment on the natural woodwork in the livingroom. It helped me to see you can still have a light, bright airy room while keeping the wood trim original. I have the very same trimwork but felt that white walls would be too too much contrast. But I really like it. The wood work adds a nice warmth and interest to the room.
I agree, Irma! I love that they kept the woodwork the way it was but still managed to make it feel light and “happy.” Nice to see an example where they made it work!
This home is lovely but I would need some color somewhere in each room. As it is right now I think I would fall asleep in every room out of boredom.
Love the painted Kooku clock in the kitchen! Makes me want to look for one at a garage sale now.