The Lenox Project
This job gave Dark Horse a nice mix of assignments – from a kitchen with unique accents to a room divider/shelving unit to modern wood “screens” and, finally, a vanity in the bathroom.
In the kitchen, our custom cabinets were painted with a shade that’s matched to Benjamin Moore Gray. The wood accent piece against the textured white tile backsplash is a wood product from Shinnoki in the color Smoked Walnut. For the wood featured on the island, we used walnut and stained it to match the Shinnoki piece on the wall.
We’re always careful about measurement, of course, but when a kitchen design incorporates unique tile like the product used for this backsplash, you really have to be sure your cabinets fit perfectly.
We also created the custom window wraps you see in the photos, which is an unusual request. These were made out of the Shinnoki Smoked Walnut product.
A few other details about the kitchen:
• It features under-cabinet lighting.
• The refrigerator is from German manufacturer Liebherr; the dishwasher is by Asko.
• The drawers feature custom-painted Gola finger-pull channels.
• There are custom drawer elements, including rollouts.
• There is a separate full pantry just off of the kitchen that’s not pictured here; we weren’t involved in
that part of the project.
Miscellany
We work on a lot of kitchens, but we enjoy projects that take us into the other rooms in a house.
In the Lenox project, the homeowners had a design challenge in the living area – there was a support post in the middle that had to stay put. We built a display shelf/divider that hid the post and added some visual interest. This piece was built of Shinnoki Smoked Walnut and has the added benefit of providing a little separation between the living and dining areas.
We also created wood “screens” – custom vertical wood pieces made of walnut that come together to add eye-catching detail in the bedroom. They separate the primary bedroom from the hall while letting light in.
Our final assignment was building a vanity and shelving units for the bathroom. Made of teak, these also incorporated the Gola finger pulls used in the kitchen.
Dark Horse worked with designer Burns Century on this project; we have collaborated with her on many distinctive projects over the years. You can find out more about her work at burnscenturystudio.com.
We loved contributing to this house, and the finished product is, in a word, cool.
~ Chris Dehmer
