Remodel Masterclass: Transforming the Sugar House Kitchen & Beyond

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: Dear Alice | Interior Design
Episode: Remodel Masterclass: Transforming the Sugar House Kitchen & Beyond
Air Date: October 16, 2025
Hosts: Jessica Bennett (“Suze”), Suzanne Hall (Alice Lane), Producer Ryan

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Main Theme

This episode is part of the "Remodel Masterclass" series, dissecting Alice Lane Interior Design’s renovation of a historic 2,800 sq. ft. Sugar House home in Salt Lake City, UT. The hosts walk listeners through the challenges and bold solutions of updating small, older spaces—especially the kitchen—while staying true to the client’s vibrant personality and needs. The discussion is rich with actionable design strategies, style philosophies, and memorable, witty exchanges.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remodel Philosophy & “Going All In” with Vision

• The project started right before the pandemic, bringing unique material and logistical hurdles.
• Alice praises the client for embracing a bold, colorful vision in a market still obsessed with neutrals.
• The team emphasizes that even small, historic homes can be “grown up and sophisticated” through daring moves, cohesion, and maximizing storage and vantage points.

“This kitchen feels huge, which before it felt so, so small and petite.”
— Alice Lane, [01:34]

2. Kitchen: Reimagining Heart of the Home

Original Problems:

• Poor orientation; lack of symmetry and focus (e.g., the island faced the fridge/pantry).
• Small windows, corner sink (“doing dishes, you’re in time out” — Ryan, [05:17]).
• Wasted storage—an unnecessary closet that chopped up the floor plan.
• Short ceilings, mismatched window and cabinetry heights.

Solutions:

• Removed the closet: Reclaimed square footage, moved fridge/pantry to one dramatic, seamless wall with floor-to-ceiling cabinets.
• Reorientation of Island: Rotated the island 90°, providing improved sightlines—out windows or toward the hero range hood.
• Window Replacement: Removed and resized windows for symmetry and drama, even though it meant more exterior work.
• Cabinetry & Ceilings: Tall cabinetry and window treatments “stretch” the space visually.
• Focal Point: Emphasized the 60” Ilve range and custom range hood as the visual “hero.”
• Flooring: Installed a diagonal black-and-white marble pattern for drama, modernity, and perceived expansiveness.

“If you are remodeling a kitchen...this is an A++ trick: take your cabinetry all the way to the ceiling.”
— Alice Lane, [07:02]

“When you’re doing dishes you’re in time out!”
— Producer Ryan, [05:17]

“When you are remodeling...you want to see the range, not a trash compactor.”
— Suze, [10:53]

3. Dining Room: Defining Space & Growing Scale

• Open floor plan meant each space struggled for identity.
• Added full wall paneling, eliminating dated chair rails that visually shortened the room.
• Squared off cased openings for stronger transitions between rooms; eliminated “limp flower” arched doorways.
• Used large-scale art, statuesque leather chairs in dark peacock, and organic rug patterns for character and connection to the kitchen’s palette.

“When you’re working with older homes or small spaces...don’t keep things petite—that’s a lie! Blow it up, grow things, elongate.”
— Suze, [18:58]

“These picture molds connect really well to the full-scale cabinetry—it just rhymes.”
— Alice Lane, [20:49]

4. Fireplace & Family Room: Cohesion, Drama, & Placement

• Original fireplace featured architectural “niches” and clashing, awkward lines.
• Solution: Smoothed forms, installed dark marble to echo kitchen cabinetry, and grounded the living area.
• Art Placements: Moved the gallery of collected art to the stairwell for closer appreciation; kept large-scale pieces for main walls. Layered smaller rugs with large jute for perceived space.
• Used scale and bold choices (e.g., wide art, huge cocktail table) to make rooms feel larger and curated.

“Go big on your art...it’ll grow up your space a lot.”
— Suze, [26:45]

5. Office (“Soft Sadness” to Powerhouse Functional)

• Added floor-to-ceiling built-ins for desperately needed storage.
• Desk is arranged for interaction and flexibility; Thomas O’Brien trick of placing the guest chair at an angle.
• Dark "Dutch blue" color drenched the room—cabinets, walls, ceiling—proving that deep colors can expand perceived space in small rooms.
• Gallery wall wraps around a corner, with a view from the doorway framed by the upright piano. Editorial styling encourages more art collecting over time.

“Color drenching—taking color all the way up—can actually make [a room] feel taller and more dramatic.”
— Suze, [28:31]

6. Primary Bedroom: Serenity & Soft Color

• Goal was serenity for the busy, working mom client.
• Kept and refreshed the best of the furniture (bed reupholstered, nightstands retained); upgraded to drapery instead of roman shades for softness and height.
• Used textural grasscloth inside wall panels; ambiguous, restful wall color.
• Swapped dated, leggy lamps for simple, solid silhouettes for sophistication.

“To wrap an environment with a color...does it get along with every selection? Especially when you want a space to feel restful.”
— Suze, [32:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Window Treatments:
  “Taking window treatments all the way up to the ceiling…makes spaces feel taller.”
  — Suze, [04:57]

• On Design Trends vs. Bold Moves:
  “People were very much still going light and bright and neutral...and I just think this is such a baller move.”
  — Alice Lane, [16:24]

• On Storage:
  “I've lived in old homes...you just need more storage from side to side, top to bottom—you have to be accountable to that.”
  — Alice Lane, [28:23]

• On Art Placement:
  “Stairwells are the best place to do a gallery wall—teeny tiny pieces could go in a powder bath or stairwell, but it’s hard to float that many little pieces on a wide open wall—it just gets knick knacky.”
  — Alice Lane, [24:56]

• On Scale in Small Spaces:
  “In a small space, you have less opportunities to make an impact. So when you have that opportunity...you have to go for it.”
  — Producer Ryan, [34:47]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:18: Project introduction; historic house challenges; importance of vision and problem-solving
• 04:10–09:30: Kitchen before/after, orientation changes, cabinetry to ceiling, and window strategies
• 10:00–14:45: Floor plan deep-dive, maximizing storage, and work triangle logic
• 17:57–20:58: Dining room before/after, paneling tips, and finishing transitions
• 21:46–25:27: Fireplace design, eliminating niches, and art placement strategies
• 25:32–29:47: Family room, rug layering, art scale, and storage in the office
• 29:54–33:53: Office and gallery wall execution; primary bedroom refresh and restful color palette
• 34:06–35:10: Final takeaways—“go all in,” bold color/depth, vantage points, big energy in modest homes

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Final Takeaways

• Bold Vision Pays Off: Don’t shy from decisive, dramatic moves—even in small, historic spaces. Cohesion and vision beat timid incrementalism.
• Function & Vantage: Orient rooms for beautiful sightlines, maximize storage, and create visual “heroes” (ranges, art, fireplaces).
• Elongate & Connect: Tall paneling, cabinetry, and art stretch the eye, making spaces feel grand. Define rooms with scale, but relate them through color and finish.
• Personal Touch: Decorate for the client’s character and story, not just for trend.

“Big design energy!”
— Alice Lane, [35:10]

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For project inquiries or to see photos of the Sugar House renovation, visit Alice Lane Interiors’ website or follow them on Instagram at @alicelaneinteriors.

Transcript

[Alice Lane]

We've got to pay this forward to our design loving audience because you're going to love how we solved and reoriented this space and created a lot of storage. And you know how those historical homes are. They don't have a lot of closets or storage.

[Suze]

Raise your hand if you have a niche that you inherited from bad architecture. I don't, but we've covered up so many of these, you don't need them.

[Alice Lane]

I think a few takeaways would be to go all in with the vision.

[Suze]

Hi, everyone.

[Alice Lane]

Welcome to Dear Alice. Today we're going to do another remodel master class. So this is a series, we've done two of them so far where we take you through a remodel that we've done and some of the problem solving that we do to get to the solutions that we have. So this is a fun one that we. We actually started on this in 2020, not really fully understanding the pandemic or the issues that would come in our industry. But the house turned out so great. And this one's sort of unique to our portfolio because it's sort of a darling, I feel like darling at the ball. Yeah. This is a historical home here in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it is 2,800 square feet and every space really packs a punch. And I particularly think the problem solving on the kitchen is so masterful that I was like, we've got to pay this forward to our design loving audience because you're going to love how we solved and reoriented this space and created a lot of storage. And you know how those historical homes are. They don't have a lot of closets or storage. So I think the solutions that we came up with were really, really brilliant, but also space expanding and really genius. And we created some symmetry in a space that sort of lacked that. And I think the kitchen feels huge, which before it felt so, so small and petite.

[Suze]

It kind of felt just like an after aftermath, like it was just kind of there on the side, but it had no real, like grandeur or focus or anything, which I think a lot of older homes, that is the case until you embark on a remodel and can kind of reimagine it the way that we love to see kitchens nowadays, right. Where it's kind of just like it's the Mecca, it's the heart of the house. It's where we start the party. So that's kind of was the goal for this family. It was a young family and they have two, like small children and they are living through this remodel. So all y' all that live through your remodels, like, we hear you, we feel you. It's not easy. I think we've all lived through a model.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah.

[Suze]

Especially a kitchen. But they were up for it, and so are we. And I. We love a historical story. And so this is going to be really, really fun again, when you're designing for a human and you're designing for their personality like these. She is a powerhouse, a professional ophthalmologist. Like, just a badass mom. Like, all these things, and she wanted to feel that. She wanted to feel like herself in. In her home. Another cool thing about this client is that she loves art. So she'd be collecting little things here and there. They would travel all the time. Her brother's an artist, and so she had art kind of, like, all over the space, which a previous designer would make, like, a little gallery over here. But nothing was, like, robust or, like, really showed her loves or what she was into, which was, like, a super big disservice to how cool she is. And so that was something that I was really excited to kind of, like, venture into. And so, anyway, we present to you the sugar house. Yes. The first area we want to start with is the kitchen. This is kind of what we were feeling in this before picture when we walked into the house. It's fine. It's not offensive. Like, you can tell that there was some, like, light remodeling to it previously in the years past. Another designer. But the kitchen was just kind of, like, at a weird angle. See what I'm saying? Like, the windows didn't really make sense. There was no symmetry, and I didn't know what to focus on. You kind of see the hood, but then the. Everybody at the bar is, like, looking toward the other side, which is probably looking towards a fridge and a pantry, which isn't very exciting. So I want to kind of orient you here just so you can kind of understand what we were seeing when we first walked into the space and how we needed to start to reimagine it. And when you are looking at your house different, specifically with this house, you kind of have to, like, say, what windows do we want to keep and what windows do we want to grow or get rid of? So.

[Alice Lane]

And you know what? I. I think thank goodness that our client was willing to do the windows, because a lot of times on a remodel, they don't want to touch anything that's going to touch the outer. The outer shell of the home, because then that's going to require having people, people for the stucco or brick or brick masons or whatever to have to come put together the outside of the home. It's pretty disruptive. It gets expensive. You have to have a lot more subs get involved. But I just want to give a shout out once you see the afters. It was so worth getting those windows symmetrical to be able to create a grander space for. For a hero in the kitchen, which I do feel like small spaces need a hero.

[Suze]

Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

And when you see the new range hood and that whole wall, it was just absolutely mind blowing. And probably one of our favorite kitchens to date.

[Suze]

I really think so. And just the tricks that we talk about, you know, when you're taking window treatments all the way up to the ceiling, that makes things longer. When you stretch your cabinetry all the way up to the ceiling, that makes spaces feel taller. So we really did implement all those, like, rules and tricks in this space. And you would not believe that it was just, like, short ceilings because it looks incredible.

[Producer Ryan]

So anyway, also, the corner sink is like. It's like if you're doing dishes, you're in time out.

[Suze]

Like. I know. Yeah, I know. Look through these short windows, you know?

[Producer Ryan]

Yeah.

[Suze]

I don't know.

[Producer Ryan]

Anyway, so we'll talk to you when you're done.

[Suze]

And then this is what again? This is the island. You can kind of see there's a dining room back here. Um, so this is the island. And the counter stools are looking towards the fridge. The fridge. And this closet, which we didn't really need that closet. As we talked to the client, that, again, there was valuable square footage that wasn't being used. And we're like, let's reallocate. And it probably. I think it was like, extra pantry or storage space. And we're like, why don't we just, like, grow the kitchen and implement that storage inside our cabinetry so that everything feels more grand and more functional. You can kind of see what you're working with. Welcome to the afters.

[Alice Lane]

Yes.

[Suze]

We bounced you here quick. Okay, so I just want to go.

[Alice Lane]

We're going to take you guys through the floor plans and the problem solving. But we felt like since the befores were fresh in your mind, you would really enjoy seeing the afters. And then we'll tell you how we got there.

[Suze]

Yes. So here again is that range wall. Again, we just want to expand that entire wall. You'll see on the floor plan how that grows. Here again, is this the same kitchen that's all right. Are you kidding me?

[Alice Lane]

So this is the pocket where the closet was.

[Producer Ryan]

Okay, that's what I was going to ask.

[Alice Lane]

This is where the refrigerator was before. So by taking out the closet and incorporating floor to ceiling towers, you've got.

[Suze]

We've got where the fridge still exists.

[Alice Lane]

Yes. And then is there pantry behind the other one?

[Suze]

Yeah. So we have all pantry storage, and we have also, again, all that tall storage. You need that for pantry. You need it for fridge. And so it made sense to just keep all that system on this one whole wall and then take it again.

[Alice Lane]

To the ceiling.

[Suze]

Yeah, to the ceiling. To make it grow the.

[Alice Lane]

The full width of this presentation and the full height of it. You can see how this kitchen looks like your dream kitchen in any massive house because you're doing massive tricks. So if you are remodeling a kitchen, and that's what this master class is for those of you that are going through these projects and trying to figure out the space planning and the math of kitchens, this is an A plus plus trick. I think this does so kitchen to just make it feel grand and that you're not having all these separate pieces and parts telling different stories at different heights with different materials.

[Suze]

Like the jumpsuit.

[Alice Lane]

Exactly.

[Suze]

I mean, just really elongated those legs, Right? Totally. The same trick, though, to fashion to interiors is that you just really want to just draw your eye from the ground to the ceiling when you're trying to make it grow. So I love that we did this.

[Alice Lane]

And now and reorienting the island 90 degrees, so that way you're not staring at the pantry, because that's not a beautiful sight line. Instead, reorienting this island so that you're staring out the windows or at that range hood, which is really where I feel like all the conversation is going on is either at the stove or at the sink where you're doing dishes. And now the whole family can be part of the conversation, and the kids aren't in timeout staring at the wall.

[Suze]

Yes. And while we're looking at this after, I want you guys to notice that next to again, this tall system of cabinetry, we actually cased out an opening to separate the spaces. Remember how I said it was kind of a run on sentence? There was no definition of space. We wanted to give definition not only, like, so you can feel like you're in a dining room versus a kitchen, but also when you have flooring transitions. And we did. They did have some tile in this space, but, like, no one remembers it because it wasn't the Best, right? It was fine, but we want to do something a lot more fashionable. And by doing that cased opening, it really just like, gave a little, like, crescendo, like a little moment for the kitchen.

[Alice Lane]

So I think the reorientation of this was so successful. It made that space feel wider, taller, bigger. Those diagonal lines on the floor feel face expanding and give contrast. And it just feels so luxe.

[Suze]

Oh, good. And one thing I want to point out too, is this, the tile flooring to a really, really incredible pattern that feels a lot more. Again, it has some, like, classic notes because it's the black and white, but it's a new spin on it because the client's young and they're. I don't know, they're fun. And anyway, she wanted something fashionable. I think that we really did it right.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. And it's marble and these three different shades of marble all playing together to make this pattern just feel so good. And we always will. You'll never regret that choice. Yeah. The diagonal line. So good.

[Suze]

Always makes a space feel larger. So, okay, now in this next shot, we're looking at the range, which is from Elvin. We did a custom color. Everyone always thinks the cabinetry is black, but it's a really, really dark green, which I think makes it more mystical, magical.

[Alice Lane]

I think so, too.

[Suze]

Yes. So good.

[Alice Lane]

So we've grounded that whole shot in a 60 inch ilve. It's got what, like, eight burners on this thing? It's massive.

[Suze]

It gives.

[Alice Lane]

It really does. And then the range hood stret inches over that full 60 inches. Also making the space feel massive.

[Producer Ryan]

Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

So these windows were existing.

[Suze]

That was the size that they were before. But remember how we, like, had little shorty on the other side, Little shorty windows on the other side in that.

[Alice Lane]

Corner scene on the opposite side.

[Suze]

So that one. We're going to show you the floor plan here in a second and show you what we proposed to do that she suggested.

[Producer Ryan]

Did you have to take out a window, like where the range is sitting right now?

[Suze]

We actually chose to cover up a window. So we did cover up a window and then exchanged it for two taller windows on the opposite side. So again, you feel that symmetry because you remember when you walked in the kitchen before, how you just saw kind of like a sliver. There were all these, like, random rectangles in different sizes and you didn't see the range. Hot tip. When you're, like, doing a kitchen remodel, when we're looking at, like, what is our money shot? What is the Vantage point that we want. We want to see the range. We want to see that big. Ta da. I don't want to walk into a big amazing fridge or a big amazing, you know, trash compact. I don't know. Whatever it is, you want to see the range.

[Alice Lane]

That's what you did.

[Suze]

You're parking your car. You.

[Alice Lane]

You walked in and you saw those garbages at the end of that run of cabinetry.

[Suze]

Yeah, yeah, bummer. And.

[Alice Lane]

And you were divided because you're like, do I look at the window seat with 10 million pillows on it or do I look at the garbage cans? Or where's that range? It's. It's orienting to see the range. It's just like when you walk into a primary bedroom, you're looking for the headboard.

[Suze]

Oh my gosh.

[Alice Lane]

Right? And so if you walk into a bedroom and the headboards behind you, you just feel a little bit like you're in a vortex. Like you can't quite ground yourself. And I feel like it's so grounding to walk in. See the range. See the range hood.

[Suze]

And just like the bedroom, when you walk into the side of it, you see the mess. Just like a kitchen, when you walk into the side of it, you see the mess. This is a way to conceal and reveal, guys. So you can like keep all your mess behind there. But we get to see the pretty thing and your guests get to see the pretty thing when they walk into your kitchen. So.

[Alice Lane]

So those of you remodeling, that's what you're solving for. You're solving for your vantage point. And then from there you're going to work on your work triangles.

[Suze]

Architect is likely going to put the bed in the space that's going to look out your window. I love your view. It's great. Let's try and reorient it so we can get best of both worlds. I want to see your bed. I want to see the range.

[Alice Lane]

Also from your bed, you can't see the view anyway because you're in your bed.

[Suze]

Yeah, you're so tired.

[Alice Lane]

You're so hard looking at your book or you're watching tv.

[Suze]

You don't on your phone, we're doom scrolling. Okay, okay. So yes, that was the corner where we had the window seat. Such a glow up. And now let's go into the CAD plans and show you how we workshop this as an orientation. This is how we re laid out the whole space. So again, you can kind of see how we get some division from that space by adding that little wing wall. Where we did the casing, this is where, again, we have a pantry, fridge, freezer along that wall. And then you can see this is the biggest thing, is that the range we centered on that wall where that big window was. And then where we had these windows already existing, we just mirrored them over here. So we got two new, larger windows in the corner, and we're able to wrap all that lower cabinetry all the way over here. Because we did this, we didn't want to necessarily add, like, more upper cabinets here. We did choose to do floating shelves here in front of the window. I thought it was really dreamy. And I think, historically, like, when you look in at Europe and things, they. They kind of don't mess around with upper cabinets too much. Like, it's usually, like, tall furniture pieces, lower cabinetry, and that's where they sit. So historically, I think this is a better, like, representation and better for her function, too. So. So. And then, of course, we actually took the island, and we turned it like you saw in some of those last pictures, which, again, it's so nice because, again, the work triangle is a lot tighter here. The kids can, like, look at mom when she's, like, washing their dishes or, you know, prepping for a meal or whatever. Overall, the space planning of this, it makes so much more sense.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. Again, makes grander.

[Suze]

Yeah. Before, the range was just kind of, like right here. Window seat was right here. It just made zero sense. And so. And then this, we just turned into just kind of like, this. A little bit of that kind of drop zone that all moms need. So we kind of kept this, like, behind. Behind you so you don't see the mess.

[Alice Lane]

Not part of your back.

[Suze]

You don't point at all. But it still, like, makes sense. It's still the same finish as everything else.

[Alice Lane]

So practical.

[Suze]

Yes. So that. That's kind of how we did that. And then here, this is the next one where you can kind of see how we did that tile pattern, which, again, by throwing the kind of on the bias, I'll say on the angle to just, like, stretch your eye. It just made this older home feel so much larger.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. So I think this is a really nice thing for designers. We always include our tile drawings in with our spaces. We give them the top down. This is the plant view. And then we'll also elevate the kitchens. But this just really helps show you scale and helps your client understand it. I just think adding in those layers just really helps tell the story and give them the confidence and also shows the Tile layer that you've accounted for each tile and where you want it to sit within the project.

[Suze]

It's so helpful because, yeah, your fabricators will sometimes freestyle if you don't. So you gotta, like, give them a roadmap. So this is our roadmap. Okay. And then this shows that elevation. When we were trying to workshop the windows, this was the existing window on the left. Again, we tried to get as large of a range in here as possible with the hood and then mirrored that window on the right. So it gave her a lot of drawer storage. Here is the. This is on that again by where the window seat was. Yeah. But you can just kind of see, again, you don't need another lower cabinetry here. We needed tall storage to just house all the things that they needed. Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

Kitchenaids, another, you know, more space for pantry. Yeah. Because there isn't a pantry.

[Suze]

Yeah. And this.

[Alice Lane]

These tall storage towers are her pantries.

[Suze]

Yeah. And this little door goes out to her, like, back little deck patio where her kids sit, and they have, like, a little fire pit and whatnot. So this gets a lot of action. And again, by adding something tall here, you're hiding the mess.

[Alice Lane]

Yep.

[Suze]

You know, for whoever's coming in and out while you're entertaining, which I thought was a really smart move.

[Alice Lane]

And those doors are another window, you know, into the space. And so you have a lot of natural light bouncing around. Because some people might say, oh, in an older home with a smaller floor floor plan, why would you do blackened cabinetry? You know, this blackened green, and you have quite a bit of natural light. You've got this really great black and white contrasting floor. And it's just such a tuxedo moment to have the depth and the interesting color and the custom range just feels so, so expensive. Yeah.

[Suze]

And she already knew what a white cabinetry or white creamy cabinetry felt like before we already saw that.

[Alice Lane]

Yep.

[Suze]

And it didn't, like, do any favors to a space that we wanted to feel more interesting, like the client.

[Alice Lane]

So I just love her for going for it. I mean, this was 2020, so, you know what I mean? People were very much still going light and bright and neutral. And right now, just the magazines have started talking about color over the last two years. And I just think this is such a baller move. I love, love, love how this was so trusting, too.

[Suze]

I think that that's, like, the key is just like, when you can have good synergy between designer and client. And you, again, you respect them. They respect, like, what you're trying to do for them. That's when you can like really come up with some like really, I don't know, interesting and long lasting things that feel like the client.

[Producer Ryan]

Suze, before we started recording, you were telling me about your bubble cuddle blanket from Cozy Earth. Let's tell the people about it.

[Suze]

Okay? I want to shout it from the rooftops. I love this thing so much. The bubble cuddle blanket is the best faux fur blanket out there. I know because my family all has versions of all the other ones and they look like flat tires. But the bubble cuddle has a structured grid that's quilted on the front and the back and it is so soft and it like I don't mind having it out on my sofa with all my other beautiful curated things because it's that lovely and I say it is cozier than all the others. So I love, I love, love, love my bubble cuddle.

[Producer Ryan]

So if you want to get a bubble cuddle blanket or any of the amazing products that Cozy Earth offers, head to cozyearth.com and use our code Dear Alice for up to 20% off. That's cozyearth.com code Dear Alice. And if you get a post purchase survey, make sure to let them know you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Because home isn't just where you live, it's how you feel. Let's go home with Cozy Earth.

[Suze]

Now we're going to go into the dining room. So again the dining in these spaces, it's still all kind of like open to one another. It's not like in this house we had a big enough space to have its own dining room. It's still shared but we're going to show you how we gave it some.

[Alice Lane]

And we're going to show you the before pictures of the dining room first and then we'll show you the characters.

[Suze]

Yes, this was not our work but fine dining room. You can kind of see they did have again you saw how we cased it out. Yeah. What we did in this dining room, they had a little bit, they have a little angled out bay window here. There's some separation but they just had like this like little chair rail finish work and we just want to really give it some definition. So we're going to show you how we did full finish work. Squared up a lot of these kind of eyebrows, old fashioned arcs that weren't giving doing any favors. Here's another shot this is looking into. So in this space on the right you see the dining room and then you have like the entry family Room. So it's all very open to one another, but you can just see again, it needs some definition of space and needs to show off the personality of the client in these drawings. This is again, another trick when you are. When you just do a chair rail and an already short house, it just like cuts you right in half. You want to do that elongating trip. So doing solid top panels will stretch your eye up, just like we did in the kitchen. We did the same thing in this dining room. You can kind of see that. And we also will show you the. The fireplace here in a second too, but we glowed that up too. So these are the new pictures of the dining room. And you can kind of see that peekaboo. How we squared up that casing. Can you believe Ryan is shaking his head. Our producer is. He cannot believe his eyes. It's so good. But just by going larger scale, I think that that's something that a lot of people veer away from when you're working with, like, older homes or small spaces are just like, well, we'll keep things petite. That'll make the room look larger. Lie. You want to blow it up, you want to grow things, you want to elongate things. And so by making the panels taller, that that whole space feels so much.

[Producer Ryan]

Better and kind of defines that space a little bit. Like, one thing I think is the genius thing about this is even going back to the kitchen where you reoriented the way that the island faces that's facing through the dining room into the family room. Right. So it's it. You're connecting them all. Although you kind of did create their own spaces. You defined them, what each of them are, but also, like, brought it together, which is probably what. Exactly what they wanted. They wanted, like, you know, a great room feel, but each room to be.

[Suze]

Its own, more impressive. I will say the transitions of this home is so much more interesting too, because even when you look from the dining room into that kitchen, you can. You just get a half of an island and then you have to kind of go, you know, keep traveling to get the full story, which I think is a much more successful space. So anyway, just. I love this space. What else shall I say? The paneling is such a win. I think the large connection of the.

[Alice Lane]

The large scale picture molds, they really connect into that. That full scale cabinetry. Yeah.

[Suze]

Amazing.

[Alice Lane]

The rhythms, I think, really connect well and. And they just lead to the other. And I think that the. This sort of dark peacock leather that we used on the chairs also connects Back into the kitchen. And I love on the rug here, these, like, sort of swooping movements, organic movements, because we do have so many geometrics that this just feels so good, those softer lines.

[Producer Ryan]

And, yeah, this client, the case opening, did the dining room some favors, too, because it kind of gave it a corner and gave it definition where before it was kind of like that corner was melting into a closet type of thing, so.

[Suze]

Yeah.

[Producer Ryan]

That's awesome. I love it.

[Suze]

And I felt like the previous. That little arc eyebrow kind of weakened the space. Like, it just kind of felt like, you know, a limp flower.

[Producer Ryan]

Yeah.

[Suze]

You know, and I think we gave it some real strength in defining one space from the next.

[Producer Ryan]

Totally agree.

[Alice Lane]

Such great points to learn from. Love it. Yeah. Let's show them the before.

[Suze]

Are you guys ready? Okay. Before in the fireplace. Raise your hand if you have a niche that you inherited from bad architecture. I don't, but we've covered up so many of these. You don't need them.

[Producer Ryan]

We've all had one.

[Suze]

Yeah. I don't. I don't know what large geode like, all these cats had in the 90s and 2000s, early 2000s, to be like, I need a niche, large geo that's 54 inches tall and 3 inches deep. I don't know. They're the stupidest dimensions anyway. Fill them in. You don't need to have those.

[Alice Lane]

Well, and in that. In that image on the right, that. Look at all the different things happening. We've got an angled wall. We've got eyebrows. Yeah. We've got an eyebrow going down the stairs. And you can see the. The ceiling wall coming through on an angle of the stairs coming down. Then you've got a niche with a squared top. Right. And then how about the mantel?

[Producer Ryan]

But a radius back, too. Like in that thing. Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

All the tricks in one. Yeah, they just tried them all right here. So cleaning this up definitely feels a lot better. I can't wait for you to show me.

[Producer Ryan]

And then they just underlined it with some, like, stone there or something at the bottom. Okay.

[Suze]

Yeah.

[Producer Ryan]

Crazy.

[Suze]

I know. This was the after. Again, I wish we had more pictures of, like, that corner, but this at least shows you how we solved it out. Again, we just cleaned it up. We got some dark marble, which we did on purpose just to kind of bring some saturation to this, like, because you're still keeping the walls relatively neutral in this public space. So how are we adding interest? How are we connecting things? We have the steep cabinetry. We have the peacock chairs. We have a lot of like, cool things happening. It felt really good to bring a dark marble to that fireplace to kind of echo. Echo what you're actually going to be. Because you see this first when you walk into the house, and then you're getting a little bit of those moments of depth before you start to, like, warm up. And then you get to, like, the kitchen.

[Producer Ryan]

Yeah.

[Suze]

You know, where she pops off. So it's so good.

[Producer Ryan]

Going back to the picture you just showed us. I've seen this obviously, picture for a few years now, but where that mirror sits up on that landing. Did you guys, like intentionally put that finish mold in that? Yeah, for that to sit there. Because, I mean, I was like, man.

[Suze]

That is like, only this was two kids ago. I can't remember if we did that or if that was existing. That may have been existing. Either way, we did hang this gallery very intentionally. And we did a couple galleries and like, I think stairwells are the best place for this type of action. This mirror just happened. I think this was like her old entry mirror.

[Alice Lane]

I just want to echo that really quick. Sue just said stairwells are the best place to do a gallery wall. Sue, you show them the gallery wall before.

[Suze]

This is the gallery wall where she had her TV trying to, like, the TV was trying to blend with the gallery.

[Alice Lane]

You guys remember this trick from Domino magazine where it would be like your TV is blending in with all of this artwork. So you can see that she's got a collection of things. Like sue said, her brother's an artist. She loves art. Go back to the, to the slide before in the stairwell. Now this, this feels like you can get a lot closer to the artwork because you're traveling up the stairs. You can go slower, as fast as you want, but you're so close that you can admire these teeny tiny pieces. The teeny tiny pieces could go in a powder bath. They could go in a stairwell, they could go in in a set of built ins. But it's really hard to float that many little pieces on a wide open wall like that. It just gets knick knacky.

[Suze]

It's nervous.

[Alice Lane]

It does, yeah. And I just wanted to say, like, this was such a good placement for the art was in that stairwell. And I love the strength of the new mantle. Now that black marble to. To introduce, like you said, what's happening in the kitchen and just ground the space. It's so, so smart.

[Suze]

One another thing too, again, when you do have a short chair or like that, you're going to want to kind of extend it so A gallery wall is another way to just kind of like do a full like wall treatment so that you don't you forget that you have shorter ceilings.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah.

[Suze]

Because it's just like reaching all the way up.

[Producer Ryan]

That's in addition to the. Yeah, yes.

[Alice Lane]

Grand.

[Suze]

No, it totally does. Okay. Okay. We saw this again. Lots of little art. This is where her TV was. Again, I know we don't usually like say put the TV over the fireplace, but in this scenario it allowed for a really, really big art moment on the wall. That this was previous and that is this beautiful. So this is that family room. Again, using large pieces. She had that great little hand knotted rug. Too small for the space, but when you layer it with a big jute rug to just kind of like stretch out the space, it's so impressive. And you just do larger scaled pieces. You do like a lovely sofa. You'll see it's like in this like really again kind of that peacock ambiguous colored velvet. You have the zebra needle point chairs. So again, kind of like bringing some of those heirloom qualities back. And then you have again this like molded molten metal table. It's so pretty. A large surface with a mirrored top.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. And I think that cocktail table is like 54 by 54.

[Suze]

It's incredible.

[Alice Lane]

It's huge. Which makes the space feel really grounded. And then being able to have your upholstery surrounding that. This looks so, so designer and grand and.

[Suze]

Okay, this piece of art, how wide is that? I want to say that those are like 104. So like it's like in the 90s.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. You can 94.

[Suze]

So large. Yeah, this is this like kind of reproduction of a fresco, but we needed something large. So again, when you're dealing with short ceilings, go big on your art, go wide, go tall, fill up the wall. Because it will, it'll grow up your space a lot. And then again, those little collections and galleries are meant for the stairwell or smaller moments. So beautiful. So beautiful. Okay, now let's go into the office.

[Alice Lane]

Yes.

[Suze]

Okay. Before. These are the before pictures. Again, we're just like neutrals. Some soft sadness a little bit, but no built ins or anything to like really house. And that's what she needed. She's like, I need. We have book collections and we have like we'd love to come in here. And it's just not working.

[Alice Lane]

And there's a piano in here too. Right. So they probably have sheet music, which we did keep.

[Suze]

Yeah, yeah, One of those stand up pianos.

[Alice Lane]

So she's got a coffered Ceiling that we were gifted with, which is really, really lovely. We're just. The before is just a really neutral taupe white finish work and Roman shades with kind of a trellis pattern on it. A Moroccan rug on the ground and then armoire for storage, baskets on the ground for storage. Just. You can see that she's starving for storage. Yeah. So let's show them what we did. So added full, full height built ins on one wall. Gave her a desk. And I love this little Thomas o' Brien trick of perching the chair so somebody can come in and sit down.

[Suze]

And visit you, but not have their back to the door necessarily. Again, in spaces like this, and what you can't see is right behind. Again, these are small spaces. Right behind here is the. Where we have the stand up piano, the upright piano. And so again, this kind of, kind of become like for their teacher or you know, a spectator looking at what.

[Alice Lane]

They'Re practicing to pull it to whatever way you need it. So coffered ceiling got a glow up this. This whole room got painted. What do you call this?

[Suze]

Almost kind of like this deep Dutch blue. Yeah, it's really beautiful. But to the point of when people are just like painting a space dark will make it feel smaller. Not necessarily. I don't, I don't think so. And especially when you can do a color drench like that. Again, just like the doors in the kitchen, you know, of taking that color all the way up, it actually, it actually can make it feel like taller and more dramatic. Much more than just like keeping it light, white and boring. So anyway, I think all the architecture, I think the coffers mixed with like how we did the cleaning in the shelving I think are such a cool like stepping rhythm that talks to each other. I think it turned out it's so smart. I've lived in old homes and you just need more storage from like side to side, top to bottom. You have to be accountable to that. And so I'm so happy with how that turned out. Okay, this is that upright piano that's like behind that shot that we just showed you. That's the before. This is the after.

[Producer Ryan]

Piano finishes the same.

[Alice Lane]

Yes, yes.

[Suze]

Piano finishes the same.

[Alice Lane]

Also. Another great place for galleries is. I love it when you wrap a gallery around a corner.

[Suze]

A corner.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. It's so, so smart. And you can see there's room to just keep going too. She can keep collecting. It's a living growing and continue to grow. Yeah. And it's so smart.

[Suze]

It's so much interesting.

[Alice Lane]

Add Some jars. Add a baby lamp. Put a little olive tree inside your pot. Like that is just so smart and editorial.

[Suze]

Yeah. And my favorite thing is the doorway into this space like is a straight on shot to this gallery wall right here. And so you look into there, you don't even see the desk. You don't see the built ins or anything because that could relatively get messy. But by keeping the piano there, like you just get to see like the prettiest moment and then you get to meander. All of it's pretty.

[Alice Lane]

Do you want to show the before one more time?

[Suze]

I actually do. 1. Camera 1. Camera 2.

[Producer Ryan]

That's camera 1.

[Suze]

Camera 2. Camera 1. Camera 2. It's so, so good. And it feels historic and it feels so much like my client. Our client. She's just so good. She's the best.

[Producer Ryan]

But if you're gonna go in there and like play piano and try to be inspired and do it like what room?

[Alice Lane]

Staring at that taupe wall in. In timeout in the corner.

[Producer Ryan]

No one's writing anything good on that.

[Suze]

No, but I would practice in here.

[Producer Ryan]

For real? Yeah. And you feel like Elton John doing it.

[Alice Lane]

I was going to say if you want your kid to grow up and be a Benson Boon, you've got to provide an atmosphere for him to do that in.

[Producer Ryan]

Exactly.

[Alice Lane]

So good.

[Suze]

Benson. You heard that? Okay. Okay, now we're going to take you upstairs just to the primary.

[Alice Lane]

This is your last and final space in the remodel that we'll show you today. So this is the before. I think a lot of people would be really happy with this before. Yeah. Right. You're definitely feeling the early 2000s in those lamps, right?

[Suze]

Sure.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah. But yeah, she's about to get a glow up. What was her directive on this? How did she want the space to feel?

[Suze]

She just wanted to feel more serene, more calm. Where I think just like you have two kids, you're a working mom, you're busy. She just, she just wanted to feel like them.

[Alice Lane]

Yeah.

[Suze]

You know, and I don't. I think a lot of people, again, like you said, would be really happy with this. And this is something that you can easily like get all these pieces and parts at a store, a local store, you know, anywhere. But you want it to be thoughtful just like the rest of the house. And this is one of the last spaces we did, but. And we kept the paneling. But I'm going to show you. What we did is we painted the panel. We kept the ceiling actually white with the casing, but we did a grass Cloth texture inside the panels just to kind of add some softness. And again, just like, make it feel a little bit more easy. Shoulders down. Ambiguous in color, too. It's just kind of the psychopia. Is it pink? Is it clay? It's, you know, just like we and she actually, she purchased this bed. She was holding on to it, and we're like, you know what, let's. Let's just recover it. Bed's fine. The bed's frame's great, but we're gonna, like, throw some pink in there just to, like, give some saturation shelter.

[Alice Lane]

Bed.

[Suze]

Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

It's so good. And she kept the nightstands, too. Those are the same nightstands, Nightstands.

[Suze]

Kept a bed that she had. Got a new mirror again. I think the biggest thing, though, too, is just like to wrap an. Invite an environment with a color, you know, and kind of to take that a theme throughout, you know, just as you. Every selection that you pick does it, like, kind of get along with it, especially when it's. When you want a space to feel restful. If you want to feel jumpy, do color blocking. You can do more exciting things in a bedroom. I think it's a job to just kind of calm. Calm down at the end of the day also.

[Alice Lane]

No, I mean, we love a Roman shade, but look at the difference on the before of the Roman versus the drape one.

[Producer Ryan]

So much more height to that too.

[Alice Lane]

Right. And just like, sophistication, fullness, softness. Some about drapery folds are just so. So dreamy and soft in a bedroom.

[Producer Ryan]

Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

I just love this.

[Producer Ryan]

And I like kind of how the drapes a little bit go away with the wall, because then when you're looking across the room, there's not like all these stopping points. It probably in a. In a smaller room, too, you're going to notice that more. Yeah. And just you're feeling the whole room at once. Yeah. I think that's awesome. You guys did such a great job.

[Suze]

Oh, and even if you look back at, like, these lamps again, it's just like a lot of legs, a lot of rhythm versus having something.

[Alice Lane]

Also, I think that that sort of marquee shape, or whatever you call it, lantern shape, is also quite early 2000s and kind of dated things. And so just by having a solid body on the lamp took away the nervousness and just felt really sophisticated. So good. Even the posture of that chair at the desk feels laid back.

[Suze]

Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

You know, it's just so, so dreamy.

[Suze]

That's where she gets to do her makeup every morning. Again, we're in an old house, so you really have to double up your functions because the bathroom's not massive, you know, so.

[Alice Lane]

So good.

[Suze]

That concludes the remodel master class.

[Alice Lane]

Love this. So I think a few takeaways would be to go all in with the vision. Right. There's a lot of bold moves that she made that I think a lot of people would have chickened out and went neutral on. But by using the contrast, using the color, going for the depth, going for the big range, really keeping those vantage points in mind, this really opened up this floor plan and gave you gorgeous vantage points from. From the front door to the mantle to the dining into this kitchen and that office. Like you said, like, standing in the doorway, seeing that piano with that gallery that wraps the wall, there's just so many beautiful spaces for the idoland. And it's just. It's like it's all grown up. It's really sophisticated.

[Producer Ryan]

I'm gonna say. Even in a small space, I feel like you have less opportunities to. To make an impact. So when you have that opportunity in a small space, you have to go for it.

[Alice Lane]

I just need to point out one more time, now that you've seen the whole house. This house is 2,800 square feet, so there's still other bedrooms in this house, but you've seen the main living spaces, and they all feel like a big house, don't you think?

[Producer Ryan]

Yep.

[Alice Lane]

So good.

[Suze]

Well, design energy. Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

Big design energy. Yeah. Cue that song.

[Suze]

So good.

[Alice Lane]

I hope this has been helpful for those of you that are working out remodels. There will be more of these to come in the series, but this concludes the sugar house, and I think it was fantastic. This work is done by our design firm, Alid Alice Lane interior design. So if you are looking to embark on a remodel, we'll do your project. If it's like the whole project like this, we won't just do a kitchen or a bathroom. We really need to be able to get in there and cut our teeth into the project. So if you're interested, definitely hit up our. Our website. The design services tab.

[Suze]

Yep.

[Producer Ryan]

And then you'll go to Alid, fill out that form, and then an al ID designer will get back to.

[Suze]

Yeah. And post on Instagram too. Oh, yeah, yeah, please do. Yeah.

[Alice Lane]

Give them our handle.

[Suze]

So Aline Interiors.

[Alice Lane]

Alane. Yeah. Interior design. Alice Interiors. Alice Interiors. Follow Alice Lane Interiors on Instagram, and Alice Lane interiors has its own website also. And you can see the portfolio and you can get to the design services form from there and we'll do any remodels, whole projects or any new construction, whole projects. And we're booking projects for 2025. So we'd love to work with you. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Share the show with your friends. Like comment we love your comments and if you have any ideas for podcast for us, if you're like, oh, I wish you'd really cover this topic, send those to Dear [e-mail] and we will see you next week. Hey, thanks for listening. If you like our show, please leave a five star rating.