Project Overview: Kitchen Remodeling in East Lansing
We recently had the absolute pleasure of partnering with an incredible family living in the historic Patriarche Park neighborhood of East Lansing. As passionate travelers with a deep appreciation for Mexican culture, they wanted a kitchen that felt less like a cookie-cutter suburban cook space and more like a warm, colorful reflection of their life experiences and personality.
Like many charm-filled, older homes located just minutes from the Michigan State University campus, their property possessed incredible architectural bones. However, the original closed-off kitchen layout simply wasn’t keeping up with their busy lifestyle, love for hosting family gatherings, and daily meal prep.
The Challenge: Balancing Family Lifestyle with an Older Home's Quirks
For these homeowners, the primary daily frustration was a massive, central brick fireplace. While they loved its historic look, it severely restricted the room's physical layout, leaving them with almost no functional counter space for prepping meals and creating a major bottleneck during family get-togethers.
Because the family lived in one of East Lansing’s classic older builds, our construction team also had to navigate the structural realities common to the area. Once we began the work, we uncovered several hidden challenges that required expert handling:
- Severely uneven floor framing due to decades of natural settling.
- Exceptionally thick original plaster walls.
- Non-standard dimensions hidden behind old, dated finishes.
The homeowners needed a team they could trust to solve these older-home infrastructure issues without stripping away the authentic soul and warmth of their property.
The Solution: A Deeply Personal Design Built for Real Life
Working hand-in-hand with our lead designer, Dianna Corsi, the family carefully curated a palette of bold, artisanal finishes that gave the room a completely unique identity. Instead of moving forward with a costly and structurally risky demolition of their beloved brick fireplace, we redesigned the entire layout around it, turning the architectural obstacle into a stunning, integrated focal point that anchors the room.
To inject the vibrant, travel-inspired energy the homeowners craved, we incorporated customized details throughout the space:
- A Texture-Rich Focal Point: A striking blue fluted backsplash tile that delivers a gorgeous pop of color against the brick.
- Handmade Accents: Hand-painted cabinet hardware that gives the entire space a collected, custom feel over time.
- Structural Engineering: Our crew leveled the uneven framing and meticulously retrofitted the cabinetry to sit perfectly flush against the original plaster walls.
The end result is a structurally sound, highly functional kitchen that has completely transformed how this family cooks, entertains, and spends time together in their East Lansing home.
