When we built our home at Old Silver Shed, we made decisions we always knew we’d come back to. The answer to our biggest design challenge turned out to be oak flooring to wrap the island. This kitchen and dining room refresh happened slowly, nudged along by a wood sample carried in my bag for years, leftover oak boards, and eventually, wood salvaged from my father’s barn. What began as a series of small fixes became something much more meaningful.
It was our first real build, and as you can imagine, there were a lot of mistakes.
The kitchen was one of the biggest.
In a rush to move in — our rental had been sold — we asked my brother, a cabinet maker, to build the kitchen cabinets. There wasn’t time to do the wood finish I had envisioned, so we used a veneer he had in his shop, knowing we’d change it someday. The layout was perfect, but the cabinets never felt quite right.
Shortly after, my brother passed away. And for years, the kitchen stayed as it was.
The Oak Flooring That Changed Everything…
For years, I carried around a small wood sample from Paris Ceramics — aged French white oak flooring in the exact tone I wanted for the kitchen island. I showed it to countless cabinet makers, but no one could promise they could recreate that finish.
Then one day it clicked: instead of trying to match it, why not use the actual oak flooring?
Doug, my carpenter, suggested ordering extra boards so we could carefully select the most beautiful pieces. We adjusted the proportions of the island, created new painted shaker fronts for the perimeter, added upper cabinets above the stove, and wrapped the island in the oak flooring color I’d loved for so long. He even used the flooring to craft new shaker drawer fronts for the island.
I couldn’t have been happier. And best of all — we had wood left over oak flooring….
The Fireplace That Never Worked
That leftover oak flooring gave me the nudge to address another long-standing mistake: the dining room fireplace.
During construction, we had installed a gas insert that never worked properly. We were told it needed a remote control that was “on order,” so we completed the surround with German silver hammered tiles and installed the original mantel.
Months later, we discovered the supplier had closed his business. Eventually, we learned we’d been sold a returned, faulty unit that couldn’t be repaired.
For years, we had an expensive, non-working fireplace — something we knew we’d have to rip out and redo at some point. The leftover French oak flooring felt like permission to finally fix it.
A Second Chance
This time, I worked with European Home, who makes beautiful modern linear inserts. I chose to raise the fireplace to eye level so that while sitting at the dining table, you can fully enjoy the glow of the fire.
We wrapped the new fireplace in the same oak flooring as the kitchen island, visually tying the two spaces together. The transformation was immediate — polished yet still warm and inviting.
I also realized I had forgotten one important collaboration: the custom fireplace screen. I worked with Claire Crowe to design a glass screen that would feel visually seamless. We carefully matched the metal to the 6 Globe Bolle light fixture from Gallotti & Radice hanging above the table. The result is a custom glass stand with a minimal bottom metal frame — no visual distractions, just a quiet complement to the linear fire.
I waited a long time for that Bolle light — but as anyone who has seen it in person will tell you, it was worth it.
Foraging in the Barn
With the fireplace finally right, the proportions of the dining room began to feel off. The square table we once loved in California no longer filled the space properly. It needed something longer — something meaningful.
After my dad passed away, Doug and I drove down to Poughkeepsie, NY, to salvage what we could from my dad and brother’s barns and workshop. My father and brother were both master carpenters, and the barns were filled with decades of saved materials — aged beams, hand-carved trim, wide plank flooring, and stacks of weathered boards rich with patina.
We filled Doug’s truck completely — aged barn wood, leftover flooring from my parents’ kitchen, and pieces too beautiful to leave behind. Back home, we confirmed there was enough to build a long trestle table for the dining room.
Doug, as always, did beautiful work. The new table carries history in every board.
Layering Old and New
Once the table was in place, the room needed one more functional piece: a sideboard to sit below the mirror and function as a bar or serving area.
Doug and I sorted through the salvaged barn wood and selected boards with incredible texture and age. The finished piece was left primitive, lightly sanded and sealed with butcher’s wax. Its raw simplicity contrasts beautifully with the modern fireplace and complements the trestle table.
The final change was seating. The upholstered Restoration Hardware chairs felt too heavy for the space. I searched for something more open and airy and found the Rodin Arm Chair from Arhaus. The silhouette is elegant and sculptural, yet incredibly comfortable — perfect for long winter dinners spent gathered around the fire.
A Kitchen and Dining Room Refresh Worth Waiting For
What began as a series of mistakes — rushed cabinets, a broken fireplace, proportions that felt off — slowly became one of the most meaningful rooms in the house.
The kitchen island and dining room fireplace now speak to each other in the same aged oak. The table holds wood from my father’s barns. The light fixture glows above it all. And in the winter, dinner by the fire feels less like a design decision and more like a memory in the making.
There’s still one last kitchen project planned for later this year — but that’s a story for another time.
Always great to have you here,
