Philadelphia row homes: a style unto themselves.
The row home shared walls make them easier to heat, but the lack of windows and proximity to neighbors can be challenging for people who need natural light and quiet in order to thrive.
We picked this West Kensington house for its high ceilings and proximity to Norris Square Park. With a modest renovation budget, we took this kitchen down to the studs and created a sanctuary which integrates as much nature as an urban setting can provide.
Before: Kitchen
Before: Original kitchen was small, stuck between the living room and rear mud room, with minimal workspace and one window facing a cinder block wall.
Before: Mud Room
This mud room was at the back of the house, past the original kitchen. It had two more windows.
Stripped to Studs
We gutted the two back rooms, and took down the wall between them. We enlarged the rear window and added a door with a window to increase the natural light.
KitchenInProgress
Larger windows bring natural light into the new counter bar and breakfast nook.
Kitchen Appliances
We mapped out an L-shaped layout which took advantage of the extra space, building in a bar counter next to a breakfast nook in the former mudroom.
Kitchen Finished
Brown and cream base colors and lighting fixtures chosen for sensory sensitivity.
The Joys and the Pitfalls
The biggest issue that plagues Design it Yourself home renovations is selecting fixtures and finishes that you love, AND that harmonize with one another. We are NOT in favor of the matchy-matchy look, but there’s nothing more heart-rending than installing your new cabinets over your new floor and realizing that they clash.
How we avoided this: we chose the floor first. (Wood-look ceramic tile: durable, attractive, easy to clean, doesn’t show dirt.) Then we physically carried a floor tile to the cabinet maker, a cabinet panel to the countertop maker, and so forth. There’s no substitute for experiencing a combination live and in person.
Then we encountered another hitch: Trend Assumption. Our contractor didn’t ask what tile we wanted for the backsplash. He said, “People get white subway tile.”
OH HELL NO.
The tile our chastened contractor installed was NOT stolen from an archaeological dig in Morocco and smuggled into harbor by pirates at astronomical expense. I found it by scrolling through hundreds of tile patterns online and ordered it through Home Depot. But you’d never know the difference.
Sensory lighting: indirect, warm, and adjustable
The light fixture over the dining nook, by Fanimation, contains a variable speed ceiling fan. We chose it because it dims, and does NOT have bare bulbs pointing toward people’s faces.
The pendants over the island are fitted with smart bulbs from Philips Hue–completely adjustable for color, value, and timing–and are hung low enough that they illuminate the work area without shining into eyes.
Overhead halogen lights in the business section of the kitchen are adjustable and point at work surfaces.
As we are in a dense urban area, the only time this kitchen got direct sunlight is around sunset at certain times of the year. We treasured these moments, before the three-story building went up behind us.
Thus, the windows have only sheer curtains and as many low-light plants as we can manage. We covered the cinder-block walls outside the side windows with white surface-bonding cement, for increased light reflectivity, and stained the wooden privacy fence with honey-hued varnish.
Pomegranate Tile
White subway tile? THINK AGAIN.
Kitchen Hutch
Instead of building in storage, we found this secondhand hutch for dish storage in the dining nook. Lighting selected for indirect and dimmable fixtures which illuminate workspaces without shining into sensitive eyes.
Fresh New Kitchen
Keeping to a palette of brown and cream, we selected light fixtures that minimized hot spots in favor of indirect, dimmable light sources and natural light.
CottageCoreKitchen
My daughter calls this aesthetic 'cottage core.' I simply love dried roses and spices. There used to be ugly gray cinder blocks outside these windows, until we covered them with white surface-bonding cement.
Are we done yet? OH HELL NO.
Peacock mural: planned from the start. Colors: from the Tiffany lamp. Shapes: from the night-blooming Cereus cactus.
Peacock Sketch
Rough draft of future peacock mural, to scale, designed around proportions of door.
Peacock In Progress
Transferring the peacock sketch onto the wall requires a projector and a step ladder.
Peacock: Finished
Now just color it in. Easy-peasy!
Fanimation Fixture
Indirect lighting, dimmable, variable speed fan makes the dining nook comfortable for sensitive people.
Cathedral Corner
The dining nook has a rotating exhibition of art and plants.
Jungle Kitchen
With the amplified light from enlarged windows, the jungle can grow.
Authentic, not catastrophic
Our clients: Creative and brilliant. Of course.
We enable and facilitate our clients’ creativity, by helping you understand your aesthetic and sensory needs. When you have a brilliant idea for an unconventional theme–like a peacock jungle in your urban kitchen–we help you execute your idea in a way that WORKS.
Got an idea? Get in touch. We would love to hear it.
BreakfastNook
Dining nook serves as a creative space for writing, gardening and hanging with guests.
Case Studies in Sensory Interior Design
The Eccentric Genius Habitat Intervention
Your space, your nervous system.
Most of us were never taught how our bodies actually experience a room–the light, the sound, the layout, the smell–and what happens when those things work against us instead of for us.
This free seven-day course is a gentle introduction to sensory design. Each day brings one exercise–noticing what you feel, photographing what you’ve been editing out, dreaming about what you actually want. The exercises are all optional, and you can go as deep as you like.
By the end, you’ll understand more about why certain rooms drain you, what your body knows about your home, and how to start shifting without stressing out.
Sign up below. Your first email arrives within the hour.
Practical Sanctuary, sensory interior design, specializes in interior design for highly sensitive people.
We help you create spaces which are:
