For the first time in her adult life, Emily Wulff had the chance to host Thanksgiving at her home this year. It was the perfect opportunity to show off their new kitchen remodel courtesy of SpaceTurtle Construction.
“Really, I think it was because I now have two ovens,” Wulff says.
When Wulff and her husband, Matt, moved into their Bayport home seven years ago, they loved the kitchen. “I thought it looked so pretty,” says Wulff. But over time, they had amassed a wish list of things that could make it better.
“We’re both cooks, and Matt is an avid bread maker,” Wulff says. With both of them working from home, the kitchen has become a centerpiece for the home, and they wanted it to live up to their expectations.
Enter SpaceTurtle Construction. “There was nothing wrong with the kitchen,” says Marie Brenden, SpaceTurtle Construction co-owner and lead designer. “It just wasn’t them.”
The Wulffs wanted to increase the kitchen’s functionality, add a second oven and a larger, deeper sink as well as revamp an adjacent powder room. After interviewing several potential remodelers, they hired Woodbury-based SpaceTurtle Construction to bring their vision to life. Wulff says her primary reason for selecting SpaceTurtle Construction was its ability to listen and work to understand their vision.
“Marie was a breath of fresh air,” Wulff says. “She was open to hearing what I wanted.
“It was really our ideas that we’ve been planning for six years,” Wulff says. “[Marie] brought our vision into focus and showed us what was practical.”
The Wulffs wanted to create a clean, modern kitchen, inspired by a warm, Scandinavian design. “We both have a modern aesthetic, but modern doesn’t necessarily fit into the rest of the home’s design,” Wulff says.
With the help of Brenden and SpaceTurtle Construction founder and co-owner Cody Kupitz, the Wulffs were able to incorporate modern elements and clean lines in a way that complemented the rest of the main level’s open floor plan. They dubbed it the “Coyote Project.” (The animal-loving company gives every project an animal name and donates a portion of its proceeds to the Humane Society.)
Tired of white and gray kitchens, the Wulffs chose to embrace the two-toned cabinet trend, selecting the newly released Dune stain (a light natural stain with whitewash) for the upper, ceiling-height cabinets.
SpaceTurtle Construction brightened up the kitchen by installing square-edge, white Cambria countertops with gray veining and white wall tiles.
New oversized pendant lights above the island and a set of undercabinet lighting were installed—Wulff says this is one of her favorite parts of the new kitchen. “They add so much light,” she says.
Removing a trio of existing pendant lights left holes in the ceiling that would have required them to redo the entire ceiling had Kupitz not brainstormed his way to a creative and unique solution—a custom slat paneling piece that hid the holes and allowed them to recenter the lights over the island. The result is a stunning, one-of-a-kind piece of millwork that ties the space together and acts as a focal point for the kitchen.
“The custom millwork is my favorite because we got to create it on our own,” Brenden says. “I would love to put that in other projects.”
An industrial faucet, a pop-up outlet in the island and a beverage station are among the project’s fun elements. “The beverage station is so nice,” Wulff says. “It keeps the kids out of the rest of the space.”
Pale pink walls carry around the pantry door and down the hall past the boot bench to the powder room where SpaceTurtle Construction wrapped up the remodel project by creating a bright, clean space.
“[The team was] incredibly friendly and patient,” Wulff says.
The fond feelings go both ways. “They’re the absolute sweetest family we’ve ever worked with,” Brenden says. “They really became part of the family.”
Fresh Tones
The Wulffs selected a newly available stain from Koch Cabinetry called Dune for the upper cabinets. The stain is a light natural stain with whitewash.
The walls are painted with Abalone Shell (Sherwin Williams 6050), a pale pink tone.
The lower cabinets and island are a deep indigo, which is a custom color created by the cabinet maker. The indigo was also used on the custom millwork piece above the island and a boot bench in the hallway.
SpaceTurtle Construction
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