Kathie Cesa
Before
In her newly renovated kitchen, you can see what Kathie Cesa loves the most: family.
Positioned prominently behind a section of glass-doored cabinets are her grandmother’s crystal dishes. The 100-year-old antiques remind her of the past. Also on display is a tea towel that reads ‘YaYa’s kitchen,’ a reminder of her four grandsons who love to visit.
“They love the remodel too,” Cesa says.
Cesa moved to Columbus from Coshocton, a small town east of the city. She chose to settle in Westerville because it reminded her of home.
Kathie Cesa
After
“I like that Westerville had a little bit of a small-town feel,” Cesa says. “It’s just a friendly community, easily walkable, great restaurants.”
Due to the businesses she runs remotely, Cesa was looking for the perfect house to act as an office and an oasis. She landed on a ranch-style home, but she had a few changes in mind to make it her own.
“That was when I started working with Kathy to modernize the kitchen,” Cesa says. “This was really more for me and my family when they come over. I hope this is my forever home, and so I tried to make this kind of a timeless look.”
The four-month-long project was completed by Kathy Morgan and the Functional Living group. Contractors took out a portion of the wall to open up the kitchen. What once was a small window into the living room became a new bar with seating.
They also added new cabinets, backsplash, countertops and appliances. The cabinets transformed from generic neutrals to a new sage green.
“When I first moved in, everything was white and beige in the house, so I just wanted a little more pop of something,” Cesa says. “I tried to bring in the greens and a nature feel.”
Cesa said the hardest part of the renovation process was picking out all the little details in the design. She even had to decide which way the hardware would face on the cabinets.
Kathie Cesa
Before
“They don't show you the myriad of decisions you have to make and the minutia to make it turn out to the vision in your head,” Cesa says.
To help her achieve her vision, Morgan encouraged Cesa to create a Pinterest board with all of her ideas. This sparked a new idea for the upstairs bathroom, which they also renovated.
“We put in a sliding door to the bathroom with translucent panels rather than a regular door, I found that in a hotel,” Cesa says.
Kathie Cesa
After
Aside from the kitchen renovation, the upstairs bathroom was taken down to the studs to create a spa-like experience. They also painted all the woodwork in the house and created a custom credenza, one of Cesa’s favorite parts of the house.
The transformation was not a quick change like in an HGTV show, but Cesa enjoyed going to her house every day to see the progress.
“I would come over every day just to check on the guys,” Cesa said. “And sometimes they would have suggestions or they would want to show me what was happening. So just being involved the whole way, I really liked that.”
Maggie Fipps is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
