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Hacienda Revival

Welcome to part 2 of our virtual renovation of this exciting Hacienda in Portugal.

Having softened the exterior of this house and played up the Hacienda old-world charm, its time to turn our attention to the worn interior which needs to be spruced up in a functional, more contemporary way. 

Moving into the kitchen, we find a narrow old-fashioned galley kitchen with 2 doors leading off the far end of the room and no windows for natural light.

 

The fridges are lumped awkwardly at the end of the room, nothing has a proper home or location because there is only one wall of cabinets typical of older kitchen designs.

White Structure

In the kitchen area, I would do a contemporary galley kitchen with clean sleek lines, inspired by one of the two following kitchens.

 

Since I suspect that the room on the other side of the wall at the far end of the kitchen, is the living room, I would break a doorway through that to give the kitchen space less of a cavelike feel and to allow sight lines into the next room, making this one feel bigger and allowing natural light in at the same time.

And in case a white streamlined kitchen feels too stark, as I am debating with myself, my other inspiration for this kitchen make-over is slightly warmer colours making it feel more homely and inviting

Using both walls of the narrow space for cabinetry and worktop doubles the usable space and allows for appliances to be kept hidden or concealed thus streamlining an admittedly small space.

Both kitchens show a galley kitchen with light at the far end which draws the eye and provides visual interest. This would be accomplished by breaking through a doorway into the living room which has windows providing natural light and is always more interesting than a blank wall.

Which leads us into discussing the living room which is currently a dark, small room with old-fashioned windows.

 

The plan for this room would be to turn the windows into a feature by installing huge arched wooden windows and doors that open to the garden.

 

This would let in a ton more natural light for both this room and the kitchen, improve the flow and make this room feel a lot larger than it actually is.

This is my inspiration for this room – I really love the recessed lighting in the ceiling because it adds even more light, if natural light still remains an issue with this room.

 

My vision for this space is that it becomes an extension of the garden and these doors are often open, letting in natural breezes and scents, along with fantastic natural light.

Lastly, we move onto the bedrooms and bathroom – the inspiration for these came once more from the Hacienda Yabucu in Seyes, Mexico.

 

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Whilst the inspiration for the bedroom does feel a little like a hotel, it’s a very relaxing, tranquil bedroom setting and I could totally imagine it working in this house.

I loved their modern take on the tiled bathrooms because Azulejo or tiles are such an integral part of Portuguese heritage and so updating but keeping them is beautiful.

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