Kitchens: Beth Kirby’s Stunning Renovation

Beth Kirby’s Stunning Renovation

Blogger, stylist, photographer, recipe developer, mother, wanderlust enthusiast…Beth Kirby is undoubtedly an international woman of enviable taste. Her lifestyle website, Local Milk, features countless examples of her litany of talents, all under the umbrella of a carefully edited, unique aesthetic. In between her frequent trips, she’s recently managed to completely renovate her home into an otherworldly haven with some of the most awe-inspiring interiors we’ve ever seen. Simon was fortunate enough to catch her stateside to uncover the story behind her renovation and pick her brain for the #foundatsimon pieces that helped her make her ideal home a reality.

How would you describe your overall interior design aesthetic and inspiration?

Our aesthetic is minimalist and wabi-sabi — a Japanese tradition of finding beauty in imperfection. My husband and I wanted the space to feel warm without feeling cluttered, and we wanted to avoid being overly trendy because we want a space that can grow with us and withstand the test of time. We favor light, neutral colors because they’re calming — balancing rustic accents with an overall clean, modern design was the goal. A lot of our inspiration comes from our travels, which I’ll get into shortly. I’m also really inspired by painter Georgia O’Keeffe’s home, the work of interior designer Axel Vervoordt, and the home design work of our friends, The Jersey Ice Cream Co.

How did you begin your design process when faced with the empty space?

It wasn’t really empty, it just came with really basic, builder-grade stuff. You know, hollow doors from the hardware store, cheap faucets…everything was just really basic. The hardest part was to not see all of that, and try to imagine what the space could be. So we pretty much ripped out the bathrooms, the fireplace, the floors, the stairs — you name it, we ripped it out. Lucky for us, because of our simple taste, we knew what we wanted from day one — namely white plaster, white oak, and natural accents of linen, brass, concrete, reclaimed wood, and marble.

What is your favorite design feature of your home?

The bones are my favorite part — the plaster walls and the white oak floor. I also love our custom concrete and reclaimed wood sinks with brass fixtures.

We hear you’ve been traveling a lot recently. How do you incorporate your wanderlust into your work?

A large part of our inspiration is our travels — we spend about eight months out of the year on the road, blogging about food and travel as well as hosting photography and food retreats. Our wanderlust made it into our home via roughly hewn wooden accents like our sink stands that echo Japan; tadelakt plaster, straw baskets, and Berber rugs we brought back from Morocco; our white-washed floors that were inspired by Scandinavian design and finished using a Danish white oil; the walls are all Venetian plaster; and the vintage kitchen faucet and Lacanche range are from France.

What is your top, fail-safe design tip for SAID readers?

Less is more, and natural materials will always be in style and beautiful. I also subscribe to quality over quantity, and minding the details. I’d rather have a beautiful plaster wall, a beautiful floor, and great switch plates than a ton of stuff. I choose my furniture and decorative objects slowly. I don’t feel like it has to be finished overnight. I want to love everything in my home.

Which #foundatsimon stores do you rely on to help you bring your interiors to life?

We have pieces and accents in our house from Restoration Hardware, Anthropologie, Pottery Barn Kids, Sur la Table, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma. I have an RH grey card membership, and our dining room table (a grey oak Parsons table with benches) is from there. I also actually really love RH Teen too — our living room and guest room fixtures are from there as is our rather unconventional bean bag couch. The dresser in the baby’s room is from West Elm as is our bar cart and our living room rug and kitchen runner. West Elm has super affordable mid-century style pieces I really love to mix in. We have another couch, destined for the guest room, that’s from Anthropologie, and our entryway bench is from Sur la Table. And a lot of baby Eula’s toys that are, um, more “visually present” are from Pottery Barn Kids because they carry things that she loves and I like looking at, which is a nice departure from the technicolor plastic of a lot of kid’s stuff. I can’t wait to get her a toy kitchen from there once she’s old enough!