Today is all about focal points.  A piece of furniture, art, or something in a room that your eyes are drawn to.   Our ILVE Majestic Range is the centerpiece of our kitchen and is not only eye candy it’s also a very practical piece.  We lived in this house when our kids were babies and quickly decided we would need more space.  The surrounding property is protected forest and we love the general area so rather than sell, we purchased a larger home about 2 miles away and used this as a rental property.  As the kids got older we decided to move back to the house on the pretty lot.  The house was a lot older and worn down a bit so we decided to take the property down to its studs, retain the foot print, bump out, and do a major renovation.   It was a stressful ordeal, but all said and done, a good move for us.  We learned so much and three years later, are talking about building again (some of us thrive on the crazies, yes?)

We did this ourselves with no experience.  I say this because so many of the bloggers that share their homes are designers and it’s always so perfect. This is not.  There are still a few details that we have yet to complete (always something else that takes precedence) and a few things I would have done differently but all said and done we are happy with the way it turned out.  We opened the house up by removing walls to create a great room and literally raised the roof, creating a high  vaulted ceiling and placed a large beam in the center.  Our kitchen is predominately white, with a large island that I love for entertaining and food preparation.

We entertain a lot and I love to cook so I wanted a range that would not only be pretty to look at but also practical.  Upon entering our home you walk right into the great room and immediately your eyes are drawn to the beautiful ILVE Majestic range.   Made in Italy, these little jewels are not just beautiful but professional grade, cooking evenly every time.   Ours is the 4o inch (not a standard size) Ilve Majestic Dual Fuel with natural gas and 6 burners.  The range also has a double oven and eight (yep, eight;) settings for cooking so you can choose if you’d like to cook with upper heat, lower heat, or both!  All these options help out when you are making pizza, cookies, or a roast.  Options are good!

We chose a custom black/gray color and oil-rubbed bronze knobs and hardware.  I’m so glad we added the pot filler !  I use it daily to fill my pots and tea kettle.  The kitchen counters are calacutta marble and the tile backsplash pieces are from Home Depot which, by the way is also in the bathrooms.

These beautiful images were captured by the very talented Missy Palacol Photography You can also find her here: Instagram and Facebook.

                                                             PS. Between posts you can find me on instagram sharing highlights of daily life.

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