Maune Legacy Reveals A White and Gold Dream Kitchen

When Jennifer and Brian Maune moved into their former home in Little Rock, Arkansas they were expecting their first child. But nine years and four more children later, the Maune family had outgrown their humble abode.

“We had a growing family and when we moved into our previous home we were pregnant with our first. We had five babies and there just wasn’t a lot of room left,” said Jennifer, who runs her own lifestyle blog, Maune Legacy.

Not long after the Maunes welcomed in their newest bundle of joy, now a year old, they set out to find the right house that had enough space – both inside and out – for their kids to run and play.

Eventually Jennifer and Brian, an environmental scientist, found the house that would suit their needs: A five-bedroom home in Little Rock’s Chenal Valley. This past August, the family of seven packed up their possessions and moved over to the new home.

The Maunes had only lived in the home for less than a month and had barely unpacked, but they didn’t waste any time getting to work on making sure the new space felt like their own.

Within the first few weeks, Jennifer and co. began tackling renovation projects such as redoing the countertops in the master bathroom and laundry room as well as remodeling the children’s playroom.

Managing “multiple projects at the same time can be challenging, but you want to be able to get the entire space settled as soon as possible,” Jennifer said.

But perhaps one of the biggest projects Jennifer needed to take on immediately was renovating the kitchen.

Built in 2004, the house featured a wrap-around bar area and cabinet section that separated the kitchen from the breakfast nook and great room. The bar area essentially created a closed-off concept that barely allowed for a kitchen table big enough for the family.

Furthermore, Jennifer noted, the beige-and-cream-colored kitchen, which also had an island and two ceiling fans, didn’t quite fit the aesthetic and décor she had dreamed of.

“The kitchen was beautiful as is. However, the house was built in 2004 when beige, brown and gold colors were all the rage,” she said. “So we not only needed to make more space to be able to enjoy it – for our family to sit and enjoy dinner – but we also wanted to change the aesthetic.”

For the new home, Jennifer wanted a white, bright living space with gold accents and a neutral palette. She had envisioned a French Country style with simple and casual elegance.

To create more space, she wanted to remove the wrap around bar area and replace the island with a longer 10-foot island, which would also house the new sink.

“Because the kitchen is the heart of the home, we wanted it to be open” to the family room, Jennifer said.

And for the appliances and fixtures, Jennifer turned to Kingston Brass, falling in love with the Heritage Bridge Faucet in Polished Brass and Gourmetier Solid Surface White Stone Apron Front Farmhouse Kitchen Sink, which matched her French Country concept.

“I saw the bridge faucet and just absolutely fell in love with it. So I wanted to go with a polished gold to fit in with our overall theme that we’re going for,” she said. “It was a perfect match.”

“The other thing that I really wanted for this kitchen,” that’s seen in newer homes, she added, was the “sink, and the farmhouse sink specifically, to be located right across the range, which makes better sense for meal prep and entertaining.”

In the months prior to moving in, she had begun planning the design and layout of the new kitchen, taking inspiration from social media, including Kingston Brass’ Instagram.

“I did a lot of browsing on Pinterest and obviously Instagram. I looked for inspiration in those two places,” Jennifer said, adding: “I put a design together on Pinterest to save all the kitchens that I found that I loved. So I certainly utilized our board there for inspiration.”

In their previous four-bedroom home, Jennifer and Brian had completed some minor DIY projects such as electrical and plumbing renovations, but certainly not to this magnitude.

With a plan in place, Jennifer, taking on the role of project manager, contracted Chris Neumann of A&E Home Repair Service and partnered with several vendors, such as Kingston Brass, to execute her vision.

Over the course of about seven weeks, Jennifer and her renovation team transformed her family’s kitchen into her dream design.

Jennifer’s “White Kitchen Remodel” consisted of painting the kitchen cabinets in Pure White and the ceiling in 50 percent Dover White. The backsplash she selected was a white porcelain arabesque lantern style that had the “curvy shape” she desired.

For the countertops, she went with white polished quartz, which features a light brown and gray veining. Jennifer wanted to go with marble but she noted that with young children, who are likely to cause spills, the marble would require more upkeep.

On the gold front, Jennifer adorned the kitchen with polished brass hardware and gilded iron light fixtures. Initially, she noted, she was going to install solid gold pulls and knobs, but she eventually found glass one that had polished brass trim.

“I fell in love with them, they bring such elegance and class, but they are durable and functional,” she explained her blog. “They are exquisite and I love seeing the sparkle as the light catches them. It’s upgraded our kitchen in a major way.”

With the ceiling fans removed, she hung up three 10” pendant lights over the new island and a six-light chandelier above the nook and kitchen table.

“The 6-light chandelier is beautiful and provides the perfect amount of light and compliments the lantern-style pendant lights perfectly!” Jennifer wrote.

And to complete the white-and-gold aesthetic, the 30” farmhouse sink was installed in the island with the polished brass Heritage faucet and matching side sprayer accompanying it.

“It’s another show stopper and I feel like it stops me in my tracks every day,” Jennifer wrote of the faucet and sink combo.

Though Jennifer had an overall positive experience renovating her kitchen, she admits that it didn’t come without a few hiccups along the way. However, she acknowledged, such issues are expected with a project of this size.

“There have been a few times where we’ve experienced some miscommunication,” she said of her team. “Again, I expected those. We went into this knowing there could be delays.”

But running the show as project manager has certainly made an impact on Jennifer as she developed tremendous respect for those who work in the construction and renovation industry day in and day out.

“The different brands or vendors, the businesses I got to partner with on this kitchen, it has been so fun to see their excitement and see their true interest and really trust me to create this beautiful project,” she said.

For anyone also thinking of conducting their own renovation project, Jennifer expressed one valuable piece of advice: plan way in advance.

“I will say one important thing that I learned was that the more planning that can be done on the front end, the more fluid it’s going to be,” she said. “So that was one of the challenges, picking out different finishes … waiting for (products) to come in … anything that can be done on the front end before construction … that helps the project go faster and quicker.”

What also helped was that throughout the project, Jennifer regularly posted story updates on her Instagram, asking followers to weigh in on certain design choices.

“I utilized my Instagram stories and got a lot of feedback from my followers … posted several different suggestions for the hardware and asked them to vote,” she said, adding that “It was fun being able to engage with our audience to bring them along in the entire process.”

Jennifer said she has gotten a lot of joy walking into her new kitchen every morning, seeing her vision and hard work come to fruition.

“It’s really rewarding to have a vision and see the before and then watch it transform,” Jennifer said. “It’s very rewarding … Seeing the end product is probably my favorite piece of it.”

Next on the Maune’s renovation agenda is replacing the hardwood floors in the kitchen as well as completely transforming the master bathroom to also go along with the white-and-gold aesthetic. But with the kitchen project (mostly) complete, the family is taking a break before tackling any more projects.

Just before Halloween, Jennifer was elated to see her family spend time together around the new island carving pumpkins.

“Being able to move back into the kitchen has made my home feel more settled, to feel like we finally moved in,” she said.

To get more details on Jennifer’s kitchen transformation and inspiration for your own remodeling project, head over to her blog, Maune Legacy, and check out her mood boards on Pinterest. You can also find additional photos and videos of her project by following her on Instagram.

And don’t forget to also follow Kingston Brass’ Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for additional design inspiration and tips.