Our Blog
How to Communicate Your Design Style to Your Interior Designer
If you’re getting ready to work with an interior designer, that likely means you are about to embark on a significant project- how exciting! The concept of creating a space that reflects your personal style can be very compelling and rewarding. However, you may find it a little nerve-wracking trying to ensure that you end up with a space you love when teaming up with an interior designer, especially one you may have just met! Whether you are someone who
Mudroom Ideas to Keep Your Family Organized
It’s that time of year where families transition from summer to back to school, which often means switching up the routines that have been followed for the last few months. Occasionally this disruption can cause a little chaos in the household as everyone adjusts to a new schedule. If this season has inspired you to invest in some organizational solutions for your home, we might have just the idea for you. One of our favorite recommendations that bodes well for
Inspiring Ideas for Your Bathroom Design
If you’re thinking your bathroom needs a refresh, you’re in the right spot. Whether we are talking about a large primary bathroom or a simple guest bathroom, your space deserves to be designed with intentionality. As you gather ideas for your bathroom design, make sure to consider both functionality as well as visual style. One without the other simply won’t do, as you’ll be wanting to change the design all over again. Luckily for you, we’ve worked on several custom
The Custom Cabinetry Process: What to Expect
For those wondering about custom cabinetry, the first question is usually, “So how does this work?” We figured we lay it out for anyone wanting to know more about the process, as it definitely is a process, and for good reason! Custom cabinetry is just that- fully customizable. This is not show up to a box store and pick from premade cabinets and try to make it work in your home. Instead, the process involves designing your cabinetry to fit
Unique Cabinet Ideas to Spice Up Your Design
Do you think of cabinetry simply as containers that hold your stuff? While the main function of cabinetry is to do just that, there is an opportunity to elevate your cabinetry to be the main essence of your design style. Especially when considering the limitless options of custom cabinetry, there is a lot of room to get creative, and we encourage you to take advantage of those possibilities! Whether you’re a homeowner wanting to get the most out of your
Bringing a Dream Home to Life: A Virtual Tour
When you think of a dream home, you might envision walking into an open house and seeing that by a stroke of luck, every detail is somehow exactly perfect, and you wouldn’t change a thing. Perhaps instead you envision building a custom home from scratch. While both scenarios are possible, have you considered that the home you’re living in now could be your dream home? Maybe it’s not the right size, or the kitchen is far from perfect, but it’s
KBIS 2024: Our Trip to Las Vegas
KBIS, or the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show, is the largest kitchen and bath show in North America, held at the end of February in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year, our entire Gravel Lane Design team made the trip to Las Vegas to tour the show, explore a wide range of exhibitors, and enjoy some quality time as a team. Our trip started out with a late flight into Vegas on Monday night where we got checked in to our
Trending in Kitchen Design: Stained Cabinetry
Being in the custom kitchen industry, we have a front row seat to what’s trending in terms of kitchen design. Just as 90s fashion made its comeback, we’re seeing a similar shift happen for kitchen design. What’s the specific feature that’s making a notable return? Stained cabinetry. Now we’re not saying that stained cabinetry was ever truly “out” per say, just that most homeowners started turning away from their honey oak cabinets from previous decades. So how is stained cabinetry
5 Pantry Ideas for a Custom Kitchen
When designing a custom kitchen, there are lots of decisions to be made regarding layout, colors, and materials. One part of a kitchen design that shouldn’t be overlooked is the pantry. A kitchen pantry is a highly functional space that should be considered carefully. What kind of pantry to go with depends on what kind of space you have and how the kitchen will be primarily used. Here we have listed 5 different pantry design ideas and when to use
A Tour of Our Showroom
With 2023 coming to a close, we’re already gearing up for all that is to come in 2024. We have several projects on the books already and gratefully anticipate more to come. One of the incredible parts about being a design studio is that we get to meet so many different clients and learn about them and how we can help make them happy in their home. Since we constantly get invited into our client’s homes, we felt it was
How To Prepare Your Home for Guests
With the holidays rapidly approaching, tis the season for traveling and get-togethers. Catching up with long-distance friends and family is one of the great joys of this time of year. If you are the one that typically makes the trip to be close to loved ones, you are well aware of the time and financial investment it takes to be able to celebrate with everyone. Having a comfortable landing spot can make all the difference when traveling for the holidays,
The Color Comeback
Just as the trees are filling with color as autumn takes over, we are seeing a similar trend happening with home interiors. Color has been sneaking its way back into interiors in subtle ways over the past several years, but we expect to see color really take over in a more daring way. While we still see plenty of neutral palettes, color is definitely making a big comeback. In the past decade or so, we have seen color take on
Interior Design Myths
From Pinterest to Instagram along with home design shows on television, there is quite a bit of interior design content at our fingertips. As with a lot of social media, we often only see the highlights and the best of the best projects. While we love using these resources to share ideas and look for inspiration, it can occasionally create a few misconceptions about the interior design industry itself. With television shows, it may seem like you get to see
Styling White Cabinets 3 Ways
Some argue they are overdone while others say they are timeless, but either way, we don’t think white kitchen cabinets are going away any time soon. White cabinets continue to be popular for kitchens as they are neutral, versatile, and leave a lot of opportunities to style them to your taste. Essentially, there is no one way to do white cabinets. Our designers have used white cabinetry in countless kitchens and still manage to end up with many different final
Why You Should Hire an Interior Designer
It is finally time to build your dream home or renovate your existing space, so you inevitably ask the question: Do I need to hire a designer? Even if you are really confident in your own style and figure you can handle all the design decisions yourself, we still highly encourage you to consider the value of consulting a design professional to help with your project. While you may be great at styling your home, there are certain advantages that
5 Ways to Warm Up Your Kitchen
School is out, temperatures are warm, and the long-anticipated summer season is finally upon us! There is something so joyous about packing away the cold weather sweaters and breaking out the suntan lotion. If you’re a big fan of summer, you know the feeling we’re talking about! Now, what if we told you there was a way to preserve some of that warm and cozy feeling in your kitchen all year long? Whether you are wanting to move away from
3 Reasons to Remodel Your Bathroom
If you were asked to reflect on your favorite parts of your home, the bathroom might not be at the top of your list. Although bathrooms are essential to every home, they are often overlooked. It is natural to want to focus your home improvement energy on rooms that will get more attention like a kitchen or living room, but the truth is, bathrooms get a lot of traction! We have recently completed several bathroom remodels and we can hardly
Combating Decision Fatigue and Commitment Anxiety
It’s no secret that home remodeling normally isn’t a super quick process, especially when you’re talking about completely redoing a kitchen or perhaps even a whole home. One of the reasons why the design process doesn’t happen overnight is because there are so many decisions to make regarding colors, layouts, materials, inserts, dimensions, functionality, etc. Having to make all these decisions can be overwhelming and potentially draw out your project timeline, especially if you’re someone that struggles with decision making.
Planning for the Next Season
Today marks the first day of Spring- the season of renewal and new life. As the natural world starts to revive and greenery begins to grow, there is a sense of newness in the air. Many people take this time to do some Spring cleaning and freshen up their space, and what better way to do just that than to get started on that home project you’ve been thinking about all winter? Whether it’s a new kitchen, updated guest bathroom,
Designer-Picked Cabinet & Countertop Pairings
Gearing up for a kitchen or bathroom remodel and need a little design help? We get it. When it comes to home remodels, it’s easy to tell what we don’t like, but when it comes to choosing what to replace it with- well, that’s a little more complicated. If we are talking kitchens and bathrooms, your most important design decision is going to be your cabinetry and countertops. Your cabinets, along with a complementing countertop, will set the tone for
5 Things in This Custom Kitchen That Just Make Sense
We throw the phrase “custom kitchen” around a lot here at Gravel Lane, but what is it that makes a kitchen custom? Essentially, a custom kitchen is designed with our custom cabinetry line and is therefore fully customizable. A custom kitchen allows for unlimited design potential in style, color, and layout. For this reason, custom kitchens are some of our favorite projects to work on since both the client and designer are able to really get creative. With endless options,
Preparing a Project Wishlist
During the holiday season, an anniversary, or a birthday, have you ever found yourself not knowing how to answer the question, “What do you want?” We’ve all been there, trying to come up with a gift on the spot that we would enjoy receiving, but somehow, the mind goes blank. While this scenario might be solved with a simple “I’ll get back to you on that,” there are certain circumstances when it’s extremely valuable to already have an idea of
Hosting For The Holidays
From mid-November to the beginning of January, there’s one thing that consumes our calendars year after year: holiday parties. Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s, you’ll likely be a part of the celebrations in the role of either host or guest. If you’re a natural host, you’re probably already in the process of prepping meals, décor, and/or activities for one or more of these events. Providing the space for everyone to gather is no easy feat, but the memories
5 Rooms to Renovate That Aren’t Your Kitchen or Bathroom
If you find yourself scrolling through our Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest page, it’d be easy to see that a majority of the home design projects we work on are kitchens and bathrooms. There’s a few reasons for this, one being that everyone likely has a kitchen and at least one bathroom in their home, both probably used often. Another reason being that since we specialize in custom cabinetry, it makes sense that we do a lot of work in these
Tips for Styling Open Shelves Like A Pro
Open shelving – we’ve seen it in living rooms, kitchens, and even bathrooms. We love the openness and the opportunity to style, but how does one create perfectly styled shelves that don’t end up looking like a cluttered mess? Thankfully, you don’t need a design degree to achieve beautifully arranged shelves- just a few tips and tricks! Here is our professional design advice for styling your open shelves: 1. Start With Gathering All of Your Materials While this first step
6 Kitchen Storage Solutions
When designing a kitchen, both style and functionality must be considered. Having a beautiful kitchen doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t work in the way that you need it to. Similarly, if your kitchen is functional, but you hate the way it looks, you’re not going to want to spend much time in that space. When we start designing a custom kitchen for a client, we of course ask questions to get a sense of their personal style, but it’s
A Balanced Blend of Warm and Airy
Deciding to remodel your home can be both exciting and intimidating, especially when you throw kiddos in the mix! This house was already home to a lovely couple with one child and another was on the way. Despite the added challenge of being new parents, these homeowners were determined to design their dream kitchen! The first step in any remodel is gathering inspiration and determining what kind of style you want to reflect. For these homeowners, they wanted the space
What We Do at Gravel Lane Design
Right on the corner of South Main Street and Eureka Avenue, you will find our Gravel Lane Design showroom. Peeking through the large windows, you will get a glimpse of our showroom kitchen and island along with our collection of various material samples. As much as people walk this popular Eureka, Illinois street filled with local businesses, we still get the occasional “I’ve always wondered what this place was!” as people enter our doors. Our Eureka, IL showroom is our