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    A painting of an octopus twists its way up a wall and across a soffit in the kitchen of a Central West End home, reflecting the homeowners’ unique design style.

        The homeowners asked local artist Phil Jarvis to create the sea creature. “I thought it would be interesting to put some kind of mural there,” the homeowner says. “The reason we chose an octopus was because I wanted it to have movement, and also wanted it to be kind of unexpected.”

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    In 2019, Joanna and Brett Green moved to St. Louis from northern California. On the west coast, the pair had developed an affection for styles with a contemporary edge. Moving to St. Louis, however, they determined they would embrace a style of home that landed somewhere in the middle in terms of aesthetics, somewhere between modern and classic looks.

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    Claustrophobic is the word Nettie White of Nettie White Interiors used to describe Jeff and Natalie Ostermann’s kitchen when she first saw it. Builder-grade and choppy is how the homeowners felt about it. Now, after a five-month remodel that included installing new hardwood floors, two islands, granite countertops and cabinets with custom finishes, convenient, timeless and gorgeous are the words that spring to mind.

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    Family was the focus of this recent kitchen remodel. The homeowners’ goal was to create an open and flowing entertainment space for family gatherings that included a large island for seating for their grandchildren. Ken Henry, premier designer at Alspaugh Kitchen & Bath since 1986, reimagined the kitchen changing the design from a U-shape with a peninsula and tiny island to an L-shape space with a large T-shaped island. “The old kitchen was cut off from the family room and had a tiny island,” Henry explains.

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    Interior designer Allison Dozier of Allison Dozier Interiors follows the design philosophy that if your foundation is solid and you focus on quality craftsmanship and natural materials, it is hard to go wrong. She embraced that approach in the renovation of her own kitchen. Her goal was to create a family-friendly space that was equal parts functional, beautiful and comfortable.

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    Perhaps it was the television show Fixer Upper’s tendency towards white or homeowners revealing their sparkling white kitchens on Instagram that inspired the trend. Regardless of how it all started, in terms of kitchen colors, white has become the go-to hue for new, updated kitchens. Katie Jackson and her husband John selected the shade in their own kitchen refresh for many reasons, but mostly to allow the standout island, inlaid with burled walnut and anigre wood, to dominate the space.

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