Kitchen up with trends

The homeowner, Diana Walker, was born in New Mexico and collects jewel-toned pottery by Bauer, Catalina and Roseville. The kitchen’s color scheme of teal, sapphire blue and yellow-gold were inspired by her favorite painting by Alberto Vargas.

Handmade Malibu tiles are used in the back-splashes and counter tops. The honey-brown oak cabinets are enhanced by teal-painted fronts on the refrigerator and sink.

“I’ve tried to come up with the feeling like you’re in Mexico,” Oliphant said.

“I think the house has a lot of charm and character, and that’s why I entered into the Kitchen & Home Tour.”

The designer was patient and asked homeowner Walker a lot of questions, Walker said, helping her to decide exactly what she wanted.

“I wanted to keep the integrity of the 1930 Spanish house, and Marlene was very instrumental in letting me do that,” Walker said.

“I also think that one of her best talents was the use of color and putting the design of the tiles together. She put this puzzle together, which blew me away. She’s got a good way with colors.”

Oliphant’s design of Burbank client Laura Snow was on the Temple Emanu El home tour earlier this year.

“While meeting the deadlines and tending to details made working with Marlene a pleasure, her real forte was in the lasting creative design of her work,” Snow said.

In her design for the Georgian Colonial, the second Glendale home on the tour, Schmidt kept the traditional look of the home while blending modern touches, Schmidt said.

The wall separating the galley kitchen from the family room was removed, creating an open space, which was more conducive to the family’s lifestyle, homeowner Sandra Gonzalez said.

“I need to keep an eye on the kids while they play,” Gonzalez said.

“We always end up in this room. The girls do their homework in here.”

The kitchen has granite tile in black and cranberry red, Schmidt said.

“We did this because we wanted to create a formal black-tie kitchen so you have dark granite counter tops with light cabinets,” she said.

A unique feature of the island is that the designer searched for a single piece of granite 10 feet long, she said, so it’s seamless.

The important thing about this tour is that real people live in the homes, as opposed to houses on the showcase tours, said Maria Videla of MV Design Group in Burbank.

At showcase homes, the interior reflects the designers’ tastes, Videla said.

“But in these houses, there is a real homeowner who needs professional help to update houses — in this case, the homes that were built in 1948 and ’32,” she said.

“A designer will ensure when you do a kitchen remodel, in the case of the Glendale home that uses handmade Malibu tiles, a designer will try to stay period-appropriate.”