Show Time

History plays a major role for the Atlanta-based Schuon Kitchen & Bath showroom, but it is only part of the firm’s story.

Located near the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District in a late-1800s cotton mill warehouse, the showroom is the city location that works with the firm’s Roswell, GA site. Emily Robbins, co-owner of the company and herself a designer, focuses on creating rooms that fit the period and design of the historic homes of Atlanta. She came up with the idea of using the space as a live/work loft.

According to co-owner Hans Schuon, Robbins proposed living in 50 percent of the 1,600-sq.-ft. space and using the other half as an Atlanta-based showroom, an idea that proved to be too good to pass up.

Robbins kept many of the charms of the cotton mill warehouse in her showroom design, including exposing its concrete pillars, floors and ceilings.

“When our clients come into the showroom, I think they see a very unique space in a very cool building,” says co-owner Hans Schuon. “It’s cool because we tried to keep it unique to the character of the building.”

The showroom is laid out with vignettes showcasing products the company sells, including cabinets from Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinets, Shiloh Cabinetry, Mid Continent Cabinetry and contemporary lines Artcraft and UltraCraft. Countertops include CaesarStone and J. Aaron, as well as wood, concrete and glass.

The one working kitchen is traditional – “kind of a 20s/30s bungalow, a style we do quite a bit. It has painted wall cabinets with painted espresso base cabinets,” comments Schuon. “We also have a vignette with distressed oak – and it really does look like something you would have taken out of the house in the late 1800s or early 1900s.” KBDN