When Maureen and Craig first called us, I was very excited. They are family with some really great people I know. I went down to the city to meet them, and just as I expected, they were pretty terrific. Stepping back into the 1800s They live in a super old house. It was built in 1890. They have archival images on their walls, the original door to the house. On the first evening we met, I got to the door and searched for a bell. No doorbell. Well, none that I could see anyway. When Maureen opened the door and I mentioned that we could add that into the project, she laughed. “Here it is!” With great smiles they both explained that the doorbell is 129 years old, the door is original to the house, and they just refused to give it up. You can see in the photo, it’s the circular knob right above the mail slot. They then showed me archival photos they have on their walls, not only of the house, but of a great many important things to them that date back to their roots and their family heritage. I got to know […]
It’s fun, actually. Cooking with your kids. My kids love cooking, especially my son, Logan. He’s been in my kitchen since he was about four. Standing on stools, covered in an apron and oven mitts “to here”. My daughter, Zoe, well she is more of a restaurant manager. She is just like Mommy. Our old kitchen was super small, and even just Logan and I felt crowded in the space. There was no counter for chopping or mixing. Half our “tools” were hidden in other rooms. The kitchen made me super miserable, and eventually, after living in our home for just a couple of years, the joy of cooking became the need to feed my family. It was a chore. A dark, uncomfortable space that my kids and I would never be able to rise to our true potential in. So when we renovated our home, the kitchen was almost the only think I cared about. I spent a long time working that space out on paper and in my own head. We are not unique. Almost every home I go into, for a kitchen renovation, tells the same story. Not enough space. No storage. […]
I am humbled. There comes a day, in most adults lives, if you have been working at your career long enough, when being humbled happens. Click. Humbled. For me, this happens often. Over our years, as we grow, our lives change, we move in different directions, our friendships morph as well. People we once saw and spoke to daily become people we see at parties. Our neighbours, specific friends, people we make time for, take the front seat. As does, in my married life; swim class, ski lessons, guitar, gymnastics, school, playdates, travel, blah blah. But it is when those people, those friends, whom you facebook with but never see, never speak to, when they call you and they ask: “Can you help us. Can you do our home.” That’s the moment. Click. Humbled. They are going to trust me. Me. The person they knew when I started my business 16 years ago. The person who they saw dance at 2am, pre-married, pre-kids, act like a buffoon, me. Yes, I was once an unruly young adult. It’s true. And those people, whom I still love dearly, they want to hire me. It’s happened twice this year. Once, I got to create […]
Why a second opinion, and possibly a third, is sometimes necessary. When Sonia and Jay first called us in, they had spoken to other contractors first. I can’t remember if it was 1 or 2. What I do remember, is they had some grand plans for their main floor, and when they laid it all out for me, I truly felt they were planning too much for their space. Their intent was to open up their kitchen to their den/living room/family room, whatever you want to call it. For a townhouse whose main floor consisted of those two spaces plus a dining area, in my opinion, it seemed a bit much. I am fully aware that the new “in thing” is to have giant, open spaces. But those spaces should make sense to the home and the lifestyle of the people in it. Also, budget is always a factor. If you spend more money on a renovation than your home’s value can tolerate, then A) you have to live there for many years to recuperate your investment or B) you can never leave without a loss. So, a part of what any good designer or contractor does, is evaluate that […]
“Well how about a baking station?” I say as my clients and I sit and chat over what we need to incorporate into their new kitchen. “A baking station?” Their thirteen year old daughter has perked up. Head cocked. Looking super cute and suddenly excited. “Yes. I need a baking station.” She smiles at me. She is a little shy at first, but I can feel the happy vibes coming off her. She loves to bake. We have that in common. I totally get how important that baking station is. Back to the parents… “It’s too cramped. We need more space, and counter space without compromising walking space…” and the list goes on. Nothing frighteningly different. They, like all growing families, need space. They need efficiency. They require a place for their “stuff”. The fun part comes later, when I start to ask about style and colours. “We like gray. We like a little more modern, maybe a little funky. You decide.” Those words are golden. “You decide.” YOU DECIDE!!!! So off into colourville we went. With fun patterns and colours. The best part? It’s almost indestructible! New Crypton fabrics are so durable, that we can do almost anything […]
Where did the blog go? It’s been over a month! It’s been forever!! I want to see pictures of the renovation! Of the kitchen! Send me something! What happened to the Designer’s Renovation Journey? Those are some of the comments we’ve received lately from readers and clients. Thank you so much for keeping in touch and caring and reading my words! We were a bit trapped. Unable to post new pics of the kitchen, because…well, until just yesterday, they belonged to someone else… In the early fall I received a call from someone at MOVATO Home. They publish several home magazines, including Toronto Home Magazine. “We’d like to feature your kitchen in the magazine. It needs to be complete and ready for photos by January.” Who says no to that? I was so excited. The Article from the Toronto Home Kitchen issue is below. You can pick up a copy at most newsstands, Chapters, Indigo, Amazon etc. Or you may get a copy from me…I have a few… The Deadline Steven (husband who is basically doing the work all on his own), was not so pleased with the deadline. He looked at me, knowing very well that my January deadline […]
Renovation Stumbles and Tumbles SO this week I was supposed to write about the den. And although that’s fun, to be honest, I haven’t really finished that design, and many more interesting things have happened during this renovation. Let’s talk about the time we tried to put in the beam in our kitchen… There are a lot of things that get “assumed” in a renovation, by both the architect and the engineers. They have to do this, in order to create the plans without tearing your entire house apart. BUT, they are assumptions. And we all know that assuming makes an *&^ out of you and me”. In our home, the one big assumption was that the bearing wall that runs along the house was well built. That it was thick enough, that it had posts and footings that would be needed in order to build up above them. Let’s remember, 1945. The new areas, built in 1971, perfect. 1945…not so much. Let’s get some definitions out of the way: Beam: Horizontal wood or steel beam that is used to hold up the ceiling or floor joists which in turns holds up your floor or ceiling Post: The vertical wood […]
The Kitchen Renovation/Design Do you love to cook? I LOVE to cook. I LOVE to bake fancy cakes. I LOVE to eat (which really explains it). I have a LOT of kitchen stuff. Pots and pans, machines of all sorts, rolling pins and buckets of fondant, cookie cutters, crockpots, you name it. And I want more. It’s my sanctuary, second only to my master bathroom (which doesn’t even exist more than a stud outline at the moment.) Before Working in my last kitchen, the tiny 10 x 11 micro-space, was brutal. LOOK AT THE PHOTOS! It was ugly, zero work space, and I used an 11” Ikea buffet as an island. A remnant from my single days. I couldn’t even roll out a pizza on that thing, let alone chop onions. **This is the photo from the listing when we purchased the home. These are NOT my roosters… When we got the plans for the house done, we expanded the kitchen to double its size. More so because we took down some walls to enable a huge island. And there began my long fall into despair. A journey into a black hole filled with cookie cutter kitchens. A veritable plethora […]
The Yonge Lawrence Kitchen It was inevitable. They renovated their bathroom, see http://www.monacointeriors.ca/portfolio/yonge-lawrence-bathroom/ and the kitchen was to follow a couple of years later. They had called a few times, we had looked at it and discussed their options and their budget, and then, when they were ready, they pulled the trigger. And what a journey we took! The existing kitchen was likely over 40 years old. It was not only dated, but cramped, dark and totally inconvenient. It was a small box, closed from the rest of the house, with little storage and zero social value. They complained that two people could not be in there at the same time, and dinner parties weren’t great as not only was the kitchen difficult, but the adjoining dining room was also small and cramped. That it! We proclaimed…down with that wall!!! Or so we thought. When the contractors got into the wall, they found all kids of pipes and electrical wiring. But, with a little imagination, they were moved and the wall came down. The kitchen boasts white painted shaker style cabinetry with a classic yet more contemporary edge. The handles, the Caesarstone counters and backsplash, and stainless appliances […]
It was March of 2013 when I received the call from a young couple, referred to us by a great client. They had just purchased a semi-detached home in mid-town Toronto that was in urgent need of a renovation. Urgent, you see, because their baby was due around July 26th, and they wanted to move in at least two weeks before the little one was born. That meant, that we had to be done the renovation within about four months, and we hadn’t even met yet! I rushed over at my earliest available opening, and took a look. The real estate agent let us in, we didn’t even have the keys yet. The place was a disaster. The kitchen was basically rotten, with old cigarette buts in the cupboards and peeling floors. There were walls everywhere. The refrigerator was even built on a step, inset to a wall with a hidden cabinet on the side. The stair rails were not to code. The floors were an ancient mess. The bathroom…let’s not go there. I cannot believe they had such trust in us, that we could turn this place around in such a short amount of time. Within weeks, the cabinets […]