We’ve done so much work for this client that when she approached me about doing something with her kitchen island, I was only too happy to oblige.
A while back, we had painted the island a dark blue, which was a nice contrast to her white cabinets and tied in with her blue decor.
The issue was that the blue paint was peeling off. The people at the paint store had assured her that this paint would work, but, sadly it appears they were wrong.
She had seen kitchen islands on line that were stained wood and really loved the idea. She wondered if her island could somehow be transformed into a natural wood stained piece, even though it had at least two layers of paint.
The easiest solution was to “clad” the island in wood and make new custom doors and drawer fronts.
We chose to use maple as it has a more subtle, less busy grain than say, oak. She didn’t want it to look ‘country’ so the type of wood was a major consideration.
Instead of stain, we use a coloured Tung Oil (Dark Walnut) and applied 3 coats of clear coat.
A few years ago, we renovated a basement in an 1,100 square foot home, building a suite for the owner’s mother to live in.
I’m still amazed at how we were able to effectively use the space, utilizing every square inch.
We were able to complete the suite to include a living and dining area, a kitchen, a three piece bath, a bedroom with a closet, a laundry room for stackable machines and some storage under the stairs.
Here’s how it looked before we started:
and here is the end result, which are extremely proud of:
The 80s really was a dark time for interior design and decor. I suppose, maybe, this bathroom looked good in it’s day (I somehow doubt it) but it was long overdue for a complete renovation.
It was ugly, dated and tired, Nothing at all was salvageable. From the massive drop in tub and deck to the concrete slab ‘prison’ shower to the faded linoleum floor, it all had to go.
A gorgeous free standing tub, large shower with one piece marble-look walls, a modern but classic double vanity, beautiful new LVT press fit flooring, new lighting and mirrors, it all came together beautifully.
This is probably our favourite bathroom renovation to date. We are thrilled with how it turned out and in love with our design choices and the blend of modern and rustic elements.
In a beautiful country home built in the early 1990s, nestled in 50 wooded acres north east of Toronto, this 2nd floor, main bathroom was original and needed to be completely redone.
It was terribly outdated with it’s square white tiles on the floor and walls. It’s oversized tub (36 inches wide and 72 inches long) and large linen closet weren’t an effective use of space, especially for the plans our clients had for the space.
The toilet, which was interesting in shape, was too low to use comfortably and the vanity was showing it’s age.
In addition to the bathroom desperately needing a makeover, our clients wanted to move their laundry facilities up to the second floor from the basement and use that basement space to enlarge their home gym (we will showcase that in an upcoming post).
So, literally, everything had to go.
Completely gutting the bathroom gave us the opportunity to redesign everything. We replaced the tub with a standard 60 inch size which allowed us to expand the closet to accommodate beautiful new stackable laundry machines. Our electrician did an amazing job running power for the new washer and dryer up through the walls from the panel in basement.
We chose a classic large format white subway tile for the tub end walls and a gorgeous Italian porcelain wood look tile for the back tub surround wall and the floor.
Opening up the walls gave us the opportunity to install a pocket door which made accessing the new laundry machines much easier and rather than have a laundry door that swung our into the room, we built a fabulous barndoor to hide the machines when not in use.
We rescued a leftover beam from the barn and with some love and attention, we were able to repurpose it over the tub to accommodate the barn door track.
A new 60 inch double vanity (with a custom hole between the sinks for trash), a modern one-piece toilet, new light fixtures and a large, deep mirror completed the transformation.
One of our favourite things to do is custom woodworking. We love building things from scratch. It’s incredibly satisfying and gives us such a sense of pride.
From wall units and bathroom vanities, to doors, drawers and closet organizers, it’s all so rewarding.
For our clients, they have the opportunity to design something that truly works for them, fitting perfectly with their needs and lifestyle.
I thought I would showcase some of our best Wall Units, Vanities and Fireplaces. We are very proud of these ones:
We just finished a basement kitchen renovation for a long term client who is also one of my oldest and dearest friends.
Her daughter decided to move home to save money for a house of her own (as so many young people have to do) and she needed a functional kitchen space. We had already done the bathroom for her (post to follow) so this was next on the list.
The basement was already finished and had a wet bar, but that wasn’t really functional as a full time kitchen.
Using IKEA’s kitchen planner (which is fantastic, as are their kitchens) we designed a kitchen which had no upper cabinets due to an overhead bulkhead but included a bank of lower cabinets along one wall with the sink and faucet and an island with a cooktop, microwave oven and a charcoal filtered range hood. We also included an overhang for stools.
Her daughter, along with some friends, removed the existing bar and flooring and our first task was to break up some concrete to dig a trench so her electrician could run power to the island for the cooktop, microwave and 2 outlets.
After running the electrical conduit, we cemented over the trench and installed new LVP flooring. Next came building the island base and installing all of the cabinets.
To keep costs down, she ordered laminate countertops from a local supplier which we installed along with the sink, faucet and cooktop. The range hood was an insert so we built and stained a ‘box’ to hold it and built some custom shelves for dishes and glassware.
The results is a kitchen that is both beautiful and functional.
We’ve done quite a bit of work on this 1920s story and a half located north of Toronto. We’ve done a basement renovation, converted a shed to a pool house, redone the backyard deck and second floor terrace and stairs. This time, we tackled the main bathroom in the house which was getting very old and tired and wasn’t designed with the best use of space in mind.
The storage cabinets in the alcove next to the tub were much too large and the vanity was too small. It was decided to relocate the toilet into the alcove (getting rid of the cabinetry) and installing a larger, double sink vanity. Everything was replaced – tub, tiles, flooring, toilet, shower and tub fixtures, tub doors.
The result is a much cleaner, more modern bathroom that better suits the clients’ needs.
An outdated powder room with fake wall tile and a broken vanity was updated with all new fixtures, paint, trim and spectacular wallpaper. Have a peek at the before pictures:
A while back, we renovated a bathroom that was the original builder basic. It was horribly out of date and had a typical drop in tub that the clients never used and a tiny dark and dank shower that had been leaking and rotting .
We completely gutted the room, getting rid of everything. The old tub was replaced with a large, modern shower and by removing the wall where the old shower was, we were able to install a much larger vanity. A bidet toilet seat was added to the new toilet for some additional comfort.
The result is a gorgeous and modern spa-like space: