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Custom Trash Cabinet
Recently we had the opportuniy to do some additional work for a long standing client.
One of the things he asked for was some sort of cabinet to hide his trash, recycling and compost bins. Being a condo, there was no space in the existing kitchen cabinets for any type of roll out.
The best place to put a new cabinet so that it would be out of the way was under a shelf we had installed along the kitchen window.
We custom designed and built a cabinet that would hold three bins and be completely tucked out of the way and painted it to match his existing upper cabimets. The compost bin is in the middle section under a couple of open shelves. The result is a fantastic use of space.
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Wrigley Lofts
I’m proud of all of my work but every so often I work on something that truly makes me step back and say “wow”.
This is how I feel when I look back on the work I did for a good friend at his Toronto loft.
The Wrigley Lofts is the old Wrigley gum factory that was built in 1916 and was used by Wrigley’s until the 1960s. The building was left abandoned until the late 1990’s when it was purchased and coverted into residential lofts.
I can’t take credit for some of the work that was done renovating this loft, there were a lot of people involved. I did all of the bathroom tiling, the bedroom flooring, drywall soundproofing, a lot of painting and a fair amount of design consulting.
This home is stunning. It retains many of the original architectural features such as fluted columns, concrete floors, 13 1/2′ ceilings and the original factory windows and all of the design choices made were period appropriate.
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Lakeside Bathroom Renovation
Here’s my latest bathroom renovation; a 1960s lakeside bungalow which was in desperate need of a makeover:
Zigg Condo 1
Over the past few months, I’ve had the opporunity to work on two brand new units at the Zigg Condo on Avenue Road west of St. Clair in midtown Toronto.
Both units had their own set of challenges but the one thing they had in common was the same challenge faced by most condo owners, namely, storage and functionality.
The first unit I did was a one bedroom 600 square foot unit. As is typical in most condo units, it had very small closets which meant inadequate storage capabilities for my client.
The other challenge was that the interior doors were very wide at 38″ most likely to accomodate people with mobility issues, but it meant that the doors had a very wide swing radius. This was a problem for the bedroom as the door took up a tremendous amount of floor space, space that was rendered useless as no furniture could be put there and it was a problem for the laundry closet which was right beside the entry door.
The laundry solution was pretty simple; replace the door with a bifold door which would take much less room to open than a traditional door. For the bedroom, we decided to convert the door to a barndoor which would free up space in the bedroom for a much needed wardrobe.
In the dining area, we built a custom wall unit with lots of closed storage and a small set of open shelves to display some decorative items.
Finally, we added some light fixtures and some furnishings.
Fireplace Makeover
Here’s an outdated brick fireplace that was quite simply, ugly. Maybe in it’s day, it was nice, but not anymore.
With a brand new kitchen about to go in overlooking the fireplace, this thing really needed a makeover.
We knocked off the existing brick mantle, framed around the brick surround and anchored in some 2X8s to support a TV and a new wood mantle. We ran some PVC conduit to hide the cables and then added cement board to give us a good surface for tiling.
A beautiful gas insert was installed to complete the transformation. Pretty proud of this one:
Posted in Before and Afters, Fireplace Makeovers
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Updating an out of date bathroom
Here’s a bathroom I did recently that, when the house was built 30 years ago, was quite stylish. Today, not so much.
To save money, the clients kept the original vanity and opted to replace the top and instead of a new ceramic tile floor, they chose new vinyl 12X24 tiles that look exactly like ceramic and until you touch them, feel like it too, except that they are warmer, without the expense of a heated floor and much cheaper.
The makeover involved replacing the tub and tiles with a new wider, deeper tub and cultured marble walls (half the cost of real marble), replacing the vanity top and mirror and installing a new floor.
It turned out beautifully:
Posted in Bathroom Makeovers, Before and Afters
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Columbus farm house
A while back I completed some work on a century old farm house north of where I live.
The job involved installing new subfloor, a Ditra underlay and new tile in a main floor hallway, laundry room, hall closet and powder room.
It wasn’t a particularily exciting job, but the results were quite good. Everyone is very pleased.
Posted in Bathroom Makeovers, Before and Afters, Flooring
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Kitchen install
A while back, I started doing work for a kitchen and bath company and one of the projects was to install a new kitchen in a fully renovated raised bungalow.
Once the new counter tops are installed, I’ll be able to install the backsplash.
Sleek and modern, this kitchen is coming along nicely.
Posted in Before and Afters, Kitchen Makeovers
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Transforming a fireplace
We’ve had a traditional style fireplace in our home that I made almost 10 years ago and have always loved it, especailly at Christmas, but recently we were becoming increasingly frustrated by the cramped corner where our TV unit sits and the inability to add a chair or two to our small living room.
In an effort to streamline the look and reduce the clutter, we decided to modify the fireplace and build a TV unit that would encompass the fireplace and free up the corner of the room for a chair.
We had to cut the ends of the top of the fireplace and then by adding some store bought melamine shelving and some trim, we were able to create an entertainment unit that would house all of our “crap” and free up space both literally and visually.
Now to find the perfect chair for the corner…………………..
Distinctive Spaces 