CREED: One Year Anniversary!

CREED: [ noun. = A summary of principles, beliefs or opinions]

BEAU-TY: [noun. = The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.]

A year of blogging.  Last week marked the one year anniversary of this blog and I have to say, I can’t believe its been a year already??  You can click here to read my very first post and introduction to blog land just 12 months ago.

Keep’n it Real.....

I will admit I’m not one who follows any of the ‘rules of blogging’,,,,,,I’m sure there are rules but I’ve never read them, I just dove right in and started blogging.  I’m just doing my own thing here and if others want to read, or share my posts or even leave a comment - I’m thrilled, I love receiving comments from readers and look forward to the feedback. My goal on this design blog has simply been to post original content and to be authentic, a blog about interior design written by an interior designer.  For me the best way to achieve that is to simply express my point of view by writing about and photographing my own projects and my own experiences, as honestly as I can. Afterall,,no one else can do this, except me!

My living room.

Thanks....
Clearly, my goal was never to set out to achieve as many followers as I could, cause that would require a strategy of sorts requiring much more participation in blogland than I can possibly manage right now.   I’m so appreciative of the 24 readers who have been followers on this blog and I’ve enjoyed reading all your comments here and I’ve enjoyed visiting your blogs too!   I’m still amazed I have any followers at all, but as my stats counter tells me there are actually several hundred visitors a day to this site which kinda freaks me out, honestly!  I’d like to share a special thanks to my very first two followers,,,who signed up within hours of this blogs launch, they are my most faithful and loyal readers and the only 2 followers I actually know.  Its no coincidence they also happen to be two of the most important people in my life - Anita being not only my mentor for many years but also one of my closest and dearest friends,,,and my younger brother Tom who was my very first best friend and will continue to be my bff,,,he’s also the only family member who is computer savvy enough to figure out how to become a follower on a blog (I’m not kidding!). I come from a pretty large family and honestly, my family readers alone would total 40+,,,,if only they knew how. 

This is Anita...isn’t she beautiful!  This photo was taken about 2 weeks ago while having lunch together.  She’s also a designer and runs her own design firm, I learned everything about the design industry (and business, and relationships, and cooking, and life in general) from her.  We worked together for 10 years, but it never seemed like work.  I miss seeing her everyday.....   

This is Tom aka 'Six' .......aka the rock star!  He’s an avid curler and last year he made it to the provincial’s (a once in a lifetime opportunity for a rare few), it was a 7 day televised tournament and I couldn’t have been more proud and excited for him.  I quickly elected myself president of his fan club and created a blog that chronicled his trip to the provincials, it was called ‘Six Rocks’,,,it was only online for 2 months and accessible only to our family and friends but it was hugely popular.  It was 2 months after that little experiment with blogging that I launched this design blog.  

Most popular Post....

Why I love Ikea kitchens.  This post definitely generated the most comments and emails of any other post.....over the years I’ve designed a LOT of ikea kitchens and what makes them successful in my eyes is when nobody can believe they’re ikea kitchens!  Proving that Its not about how much something cost or where you buy it - its about how you use it!  For me designing with Ikea products is like playing with lego blocks,,,the possibilities are limitless.  I look forward to posting Part II of Why I Love Ikea Kitchens in the upcoming year featuring new bespoke Ikea kitchens and more tips and tricks.

Yes - this is an Ikea kitchen.  More after photos of this project will be shared in the year ahead.

My Favorite Posts....

I have a couple of personal favorites from this past year. One was The Before & After of an E-Design project. Simply stunning! For anybody who hasn't considered the benefits of using e-design services, this is bound to impress you. My client's after photos prove that a small investment in a good design plan will net you maximum value from your reno dollars. You can also check out my e-design website thedesignshop for more images of this project in the sample gallery.

This is an after photo the client sent to me, I'm planning on visiting the house in person in the upcoming weeks to take my own photos which I'll share with you here.

Another personal favorite post was the Victorian House Tour. Having the opportunity to tour this house was a thrill for me and such an unexpected surprise. My sister-in-law was the listing agent for this house and as she was preparing for the public open house she invited me to come by for a tour. I have a thing for victorian houses and this one, happened to have been designed by the well know Toronto firm of Powell & Bonnell some 10 years ago, and probably one of the few (if not only) traditional home they've designed. Of course, I fell in love the second I walked thru the door. I had come armed with my camera and I excitedly went from room to room just shooting away candidly. I must have taken hundreds of photos in about 20 minutes. I composed a blog post from some of the photos and the homeowners were so thrilled with the post they printed it out and left if with all the real estate agent’s literature for the public open house. Of course it didn’t take long for the house to sell and I’ve been invited to visit the homeowners new home one day once they’ve settled in, and I can’t wait to see what they’ve done with it.

Living Room vignette from the Victorian House tour.

The Year Ahead......

{Before & Afters}:  I’ll finally be getting around to posting final after photos of Brian’s Condo, along with More after photos of the 70’s Sidesplit, more photos of a mid-town condo reno, and after photos of the stunning e-design bathrooom reno...

Sneak Peek of the 70's Sidesplit master bedroom.

{Client Projects}:  In the coming year there’ll certainly be no shortage of subject matter for me to blog about, my biggest challenge will be finding the time!  New projects include the dramatic transformation of Gail’s Kitchen and Family Room currently under construction,,,,,,I’ll be  collaborating with one of the city’s hottest landscape designers on the redesign of a rooftop deck of a mid-town condo, I’ll be furnishing a modern suburban family home for a yonge couple including a hip nursery and very chic his/her dresssing room,,,I’ll be tackling a new kitchen design for a idyllic log cabin retreat in north ontario that is nothing short of this designer’s dream setting.  And all this, will be happening over the next few months......

The plan for Gail's Kitchen & Family Room reno.

Modern love - furnishing a home for a young couple.  I've got the main pieces in place for this Living Room, wait and see how the rest of it comes together.

{Student Work}:  Each month I receive dozens of portfolio’s and resumes from students seeking employment or internship opportunities.  Unfortunately I can’t hire them all but I’m blown away by the level of talent and skills these students have developed, i wish ci could. , One thing I’ve been wanting to do for some time now is to start posting some of these amazig projects that the students have created.  I hope to illustrate the level of talent and skills design students possess and provide a platform that will give them some well deserved exposure.  I’m thrilled to tell you my first post featuring student work will be this month and i’ll be intrudocing you to the the work of of 2nd year student Lisiane D'Amico .... of Sheridan college.  She’s also a graduate of Ryerson’s architectural science program and you’ll be blown away by her talent..

Loft renderring by student Lisiane D'Amico.

{My Home Renovation}:  The most exciting topic of all for me will be my own home renovation,,,hopefully I’ll be starting on it before the 2nd anniversary of this blog, first I have the huge challenge of finding the house.  I actually had to shelf house hunting this past winter and spring because i was too swamped with work.  So I plan on spending a lot time with my real estate agent in the near future,,who i’ll be introducing you to here on the blog....

{A Special Guest blog}:  Featuring Kara Reed one of Toronto’s busiest real estate agents.  You may recognize her as Sarah Richardson’s agent most recently appearing on HGTV's Sarah’s House 3, but she’s been my sister-in-law for the past 20+  years and not only is she one of the most special people in my life she's also been a favorite client.  I had the pleasure of designing (a total gut and reno) her 3 level mid-town condo in 08 and 09.  Kara's client list reads like a who’s who of Toronto, from the design industry, entertainment, sports and finance, she has access to some of the most spectacular homes in Toronto.  Her and I have toured hundreds of houses together, often she’ll call me and say ‘where are you ,,you gotta come see this house!!”  And of course I do and I’m never disappointed!  She’s sold two of my own homes (for record breaking prices) and has lots of experience seeking out those diamonds in the rough.  So I'm going to collaborate with her on a feature post or two in which we'll share our views on the realities of investing in home improvements in today's market. 

Real Estate Agent, Kara Reed

I'll leave you with my favorite photo of the year. I can't exactly explain why its my favorite, perhaps because it was such a candid photo of a completely undesigned room, there was no plan or intention for this space, things that the homeowner already owned just fell into place here by happenstance and the simple beauty of these things together captivated me - I just grabbed my camera and snapped away. I hope there'll be many more images like this to come. : )

Thanks for reading,

Carol

Upload: May 31, 2010

I take a lot of photos every day and I upload them onto my laptop 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes hundreds at a time.  Collectively these photos are a snap shot of where I've been, what I've been sourcing, what I've been working on, job site progress, what I find inspiring, things I love, and things that I find interesting and worth keeping on file for future reference.   Here's a small sampling of the latest images uploaded from my camera.  Starting with the photo above - freshly cut peonies from my garden, I'm surrounded by them as I type this and the scent is heavenly...... : )

The month of May marks the beginning of the outdoor antique season, I made a trip to the Aberfoyle market a couple of Sundays ago in search of a painted dresser and a pair of night tables (for 2 different clients).  I arrived late in the afternoon so I only had time for some quick browsing but was lucky enough to hit the jackpot.  It didn't take long to spot this dresser and I scooped it up instantly, it was a STEAL.

The dresser is for the 70's sidesplit I recently furnished for a single mom and her daughter, it'll go in the guest bedroom, pictured below...

Oh, the ones I left behind, sadly these beauties didn't come home with me,,,,I really really really wanted them, they had the most incredible blackened brown patina and they were solid.  I have no place for them in particular but still I didn't want to pass them up, especially when they were only $15 ea.!!  $15!!!  If it wasn't for the fact I had zero room, not even an inch of space left in my car that day, these would be safely at home in my basement right now. : (

Trendspotting,,,,,,I couldn't help but notice these butter urns or crockery pots everywhere at the market,,,I mean everywhere.   I also spotted these in the latest Pottery Barn catalogue so it seems the vendors are taking their cues from the home decor industry.  I love the simple utilitarian form of them, the typography  and their oversized scale.  Today I would put a big huge bunch of fresh cut pink peonies in one of these.

I'm in the early stages of working on some design concepts for a rooftop deck which hopefully will be built this summer.  I've been checking out what's available in ready made cushions so that we can mix these with some custom made.  This chaise from West Elm was particularly interesting to me as it reclined completely flat becoming a bench, which makes it doubly useful for entertaining....

A trip to DFO to scout out their in-stock outdoor fabric selection,,,I just pulled out the ones that caught my eye and started mixing.  I love this large graphic floral and this graphic geometric together, they both had a modern feel.  The colour is actually a beautiful very orange/red but seems to read more red in my photos.

This stripe worked well with the large floral above, but I think i would use it sparingly in a candy stripe piping detail or for the sides around a box cushion.

I wasn't looking for navy at all but loved this combo, especially with some nice crisp white piping!

I think I would have liked this more if the yellow was more vibrant.  I think the tourqoise print below would make this trio more dynamic.  For outdoor fabrics, I prefer to stay away from too much green because I like all the green to come from the grass, trees and plantings.

Think I would nix the solid green here for the yellow floral above.  All in all,,,not a hugely successful trip as I was looking for more prints with tourquoise and more modern graphics in general, but definitely some possibilities.

I was impressed with the distressed antique pewter finish on this Entry Set by Rona, part of the Rona Collection.

This striped runner at Home Depot had me thinking I needed to use this somewhere, and I wish they had more colour options.  How fun is this!

Trendspotting.......I took this photo simply because I'm seeing this buckle detail in many different places lately, on furniture, on vases,,,on handbags....... on pillows like this one at Pottery Barn.  Speaking of Pottery Barn....

Dear Pottery Barn:  Your lamp shades are always too small for your lamps.  I've mentioned this to sales associates many times who reply "the merchandising manual says that table lamps always get medium size shades".  I don't care - to my eye they look oddly disproportionate.

  

Dear Pottery Barn:  Last week when I was in the store to pick-up a bar stool that's been on back-order since January (yes, 5 months!), I noticed this sign beside the cash desk and was very excited.  I thought finally, you've been listening to all the complaining I've been doing and have actually brought your CDN prices more inline with your US pricing.  Then I noticed the fine print says to look for select products with a maple leaf to realize these savings.  Honestly, I looked around the entire store, twice, and didn't see a single item with the maple leaf??   Is this a trick?  Is my bar stool in yet.......

A lovely whimsical branch chandelier seen at Sheridan Nurseries....this needs a cottage, preferrably one with an all white board & batten interior.

All Photos:  Carol Reed

Gail's Kitchen Reno: Post #2 - Customizing Ikea

Gails' kitchen and family room renovation is a project of mine that's currently in the early stages of construction. I first posted about this kitchen and family room renovation a couple of weeks ago and if you missed it, you can go here to see all the before pictures and read all about the objectives for the redesign and the process behind developing the final proposed layout.  Here's another look at the new floor plan....

Its quite an extensive renovation with lots of new construction and reworking of plumbing and electrical so one of the ways to achieve everything on the wish list (quartz counters, high end appliances, all new floors, additional sinks, new fireplace etc. etc.) and stay within the clients conservative budget range is to use Ikea cabinets as the basis for the kitchen design.  In this post I won't bother going into all the reasons why this makes so much sense as I've written about all the reasons Why I love Ikea Kitchens here, and its for all those reasons why my client and I came to the decision to take this route for her new kitchen.   Also in that post you can find a list of my favorite ways to customize Ikea cabinets and give it a bespoke look - I'll be implementing all of those tricks in this installation too.   

When planning a kitchen based on Ikea cabinets I treat the base cabinetry like building blocks,,,or legos and configure them in any which way I need them.  There's really not too many limitations as they offer such a wide range of cabinet sizes and styles.  Since this kitchen will be more on the relaxed trad side than the modern side,,,,,I recommended the Tidaholm door style which is a simple shaker style door in natural oak.  As I've mentioned previously I prefer this door style over their other shaker door style the Adel, because the Tidaholm has a cleaner squared edge shaker profile and joinery corners.  Also its key, if you plan on painting the doors the oak doors take a new paint finish better than the Adel door style which is a synthetic polyester finish.  And for this project, we definitely intend on painting them!

The Cooktop Wall:  Essentially this is the main wall in the kitchen which houses the rangetop, exhaust hood and wall ovens.  This was a major change from the old kitchen layout which had a cooktop poorly (and dangerously) located on a narrow island.  I always place ranges or cooktops against walls where ever possible and try to allow counter space on either side.  In this configuration we have lots of extra deep drawers which will accommodate pots, pans, small appliances, mixing bowls, cookware, as well as spices, seasonings and utensils and knives.  The open shelves will house most of the dishware with additional pieces in the glass fronted hutch.  The shelves will provides easy access for Gail (who is a chef) who's always cooking for a crowd.  I've incorporated a desk space for her laptop, cookbooks, messages, and household bills.  I'm on the lookout for an old antique wall hutch that we could use above her desk surface but its not something you can easily find on a deadline, so in this elevation I've illustrated the backup plan which will be new glass fronted wall cabinets with a blue accent colour painted on the inside.  The range hood canopy will be custom built and we're planning on cladding it in an antiqued distressed copper,,much more blackened in appearance than shiny new copper.  (sorry but the colours depicted in this renderring are not quite accurate, the walls will be a very soft fresh pale yellow, all the cabinetry a warm ivory white).

The Island:  The sink side of the island is of course directly opposite the cook wall and despite how large the island is, I still couldn't fit everything in that Gail ideally wanted, but we're as close as we could get.  They'll be a Shaw farmsink, a second prep sink (that was a must!) and a set of refridgerator drawers.  Its these fridge drawers that really make her prep zone and cooking zone work efficiently, she can keep all her dairy and veg here, where they'll be right at hand instead of in the large main fridge.  The biggest challenge about this island has been trying to light it, you can't help but notice it only has a ceiling over half of it! The ceiling goes from 8' in the kitchen area opening up to 20' in the breakfast nook area so its a bit a challenge.  The situation just became more challenging when last week we discovered a new beam would need to be dropped exactly where I've got the light fixture hanging........

The Island:  On one end of the island they'll be another set of wide deep drawers and the other three sides of the island will be clad in a combination of operable doors and fixed door panels all finished off with a baseboard treatment around the bottom instead of a toe kick.  On the seating side of the island I'll be supporting the overhang with some simple corbel style brackets and also adding a small bookshelf unit with beadboard backing.

The Pantry & Bar:  Like the island, this section of cabinetry will be tricked out with additional trimwork to give it more of a furniture look, so in addition to the Ikea base cabinets the contractor will be installing beadboard back panel,,,corbel brackets and corner block details to the base, and built in recessed puck lighting.  I have to admit this elevation is a moving target right now,,,,its actually been changed several dozen times, probably 2 or 3 since this version was drawn.  The size of the wine fridge was the subject of many debates between my clients and my recommendation for a tall but narrow unit ultimately was vetoed for this double door style.  As for the cabinetry, Gail's been quite conflicted as to how much open vs. closed storage she can live with and I predict we'll be going back to one of the original pantry configurations I proposed which had more upper cabinets, less open shelving which will be more practical.   Right after this is posted I'll be working on one more variation of this wall.

Coming up next I'll share some images of the concept board for the space illustrating all the finishes and fixtures I've specified for the space along with some updated site photos.  

Next week I'll be writing a separate post outlining my tips and advice for painting your newly ordered Ikea cabinets based on the process I've used successfully.  I've had several people inquire about this so please know I havn't forgotten and I promise you'll see it next week.

All Images:  Carol Reed