70's Bungalow: Makes A Modern Impression

70's Bungalow with new front facade and door (new landscaping still to come!)

As you approach this door,,,,you can almost hear it say "Welcome! Let me introduce you to my stylish homeowners who will so graciously invite you into my warm modern interior......please come in...".   Its a far cry from what this front door used to say....

"Come in if you dare".  Front Door before.

When I began working on the 70's Bungalow project over a year ago I immediately saw such huge potential for the exterior.  What I disliked about the exterior of the house was its horrid fleshy peach coloured stucco (that's an understatement!) and its white vinyl slider windows. What I loved most about the exterior of this house were its lines, it had great long horizontal lines.  Everything about these lines screamed modern to me, they were just wanting to be heard.

To begin the transformation of the dated exterior the chunky traditional plaster mouldings were removed from around all the windows.  Next a new roof, and windows were installed.  Then new black aluminum windows were custom designed with an asymmetrical mullion detail. I had the front door and sidelite reversed (from the original positions) so the handle side of the front door wasn't up against the adjacent wall.  New lighting locations were roughed-in and finally a new dark grey stucco was applied to the entire exterior and the new eaves and soffits were fit into place.

  

The new look is monochromatic and distinctly contemporary.  I chose a black shingle for the roof and a dark warm grey not only for the facade of the house but for the eaves and the soffits too, I wanted these elements to blend in with the body of the house rather than be in contrast.  Not chosing white tones for the aluminum work created this monochromatic effect and emphasizes the expanse and volume of the house, not breaking it up with contrasting trim.   What I envisioned as the highlight of the exterior would be the front door.  All of this sophisticated grey and black was the perfect setting....

For a beautiful, solid, natural wood door.  The wood tones are a striking feature against the grey exterior and gives a strong presence to the entry.  Because the door location is a bit unconventional in that it doesn't face the street, (its positioned sideways/perpendicular to the street), it could easily disappear and become very nondistinct.  But I didn't want that - I like a house to have a definitive front entry that's distinguishable and also sets the tone for the interior beyond, even if its understated.  I talked the homeowners out of both a glass door and a painted door option.  I wanted to make sure this new door was in no way mistaken for a window or have the less important look of a side door.  Designing a new custom front door wasn't part of my original scope of work but as we discussed all the design details for the windows with the contractor the door design was created on the spot.  Oh how I love to hear the words "we can make anything you want, just tell us what you'd like".  So I did, and.....they did.  To finish it off on a truly collaborative note, the homeowners selected the new light fixture and mailbox. I approved.

After waiting months and months for the new door to be delivered - the homeowners and I unanimously declared it was worth the wait!  (the colours are a little off in the photo above).  Next year they'll begin the landscaping redesign which will include new stonework for the front entry area and a  new cladding treatment for the stone planters.  So please ignore all the landscaping (or lack of) in these photos as the grounds have remained unchanged to this date.   As for the interior, all construction work has finished up and we are currently working on all the window coverings and artwork.

Previous posts on this project:

Kitchen Design

Bathroom Designs

Progress 1

Progress 2

Progress 3

All Photos:  Carol Reed

Gails' Kitchen: Sneak Peek

I don't think most people realize how much time will elapse from the day they decide to take on a renovation project to the day you can actually move your belongings back into the space, including all your own personal touches, and,,, begin living in it.   It can take even longer for the final finishing touches to be put in place and for those much dreamed about "after" photos to be taken.  Gail's kitchen was a project I started in January 2010, you can read all about the project and see before photos here, design drawings here , site progress here, and here. The project involved the renovation of not only her kitchen but an adjoining mud room and family room.   Construction wrapped up 10 months after my initial meeting with Gail, and just in time for her to use her brand new kitchen for Thanksgiving 2010.  But even at that point there was still a short list (ok, she might have called it a long list) of small details still to be completed. 

Flash forward almost a year later and I've finally had the chance to return to Gail's and take some 'after' photos.  (This could have happened sooner but coordinating shoots like this in the summer months is just too challenging.)  Its been an amazing experience to return all these months later and see Gail still gushing over her new kitchen like it was just revealed to her yesterday - she's literally giddy with disbelief and excitement that this is 'her' kitchen.  Its so satisfying to me to see the pure joy on her face when she's in this space and to listen to her tell me of all the parties and special meals that have been experienced.

Having any of my projects professionally photographed, or even photographed by myself, requires a huge investment of my own time (and money!) as well as the complete cooperation of the homeowner.  In all honesty its a challenge to find this time.   It can also take a couple of months to get into a photographer 's schedule depending what time of year it is.  Once scheduled,  prior to a shoot I'll spend a day picking up fresh flowers and food accessories and then I'll spend the next day at the house making sure everything is in place and camera ready.   The third day is spent at the house overseeing the shoot.  Did I mention,,,,,,,these after photos,,, require a huge amount of time!!??  

I was thrilled to work with the super talented photographer Donna Griffith just two weeks ago photographing 'after' photos of Gail's kitchen project.  I don't even have the final photos yet but I thought I'd share a sneak peek at some of the beautiful details that have come to life from all those design sketches and visions I had in my head almost two years ago.  Its a huge room and these images are literally a small 'peek',  capturing only a fraction of the complete space.

Please note the images below are just a few of my own candid shots, not the photographers.

Here you can truly see the beauty and character of hand made subway tile.

As Donna said when she arrived,,,,"I just want to sit down and have breakfast".  I bought the topiaries to dress the table but everything else I set out on the table belongs to Gail.

A huge oversize lantern I had custom made for the two story space. 

Even a year later the timing still wasn't ideal.  There was a construction crew working on the pool deck in the backyard but they were so accommodating every time we asked them to move their tools out of view! 

All Photos:  Carol Reed

NYC: Wall Street Architecture

When I was in New York earlier this month working on the Upper East Side Reno I spent an afternoon walking around the financial district on a sweltering hot Saturday afternoon.   Although I happened to have my DSLR with me it wasn't a pre-planned photoshoot destination but once there I was simply overwhelmed by the architecture that surrounded me.   I had never been to Wall Street before nor did I know much about this iconic eight blocks except for the image I had in my head from movies, television and the media in general.  I've been to the city many times but honestly I had never really had any interest in visiting Wall Street or given it much thought at all (what can I say, I live in the world of Design not not high finance!).  You can imagine how ecstatic I was to discover this haven of architectural beauties.  How did I not know about this!?

Its difficult for me to find the right words to describe my impression of Wall Street,,,because it was so unlike anything I had imagined it was or expected it to be.  The sheer towering scale of the buildings viewed from the very narrow streets is sensational, the neighborhood is strikingly charming and quaint in a way (?) with its centuries old architecture, cobblestone walkways, a Tiffany's,  and the historic Trinity Church holding court at the end of the street.  The street is a pedestrian only zone with no vehicular traffic and facades are void of signage or advertising only flags, all this completly evokes a feeling of being in a world of another time and is so unlike a typical urban streetscape.   Since I'm really not doing a good job here of describing what I saw, how about I just show you a few of the photos I took.....

What I love about the buildings here is that the colours are all so grey toned that even when you shoot and view the images in colour its very monochromatic looking.  All the images above are shown in colour except one!

I'm a complete amateur photographer but it is a passion of mine.  I love to shoot landscapes and streetscapes particlarly, I don't use photoshop or edit my photos in any way except to convert to black and white or crop images.  When I want high quality prints made for framing I send the image off to Elevator Digital and they take care of all the technical issues for me (resizing etc.).  Mostly, I like my images to remain true to the way I shoot them without any enhancing or special effects.  Sometimes I like to shoot slightly overexposed, sometimes underexposed depending on the mood I'm trying to capture.  What I love to do with my photos the most is have them printed and framed for wall art, sometime for myself, sometimes for clients.  When you frame an image it takes on an entirely new dynamic, I'll be getting several of these printed and framed and they'll be something like this...

Unless I'm doing one large oversize print, I try to group images into groups of 2, 3 or 4's combining both landscape and portrait orientation as I did above.  Once I've decided on which images I like grouped together, I'll decide if I want them printed in black and white or colour.....

....and then I figure out my final image sizes, matt sizes and decide on frame colour by doing mock-ups similar to these (very rough above!), often I do this on a scaled elevation of the wall and I'll normally include the frame too (not shown on the above).  For frames I always do a simple rectangular profile in white, black, silver or natural wood.  Lately I've been doing a lot of white framed coloured photography, which I LOVE.  Then once all this is figured out I send the original image files off to Kevin at the printing lab who takes care of printing, matting and framing for me.

If you ever visit NYC I highly recommend a visit to this neighborhood whether you're passionate about architecture or not, its simply an experience like no other.

All Photos:  Carol Reed