Before & After: Dutch Colonial Kitchen

welcome to a Before & After tour of a nova scotia Heritage home’s kitchen renovation

Its long past due to share the after photos of the Dutch Colonial kitchen renovation that we designed for a young, new retiree who loves to cook, bake and entertain. The home itself is a heritage home, circa 1784 and is located on the South-West Shore of Nova Scotia. This project involved a complete reno of the existing kitchen space and light reno of the adjoining pantry, all without tearing down any walls separating the kitchen or pantry from each other or any other adjoining rooms. Essentially we renovated these two rooms within their existing footprint. It was also extremely important for the homeowner that the renovation respected the heritage of the home and honour its authentic character, in fact we needed to revive some of what had been compromised over the last century.

Kitchen Design: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc. | Photo by: Janet Kimber Photography

Above is a view of the new kitchen sink wall and hearth style range wall which both represent the most significant changes and the biggest challenges. Below is a look at the before floor plan. Its hard to believe the old kitchen consisted of only an island in the centre of the room, sink on one side, range on the other. As strange as it looks, I see how it might function efficiently for two people cooking, one doing wash-up and prep on one side, the other doing the cooking on the other, in tandem. Otherwise I can’t imagine a more impractical set up, no surprise it was a top priority to its new owner.

Kitchen Plan Before

Before Photos: Pantry (left) & Kitchen

Click on the floor plan above to see the before photos.

There were two main issues that had stumped the homeowner when she tried to envision a new more functional kitchen layout; one is typical of old homes which was a lack of wall space - the room had 5 doors and a wall of three windows with low sills. The second was an old brick chimney stack that protruded about 18” into the room and which wasn’t feasible to remove.

After Floor plans, Dutch Colonial Kitchen Reno. Design by Carol Reed Interior Design Inc.

To maximize counter space and appliance locations, I knew I needed to utilize the two walls that didn’t have doorways on them - the window wall and the chimney wall. We removed dis-functional closets that flanked the old brick chimney in order to create a long continuous ‘L’ shaped counter layout with centre island. I approached the two physical challenges (low windows and brick structural intrusion) the same way I always deal with obstacles - I created features out of them. I designed a hearth style range hood to surround a new 36” range and which completely concealed the old brick chimney and dually, evoked the traditional english country design aesthetic we were striving for.

Kitchen range wall in progress.

You can see the chimney in the progress photo above. We also removed two layers of old ‘modern day ceilings’, the first layer was an acoustical tile ceiling and the second was drywall. Removing all of it gained almost a foot of ceiling height and exposed the original wood beam ceiling joists - which we had anticipated would be there and intended to leave exposed. The contractor meticulously cleaned the beams up and drywalled the between them, accomplishing beautiful clean edges requiring no trim work to cover up gaps or crooked joints.

Kitchen Design: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc. | Photo by: Janet Kimber Photography

On the window wall I planned the cabinetry and counter to run in front of the low windows with the cabinetry designed to allow space for the window sills below the counter. Taking this approach maintains the integrity of the old architecture as it retains the original window size and spacing on the exterior while on the interior its a nod to the history of the house - the kitchen is designed around the original features not the other way around. An added feature of this detail was specifying the counters to be deeper than standard so we wouldn’t lose any cabinet space to accommodate the window sills and it netted extra deep work surfaces which is a luxury if you have the room. The end result is the windows are neatly recessed below the counter and appear to float behind them, all executed with thoughtful details like the marble slab curb fitted perfectly between deep window casings.

The counters are unique one of a kind natural stone slabs that were an unexpected find at the stone warehouse that quite honestly, are the most beautiful counters I’ve ever used on a project. I absolutely fell in love with the colours in the stone which are reminiscent of the coastline, the overall look is very organic and natural. I’ll admit my client was pretty apprehensive about these slabs until she went to see them in person and was instantly infatuated with them. They’re honed quartzite (part of the granite family) and I have to clarify that all quartzites will have different properties as far as hardness and porosity, so I always recommend testing for your particular use. The samples I used were sealed and tested with the toughest of spills (red wine, vinegar, lemon, mustard, ketchup) left on for several hours and longer showing no visible etching (or staining). In comparison, my honed carrara marble counters will show etching from these same spills within a few minutes. We were confident this material would be super practical, beyond my clients expectations and satisfy her desire for unique natural stone.

Kitchen Design: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc. | Photo by: Janet Kimber Photography

The baking station reflects another way we integrated the “challenging” low window sills into the design and created a feature. We dropped the height on one end of the ‘L’ counter directly below one of the windows to create a baking station, the lowered stone surface is perfect height for rolling out dough which the homeowner does regularly. The cabinet on the far left houses a stand mixer on a hydraulic lift, the drawers hold all the bake ware and tools. The homeowners own collection of vintage rolling pins (all in frequent use!) become a beautiful wall display and are hung on custom iron brackets made by a local blacksmith. The chair rail is old and window casings are new reproduced to match the original.

Kitchen Design: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc. | Photo by: Janet Kimber Photography

The adjoining pantry was transformed with new built-ins and cosmetic updates. The new cabinetry and additional open shelving was configured in a new layout which created better flow and sight lines from the adjoining kitchen and dining room. The existing plain walls were clad in new bead board panelling to add character and dually accommodated the installation of new wall shelves. The design objective for the new pantry was for all the new work to be cohesive with the character of the heritage home, like it could have always been this way. Sloped floors and uneven ceilings were not levelled or straightened, but instead, the centuries old age of the home was embraced and all the new carpentry was carefully fitted so as not to diminish this personality.

Kitchen Design: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc. | Photo by: Janet Kimber Photography

The cabinetry was all custom built to my design and was intended to be simple and utilitarian in function. The counters are made from reclaimed wood the same as the kitchen island. To the right of this cabinetry is the full size fridge, a broom closet and a full wall of open shelves that hold a large supply of dried goods and canning.

Interior of the range hearth is clad in a vintage look white subway tile, each side of the range hearth has built-in niches for essentials.

While the working side of the island incorporated root vegetable bins and slots for cutting boards, the back side of the island accommodates 4 counter seats and a cabinet for cookbooks. To the right of the range is a wall hung spice cabinet above a bank of cabinets that stores serve ware.

Simple shaker style peg hooks beside the spice cabinet and serve ware storage. The homeowner who is an avid cook and baker has a collection of aprons that get used daily. This one is saffron coloured belgian linen.

Kitchen Design: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc. | Photo by: Janet Kimber Photography

Behind the island seating is small expanse of wall space between two doorways and its was the perfect spot for artwork. The homeowner had a couple of vintage blue and white plates and so we decided to build on that and install a collage. During the renovation phase over the spring and summer, the homeowner and I hunted for more plates to add to the collection. The finished collage includes pieces that we found at an estate auction, and antique fairs and shops along the South Shore from Hubbards to Yarmouth.

A one of a kind traditional hand woven area rug adds a layer of pattern and colours that beautifully compliment the deep navy cabinets. The plank wood floors are original to the house. After this photo was taken and over the course of the coming winter the homeowner lovingly filled in all the gaps between the boards with a wool fibre material that’s designed for this purpose but I can’t recall the name off hand (or source), so I’ll do a followup on that in another post.

That was a long but quick tour of the kitchen! There’s still so much more detail that I haven’t discussed like the lantern sconces, custom slots for cutting boards, and vintage brass cabinet pulls….. but that will have to wait for the next set of photos….

I can’t express how special a project like this is. It takes a lot of thoughtful planning and one on one collaboration between the client, designer and contractor/cabinet maker, and requires everyone involved in the project to have a like-minded passion and respect for historical houses.

Previous blog post with the design plans and concept boards for this project here.

Check out this kitchen featured in Style at Home, October 2019 issue and here.

Contacts:

Contractor & Cabinet Maker - Nick Bell Carpentry, Shelburne, NS

A Vintage MCM Table Top for Easter

These Are A Few of My Favourite Things

No doubt this first holiday during a time of social distancing was celebrated in many unique ways. If you were already missing family and friends then this past weekend really heightened that sense of distance and separation and emphasized how much the holidays are about spending time with the people you love. This weekend I was inspired by a challenge on Instagram that was about creating a table scape from 10 of your favourite pieces. Even though its just the two of us at home I wanted to set an Easter table anyway, so I decided to apply the concept of using 10 favourite pieces for a table setting rather than a table scape in the round so to speak. I knew I had a lot of pieces still in storage and I decided this would be a good time to dig them out.

We’ve been taking our self-isolation pretty seriously and so the last time we did a grocery run was almost two weeks ago - we weren’t even thinking about Easter at that time and so of course this weekend we weren’t really prepared with anything special for the holiday but decided we could happily do without and wait until after the Easter weekend to do another shopping trip. So while we didn’t have any chocolates or fresh flowers, we had flowering branches of forced quince from our yard, plenty of food and wine (even some bubbles) and a beautiful shoreline to walk in the gorgeous sunshine. Our Easter table would be a celebration of hope that we’d all get through this, safe and healthy.

On Easter morning I starting layering the table with some of my favourite treasures, many which haven’t been out of storage since we moved to Nova Scotia 8 years ago. The white dishware is vintage #EvaZeisal , Classic Century series that I collected piece by piece many years ago and more recently while antiquing in Yarmouth I found the Johnson Bros. fish plate series of the same design.

Eva Zeisel’s Class Century dinner ware, originally designed in 1952, Available at Crate & Barrel.

The Classic Century dinnerware series was originally designed by Eva Zeisel in 1952. Its design is simple earthy and elegant and as the name suggests, its classic mid century modern in style. The line is reproduced today in the UK of cream coloured earthenware and is available at Crate & Barrell. *not sponsored*. I fell in love with Eva Zeisel’s work about 15 years ago and started collected pieces on e-bay from this Classic Century series and others. Her work is featured in MOMA and is renown for being beautifully sculptural and functional.

The quince branches were brought inside exactly two weeks ago, my first time attempting to force them and the buds happened to bloom right in time for Easter, not planned but a wonderful co-incidence. There are few things I find more beautiful than flowering branches and since the blooms had just burst to life, these were a must for the table top.

The stem glasses were hand painted by a beloved Aunt who was like a second mother to us, my Dads sister, who passed away from cancer just over a year ago. I’ve had these glasses for ages, but its the first time I’ve used them. The potted fern is one we grew over the winter from a cutting 🙌 (we don’t have much luck growing anything here so this is truly a sign of hope!) the shells are gifts from beach walks which we treasure and …

….the birds nest was found in a second hand shop (never know what you’ll find in those places!!) as was the cutlery and the rattan napkin ring holders which I tied shells to for my visiting family so we can identify who’s is who’s. 🐚 The silver butter dish is another second hand find with best friends in Naples FL.

It’s not a ‘table scape in the round’ but I think my Insta friend Rela will appreciate the joy this table setting brought me on this isolating Easter Sunday, it was a bit of scavenger hunt! For every post tagged #relachallenge @ggdesignpartners @relagleasondesign Rela donated catered meals to frontline hospital workers - supporting a local restaurant and health care providers. Thank you Rela for inspiring me to set the table!

I hope this inspires everyone reading this to set a table with your own favourite things. My table came together without any pre-planning, this was completely spontaneous round-up of random things that bring me joy. Happy Easter to all! Stay Home, Stay Safe!

Coastal Estate - Twin Guest Bedroom

A Twin Guest Bedroom with East Coast Charm

Continuing from the previous posts, I’m featuring some of the near completed spaces in a clients vacation home that I had the enormous job of furnishing and outfitting from top to bottom a few seasons ago - but never got around to posting. The new owners purchased the traditional shingle style house as a seasonal holiday home, located in a remote coastal setting on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The project didn’t involve any renovation or remodelling design work on my part, not even paint colours (!) my job of furnishing and outfitting the home mandated working with the existing newly finished spaces as is, and to complete them as soon as possible so the home could be used without prolonged delay. I say these are near completed spaces because our photos were taken after all the main furniture pieces had been installed but not all the small accents or accessories were in place, the photos of this room were simply taken with a phone-cam during install days. This is a peak at one of the 6 guest bedrooms which was designed to be a single twin guest room.

The design intent like the rest of the house was to furnish the room with a mix of new and old pieces. Because there was an overall budget for furnishing the house we made the decision early on to prioritize the budget to the main living areas and the Master suite which meant the guest bedrooms were allocated the smallest piece of the budget pie, but also had the most flexibility. This is just kind of challenge that drives you to get really creative and resourceful - and there’s nothing I love more. A small budget doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice originality or style.

Concept Board - Coastal Estate Twin Bedroom. Design Concept by: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc.

After reviewing all the requirements for the room with the client, I start the process of furnishing each room by creating a concept board. For this room it incorporates some vintage and antique pieces I had already accumulated for the project and a couple that I still hoped to find. Unlike concepts for construction projects which might illustrate all the exact fixtures and materials that’ll be used in a space, these furnishing concepts are loose and literally conceptual, this is what I’ll present to the clients to give them a visual of what kind of pieces we’ll have in mind when we’re out sourcing. With the logistics of being in a remote rural location, availability and budget effect a lot of decisions along the way. When we’re furnishing a room with one-of-a-kind finds the process requires a very trusting client designer relationship because its so organic you have to allow for lots of flexibility for unexpected finds to and spontaneous purchases be worked into your concept.

Antique Spool Bed in storage, sourced on the South Shore, Nova Scotia. Carol Reed Interior Design Inc.

One of the key pieces I had envisioned for the room was a vintage spool bed that we could set up day-bed style. The upside of this was three fold, an old piece would be ‘in stock’, would add unique character, and would be super inexpensive. Not to mention, the solid wood quality - that’s four unbeatable reasons why this piece was my jumping off point. I frequently see vintage spool beds for sale around Nova Scotia and after a short search I was able to find one that was in good shape and in its natural stained wood finish, it only needed new slats which were quick and easy to add. The rest of the room came together fairly easily around that.

Loading up the room before the install.

All of the new items for this room like the bedding and runner rug were in stock at local retailers or ordered online. Definitely the bulk of the budget for this room went to the bedding, ensuring sleeping comfort and quality were not overlooked. 100% Goose down duvet and 100% cotton sheets ( a combination of Ralph Lauren sheeting with an Ikea cotton plaid duvet cover) were completed with a white matalisse quilted coverlet and pillows for those warmer summer nights. A favourite unexpected find were the ticking stripe pillows with raffia trim, a rare Home Sense score (honestly that doesn’t happen to me too often!).

Vintage Fish Prints above bed in Guest Room. Room Design and Photo by: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc.

From the onset I had envisioned wall art that incorporated some type of sea life or nautical subject and set out to find something related to fish or ships. I quickly found a beautiful set of vintage fish prints on Etsy and selected 6 species that were native to our Atlantic coast - how perfect would these be for out of country guests (children or adults) to learn which fish are native to Nova Scotia! And how many people know what a halibut looks like?

Our European clients were beyond thrilled with these when they saw them and we chatted at length about all these fish and which ones they would commonly eat when they were here.

Aside from finding the spool bed, the next best find for this room were the frames for the fish prints. I had intended to find ready-made frames but I never imagined I’d find something as perfect as these simple wood frames I discovered at Walmart. Yes Walmart! One of the things about sourcing in rural areas is you have no choice but to look in every local store available, no matter how unlikely it might seem, and this was one of those instances. Not only were they the exact size needed, the unexpected detail of the galvanized metal mats couldn’t have been more perfect for these prints prints if I had had them custom made. The added bonus of them being in stock was almost too good to be true.

Vintage Fish Prints from Etsy, wood frames with galvanized metal mats from Walmart.

Like the bedroom in the previous post, the wall art has local relevance and so not only was it important to me that the pieces are pleasing to look at but also that they illustrate something of interest to learn about the local natural setting, culture or heritage - this theme is true of all the wall art we installed throughout the house, from the vintage plate collage in the kitchen to the black and white photos of Cape Breton in the Master to the line drawings of heritage Halifax buildings in the Twin-King guest bedroom, there’s a Nova Scotia story to all of it.

Vintage Fish Prints from Etsy, with wall mounted swing arm lamp from Restoration Hardware. Room design and photo by: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc.

Because we didn’t have room for large bedside tables we placed a wall hung swing arm lamp on the wall for which creates a cozy reading nook when the overhead light is off. We also added an antique candle stick lamp to the dresser top so there’s multiple levels of light in the room.

Although I don’t have photos of the rest of the space, all of the other pieces you see in the concept board were placed in the room and you can image what a welcoming and charming room it is for a solo guest or two. There’s actually an adjoining nook with a large sky-lite window that a second child could sleep in or is perfect spot for yoga or meditation (which is exactly how we set it up).

This room always reminds me why my love for spool beds will never subside and so I continue to search them out wherever I can.