Alterations: Seaport Holiday Shopping

Gingerbread display in shop window, Lunenburg, NS

Clearly you can tell by the date of my last post,  I'm a Designer not a blogger!  Its hard to believe its been 2 months since I've been back with any updates.  "Alterations" is a fitting theme for this post.  My attempts to write a post always fall to the bottom of my to do list, especially this past year as my personal time has been consumed by our house "alterations".  At this point our alterations don't look nearly as beautiful as this gingerbread house - I love the symmetry and simplicity of this and I'm dying over that bric-brac detail!  On the technical side, I'll be making "Alterations" to the blog and transferring all the content over to a new site in the new year so part of me has been postponing (or procrastinating) any updates until that's done.  I'm desperately in need of a simpler platform for blogging, hopefully the technical changes will allow me to write posts faster and more frequently.  In the meantime, Christmas will come and go before that happens.

I'm always get captivated by the holiday spirit and the natural beauty of the season.  So although I have a back log of projects to post about I'm feeling more in a holiday mode than work mode right now and I can't resist sharing a little holiday spirit while I have the chance....
 

Storefront window boxes adorned with pine boughs and berries.

We're spending the holidays on the East Coast this year and last weekend we went into Lunenburg for a bit of shopping and lunch.  There is no town more charming than the seaport town of Lunenburg (a UNESCO heritage site)  known for its colourful heritage buildings that are tiered up high overlooking the picturesque harbour.  Its not a place that sees many tourists in the winter so I thought I'd share some images of the town all dressed up for the holidays!

The sign taped to the door says, "Merry Christmas we are sold out of scallops".  Not surprising since they are known to be the best scallops in the world.  The back of this building overlooks their fleet docked along the waterfront. Their bright red and white shingled buildings are iconic landmarks of the harbour.

I'm not one for organza bows but I liked the placement of the sprig of berries which gives this wreath a modern vibe.

The Lunenburg Furniture Company. No holiday decor but the red door on its own is pretty festive.

Not only my favorite shop in Lunenburg but one of my favorite buildings too.  This distillery is located in a former blacksmith shop, the late 19th century building is one of the towns most noted landmarks, and has been carefully restored to maintain its original character.  Ironworks Distillery.  (Unfortunately this daytime photo doesn't depict the festive lights in the windows.)

I'll admit this is a favorite place of mine, for the product and the interior.  130 year old timber and beams.  Hand crafted spirits made from local ingredients and distilled on site in a copper still.   The smell of a wood fire… The still is quite a sight and occupies a prominent corner of the retail shop.  Standing next right to it you can taste sample and purchase some holiday cheer.  Also, their bottles, labels and packaging are so beautifully designed.

With this much colour, you don't need to anything more than greenery and white lights!

The beautiful, Pentper General Shop.  The grey on grey gives this heritage building a contemporary vibe. (sorry for the reflection which obscured the gorgeous pinecone wreath.)  Pentper.

The shop was closed when I stopped by the other day, this image is from a previous year... a peek at the heritage-meets-modern simplicity inside The Pentper.

If the buildings aren't brightly coloured, they are high contrast black and white.

Hope you enjoyed this photo tour of some holiday style in Lunenburg!

 All Photos:  Carol Reed

Portfolio Archives - Master Ensuite Before & After

Photo by Donna Griffith, room design by Carol Reed Interior Design

Looking back at portfolio images its hard to believe I designed this bathroom 7 years ago and I just realized its never been posted on the blog before.  So to elaborate on a little throw-back-Thursday instagram post, I thought it was a good opportunity to share more photos about it here.  This Master Ensuite was part of a top to bottom renovation of a 3 storey condo in mid-town Toronto.  Although it wasn't a complete gut reno like the main hall bathroom, the master ensuite modifications were designed to work with a couple of existing elements.  There were three things that remained untouched; the cararra marble tile floor, a walk-in shower (not visible but is located to the left of the tub in this photo) which was tiled floor to ceiling in the same marble tile, and a small mirror medicine cabinet.  Since so many years (and computers) have passed I've lost track of most of the before photos but I think you can see from the one before image below the extent of upgrades that were implemented.

Master Ensuite vanity before.

Master Ensuite After, room design and photo by Carol Reed.

I designed a new double sink custom vanity, mirror and tub skirt in macassar ebony. The vanity and tub were finished with a cararra marble top and a pair of rectangular undermount sinks.   A feature wall above the tub was designed to create a beautiful sightline as you approach the bathroom thru a hallway from the bedroom.  The back painted glass panel reflected a lot of natural light from the skylight and glowed a beautiful and serene watery blue at night.   This room photo was taken by me a year or so before the top photo of this post (professionally shot).  

Preliminary Concept Sketch of the tub feature wall.

Master ensuite after - room design and photo by Carol Reed

This last image is another shot taken by me, on the same day as the professional shoot and illustrates the difference in how much better the professional images are.   I hope you've enjoyed the peek at one of my past projects which has never been seen on the blog before.  Despite how many years ago this was designed I still love it as much today and know that it can continue to stay fresh and modern looking thru the simple change-up of accessories.

Karen's Kitchen: Canadian Living

Karen in her new kitchen with her chicken Cuddles.  Photo by, Donna Grffith

At long last, 

welcome to Karen's kitchen!  Words cannot describe how excited and proud I am to see Karen's kitchen renovation featured in the currrent issue of Canadian Living!  If you follow Karen's wildly popular blog,

The Art of Doing Stuff

, you've no doubt read her

updates

about the more than year long renovation and seen some

sneak peeks

along the way.   Not only have Karen and I been twitter and blogging friends for several years, I'm honoured to say she's also an E-Design client of mine.  I was fortunate to work with Karen on her kitchen design from the initial planning stages of the project and helped guide her through the inevitable and various design dilemmas along the way.  Karen had a great vision right from the very start along with some very challenging space issues - with her great sense of style, her resourcefulness, her diy skills,,,,and a little help from me ; ), I think the the transformation is nothing short of spectacular.  Its truly satisfying to see a plan and a vision come to life but to hear how much she loves, loves, loves, her new kitchen is the most rewarding part of all. 

Canadian Living, October 2014

Not only does Karen look stunning posing with Cuddles in her new kitchen (that dress!), but she wrote the feature too.  I hope you'll enjoy reading the full story and all the before and afters along with sources in the current issue of Canadian Living, on stands now or you can purchase the digital version thru Zinio.  You won't be disappointed.

You can read more about the planning phase of the kitchen, including the before and after floor plan, optional layout plans and the design requirements,,,in an earlier post I wrote last year,

here.

For more info on my E-Design services for kitchens or bathrooms 

please check out my e-design website

www.thedesignshop.ca