Stunning Kitchen

I am agog. This kitchen is over the top wonderful. From the oak floor and needlepoint runner to the blue delft(?) platters and the distressed pillars flanking the range. This kitchen is right up my alley. Dark, warm and inviting with tons of drama and more than a little sense of history. 

Also note the black of the cabinets is actually a navy...see my previous post about navy being the new black ;)

It is so rare to see a mix of patterns in a kitchen! The potted African Violets are perfect. My mother has a green thumb with them. Me...not so much.

My own kitchen is in the process of being updated. I won't have the hardwood like the on above however. We are stuck with the existing ceramic tile since we've decided to sell in the spring...we have over $15,000...as in 15K! of hardwood currently being installed throughout the house *ack* but that's another blog post). But my cabinets are black with satin brass pulls and I'll have a beautiful old area rug in there. Kitchen won't be complete till March, at the earliest. I suspect it will be completed in April.

Source

Revisiting a Client Board

Click to enlarge

We have a number of projects on our list for our current house. One of the reasons we bought the house was because it has not had any updates or upgrades. We have a hard time paying for someone else's changes because we know we will have to rip them out. We live in a bedroom community in a suburb outside of Toronto where homeowners here think granite counter-tops with GE or Frigidaire stainless appliances equals luxury gourmet kitchen. 


Our personal style is decidedly metro and mid to high end. It will take us some time to achieve the renovations we want...one project at a time and we are still working on our en-suite bathroom and dressing room. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about smaller projects that I think I could tackle myself. ;)


I've been thinking about our powder room recently. It is yucky. You sit on the can and look at yourself in the mirror above the sink and when the door is left open the view is of the toilet. I. Hate. It. To make matters worse hunky hubby Steve is always opening doors to rooms. I can close the door to the powder room a dozen times a day...even though no one has used it. Totally sets me off. I can not stand to look at a toilet as I walk through the main floor of the house.


The only way to solve the 'toilet view' is to swap the toilet an sink so there will be a bit of work beyond my abilities in the basement with the waste stack but lets just ignore that for now. 


I have been focusing on creating the sense of space in our tiny powder room. I 'd like the sink and counter-vanity to be almost transparent but I'm not sure how realistic this is. So thinking about the sink that will become the focal point got me to thinking about an  inspiration board I was commissioned to do for clients a couple of years ago. I dug out the board to see what sink I'd sourced. 


I love the Lucite legs! It's definitely an option.


The board has antiqued mirror which I'm already putting in our en-suite bath and possibly on the back-splash in our kitchen so I won't use it in our powder room but the mood of the board is a nice fit otherwise.


BTW, below is a photo of what the powder room looks like currently. It will be a total gut job, even the sub-floor needs to be replaced as it's chip board.

Colette as inspiration

I really must read some of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette's novels. I was shocked to realize I've not read Gigi. It's been on my list for years. Not sure what I've been waiting for...unless it's an iPad? Hint hint DH!


In honor of the approaching spring, Paris in spring, and Pantone's color of the year, Honeysuckle, I present to you Colette. Colette's life is deserving of a movie a la Henry & June and Frida.

Colette by Jacque Humbert 

I think I'll do a design board using the Humbert painting of Colette with a nod to her Parisian boundary pushing lifestyle!


French Interior designer Jacques Grange purchased Colette's apartment at the Palais-Royal in Paris just a skip across Rue Saint-Honore and Rue de Rivoli to Place du Louvre.

Jacque's living room.

Bedroom view over the gardens. *Swooning* The walls are covered in woven horse hair!

Of course when I was in Paris I had no idea who Jacque Grange and Colette where nor did I care about seeing the Palais-Royal. I only wanted to walk the streets of Paris and try to remember the sights, sounds and smells. Paris was wasted on me. I was far too young to get much meaningful out of the trip...other than a love of crepes the desire to go back someday!

Awkward room? Here's today's inspiration

Do you have a small room with a sloped ceiling and can't figure out how to work with it? San Francisco's Cecelie Starin shows us how it's done!

Beautiful and inspirational. This is why people hire decorators!