Grey Tint Stained "Southern Charm" Maple Kitchen

Once again I admit we are completely behind on posting our projects, but it's definitely good to be so busy! This is a kitchen we were brought in to fabricate in the fall. In this case, the clients knew exactly what they wanted and were in the middle of remodelling their house top to bottom anyway, so it was just a matter of designing a functional kitchen in a fairly limited space that would give them the best usage.

What was so distinct about this kitchen was how we had the stain custom tinted with a hint of grey to make the otherwise traditional cabinet doors a little more contemporary. The client chose oil rubbed bronze hardware and lighting, and this amazing herringbone tile pattern that was created using subway tiles. The finished look reminds me almost of a very warm Southern Charm feeling kitchen.

 

The client wanted to further the traditional look with black granite, and an open corner shelf.

 

We installed the very popular spice/ bottle rack next to the range for easy cooking! (The handles still haven't been installed :)

 

To use the dead space in the right corner of the peninsula, we had a cabinet installed on the other end. Faux doors were installed throughout the rest of the peninsula so it looked finished.

Totally Renovated Townhome Part III - The Kitchen

The one place you'll always want to invest in is the kitchen. Indeed, my clients felt the same way and the bulk of the budget was allocated to creating this gorgeous dream kitchen! Let me walk you through the process.

BEFORE: The only thing we kept in this kitchen was the KitchenAid fridge and Bosch dishwasher.



PROCESS: After I spoke with my clients on what they would like to see in their kitchen, I started dreaming it up and created a very general rendering of the kitchen to get an idea of the placement

PROCESS: After sourcing the appliances and giving the specs to the cabinet maker, we finalize the kitchen plan, sign off on it, and they begin making the cabinets. I create a lighting plan at this point as well.

PROGRESS: Meanwhile the kitchen is being gutted!

PROGRESS: For this particular project, my client wanted to go to the showrooms to see the light fixtures (I can also bring photos to show the client). We find the perfect pendant lights for above the island.

 The cabinets have arrived!!

 They carefully begin to install the cabinets

 AFTER: The beautiful result of a fully installed, custom designed kitchen. This kitchen features shaker style maple cabinets, a double wall oven/ microwave convection oven duo, a countertop gas range, and beautiful Caesarstone countertops with a bit of sparkle.

 I also had LED under cabinet lighting installed, which adds a wonderful effect on the carrara marble backsplash.

 Out of dozens of backsplashes, the one we finalized went beautifully with the clean lines of this townhouse. The faucet chosen was from Ginger's.

 I love the features of this kitchen, including a sauce pull out.

 A magic corner pull out feature allows you to store more pots!

 A duo garbage/ recycling pull out is built into the island.

 The client asked for a shoe rack as the back door to the garage happens to enter into the kitchen, so I custom designed this matching cabinet.

Totally Renovated Townhome Part I - The basement

I am SO excited to finally post photos up of a project that i've been working on for the past few months. While the construction only took a little longer than 6 weeks (the renovation of the whole entire home!), the actual design process takes many more weeks of proper planning, sourcing, design and coordination, which is a huge burden that Creative Design Therapy will take off your shoulders. I thought this would be a great opportunity to share more about the renovation process and what it takes to put something like this together. If you're thinking of renovating any part of your home, i'm hoping this will give some insight into the process. If you want to know more, please contact us with any questions you have at all, and we'll be happy to answer them.

 

Here's a look at the renovation we just finished:

BEFORE (the basement rec area). Photo by Century21

For this project, the client actually retained my services prior to purchasing his home, so that I could give rough estimates and my professional opinion on his investment before putting in an offer. In the long run, this could save you thousands of dollars, as certain issues can be forseen (some, of course, cannot without a home inspection, or actually opening up walls). Remember that your home is likely your largest investment and if you're in the process of purchasing a home, consider contacting us! After he purchased the house, we discussed the list of things that needed to be renovated, the client's wishes, and secured a contractor after receiving quotes. I also priced out materials and started managing and implementing a budget.


PROGRESS: the dropped ceilings have been removed and replaced with drywall. The carpeting was also removed.

AFTER: My client loved the flooring I had installed in another basement so we installed the same flooring here. It is a beautiful quality laminate by Torly's. I just love putting light coloured flooring in the basement because it makes it feel so much lighter and brighter.

We also painted the dark beige walls, added potlighting, and changed the doorknobs (a HUGE difference for those making to make an impact on a small budget by the way!)

A view of one of the many closets we have in this basement!

BEFORE:  The basement bedroom housing the electrical panel (behind the bulletin board)

 AFTER:  Because it's the basement, we didnt want to spend too much on another built in, so instead I chose an Ikea PAX wardrobe to fit the space. The electrical panel is now housed in a cute little cupboard.

 BEFORE: The basement washroom...

 AFTER: We used an "off the rack" shower kit from Home Depot, but I dressed it up by having this random strip charcoal tile. This shower will likely be used by guests, so we purchased a column body spray fixture (which is a much less expensive alternative to a wall mounted fixture).

 

 AFTER: The vanity is a floating vanity with a resin top installed. Everything you see here in this washroom except for the tiles were purchased from a big box store.

Kitchen Makeover in 2 weeks - Let There be Light!

When my best friend asked me to help renovate her parents house in Toronto, I jumped at the chance knowing that one day it may become her own home. With a shoestring budget, we turned this dark and outdated 30 year old kitchen into a bright and functional space for their family. We also had to do this renovation incredibly quickly, as they have an autistic daughter whose schedule was turned pretty much upside down. In total, including some major changes in the layout (which can usually add weeks), the project was finished in about 2 weeks and a couple days! That's the power of scheduling and a lot of prayer:)

Before (Wall between dining and kitchen)

The first step was to create a window pass through from the dining room to the kitchen to add extra light. The owners wanted to add a slab of granite so the pass through could be used as an extra counter space.




Kitchen Before



 
The Kitchen After renovations. We had cream traditional cabinets made with iron handles and knobs. The cabinets actually matched the "bone" coloured appliances (that they will eventually replace to stainless steel to match the new dishwasher that was installed). The backsplash is a glass and marble mosaic which creates a visual break in between the cabinets. The granite is giallo ornamental.

We had matching cabinet doors fabricated for their closet, so it looks like it matches the rest of the kitchen.

Condo Renovation Before & After

OK i'm so excited to share this reno we did a few months back. This was definitely one of my favourite renovations of all time, partly because the owner really trusted my taste and partly because the result was a completely different suite. The owner had given me the direction of "hotel" and I was off! I promise that once I get real photos i'll post them up on my website, but for now here are my iPhone photos :)

Kitchen Before: We completely gutted it

 As I mentioned, the owner really trusted my design direction, and I was able to convince him how great the white gloss upper cabinets, smoked glass backsplash and walnut lowers would go with Caesarstone's Nougat countertops.

A side by side look (Before & after). Cabinets were redesigned to have more balance and functionality on either side of the stove.

The powder room was completely gutted and floating white gloss cabinets were installed with an above counter sink.

 I wish the photo was clearer but I absolutely love this master bathroom. The floating cabinets with the above counter sink gave this bathroom a luxurious hotel feeling, while the glass partition on the tub kept the lines clean and sleek.

 Left - The glass replaces the traditional shower curtain (very European). The shower head is Kohler with an extra wand (which comes in handy for cleaning)
Right- A photo of the tiling around the tub before the fixtures were installed.

Hallway- The carpeting was removed and replaced with Torly's laminate which had a beautiful gray tone to it.

Townhouse Project - Kitchen in White, Blues & Grays

Kitchen Before

 I know it's been a really long time since I posted, but i've been super busy (which is good!) I've been really blessed with projects back to back this year so I haven't had much time to collect photos (and my thoughts too... sometimes :) Anyway, back to the project. I had a lot of fun doing this house because it is the first house that my former roomate in university bought with her husband. After searching for a house and not finding what they wanted, they decided to buy a house with a good layout and hire us to create their dream house!Congratulations Ada & Garway!

We kept the same basic layout of the original kitchen, but we designed new white shaker style cabinets (complete with a new microwave shelf - a must have in any modern kitchen to maximize countertop space), added a chimney range hood and granite countertops. The whole entire first floor was painted one of my favourite shades of all time "Gray Cashmere (2138-60)" By Benjamin Moore . It's a great blue-gray shade that compliments kitchens and hallways very well (great for open concept) because it picks up the lights and darks in shadows and interprets them in gorgeous tones. Plus, we kept the flooring to keep the budget down, and the paint colour really helped to cool down the red tones.

The builder's original layout for the pantry wasn't very functional. What's up with the desk and the single pantry? I love how this double pantry turned out. These were custom built pantries look great (and even better in person- where the shaker doors are more obvious). There are more pictures to come for the rest of the house, but the project is still in progress... stay tuned!