Displaying posts from January, 2023

I had to share another drool-inducing home designed by Jean Stoffer. This one has all the warmth with caramel coloured wood floors, a neutral paint palette with accents in black for some contrast, and a large functional and gorgeous kitchen. I could spend hours in that kitchen cooking up a vegetarian storm 🙂

There’s nothing more gratifying than working with a homeowner ready to take creative leaps of faith with you. So, when a beloved (and fellow creative) client purchased a 1920’s Spanish home in Atwater Village and asked us to turn her guest house into a sassy writer’s shack, we hit the drawing board/completely blank canvas right away. Full trust in the process and a willingness to take all sorts of design risks with us, our client was down for coating every surface in super saturated hues, ample textures, and inspiring patterns. Such a no-holds-bar approach meant that the kitchen concept was born overnight (like, Caitlin had a dream and it was this exact kitchen that we re-created in real life) and the other spaces (reading room, office, and bathroom) followed quick on its tail. The small guest house is now a larger-than-life office-away-from-office that leaves visitors jaws on the floor and provides a daily pick-me-up to the lovely lady who writes there.
This may win a prize for prettiest tiles in one project. Talk about huge impact! Another fabulously courageous project by Black Lacquer Design. Photos: Jessica Alexander.

As is sadly often the case with homes of its era in Los Angeles, the kitchen and bathroom were completely gutted at some point and filled with builder-grade finishes unaligned with the inherent architecture of the home. On such jobs, our modus operandi is to reinfuse the spaces with details that harken back to the very best elements of the home’s original style while weaving in timeless touches of both modern life and the personality of the homeowner. In the bathroom, this method resulted in an eclectic, feminine heart-to-heart between the unruly imperfections of the handmade and the more orderly lines of the meticulously tailored. And what else could come from such a love story but a blue dream of a bathroom fit for a mermaid?

Traditional Spanish tiles, mid-century pieces and a riot of colour. Shouldn’t work? Hell yes, it does. Packed with personality and fun San Sebastián-based interior designer Mikel Irastorza respects the traditional Spanish roots of the building then starts layering … and layering … and layering. Fabulous fun!

Just when I think my love for lofts has waned BAM! I’m smitten all over again. The space, the ceiling heights, light flooding in and the touch of industrial. In this case, the industrial remnants are juxtaposed with a neoclassical riff. Sophisticated with a touch of urban grit Soho Factory Loft by Jessica Schuster.

I have to admit that many kitchen underwhelm me. I often find they are too white, too modern, too cold and lack architectural details. This kitchen in The Beaches ‘hood of Toronto is none of those things. It is warm, inviting, unique and I am having heat palpitations over the graphic nature of that marble. This kitchen is a DREAM. Designed by Sarah Birnie, styled by Meg Crossley & Morgan Michener and photos by Lauren Miller.