The power of a crowbar, and a dilemma

Posted on Fri, 24 Oct 2008 by KiM

I am blogging my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I’m taking care of the rest.

If you’d like to be brought up to date, check out my kitchen remodel blog for an archive of previous posts. I posted recently about the major purchases I’ve made for the kitchen, and now it’s time for the fun stuff – DEMOLITION. I also have a flooring dilemma to figure out.

Demolition began recently in my kitchen, and it was a BLAST. I have no fear of tools (especially power tools), and love to get my hands dirty. I didn’t do it all myself mind you, my boyfriend was as eager as I was to help with this demolition. We started with the wall between the living room and the kitchen. That had to go because the cabinets are ending about a foot into the living room and frankly, regardless of how the kitchen ended up being designed, I wanted that wall gone to open up the main floor. Here are a couple before photos to show you the wall (which I had an architect friend come by to check out and ensure it was not load bearing).



And here are a couple “during” photos. (During the demo of this wall we discovered mouse poop in the cupboard above the closet. Seems mice chewed/clawed a hole through the wall to get into the closet at a bag I had stashed in there of makings for granola. I have a couple pics in my kitchen remodel set on Flickr of this little surprise if you care to see the HORROR).


To see the space sans wall, and to see what my flooring dilemma is, click HERE.

Jodi Macklin

Posted on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 by KiM

Love interior designer Jodi Macklin‘s style. Bright, bold at times, functional and understated sophistication. Below are some of the spaces she has designed. Most of these photos are of a summer home featured in House Beautiful that is all about the beach. I needed to find something like this seeing that we’re getting below zero temperatures at night and I’m sitting here listening to the hum of the furnace.



Rachael Smith

Posted on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 by KiM

Rachael Smith has photographed some pretty spectacular spaces. A totally dreamy Swedish summerhouse, the home of Laurence Llewelyn‐Bowen and my favourite, the home of Eero Aarnio. Yowzers. The photos themselves are spectacular, taking advantage of natural sunlight shining through the windows. Much more to see on her website.










Those talented Giannettis

Posted on Wed, 22 Oct 2008 by KiM

Jo posted the classic elegance of Brooke Giannetti‘s interior designs last month and Brooke emailed recently wanting to share with us her talented architect husband Stephen’s collaboration with interior designer Madeline Stuart. It’s a property in Malibu that was featured in the September/October issue of Veranda. Talk about soothing, calm, warm and inviting. LOVE.


Sweet condo

Posted on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 by KiM

Check out the getaway condo of architects Tom Huth and Bruce Skiles Danzer in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Mid-century classics, bold artwork and cool colours make this home a new favourite of mine. It was featured in New England Home, and the magazine included a quote from Danzer that I think is priceless coming from an architect: “We used $3000 worth of paint rather than sink $50,000 in structural changes”. Something to note, coming from someone who would know.