mishkin's ideas
1. Cozy Craftsman Designer: Jason Vanderhovel of Dream Kitchens Location: Farmington Hills, Michigan Size: 212 square feet (20 square meters); 23½ by 9 feet Homeowners’ request. Remove a wall between the kitchen and living room to open up the floor plan. “We were going with a Craftsman style for the home, and the warm tones that continued through the home in the trim fit perfectly,” designer Jason Vanderhovel says. “We added some fun with the green to bring a little more life to the space.” Color palette. A sage green island and large hutches join alder wood cabinets. Small bits of blue come from antique glass inside the hutches, as well as from the island pendants lights and a nearby rug. “Our color palette kind of fell into our laps on this project,” Vanderhovel says. “The homeowners acknowledged that white kitchens can be quite beautiful but knew it wasn’t right for them. The trim for this home was already a nice warm tone, so we took that as our base and matched our stain to that. The right green took a little longer to figure out, but we knew we needed something warm and mellow without being too dark or too yellow-y. After that, we knew we wanted a lighter floor, and natura...
While the enclosure visually recedes into the fencing, the living roof of hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum spp.) stands out as a mini frost-tolerant dry garden. One would imagine that when viewed from the home’s upstairs windows, the succulent-topped enclosure would blend into the larger garden beds.
Creative office
One of the biggest challenges in this project was the lighting. Being an urban loft with exposed 20-foot ceilings made installation tricky. The previous owner bridged the distance with suspended track lighting, but these homeowners thought they were an “eyesore” and obstructed the view with their mass and wiring. So, instead of purchasing lighting meant for more standard room volumes and requiring an electrician to “make it work,” Salter commissioned custom fixtures from AM Studio-Lighting in Toronto. This allowed her complete freedom over color, number of pendants and cord length. The sculptural pendants she chose for the kitchen, dining and stairwell sconces resulted in a condo that shines so brightly one of the homeowners can see it from her office building downtown.
Salter also beefed up the small square island with an extra foot on both sides, duplicating the decorative horizontal boards on the sides. Topping it with a large piece of antique-brown granite created an overhang that allows the clients to sidle up on bar stools.Browse black barstools
Next in a series of important face-lifts was the kitchen, where Salter focused on creating a more functional space for the homeowners to host intimate gatherings and indulge their culinary interests and wine-tasting. She inserted a wine fridge into the cabinetry, working with a master cabinetmaker to ensure that it would tie in seamlessly with the rest of the cabinetry.
Dining room cabinet?
House at a GlanceWho lives here: Doug and Susan TaylorLocation: Clayton, CaliforniaSize: 1,530 square feet (145 square meters); three bedrooms, two bathroomsYear built: 1956Year purchased: 2004“We didn’t want to purchase a fixer-upper, but we could see the potential in this house,” artist Susan Taylor says about her Clayton, California, home. The ranch-style house she and her husband, Doug, bought had not been renovated since it was built in the 1950s. “It was in really rough shape, but the town and neighborhood were desirable and quiet,” Susan says.Doug, who works in the oil and gas industry, and Susan had renovated a few of their previous homes, and together they transformed this tired house into an updated and charming home. “We gutted the kitchen and two bathrooms, pulled up carpet and restored the beautiful hardwood floors hiding below,” Susan says. “We installed all new windows and doors, added baseboards and crown molding and painted inside and out.” The couple updated a living room wall with built-in cabinets to store their electronics and media equipment.Table: Alameda Point Antiques Faire
Meditation/yoga room - it just looks rejuvenating!
Basement ideas
GBR idea
Built in bookcases
Love this hidden storage!
If those using the shower won’t need a bench all the time, a folding version is a good option. And it needn’t be clinical-looking. The fold-up bench that designers Mechaley and Matthew O. Daby of m.o.daby design chose for this Portland, Oregon, guest bathroom was added with practicality and style in mind. Wanting to incorporate accessibility as well as their clients’ sense of humor into the project — and create a sense of playful lightness in a dark basement space — the team embraced a public swimming pool motif. The folding bench was central to that vision, both because it gives off a locker room vibe and because it’s easy to tuck away when not in use. “We saw an opportunity to do something a little bit off the beaten path,” Daby says. Though the clients didn’t have children at the time, the whimsical design is kid-friendly. The bench’s slightness in the context of the rest of the bathroom also made it a good fit, Mechaley says. “The impact of the blue is heavy there, so I really liked this single floating wood element,” she says. “It doesn’t feel heavy, it feels lighter, versus if that was a whole bulk slab taking up that corner.”
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