Grey Scale: Powder Room

Clients powder room in various stages of progress.

I was sorting through room photos of past projects and came across these images of a powder room from a recent renovation, the 70's Bungalow project.  It dawned on me that I hadn't ever posted any photos of this room before, probably because its just such a difficult room to capture without a wide angle lens.  Like the entire house this room underwent a complete gut so we started with a clean slate - dark grey slate in fact which I chose as a wall colour for the small room.  

Small rooms are the perfect spaces to play up drama and scale - whether its a large print wallpaper, deep paint colour or graphic floor pattern, going bold will have lots of impact and kick the wow factor up a notch for your guests when they excuse themselves to powder their noses. It makes the entire experience a little more special.  : )    The drama in this little room doesn't come from the colour, its neutral in that sense but the walls are deep and dark and quite a departure from the rest of the home's all white modern interior.  The large calacatta marble floor tiles have beautiful dramatic veining.   

A bevelled tray mirror adds some elegant sparkle to the dark room but the floor to ceiling bare grey wall was crying out for a piece of artwork and I wanted large scale.   What I had completely forgotten about until I came across these room photos the other day was that we had one of my own photographs framed and hung on the wall.   For this room it was an affordable alternative to what would have needed to be a very large  original piece (or a smaller pair) of art.  I sent my file to Elevator Digital and once again, Kevin worked his magic on it to make sure when it was enlarged that the image quality was maintained and then the print was beautifully matted and framed.

The photo chosen was from a series I took of buildings on Wall Street when I was in NYC two summers ago. The homeowners have both travelled to NY for business over the years and now have a son who lives in Manhattan, they're pretty fond of the city and were quite taken with many of my architectural photos.   Its hard to tell from this not so great snapshot but the size of the framed piece is over 3' wide and over 4' tall.  Its not actually a black and white image but the colours are all monochromatic greys that it reads that way.  My favorite thing about this photo is the perspective,  its so dynamic that it brings an amazing sense of depth to the room. 

There's been lots of finishing touches and a massive landscaping overhaul happening at this house over the past year so they'll be more after photos coming soon.

Room Design and all Photos By:  Carol Reed

Style at Home: Celebrating Canadian Designers

Room Design &  Photo by:  Carol Reed

There's truly nothing I'm prouder of than being Canadian so I was thrilled to be invited to share my favorite space last month for a special Canada Day feature on the Style at Home website.

You can read all about why this is my favorite client space here.  It was an easy decision to chose Gail's kitchen for all the reasons that are mentioned in the article.  Further to that on a personal level it was the first project I documented in its entirety on social media from initial meeting to magazine cover - I blogged and tweeted the progress. To eventually see the completed kitchen on a recent Style at Home cover was such a perfect finale. (for more posts on this project you can search "Gail's Kitchen" in the side bar).

Not only is this room one of my favorite spaces, this image is one of my favorites too - prior to the extensive reno this is a view that wasn't even possible due to a large catwalk that cut thru the cathedral space and hovered over the eating area.  Removing the catwalk was the very first thing on my agenda and it was impactful!  Exposing this cathedral ceiling added great volume and light, and,,,,this incredible sightline from the loft space above.

Thanks to Elaine Song for putting together such an wonderful feature, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the inspiration behind the 10 other celebrated Canadian spaces.

Front Door Friday: Turquoise & Chevron

Chester, Nova Scotia

If you've ever visited the seaside village of Chester, Nova Scotia, chances are this charming turquoise coloured chevron panelled door has caught your eye - as it did mine a couple of years ago.  I've posted a photo of this door before on the blog and on twitter but I think you'll agree its worth repeating.  A shingled house always stops me in my tracks but the unexpected colour of this front door paired with the grey shakes is truly sublime.   And the antique brass seashell door knocker,,,,hello, can I come in please!

Chester is a picturesque little village on the South Shore of Nova Scotia popular for sailing enthusiasts.  Its tree canopied streets are lined with charming historic homes.  Many of them are summer homes so this turquoise door colour perfectly suits the quaint coastal style of the community.  The closest colour match I can find is Sico's Paris 1900.  I think its especially interesting that here its paired with linen coloured trim as opposed to white, I think this evokes a more nostalgic vibe.

Photo by:   Carol Reed