Rosedale Reno - Dining Room Sneak Peek

Dining Room by Carol Reed Interior Design

I had the opportunity to work on a full scale gut and reno of a Rosedale home for a young family back in 2007/08.  When I became involved in the project the century old house had already been stripped back to the brick and when you stood in the living room on the ground floor you could look up through three stories and see the sky above.   My scope of work involved planning all the interior detailing (mouldings, staircases, doorways etc.), lighting layout, designing the fireplaces and builtins, selecting all the interior finishes, specifying all the lighting, hardware, window coverings, and finally, sourcing a few key furniture pieces.   

Although its been more than a year and half since they've moved in and the interior construction was completed, there's still a lot of finishing touches to be added but these things will evolve over time as the family grows.  Frankly, after the lengthy and all consuming process of planning, building, and moving into the house, my clients have  simply been enjoying living in it and focusing on their busy day to day lives raising their two young daughters.  Slowly the rooms are coming to completion with the addition of artwork and accessories that the homeowners have been accumulating since they moved in but with so many rooms, it continues to be a work in progress.

I'll post more detail about this renovation project along with more after photos in the near future.  I visited their home this week and had the opportunity to take some up-dated photos, the small glimpse of the dining room above is one of my favorites.   This room will be getting a lot of use in the upcoming months and in just a couple of weeks I know it will be decked out for the holidays in silver, blue and green........but in the meantime,,,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo:   Carol Reed

House Tour - Oakville Showhome

Beautiful 12 x 24 honed limestone floor tiles laid in a herringbone pattern.

This past week a girlfirend and I took some time to visit the Princess Margaret Showhome in Oakville, decorated and furnished by Linda Reeves and the design editors from Canadian House & Home.   We planned our visit for early afternoon and it proved to be good timing as we were able to enjoy viewing all the rooms in the house at a leisurely pace and without a crowd of people following us from room to room, from what i’ve heard the house is drawing lots of attention and streams of visitors from all over.

As someone who loves neutral spaces (for my personal home) the palette of this house was right up my alley.  Natural woods and white walls mixed with lots of linen and greys.  I’ve always lived in all white homes, with the exception of one or two rooms that I love to have done in a dark grey, so I was drawn to the brightness and simplicity of the white throughout the first and second floors of the house.  To me its the perfect timeless backdrop and I find that nothing sets off wood tones and artwork like white, and dark grey.  Although in this house, there wasn’t much artwork present, but you could easily envision how artwork could transform some of the many blank walls.....

Because of all the white, the rustic exposed beams, bleached wood,  and use of linen, I felt the house had a sense of Belgian style to it.   I did manage to get some great photos throughout the tour but for now, I’ll just post these pics of my favorite room in the house which was the master ensuite.   To see more of the house I highly recommend the drive to Oakville to see it all for yourself in person - its for a great cause so while you’re there be sure to buy a ticket and a chance to win this lovely home - it takes just one ticket to win.  Good luck!

The large spacious double walk-in shower is to the left of the chair, complete with dormer ceiling and window.  The entire shower, walls and ceiling were tiled in a 1x2 mosiac grid of the same honed limestone that was used on the floor.

I believe the vanity was white oak, unfinished or waxed perhaps.  The wall is clad in the same mosaic 1 x 2 limestone that continues into the walk-in shower.  The oil rubbed bronze knobs relate well to the light fixtures and emphsizes that understated casual elegance.

As stated on the CH&H website, "The Princess Margaret Oakville Showhome is the grand prize in The Welcome Home Sweepstakes for Cancer Research, built from the ground up by Lynda Reeves and her H&H team, with architectural designer Ray Murakami and custom home builder PCM Inc."   For more info and showhome hours visit here.

Victorian House Tour - Powell & Bonnell

I had the pleasure of being invited to tour an open house this week of a beautiful victorian semi-detached house in Toronto.  I'm fortunate enough to work with one of the best real estate agent's in the city, Kara Reed, who also just happens to be.......my sister-in-law of the past 20 years.  (You may recognize her from HGTV's Sarah's House I, and Sarah's House II).  Kara had the pleasure of listing this 1890's victorian house on mls this week and is preparing for a public open house this weekend, more info here.  Knowing that I'm in house hunting mode myself and knowing my love and appreciation for great interiors of all styles, she insisted this was a must see for me -and I'm glad she did.

The house was designed by the award winning Toronto interior design firm, Powell & Bonnell during an extensive renovation of the house back in early 2000's.  What's  unique about this house is its one of the few (if not only) traditional, victorian style home this team have designed.  If you're familiar with Powell & Bonnell's work, you likely conjur up images of clean, dynamic contemporary spaces when you think of their projects, however, a quick browse thru their portfolio reveals a diverse range of projects from clean and contemporary to modern rustic.  I've always believed that the best designers have diverse portfolios and can apply their design philosophy to a range of styles and I can definitely see this diversity throughout their past projects.  You can check out their on-line portfolio here. 

Before the renovations began in early 2000's the house had been open plan and void of any original architectural detail and character.    All of the walls that had previously been taken down and all of the mouldings and details that had been stripped away were painstakingly re-created from top to bottom.  Today the house is a beautiful example of a traditional victorian home who's original character and architectural detailing has been well considered and thoughtfully brought back to life.

One of my favorite things about the house was the collection of artwork throughout and the manner in which it was displayed - it's masterfully done.  You'll see in the photos to follow that every room and hallway has beautifully arranged groupings of artwork and objects in all shapes and sizes.

Living Room Vignette

Living Room

Dining Room

The dining room measures only about  12'w x 9' deep but its grand and impressive.  The combination of the dark wall colour and the large mirror add depth and create a dramatic, inviting space.  It was simply stunning.

This is Kara in the hallway outside the dining room as she was pointing out the dining room's velvet parlour draperies that would have been an original detail in a house of this era. 

The master bedroom was striking and handsome with its dark walls, antique furniture and sisal carpet.  The variety of light sources and use of mirror again make this room both sparkle and glow, creating an ambience that's so inviting and intimate.

The tone on tone stripe effect on the bedroom walls was actually so subtle that I didn't even notice it until looking at the photos afterwards.

The main bath had some clever built-in storage around the radiator.  There's nothing over the top in this room but there's a great sense of balance.  You can see that the surface applied panel moulding, its repitition and the symmetrical display on top of the cabinet give this room a classical look.  The gorgeous soft blue colour combined with all the white and polished chrome just takes your breath away when you walk in the room but yet the bathroom's tile and fittings are just very simple and timeless.

The Den

The second floor den was again, dark, inviting and intimate with a wonderful eclectic collection of pieces displayed on the walls and cabinets.  Despite that most of the rooms in this house would be considered small spaces, the use of large scale furniture and dark colours make it feel luxurious and grand.  The key to this,,,,,, is the great use of lighting.

Second floor hallway

Main floor bathroom, again the use of simple white, pale blue/grey and silver metal gives you that refreshing sense of a nostalgic old world spa.

The kitchen was simple and classic with its beadboard backsplash and butcher block topped centre island.

Again a wonderful integration of storage with the rad cover.  The use of metal apothocary style cabinetry and carts were used again here which I also saw in both bathrooms, this cabinet appeared to be vintage but the two small wall-hung ones in the bathrooms were newer. 

Basement bedroom.  

This was an irregularly shaped small room but I love the fact that despite that, they went for maximum comfort by using a full size bed - its cozy and luxurious looking even though its placed in this tiny nook.  The attention to the way the bed is dressed and accessorized would make any guest feel important and special.

I could notice from the reaction of those who were touring the house while I was there that the traditional style and detailing of this home was really resonating with all of them as they were were drawn into one room after another,,,,,,,,and not wanting to leave!   I have no doubt this house is going to attract a lot of attention this weekend......

All photos:   Carol Reed