Displaying Collections: Blue & White Plates

This past fall our Dutch Colonial Kitchen renovation project was featured in the October Style at Home magazine (photographed for the magazine a year earlier.) One of the more decorative features of the space that I haven’t shared was a collection of vintage blue and white plates displayed on the wall. The collage was created using a variety of pieces that both the homeowner and myself had found at various antique shops and auctions around Nova Scotia including the South Shore, Shelburne and Yarmouth.

Photography by Janet Kimber, for Style at Home Magazine.

We installed them on an expanse of wall that spanned between two doorways, directly opposite the kitchen island and they create a beautiful backdrop to the deep navy and white kitchen scheme. The plates are complimented by the historic mouldings and original wood beam ceiling of this heritage home which were restored during the kitchen reno.

As seen in Style at Home Magazine, October 2019.

I’ll upload a digital copy of the full feature in the coming weeks, but you can link to the magazines website feature of the story here, which showcases some of the images from the issue.

View the feature on the Style at Home Website, titled “Heritage by The Sea”, here.

See previous post on this project here.

Town Home Transformation: Before & After Plans

Town Home Tranformation - Kitchen In progress

THE BEFORE PLAN

The original floor plan of this single level town home didn’t have the open concept layout my empty nester clients were used to or desired, it also had some functional layout issues like the awkward spacing of the kitchen appliances and the ensuite/closet doors.

With a little bit of demo, some thoughtful tweaks to the plan, and all new finishes we set out to give this home a complete transformation that was all about editing and paring down to create a modern, minimal, white back drop to a collection of artwork, books and the owners favourite classic modern furniture pieces.

BEFORE PLAN www.carolreeddesign.com

The kitchen window nook area (left) and kitchen (the back of the front hall closet is seen on the right). Cosmetic updates were planned for the entire condo; vinyl sheet flooring, wall to wall broadloom, dark wall paint, chintz window treatments, colonial light fixtures and colonial doors and trim work would all be replaced.

AFTER FLOOR PLAN - Design by: Carol Reed Interior Design Inc.

THE AFTER PLAN

New Layout: We removed the walls separating the dining and living area from each other and the hallway and removed the closet separating the kitchen from the hallway - resulting in an open concept Living, Dining and Kitchen space. A kitchen island was added and a desk floating from wall to wall in front of the large window. Counter seating at the island and an extendable table in the dining room would meet their needs for day to day and entertaining. A wall of builtin bookshelves would house their book and album collections and the long wall provides a large expanse of wall space for the homeowners art collection.

Tweeks: The bathrooms will receive cosmetic updates only, new floor tiles, floating vanities, large mirrors and more lighting. I’m not a fan of ensuites that are accessed through a closet particularly when the closet storage is not behind doors as was the case here. We removed the closet door, added flanking custom built-in his and her’s wardrobe units with a combination of drawers and hang rods, all neatly concealed behind cabinet doors. This greatly improved both the passage into the ensuite and the amount of storage.

The ensuite door which was awkwardly blocking off the toilet nook was changed to a pocket door to improve the flow. With the toilet no longer blocked off by the door swing the space is visually expanded and freed of the intrusive door swing.

In the Laundry Room new front loading laundry appliances would facilitate a countertop for folding, and wall cabinets above would add concealed storage and a hang rod. To make up for the lost front hall closet, the long wall inside the laundry room will be outfitted with hooks, an upper shelf and boot/shoe racks.

Progress at the Townhouse transformation. | www.carolreeddesign.com

Progess - Mahone Bay Townhouse transformation. View from the Living/Dining area into the kitchen.

www.carolreeddesign.com

I’m looking forward to seeing the finishing details of the construction phase come to completion and the next phase of furnishing and styling get underway.

PATAGONIA - SAVING MARTHA

PATAGONIA is a brand I respect and admire, especially for the important awareness and support they are bringing to environmental issues like the destructive industry of open net-pen salmon farming.  I spent a large part of personal time in 2019 working with a local group in our town fighting expansion of net-pen salmon farms in our bay.  It was November 2018 when I first became involved, we knew then it was only the beginning of what our Minister of Fisheries & Aquaculture, Keith Colwell had planned for the industry throughout Nova Scotia.  Flash forward one year later and we’re facing wide spread expansion on the South Shore - the latest announcement being that the entire coastline of Lunenburg County spanning from west of La Have to Peggy’s Cove is now being scoped for multiple open net-pen salmon farms operated by Cermaq, a Japanese owned Norwegian operated corporate giant.  To be clear, these are not farms - these are submerged industrial feedlots that are the equivalent of straight piping the sewage of a small city directly into our ocean unfiltered, along with tons of antibiotic laced feed pellets and chemicals to control sea lice.

SAVING MARTHA. What do Tasmania & Nova Scotia have in common?  Atlantic Salmon farming.  Atlantic salmon is farmed in non-native waters around the world including the Pacific coastal waters of B.C. Tasmania has a similar economy and rural coastal demographic as Nova Scotia. Tasmania has been executing an aggressive 20 year expansion plan of salmon farming in their coastal waters for several years, imposed on the communities and inshore fisheries whether they want them or not.  Nova Scotia’s Minister Colwell is so impressed with Tasmania's plan that he travelled to Tasmania in February 2019 with a contingent from Nova Scotia to *promote* his vision for a rural Nova Scotia populated with salmon farms. Before returning home he even signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tasmania’s Minister of Fisheries Guy Barnett. So watch this short film, read the blog about the film, and know Guy Barnett will be sharing his best insider secrets to Minister Colwell on how to pollute the ocean with industrial feedlots and get away with calling it job creation and economic growth. For a glimpse of what the future of rural NS will look like if Keith Colwell gets his way and what communities are facing today,,,,, just look to Tasmania and the story of King Island featured in this documentary. Here’s a link to a Blog post about Saving Martha from Patagonia’s website.

excerpt from the blog: “World Heritage listed Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast has been the flashpoint, as the once-pristine waterway has degraded significantly as salmon stocks in the harbour have exploded.”

“The island might only be home to 1723 people, but it is also home to a thriving primary industry brand that creates almost full employment. King Island dairy, beef and seafood is internationally renowned, and islanders are concerned the dirty reputation of the salmon farming industry will not only ruin Martha Lavinia Beach, it will trash the island’s reputation.”

What brings this video even closer to home is knowing that Canada’s newly appointed Federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and Coast Guard, is Bernadette Jordan, also the MP for South Shore - St.Margaret’s here in Nova Scotia. This massive proposed expansion is happening right in her backyard. Now, she is the new Federal DFO Minister but her constituents at home shouldn’t be complacent thinking she’ll save your Bays, she has never voiced concern against the industry or publicly stated her position on fin-fish farms (not even during the recent election). Let’s hope she changes course.

Please come to the event in Mahone Bay this Sunday at 2pm to learn more about the proposed expansion in Lunenburg County and get involved. I’ll be there with a lot of my friends.

MORE INFO: Patagonia has a longer feature film related to this topic called Artifishal, now streaming free on Youtube.   For a list of more must watch documentaries on salmon farming visit the ‘Learn More’ page on Protect Liverpool Bay.org which is a website I voluntarily created for PLB and our community last summer.  One of these films will be partially screened at Sunday’s event.

For the love of our oceans and all that relies on keeping them natural and healthy I sincerely wish the residents of King Island all the strength and power to fight this impending threat to their environment and quality of life.

Thank you Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia for all that you aspire to do.

Join and support Nova Scotia coastal communities and Say No to open net-pen Fish Farms. And please, don’t eat the salmon.