{ Archive for the ‘Renovating’ Category }

the downside of renovations

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. It seems I have to keep reminding myself to just breathe these days. If you’ve been following along with my blog posts, you know that I’m mid-renovation right now. I’m working with the talented and infinitely understanding designer Lisa Canning and we’re making great progress. This process is turning out to be a lot of work (Lisa is doing most of the hard legwork!), a lot of decisions and a lot of fun. But there are moments when I see my home turned upside down and my heart stops. But I just have to remind myself: It’s only temporary. Everything will be returned to its rightful state soon enough.

So here’s how things are looking right now:

condo kitchen the downside of renovationsThis is my kitchen minus its cabinet doors. We’ve sent the door and drawer faces away to be lacquered white. I think it’ll look great and am excited to see the final results but seeing my kitchen like this makes me unhappy. And reminds me I need to get organized.

condo floors the downside of renovationsThis is the living room. We’ve removed the baseboards in preparation for laying new floors and installing new baseboards. The flooring is from Tarkett and I’ve chosen a bamboo wood in Solid Onyx, a deep, dark brown. I think the new floors will make an enormous difference and can’t wait to have them installed. Installation is scheduled for Monday by the folks at End of the Roll, Milton.

condo bedroom the downside of renovationsAnd finally, here’s my bedroom. My bedroom isn’t even getting a makeover but it’s become the storage space for all of my old furniture from the living room because there’s nowhere else to put it at the moment. So basically, everything I own has been crammed into my bedroom.

So, as you can see, my home is turned completely upside down. I can’t wait to reach the end of this process!

painting the walls

painting painting the walls
Today: Painting! It was a long day. My dear friend Jen and I painted from 10am til 9:30pm (with a handful of breaks thrown in). The colour I used is called Satin, part of the Style at Home paint collection from Home Hardware. Covering my dark green walls required one coat of primer and three coats of paint but wow – what a transformation! My condo instantly felt brighter and, more importantly, larger. It’s amazing what an impact paint can have.

Painting with white can be a bit tricky. Because the paint colour (when wet) was so similar to the primer, it was sometimes difficult to see where we’d stopped painting. So you have to keep a close eye on what you’re doing. Good lighting is key, too. As the sun started to set, it became more and more difficult to see what was painted and what was not. But overall, the most important thing was to have patience, a keen eye for detail and a good friend to help, who shows up bearing Timbits.

I’m thrilled with the change and can’t wait for the rest of the space to start coming together!

priming the walls

priming priming the walls
And the fun (work??) begins! I primed the walls of my condo tonight. My brother-in-law was kind enough to help. We started by removing all the baseboards. I’ll be putting in new hardwood floors to replace the laminate that’s there and replacing the baseboards, so removing them made the priming much easier since I didn’t need to worry about the edges. It took about three hours and surprisingly, I only needed one gallon of primer to cover the dark green walls in my living room and kitchen.  Thank goodness primer is water soluble and so easy to wash off. I was covered in it by the time I was done. Tomorrow: Painting! I’ll let you know which colour I’ve chosen.

ready to redecorate with lisa canning

As I mentioned a few months back, I’m finally ready to makeover my condo. And with the help of Toronto-based interior designer Lisa Canning, I’m finally beginning to make some progress! I’m going to blog about the whole process and today’s a good day to start. Lisa showed up at the Style at Home offices this afternoon with some fabulous fabrics tucked under her arm, textured tiles for the kitchen backsplash and best of all, her sketch of her design vision. And that, more than anything else, got me really excited. I’m working with a modest budget, but Lisa’s design savvy means she knows where to go to get gorgeous things at great prices. Stay tuned and I’ll keep you updated on our progress. In the meantime, check out the ‘before’ photo of my condo and Lisa’s sketch.

condo photo blog ready to redecorate with lisa canningMy condo: It’s a bit dark and it’s time to update it and turn it into a truly stylish space!

condo sketch blog ready to redecorate with lisa canningLisa’s sketch: Lots of white and pops of dramatic colour, like the cobalt blue cushions and accessories, go a long way towards updating the space and making it more modern.

Pages: Prev 1 2 3 4 5
Newer Entries »