If you have a perennial garden, or fruit tree, you have an opportunity to bring a breath of spring into your home.  Cut a few stems or branches and bring them inside.

These beautiful peachy orange blossoms are from my front garden.  The bush is around 24 inches high and wide, and I prune it regularly to keep it from growing too tall in the space it occupies close to the house.  I try to keep a natural shape, with soft arching branches.  The leaves are a nice bright shiny green, so even when there are fewer flowers in late summer, it is still a wonderful plant.

The landscape designer that I hired recently didn’t know what it was (!), but he is young…

No matter, I found it on Google.  It is called Cameo Flowering Quince, it’s popular name.

So, I am very happy to have the opportunity to bring spring inside, and I have enjoyed filling vases and bowls of different shapes with these lovely flowers.

It’s also nice to have a version of this years hottest accent colour, Tangerine Tango, in such a pretty and fragrant form in my home.

Orange Gerbera Daisies that I just planted in my back deck planters look cheerful with papery white Wave Petunias and lime green Creeping Jenny.  They will continue the citrus theme throughout the summer, growing lush and spilling over my planter boxes with juicy abandon.

 

 

 

 

 

What can make you feel more privileged than designing a new bathroom?  Not much, perhaps designing a new kitchen?  Luxury, spa, relax, retreat, comfort are all words that we use today to describe what we want in a new bathroom.  Gone are the days when replacing chipped fixtures, or a defective faucet, and painting the vanity were considered an update.  If the bathroom today doesn’t have the look and feel of a spa or luxury hotel ensuite, it misses the mark.

Excessive consumerism, or just reward?  I think for most clients, working long hours, and meeting the demands of children, a retreat-like bathroom is not only well deserved, but neccessary.  A beautiful and efficient bathroom may help you to achieve a happier home—well worth the investment.  Not to mention that it will increase your home’s value.

I have the privilege of designing new bathrooms often, since this is one of the most popular renovations that my clients undertake.  I am currently working on the re-design of no less than seven bathrooms for 3 different clients, so I thought it would be a good time to write about the process, and show you what’s interesting in tiles, a large part of the selection process.

Marble, marble, and more marble; we can’t seem to get enough of it for our water closet updates.  Marble is both luxurious and classic, and adds soft texture and pattern to a space, giving it a timeless quality.  Limestone, Travertine, Carrara, Calacatta, and Saturnia Ivory are some of the more popular marbles for floor and wall tiles.  They are all light neutrals, in shades of sand, beige, grey, cream and white, with veining in grey, beige and brown.  Because they are neutral there is lots of opportunity to add pops of colour in art and accessories, a wise way to decorate, because you can easily change the accessories when the mood strikes.  Remember the days when we committed to pink tiles for ten to twenty years—not any more–thank goodness!

It can be challenging to coordinate shower surround tiles, counter top and floor.  Here is an easy formula:  start with a large tile on the floor, such as 12” x 24”, or 18” x 18” in the marble of your choice.  Then use the same marble for the counter top and shower surround, only in different formats.  The counter top will be a solid slab.  The wall tiles can be a combination of smaller tiles:  12” x 12” tiles can be used for the background, or field, and then a panel of ½” x ½” mosaics can be framed using a border, or marble moulding tile, creating a picture frame effect for a feature area.  There are many other shapes for the feature area, from hexagons to basket weaves.  See below.

There are many great alternatives to marble as well, including combinations of marble with glass and metallic tiles, crackle finish ceramic, and the classic and economical subway tiles.

Stand alone tubs are taking centre stage in larger bathrooms, and walk-in showers with heavy glass are now standard.  Faucets are the jewellery of the bathroom and very important to the design.  Polished nickel has taken over from brushed, but watch for satin and brushed brass to come on strong as an alternative, while oil rubbed bronze has all but disappeared.

 Light fixtures need to be selected thoughtfully; they add another layer of decoration and warmth while doing the important work of illumination.   Pot lights alone don’t cut it.

Cabinets look like furniture, and details are important, such as louvered doors, pictured above.  Shaker style, flat panel doors are still very current, but extra levels of mouldings are being used, such as a second step, or bevelled moulding. Beautiful hardware is a must.  Squared off handles seem to be overtaking knobs, but glass knobs in faceted or round shapes add nice sparkle.

Look up.  Coffered ceiling treatments, elaborate squared sections of beams and mouldings, or lovely deep crown moulding and sky blue paint will insure that you have something beautiful to focus on when you luxuriate in a long warm bath in your new soaking tub.

Don’t forget to include a terry cloth upholstered chair , and small table to hold a candle, a glass of wine, and a book. Ahhhhh….

 

Window frame filled with a pretty patchwork of vibrant flowers and other natural materials.  Notice the combination of orange and pink, cooled off with bright lime green.  These colours are great for spring, including Pantone’s now famous Tangerine Tango, and would be wonderful in accessories, such as throw pillows and vases.

There were inspiring displays at both shows.  Here are some pictures and ideas that may move you to make some changes, which will be way more fun than spring cleaning!

Outdoor industrial garden chic lighting from Sweet Peas in Toronto.

A nicely weathered looking wall sconce from Sweet Peas,Toronto.

                     Yellow and Orange painted branches compliment yellow/orange plants.

 

Vintage light fixture in antique brass adds a modern touch to a traditional framed kitchen from Bloomsbury, Toronto.  Antique Nickel, stainless steel, and satin brass mix well when the correct amounts of each are used, as they are in this kitchen display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Custom mirrored doors add light, elegance and space to the same display kitchen.

 

 

Decorative mosaic tiles are surprising affordable, from $1,500 to $2,500 for thirty-five square feet, from Orro Mosaic inVaughn,Ontario.  Wonderful for a powder room, as an accent over a bathtub, or in an entrance.  Would also make a unique headboard.

 

 Marble and inlaid hardwood floor.

 

 

 A leggy island– if you don’t need extra storage below, this looks refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many displays of doors and windows.  What’s new are fibreglass entry doors that have the texture of wood, so they can be stained to look just like the real thing.  There are many, many options for the glass inserts, and there seems to be more and more glass than ever.  A very good website, by Novatech, a Canadian manufacturer, helps you to design your own entry door. Click on their Design Centre for a excellent selection of door and glass styles, then you can print out the design, as well as get a quote for your creation.  You can even download a picture of your house, and insert a door in one of their factory colours, to see exactly how the door will look.

 

Finally, I will leave you with a beautiful picture of orange tulips–watch for them to be coming to a garden near you.  Who can resist!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classroom Great Room

 

Let’s leave the beautiful kitchen (if you can!), and travel down a long narrow hallway that leads to the biggest surprise of all.  It’s a long walk, about twenty feet; turn left into the great room or go straight out the back entry Marvin door with full glazing.  Another hanging lantern style fixture punctuates this back entrance that leads out to the spectacular garden, pool and dining cottage.

 After the long walk down the narrow hallway you don’t expect to see this vast soaring space–the new great room was once the 1960’s classroom addition.  It had a ten foot ceiling, which was higher than average, but the footprint of approximately thirty by thirty, although large, wasn’t big enough to accommodate the desired office, family room, gym and powder room.

Another thirteen feet was added to the height, making the top of the new cathedral ceiling an  impressive twenty-three feet tall at the peak.  What an inviting space, with its reclaimed wood beams and trusses, full-height stone fireplace with Rumford insert, antique wood floors, and Marvin windows, all custom designed by Adele Barrett Interiors.

Other custom designed and built features of the family room include:

• The original slate chalkboards with blue and red horizontal lines have been installed into new millwork, with wide crown mouldings, book shelves, and cork board, and the wood was painted in a rich clay colour.
• A twelve foot tall bookcase was made from recycled hemlock that houses the T.V.
• An open staircase was hand-crafted using antique wood, topped by glass panels in the loft railing.
• A craggy six-foot barn door made from salvaged wood slides open to reveal the home gym.

 The loft office is washed by light from the two skylights and the large window with arched wood insert.  A bespoke cabinet lines the long wall, which allows for plenty of office storage and is topped with the same slate black board that was carefully removed from the old classroom walls.  There were originally two large walls of the old blackboards (you can just imagine row on row of cursive writing lessons) and only one was needed for the new chalk-board millwork in the family room below; we didn’t allow any of it to go to waste.

 Jenn and Jim’s art collection is abundant in this large space, from the painting of colourful houses on the mantel, to the row of tiny portraits of earnest school children that look right at home on the blackboard, to the ice skating gentleman,  to name only a few.   The art adds to the charm and vibrancy of this fantastic home.