Chalkboard for the Modern Home
Once reserved for playrooms and schools, the functional and somewhat dreaded chalkboard has metamorphosed into a super fun statement that can jazz up the most discerning of tastes. I love a good chalkboard design but have found many of my clients are afraid to try it out – if that’s you, the reader, I’ve attached four awesome examples that are sure to ease your trepidation. Chalkboard Kitchen Here, Int2 Architecture of Moscow has painted one complete wall with chalkboard paint, including the built-in shelving and baseboards, for a smooth overall appearance. Combined with the naturally...
Read MoreCustomizable Dog Beds
Most dog beds are made for small to medium sized beds – not any more. The Xena-Bed by Design House BC is customizable to the size of your dog. Made from Douglas-fir it comes with either Purple Heart or Walnut wood detailing and while the bed size is a variable, the one pictured here has a 46”L x 30”W sleeping area and an overall size of 49-1/4”L x 33-1/4”W x 9”H. We came up with this dog bed design for Xena, our 10-1/2 year old Golden Retriever. She is still as active as ever – bombing through the forest on our hikes (with Dax, our 4 year old Golden Retriever) and still...
Read MoreTop 5 For Outdoor Living
Through the course of my blogging for Island Woman, LocaLHomeSpot.com and Trendir, I come across an amazing array of interior, architectural and furniture designs, and with the incredible summer we’ve been having, I thought I would share with you the top five outdoor designs I have come across over the past year. Kartell Masters Chair First up is a chair that can be used indoors as well as outside due to its polypropylene construction, and weighing in at only 11 pounds, it can be moved about with great ease. What makes this chair so special is the unique triple silhouettes incorporated...
Read MoreMerging Old With New
What do you do when both a husband and wife retire on the same day to begin second careers as consultants but with a home office that is poorly laid out without much storage? The answer is to call us for a complete update that does not include tearing everything out and starting fresh, but rather looking at what is already in existence and reinventing it into a more functional, more beautiful space. The original office consisted of plywood cabinetry painted white with wood-look laminate as the counter. The walls were a bright optic pastel green that did not quite touch the ceiling. The...
Read MoreBedrooms By Design
Bill’s Complete Master Redo Redesigning Bill’s master bedroom was so much fun. He gave me a budget and the keys and said good bye as he left on a one month vacation. The only thing he said was “Wow me when I get home”. Then, from the airport he phoned and said “what was I thinking … I want new carpeting too so the budget needs to be bigger. How much more will you need?”. The trust, you see, was already built in as this was the last room in his house for us to renovate, decorate and stage. With the budget we had, the only thing we kept was the furniture and the two bedside...
Read MoreWrite & Sleep Dog Decor
Since my oh so smart Golden Retriever has been writing her own blog (tee hee) since last August, I thought I would share some of her favourite decorative finds that fit into anyone’s budget starting with something you can really use, because functionality and cuteness is a paw-some combination. Canine Chalkboards With well over 100 different dog silhouettes – including two variations on the Golden Retriever, your fur-ever friend is sure to be represented. These chalkboards aren’t small; depending on the breed, they are approximately 22” long which is big enough for writing lists or...
Read MoreAwesome Outdoor Ideas
Summer is just around the corner, the weather is warming, and dreams of afternoons spent outdoors enjoying the garden under the warmth of the sun’s rays are oh so appealing. With daydreams of such relaxing times ahead, I thought I would take a look at some of my favourite outdoor finds from 2013. The following three are uniquely distinct, but could easily work together. Consider the relaxing sequence of taking an outdoor shower aesthetically tied into your landscape, then warming up in front of a sculptural fire on an excitingly artistic outdoor chair. Enjoy! OboRain Showers Launched in...
Read MoreBe Still My Purple Heart
Purple Heart is a very dense, water resistant wood that comes from the Peltogyne tree which is native to the tropical forests of Brazil, Guyana and Suriname in South America. Ranked as one of the hardest and stiffest of all woods, the graining is usually very straight with small pores. When cut, the wood quickly turns from a light brown to a rich purple colour, hence its name, but over time the vibrant purple will lesson to a more browny purple shade. Sanding will once again bring out the purple lustre, and clear coating with a UV protector will stop it from fading once again. Difficult to...
Read MoreFour Degrees of Separation
With my Interior Design life divided between working in homes within the Campbell River/Comox Valley regions during the day and writing about design around the world in the evenings, either for Chicago based Trendir or Campbell River based LocaLHomeSpot.com, I have a full and well rounded design exposure that sometimes leaves me shaking my head in wonder. That head shaking disbelief at how lil ol’ me plays a part in the international world of Design was in full play the other week when a chain of events that centred around my writing lead to the connection between an architect in the United...
Read More1980 to 2014 in a Single Splash
Peggy’s bathroom was your standard condo layout, a longish counter meeting up with the toilet before arriving at the tub/shower, located at right angles to the counter. The counter had the sink offset to one side and had absolutely no storage due to a floor heater in the way. The layout was perfectly fine; the lack of storage under one end was not, and the finishes – well, the 80s are known for their improvement in mass production, not for the art of design – nuff said. After initially meeting with Peggy and discussing her likes and dislikes, as well as seeing what the rest of her...
Read MoreHoliday Décor
With an annual budget for Christmas decorations, I set out every year to add a few special pieces to my selection of holiday décor. I started early this year when Bruce and I headed out to Merville to pick up a load of Douglas fir for a kitchen and bathroom refacing we are doing for one of our customers. Before we picked up the wood, we detoured a little further south down the Island Highway to check out what Art Knapp in Courtenay had in their annual winter wonderland and lo and behold, there was exactly what I needed for either side of our living room TV. It has been an unfulfilled...
Read MoreDIY for the holidays
I am lucky enough to have a fully functioning shop on my property, but all that is required to make these light weight Pine Band Saw Tree Decorations is paper, felt pen and scissors, wood scraps, a band saw, sandpaper, artist’s acrylics and a paint brush. I started out with an outline drawing that I drew on a scrap piece of paper, cut it out and then used it as a stencil on some pine wood scraps. The next step is the hardest, cutting the ornament shape out of the wood using a band saw – if you try this out, please be safe; nothing is worth loosing a finger over. When all the...
Read More… International Writer by Night
Interior Designer and artist by day – international writer by night … I am happy to announce that I have been hired to write for Chicago-based Trendir, an online design magazine. I love creativity used in art, furniture design and interior or exterior design. It’s a topic I am so passionate about that I started a Home and Garden blog and Facebook page through LocaLHomeSpot.com last November, and just a few months later started doing monthly posts here on Island Woman. What is so exciting for me is that my point of view and writing style caught the attention of the publisher at...
Read MoreUpcycling to Incredible Furniture
As an Interior Designer and avid recycler, it always excites me when I discover unique and innovative designs that stem from waste material. Some of the designs are not only eco-friendly but are stunningly beautiful, and I thought I would share with you my top five finds (in no particular order). Flip Flop Table is a Tip Top Table Who knew that the shores of Eastern Africa are constantly awash with lost and discarded flip-flops. Luckily Dutch designer Diederik Schneemann has found an innovative way of recreating this beach junk and with the help of locals, the flip-flops are found and...
Read MoreDesigning For Dogs
Those of us who have discovered the joy of having dogs have to make a few design changes in the way we live our lives. For example, working at my desk means I (usually) have two dogs wrapped around my feet, so there must be space to accommodate them. While writing this article, there was a third dog “Emma” whom I was babysitting. This means I need to be careful not to have my printer or electric cable positioned in such a way that if Xena or Dax jumps up when Dad gets home, they don’t accidentally wrap the cable around their chest, leg or head and drag my laptop to the front...
Read MoreAnatomy of a Kitchen Reno
Kris was ready to gut her kitchen and couldn’t come to an agreement with her husband on the “Plan of Action”. So, as with many other couples, the solution was simple – call me. As an Interior Designer, a large part of my job is “listening” to the needs and desires of homeowners and creating a solution that everyone using each space can feel comfortable in – and most importantly, feel like the space is a reflection of them. It is my job to interpret the wants and desires of my clients – it is not my job to impose my taste in their space. It is also my job to know what is...
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