PORTFOLIO
Willow tree kitchen
We renovated this beautiful transitional style kitchen for our client who loves gardening and has a large majestic willow tree just outside her kitchen window that was our inspiration for her space. We provided her with our Full Service Renovation Package that included a comprehensive kitchen design, cabinetry customizations to create a bespoke space, kitchen floor plan, elevations and perspectives, cabinetry selections, kitchen finishes, cabinetry, counter, tile, cabinet hardware, and flooring samples.
We also selected and sourced for her all the furniture, lighting, faucet selections, appliance colours and fabric for a custom window treatment. Her kitchen renovation was part of a larger renovation from start to finish of which we project managed with our referred licensed trades to ensure her renovation was on time and on budget.
We just love hearing from her how this renovation has made such a difference in her life and how much she now loves enjoying it with family and friends!
WILLOW TREE KITCHEN BEFORE
WILLOW TREE KITCHEN DURING
WILLOW TREE KITCHEN AFTER
textures and blues bathroom
Renovations are needed for many reasons, and the most important would be to create a more functional space for those who have mobility issues. We were asked to renovate a main bathroom/laundry room for good friends in their charming historical home.
Our design brief was to create a welcoming space for the husband who is colour blind but can see versions of blue and for his wife who didn’t like the idea of too much pattern or overall darker colours. We successfully met the challenge by designing the space with a layering of depth of blues for a light and airy feel for the wife with only the dark contrast of the cabinetry and then added interest with subtle minimal pattern and textures and horizontal and circular lines that would appeal to the husband.
We guided the homeowners through their selections of flooring, tile, cabinetry and paint colours and found the perfect textural round mirror, accessories and an antique looking, new rug for them that fits in beautifully the charm of their over 100 year old home.
As proud century home owners ourselves, we know that they come with a completely different set of renovation challenges that require skill and sensitivity to the historic nature of the home. With Todd’s expertise, excellent carpentry skills, our careful analysis, design and problem solving, we created a bathroom/laundry room that was even better than the home owners could imagine giving them a new walk-in shower, open floor plan and much needed increased storage and counter space!
We were honoured and so touched when they told us that this had become the favourite room in their home!
TEXTURES AND BLUES BATHROOM BEFORE
TEXTURE AND BLUES BATHROOM DURING
TEXTURES AND BLUES BATHROOM AFTER
log home kitchen
This was the 2nd of 4 projects we completed for a special couple on their beautiful horse farm in East Gwillumbury with our Full Renovation Service Package. The existing galley kitchen lacked storage, cohesiveness, had unattractive cold tile floors and did not flow with the rest of the home.
The unique challenge? How to install cabinets on a curved log wall with an uneven pass through cutout. We had never installed cabinets on such uneven surfaces before but we were up to the task and after multiple times measuring, Todd did not let us down, performing a meticulous installation that included cutting side panels for the cabinets to the shape of the logs as well as installing the rest of the cabinets and mouldings to fit seamlessly into the space!
As well as designing a timeless beautiful space increasing their storage and counter space, we chose for them, a soft putty cabinet colour for the main cabinetry combined with a beautiful furniture style cherry stained island complete with space for seating for 4, pots and pans drawers and a pull out microwave drawer. Floating cherry shelves tie in with the warmth of the logs and the ceiling beams and the island. To add much needed ceiling lighting, Todd made custom box beams to match the existing beams and important under cabinet task lighting was also installed. Stunning low maintenance quartz counters and backsplash that resemble soapstone and a grey slate look heated porcelain tile for the floor we chose for them, balances the space and adds a cool colour contrast against the warm tones in the space. Champagne bronze hardware, a large stunning Blanco fireclay sink and Waterstone modern black and gold faucet complete this beautiful log home kitchen that they can enjoy for many years to come!
LOG HOME KITCHEN BEFORE
THE DESIGN
LOG HOME KITCHEN DURING
LOG HOME KITCHEN AFTER
WYTHE BLUE mudroom/laundry room
We absolutely love creating beautiful memorable spaces in all different types of homes but as old home lovers, historic homes will always have a special place in our hearts. At times they are the most challenging with unforeseen issues or uneven walls and ceilings but the end results are so worth the effort and will no doubt make you feel at ease and welcome the moment you step inside.
Our client’s century home had been lovingly restored by them but they called us to help them with their large mudroom/laundry room that was the main entrance for them and their family. Of course we were thrilled to oblige!
Our Full Service Renovation Package allowed this busy couple to let us do it all for them so that they could focus on the more important things in their lives.
Existing black and white tile floors, taller than normal tongue and groove wood ceilings and a large window facing a private, tree filled back yard set the tone for a great design! They had only 3 requests, somewhere for the husband, an athlete and marathon runner had somewhere to sit down to put his shoes on, a place for him to hang his running gear to dry and for it to feel homey!
The jumping off point for the functionality of the design was stacking the laundry units to allow for a much needed sink. We specified a period appropriate fireclay farm sink and we found an antique pan light with just the right amount of patina to look as if it was original to the home along with new Pottery Barn wall sconces and installed them on a dimmer for cozy evening lighting reminiscent of candle light. The homeowner chose Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue from the historic series for all the beadboard and trims and door to the kitchen that envelops the space with it’s cheery hue.
We rebuilt the entire closet and installed 2 solid oak 4 panel doors to match the door to the kitchen and added antique porcelain handles as well as customized the interior with Wythe Blue paint and added antique pine shelves and lots of hooks for loads of storage. We fulilled their 2nd request by building a custom oak bench and installed 12” deep white pantries provide extra storage for the nearby kitchen. New brass vintage looking wall sconces and faucet, cabinet hardware, glass knobs, brass shelf brackets and hooks unify the space allowing the farm sink and marble look quartz counter and robin’s egg blue beadboard to shine.
They now have a laundry room that is a dream to do laundry in and a homey organized space to come home to at the end of the long day!
WYTHE BLUE MUDROOM/LAUNDRY ROOM BEFORE
THE DESIGN
WYTHE BLUE MUDROOM/LAUNDRY ROOM DURING
WYTHE BLUE MUDROOM/LAUNDRY ROOM AFTER
CRAFTSMAN CENTURY HOME LIVING ROOM
CRAFTSMAN CENTURY home living room
More to come on this project!
CRAFTSMAN CENTURY HOME KITCHEN
CRAFTSMAN CENTURY HOME KITCHEN
Our own renovation journey began February 2001 when we purchased our first home in Mount Albert, a 1.5 story Gothic revival built in 1878 for Janet Wilson Forrest, later renovated by Charles Brooks (ancestor to the Mount Albert Brooks family) in 1915 turning it into a 2.5 story Queen Anne.
We removed a faux tile drop ceiling and discovered a serious issue that we corrected and then levelled and drywalled the ceiling.
Layers of vinyl floor were removed from the 2” thick pine subfloor which had many uneven cutouts from the 1915 renovations. We sourced antique reclaimed maple flooring that came out of an old factory, planed the oil stains off and then sanded and stained the floors on site.
With a challenged space of 5 doorways and 2 windows, we designed a new and much improved layout by moving the fridge and stove and added an island and a large pantry. A beautiful and clean lined hood Todd built that we designed is the focal point of the space!
I later designed a new furniture style custom island that Todd built that included a large pots and pans drawer cabinet and increased the seating from 2 to 5 which turned our kitchen into the real hub of our home for every day and special gatherings that we enjoy every day!
CRAFTSMAN CENTURY HOME KITCHEN BEFORE
CRAFTSMAN CENTURY HOME KITCHEN AFTER
century home mudroom/laundry room porch
One of the many things we loved about our Queen Anne home Craftsman century home when we bought it were the 3 enclosed porches with lots of beautiful windows. Todd suspected issues in the ceiling that he quickly addressed that ended up giving us an extra 6” of ceiling height! We removed the old sheet vinyl flooring and installed natural stone tile the colours of sand and sea for the floor that fit our vision of a coastal century home.
We addressed a suspected ceiling issue and reinstalled the same TG wood ceiling and removed a window beside the entry door peaked into the adjacent powder room and added durable period appropriate beadboard on the walls with lots of hooks for coats and hats. We added a reproduction push button light switch to match the original switches. A beautiful salvaged large antique cast iron farm sink was installed and we added new craftsman style door trims to match the interior trims. We replaced the ugly aluminum storm door with a wood antique storm door that looks like it was there all along.
We can’t imagine not having a space like this to come home to each day and 4 furry pooches and many years of gardening and renovations later and this mudroom laundry room porch has stood the test of time!
CRAFTSMAN MUDROOM/LAUNDRY ROOM PORCH BEFORE AND DURING
CRAFTSMAN MUDROOM/LAUNDRY ROOM PORCH AFTER
INTO THE LIGHT BASEMENT
INTO THE LIGHT BASEMENT BEFORE
INTO THE LIGHT BASEMENT DURING AND AFTER
MORE PROJECTS COMPLETED BY HARDROCK CONSTRUCTION OVER THE YEARS
