Labour of Love | Redstone Lake Home: Part 6

There's minimalist design, then there's just plain sparse, then there's what this basement was originally. But on the plus side, there was lots of space for me to do cartwheels! Half of the large open basement was designated as the TV area, with the only big sceen TV in the house, complete with another large leather sofa, two reclining leather chairs, two matching leather footstools, and two side tables. Obviously by the time it acme to furnishing the house, my parents were exhausted from designing the house itself and building it, that they weren't too creative or original when it came to selecting the finishing touches for the inside...

Labour of Love | Redstone Lake Home: Part 5

This is by far my favourite design that I’ve done to date, and that I lovingly refer to as my masterpiece. With countertops as far as the eye can see, storage space for days, and all those modern city comforts, there is no room for improvement with this gorgeous kitchen. The original kitchen was pretty lackluster, but now this kitchen is a complete showstopper.

There wasn't anything wrong with the original kitchen per se; it was just starting to show its 13-year age with its black appliances, 45 degree angled island, and pine coloured cabinetry. But other than its appearance, there were some other issues with this design of the kitchen...

Labour of Love | Redstone Lake Home: Part 4

This large upper deck has been refurnished and refurnished a couple of times, but never fully utilized to its full potential for the space. Outdoor living is so important (especially when our outdoor season is so short here (and you want to be able to enjoy it as much as possible, which is why it's nice to be able to simply extend your living space for that short window of time. Originally this deck only had four Muskoka chairs. Five years later we moved those weathered Muskoka chaors down to the lower patio, and added a ful set of new wooden furniture complete with eight chairs, four side tables, and four footrests...

Labour of Love | Redstone Lake Home: Part 3

The original design of this space was definitely sparse when we moved into the house, with just one large leather sofa, two large matching chairs, and a lot of tables (two consoles tables, two open side tables and two closed storage side tables). There was nothing special about this main gathering space for the home, except for a couple of architectural features. The first of which being the large fireplace that was custom built with the stone from the property. The second feature that is truly unique to this house is the wood elevator. I've never seen anything like it in any other house before, but it's quite handy...

Labour of Love | Redstone Lake Home: Part 2

First up on the renovation list was the master bedroom. The layout of the house meant that the master bedroom was almost the entire top floor of the house, which makes it the optimal location for a retreat to escape your three children. But that’s not the only thing that makes this master bedroom the perfect oasis, with natural light pouring into the room and large windows facing the lake, my parents get to enjoy the sky turning bright red and orange with the sunrise every morning.

My mom has a bit of an obsession with the colour red, and apparently the entire sky turning red every morning wasn't enough for her, because she painted the entire bedroom a bright fire engine red...

Design Behind the Scenes | Shadow Hills Great Room

Large open concept spaces are very common and popular right now. But many people struggle with how to design such large open concept spaces. Many people have ideas of how to design a space, and they think they’re set in stone and must be followed. Which is one of the biggest reasons I think people struggle with so much space.

I had a client who needed help designing their second home located in Palm Springs, California. The heart of the home was a large open concept room in the middle of the house...