guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: Magic ice and other kitchen stories

Jenn Hannotte: You know how when you're living with something you can convince yourself it's OKAY? Like the old fridge that was approximately 4 feet high and held a carton of eggs, a jug of milk and a loaf of bread if you packed it intelligently? NOT OKAY. And I only realized this after my Whirlpool appliances arrived and we set up the new side-by-side fridge (I put the other guy out on the curb for recycling, I didn't hold that much of a grudge!). It wasn't *just* that the kids squealed with disbelief when I got them ice and water FROM THE FRONT OF THE FRIDGE like a magician (we're simple people), but the fact that it's totally roomy and still counter-depth sold me. And the new dishwasher? Our old one was likened to a garbage bag with a hose attached by the appliance installer - and he wasn't far off. We had to close all the doors to the kitchen and basically vacate the house when that thing was running. My new dishwasher is quiet, yes, but it also has cool features (like Sheer Clean) and is smartly designed - something I can really appreciate after using our completely inefficient old monster. And, then there's the slide-in range that leaves more room for the birch plywood backsplash to do its thing, and which has a quick-heat convection oven to get those frozen pizzas cooked chop-chop! So why white, instead of the more expected stainless? White is fresh and modern and especially in a small kitchen like mine, it helps to unite rather than divide. 

Once the engine of the kitchen was installed, Angus Fergusson and Arren came over to shoot these stunning photos. My perpetual kitchen reno is all done and what's the verdict? For me (the only client who matters!), I absolutely love the ambience of this room, it's less a kitchen in the traditional sense, and more a cozy retreat. *AND* everything works, works well and looks good doing it.

Here are the deets:

Counter Depth Side-By-Side Refigerator, Whirlpool Gold Tall Tub Dishwasher,  Electric Slide-In Range. All Whirlpool.

Vintage industrial bins, Avril Loreti tea towel, Imm Living cruet. All Russet & Empire.

Lighting Design. Matthew Birch for Russet & Empire.

Kitchen Design. Russet & Empire Interiors.

Ikea kitchen cabinets, butcherblock counter, Ringskar faucet, Tral work lamp. West Elm Tripod Table. Breville Barista Express espresso machine. Areaware Numbers LED Clock.

>>> Catch the rest of Jenn's kitchen reno here, and click here to check out Jenn's take on style.

Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: The perpetual kitchen reno

Jenn Hannotte: Last October, after my youngest pulled what looked like 1930s underwear out from behind the radiator in our kitchen, I called John at Cera Stone. "GUT IT," I said. Really, I didn't *want* to renovate the kitchen, I wanted to live with it and save up for the real-deal. 

But after the underwear, and because earlier in the summer I had removed all the cabinet doors because they were covered in SLIME, and because after the bathroom renovation we had a big ol' hole in the kitchen ceiling thanks to the old toilet losing it's shhhhh all over the place - well, it wasn't a kitchen anymore. And so, like I do, I started to rip things apart myself and discovered the original asbestos-tiles, and while not exactly good for the lungs, they were in really good shape which gave me hope for the pine-plank subfloor. Yes, we were going to gut the kitchen, but, no, we weren't going to spend much putting it back! Once everything was out, I decided to have a wall framed out over the messed up plaster that held the old cabinets in place, and we clad it in beautiful birch plywood. The sink, stove and fridge all stayed in the same place to keep costs down. A couple of base cabinets from Ikea, an inexpensive butcher block countertop, rough-pine shelf from Home Depot ($12!) and bingo, we had a kitchen. 

Okay, it didn't go that smoothly - I have hung different cabinets and shelves, moved the fridge around, painted the floors after resolving not to, and painted half a wall black before deciding (surprise!) white it was! This is a temporary kitchen - if temporary means 5 years or more to you. So, because we'll be living with it for quite some time, we figured that we might consider getting some appliances that work. I know people go on about "function and form" all the time, but sometimes I like to ignore that and spend money in places we shouldn't instead of... .getting appliances that work.

And so, this week a new crop of appliances that will bring harmony to the kitchen are set to arrive. Appliances that marry form AND function. I know, what a concept. Once they're here and installed I promise a full kitchen tour. For now, here are some shots of the before and during - and a sneak-peak of the 'after', shot for the Marion House Book last month! (which, incidentally, already looks different!)

For more of Jenn's take on style click here.

guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: A touch of the RT's

Drumroll! Church bells! Fireworks! It's done! After some finishing touches, I was super lucky to have Naomi Finlay come by to take photographs of the final bathroom reveal, and Arren to help style! I am beyond happy with how it turned out - it's got that Royal Tenenbaum edge, but it's got a lot more of 'me' and a whole lot of this houses' heart in it, too. Here's the complete list of materials and other good stuffs used in the shots and in real life:  

Bancroft toilet, Brockway sink with Cannock faucets - Kohler. Daltile Subway and Octagon and Dot tiles, baseboard, Behr Paint in Ashes - Home Depot. Trim tile - Pollock's. Wild Flower wallpaper - Ferm Living. Fords Mill light fixture - Rejuvination Lighting  (Who, I noticed when I went to grab this link have some AMAZING new product). Towels, bathmat, plate - Anthropologie. Shower curtain - Urban Outfitters. Milk glass vases, vintage fan, MOR soap - Russet and Empire. Vintage pharmacy jars - The Arthur. Molger mirror - Ikea. Kartell Componibilii - Neat.

Click here and here to check out the other posts on the bathroom reno (including the awful before shots), and stay tuned, something else is cooking up at the Hannotte house - pun intended. Wink, wink.

For more of Jenn's take on style click here

Where we were, and where we're at

Well, while the interior of the house has been completed for a while (you'll see the results in the August issue of Canadian House & Home!), the exterior of the house has been somewhat of a head-scratching work in progress. That first shot below shows the house in all its grimy pink curtained glory when we first bought it, the second, after the fantastic energy-efficient new Jeld-Wen windows went in during the midst of the reno (check out more reno snapshots here). The thing is, the driveway still looks pretty much the same, complete with tired asphalt and broken concrete.

So now I'm on a mission to get it looking at least passably attractive, though the main issue is the mammoth size. It's 20' x 30' with parking for 3 cars. Seriously. I'd been noodling around materials and decided initially on simple and modern exposed aggregate concrete (take a look here), and got a couple of quotes. Errr, one arrived at an eye-watering $16,000. So now we're Plan B-ing it and looking at different options. Oh, and did I mention I want to get this done in the next couple of weeks? Wish me luck.

Back in the bathroom

Hey, I'm finally able to share all the shots by Angus Fergusson (including the spooky before snaps) from that bathroom project I did with Canadian Family mag. It's a pretty sweet makeover and, I hafta say, quite the dramatic change from a bathroom that looked liked something out of the Bates Motel into a bright, glossy and very practical space.

Here are the deets: We re-used the perfectly sized vintage sink (after a very good clean that involved Polident tablets), then changed out all the other fixtures and fittings to pieces from Kohler, including a v. smart WaterSense Escale toilet. We subway tiled from floor to ceiling, and then finished the sloped ceiling in tongue-and-groove, both scored at Home Depot. The floor was penny tiled in marble from Saltillo which, apart from being gorgeous, is nice and safe to walk on with wet feet (and yes, the floor was heated too, with a True Comfort kit from Home Depot). Shelving was added in above the loo, and two marble-lined nooks were added in in the bath area (the surfaces were angled slightly so they drain properly). Finally, the pretty shower curtain was custom made by Tonic Living, and the towels and bath mat were a mix-and-match between Anthropologie and HomeSense. What do you think?

Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: What goes around

Jenn Hannotte: While Arren had the good fortune to physically enjoy the ICFF this year, I had to get my virtual fix and have been scouring all the blogs who have covered it. Apartment Therapy's founder, Maxwell Gillingham- Ryan, recently posted this over-view of some of the new wallpaper designs showcased. What really caught my eye were the new bold florals from London-based pattern designer, Camilla Meijer. Check out her 2010 intro, and compare to a wall in my new home with its original vintage paper. Now that's a bit of a déjà vu!! Maybe I should keep it... [Images 1,2 via Apartment Therapy]

For more of Jenn's take on style click here.

Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: Movin' on... up?

Jenn Hannotte: Okay, everybody relax. No need to get up in arms about my absence; let me explain. And no, I'm not going to blame it on the kids (this time), I'm going to blame it on Real Estate - capital R, capital E. I let the beast take hold of me again and I've gone and sold our house and bought another one a few blocks away, all thanks to the most amazing agent in Toronto, Nutan Brown. But I had good reason - a couple of good reasons, actually. We moved into our current house about 2 1/2 years ago and transformed it from a gold damask (in a bad way, trust me), brown carpeted, stippled mess into a pretty charming and hip abode if I do say so myself (check out my Flickr page here for the befores-and-afters of that ordeal). The main floor got a new kitchen, new floors, new laundry/mud room and upstairs got a coat of paint on every surface, including the floors. There are a lot of classic elements that remained intact from the 101 year old home that are blended with a modern and trendy reno. And that's the thing, folks - it's trendy. That, combined with a housing market that may or may not 'burst' meant that if we were going to reap the rewards from all our hard work, it was now or never. Thankfully, a young couple fell in love and in 5 short days the showings and open houses were over.

Our new house is a 'forever' kind of home. She's big and beautiful and needs a TON of work, so I'll be sharing some of that work and inspiration here as we move from project to project. Oh...did I mention we have to do it for practically free?* We're dubbing it the No-Money-Makeover and it's going to likely mean Craig's Listing, dumpster diving, recycling, street-walking....no, that's too far....and how ever else we can work towards a 'temporary' solution using cheap and clever tricks until we can get to the big stuff in a few years.

Here are a few snaps of the 'new' house below to kick-start brainstorming! Is that a fire place in the entry way? Why, yes it is! Beamed ceilings in the dining room? Check. Stippled plaster everywhere? Sure!

For more of Jenn's take on style click here.

*A disclaimer: The whole house needs the knob and tube wiring removed - a big job at an even bigger ticket price that needs to be done ASAP. so it doesn't count. Because I said so.

Bananas and bathtubs

I'm having a bananas week. Actually, I should correct that, I'm having a BANANAS week. It all started off with the best of intentions. Monday was brilliant, since I spent the much of the day shooting the ultra-lovely results of a bathroom reno I've been working on for Canadian Family mag's upcoming Summer issue. While you'll have to grab the mag to get the complete tour, I wanted to share a bit of a sneak peek of how it's all looking - without giving everything away. So, there's a snap below of photographer Angus Fergusson in the bathtub, in the midst of angling for a shot of the toilet. Yes, I know, the sleek Kohler Purist faucet is listing slightly (it wasn't properly attached yet, and was just resting in place). Oh, and take a look at the spooky Bates Motel-ish before shot. Extra points if you figured out that we kept the original sink which Megan, the homeowner, cleaned with a ton of elbow grease and a few Polident tablets (seriously).

Bright and clean

Okay, well I'm happy to drop a little taste of our completely finished house. It's the laundry room, which is in the current issue of Canadian House & Home, and to quote a 1968 cigarette slogan You've come a long way baby. To see how vile it actually looked when we first bought the house click here. Yep, that's ugly, lol. Not to mention all the weird stuff we discovered when we ripped out the old basement kitchen - Part of a garden fence was behind the wall and the ceiling was suspended with sticks from apple boxes and an old chair leg. Seriously.

Here's a quick rundown of what you're looking at: We maxed out on storage and usability with Ikea kitchen cabinets fronted in Abstrakt white hi-gloss doors and a Numerar countertop (just out of view on the left there's a Lagan sink with a slick white Ringskar faucet). Built into the cabinetry on the left are the fantabulous  GE Profile SmartDispense laundry pair, more on them here. That sweet carpet is the Spun hand-knotted runner by Bev Hisey, and the wood floor beneath is actually this TrafficMaster Allure vinyl plank from Home Depot. [Image: Angus Fergusson]

Cottage envy

Just a quick one, since I'm just plain green with design envy after checking out John and Juli of Kitka Design's cottage reno. I don't have a cottage, and the last time Meg Crossley, myself and Donna Griffith travelled out of town to shoot one for Canadian House & Home I lost sleep worrying about wolves and bears. Perhaps I'm not the outdoorsy type.

Anyhoo, please do click here to see the rest of their charming cottage. It's absolutely cool and and filled with lovely vintage finds - I think they should consider renting it out - and (if they need another opinion) they definitely shouldn't paint out that lovely old stone fireplace.

There will be dust

Well, we've finally made it - We moved into the new house on Friday. And, even though after every move I swear that we'll hire movers next time (David always pretends to hear me and then changes the subject) we found ourselves at Budget picking up a 16ft cube van at 7am on Friday morning. By 5pm we were done and completely knackered. Everything made it in one trip too; not too shabby if I do say so myself, though lugging a pair of steel horizontal file cabinets with David practically killed me.

The weekend was spent organizing, cleaning and priming as much of the drywall as we could (there's still lots to go). Getting rid of drywall dust is the main objective over this week, and so far the top floor is completely primed, semi-organized and mostly dust free. Two more floors to go... It isn't all fun and games though - The old thermostat can't seem to get the heat over 17C (we're waiting to change it out once all the dust is done with), so it's a wee bit chilly, and we've got no sinks or counters in the master bathroom or the kitchen, which means dishes get done in the basement bathroom. Thankfully our contactors will be hooking us up with a temporary sink in the kitchen over the next couple of days, and Home Depot will be popping by to template the Corian counters and sinks this week (yay!).

Through all this we have made a final decision on the fireplace surround, since we've managed to score some edgestone tiles that have a nice mid-century vibe. One teensy problem-o though; the stone colour reminds me of cat sick, so, much to the consternation of our contractors, we'll be slapping white paint on the tiles once they're done. Take a boo below at an inspiration shot of the tiles - if you can, squint to imagine them white - and a shot of the style of Montigo fireplace that Odyssey Fireplace installed on the main floor.

 

Saved by Saralisa and Sagan

I've been driving myself bananas looking at options for shower curtains, hooks, towel rails and toilet roll holders for the basement bathroom (have a look here). I'd hit every fancy bath supply store I could think of (ummm, no, I won't spend $80+ on a toilet roll holder) and stopped in at every big box imaginable and, seriously, there was bupkis worth lugging home. So luckily yesterday, on a run through Ikea scouting for a makeover I'm working on for CityLine, inspiration struck.

I turned a corner and there was Saralisa; a new line of fabric that just landed the shelves that has the chops to make an absolutely boffo shower curtain. Not sure whether I'll be plunking for the white or the black, but y'know, at a chintzy $6.99 a yard maybe I'll make 2! The other big save was Sagan for all the hook, rail and toilet roll holder business. Hefty and modern in a bright chrome finish - Just what I'd been searching for, and that swish little roll holder is a very budget friendly $14.99...

   

And in this corner...

It's been a big week for the house project and I have to say, after popping in there today, that it really does look like we'll get in there by Feb 1st.

On the kitchen front, Home Depot's Installation Services have done a bang-up job on the initial install on the Venicia cabinetry in prep for the appliances that arrive next Tuesday (yay Jenn-Air!). Once the appliances are in, the countertop will be templated (we're going with a Corian surface and an integral sink). And then, when the counter arrives (in around a week to 10 days), we'll be able to finish by tiling the backsplash.

One thing we had our fingers crossed for was a fireplace for the main floor and yep, we managed to squeeze it into the budget. It's a swish letterbox style direct vent gas unit by Montigo (the flue goes straight out the exterior wall) that we sourced through Odyssey Fireplaces, who installed it nice and swiftly a couple of days back. Cera Stone, our great contractors, will be framing and finishing the surround this week. Take a boo at how it looks right now, and how it might look once finished, though we're currently kind of taken with the fireplace surround in that Marimekko shot in the post below...

And finally, under all that protective paper, is our delish new bamboo floor that we scored at Home Depot - Quality Craft carbonized bamboo in a Gunstock stain (it's the middle tone in the sample board below). While I was researching flooring choices the whole sustainable side of bamboo made so much sense - Bamboo can be harvested in 3 years, while oak needs 125 years to reach maturity.

To check up on the reno, and to see what's happened so far, click here.

     

Almost, but not quite

The neighbours must be loving us - All this snow and ice has meant the filled-to-the-brim skip out front of the house can't be picked up yet (fingers crossed for a slight melt soon), and now it's a wee bit more full with packaging from the kitchen install. Yup, the kitchen is going in (can I hear a woot-woot?); the Home Depot installers arrived yesterday and the work has begun on fitting all the de-lovely Venicia by Kraftmaid cabinets.

We went for the Mirra Collection Carina doors in Bianco Gloss (take a boo below at a Venicia kitchen in the Chianti Gloss, and squint to see it in white and not red, lol). They're chic and simple flat panel doors with a swish integral aluminum pull for a seamless and ultra-modern look. The planning process at the store was great; we worked with Georgina (she's a treasure!) who knows the Venicia matrix upside-down, totally maxing out on all our storage needs. Make sure to click here and read up about all the Venicia cabinet's bells and whistles.

Picking out appliances was, as usual, eye-wateringly difficult since there is so much fab gear to choose from. I firmly believe that once you pick the range/cooktop everything else will fall into place and, since our range will sit smack dab in a peninsula, we decided to go with one that had a downdraft extractor so we didn't have to worry about a ceiling-mount rangehood. Tada! Jenn-Air had the perfect solution, we went with their Dual Fuel Slide-In Downdraft Range, which led us to pick their Cabinet Depth Side-by-Side Refrigerator and the Energy Star rated Built-in Dishwasher - All in stainless steel with a great modern industrial vibe.

For the countertop and integral sink we're set on Corian (though I'm flip-flopping on the colour), the faucet is the fantabulous new Karbon articulated kitchen faucet from Kohler, and the backsplash a ribbed white glass subway tile from Daltile called Taffeta - All available to order through Home Depot.

Click here to see the story so far on what's been happening on our mondo reno - We're finally in the home stretch, with a move-in date of Feb 1st!

    

Are you sitting down?

Never a good way to start a conversation, especially when it's either coming from a doctor or a contractor - You just know it's not going to be good news. Yesterday, while I was at Elte sourcing a gorgeous carpet for a project, that sentence popped up in a call from our contractor. Oy. I told him to go ahead, since if I fell it would be onto a plush pile of rugs.

Here's the deal: On our roof we have a homemade skylight which we wanted removed (it's way ugly and in an odd spot in our teensy back bedroom) so the guys went up to take a peek. Ummm, not only does the skylight have to go, but the whole roof has to be replaced. Yep, a new roof. Apparently there is just a single layer of tar paper up there, and the wooden substrate is also on it's way to rotting out too. So there's no choice, a large wedge of our budget will now be used to fix the roof, and pretty sharpish too; the chance of a flood or a leak after the guys have done such a stellar job on the interior would be devastating. Take a look at all the work that's happened so far on the place here.

A flat roof specialist will be popping by on Tuesday to survey the job and hopefully, with a bit of luck and a few days of good weather, it'll get done nice and soon. Merry Christmas indeed (I think I might have just lost my Holiday spirit).

Handsome, not scruffy and inefficient

I don't know whether a woot-woot or a wheeeeee is appropriate, but we're awfully excited about the new Jeld-Wen windows going in at our place. Basically, when we had the energy assessment done, the suggestion for getting new high efficiency windows was a total no-brainer - Our mix of mangy vinyl sliders (circa 1985) and original 60's aluminum windows (sometimes both in the same window, don't ask...) were just not cutting it; not in the looks department and definitely not on the saving money on the energy bill side of things.

Our great contractors, Cera-Stone, measured everything up and then we started the process of deciding on the look and finish (lawdy, I do love customization). With help from James, our rep from Jeld-Wen, we decided on a line of theirs called Donat Flamand, made just outside of Quebec City, and picked aluminum clad AuraLast wood frames with Low E glass and Argon gas between the panes (in simple terms both the glass and the gas-fill improve insulation, keep the heat down in the summer and allow for passive heating in the winter, read more here). We went dark and neutral on the cladding and picked their ALUM Brown, though they have about 30 colours to choose from, and then designed the smaller windows to split into 2 (casement and fixed), and the larger to split into 3 (casement and 2 fixed). Since we wanted everything nice and clean and simple the 3 exterior doors were ordered to match too - full glass, plus a sidelight for the dining room and front door. Phew!

Take a peek below at the progress (that's the before snap of the back of the house from the end of July, followed by where we're at today). Click here to see the story so far on the reno and, if you're in the market for new windows; here's some good info from Natural Resources Canada on what to look for.

   

Insert kitchen here

Make sure your wigs are securely attached; it's going to be a whirlwind of a week. I'm getting a little exhasuted thinking about it, and it's only Monday morning, but this is a crucial time on our reno. Tomorrow both the kitchen cabintery and all our new windows arrive. Phew.

The main floor has been mostly drywalled in anticipation (take a look below) and the contractors are ready to receive everything and get rocking and rolling on it all. So, a few things have to happen in quick succesion - #1 The windows have to be installed asap. #2 The new floor has to be laid down. #3 The kitchen cabinetry gets installed. Tired yet? lol

I'll go for One

Work at the house continues apace and we're making decisions left, right and centre to keep things moving in the right direction. The basement had major issues - it looked like a serial killer's hangout and had been horribly re-wired at some point by a maniac with a death wish, so anything we do is an improvement, lol.

First up is the basement bathroom, it's all sorted and ordered (yay!), so hopefully the chic and terribly water efficient American Standard Champion 4 toilet, with 6L water consumption, is winging it's way here as I type this. Along for the ride, and again from American Standard, is the mod Ravenna pedestal sink and clean-lined Serin tub. The jam on this part of the project is the sleek and handsome One series of faucets that we're going with for the tub and sink; all swish and sparkly in a polsihed chrome finish. Lovely, and the whole shebang can be ordered at Home Depot.

The space will be finished off with satin white subway tiles that will be laid stacked from floor to ceiling (take a look at the inspiration shot below) and a Marine light for above the sink (a thrifty fave of mine). Hmmm, what to do for a mirror?

Take a look here to catch up on the rest of the fun and games with the reno. 

 

 

 

 

The beams, the beams

This was a big week for the reno; the steel beams arrived, a mondo 700lb one and two smaller ones. Why? You might ask. Well, we had the madcap idea to remove all the walls on the main floor, to open the space up, and need the beams to support the upper level of the house.

Getting that main beam in was no mean feat, it took 8 guys to heft it through the front door and then winch it into place. And, since it has to be such a tight fit, they had to punch through the exterior wall to finally set it in place. Phew. It was a total step-by-step process that took time and patience - As walls were removed temporary supports were installed and will stay up until everything is complete. Thank the lawd for our on-the-ball contractors, Cera Stone. And, to catch up with the story so far on the renovation click here.

 

 

Old dogs and rockers

Apologies for posting later than normal, today has been a bit nuts-o. The steel beams arrived at the house early this morning so I was hanging around watching the install as long as I could before totally freezing my you-know-whats off (I'll be posting shots of the install later). Now I'm back at my laptop and have just polished off Style Scout for the National Post after running to grab a door handle for a shoot for House & Home. Phew, no rest for the v. wicked...

I thought it would be fun to post a couple of recent vintage finds. The first is a totally cool teak rocker that was quite the steal from a seller on Kijiji. It's destined to be re-upholstered for a mod nursery makeover that I'm working on for CityLine. The second are a pair of beyond fab Foo Dogs grabbed from a local Goodwill. $12 each, you can't beat that with a stick. They'll be used in an upcoming shoot I'm working on with a photographer friend of mine Stefano Barbera. And don't worry, I'll be sharing the shots once they're done.