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.

All on the table

Now December is off and running it's definitely time to start getting into the Holiday spirit, so I thought I'd share a project I recently worked on with one of my fave photographers (and good friend) Angus Fergusson. It's three Holiday tabletops, each with an entirely different feel, and all sourced from the shelves at HomeSense.

Up first is probably the most trad of the lot, it's kind of a twist on candy canes and red and green, though the olive - instead of a boring old Christmas-y green - makes it feel much fresher. Oh, and isn't there something about the chairs that reminds you of wooden sleds? The next one is all about collecting, with a scatter of pitchers, a tea pot and cake plate, and loads of mercury ball decorations in a lovely robin's egg blue. And yes, that's an embroidered blanket on the table, rather than a tablecloth... Finally I thought some glam was in order for a New Year's table, so I grabbed a pair of hi-gloss black foo dogs (whish were too gorgeous to ignore), added in more black and white, then threw in that hit of colour in the picture frames that work perfectly as place markers. Time to pop the champagne!

No parking allowed

Yes, our media room used to be a drive-down garage, but that all changed back in the '80's sometime (way before we bought the house) when, in a rather hare-brained scheme, the old owners bricked up the garage door and filled in the driveway to create a v. dingy basement apartment. Oh, it was a delightful surprise when we discovered that that there was only one layer of bricks and some rotten chipboard holding back all the in-fill, take a look here, which meant we had to do a major bit of re-construction.

Fast-forward to now and things are all peachy - That's a Gus* Carter sectional sofa, silk velvet pillows and woven cane hassocks from Constantine, and a fab hand-knotted floor cushion from Bev Hisey. The striped velvet curtains have been discontinued at Ikea, but you can still get your hands on the Kvartal curved curtain rail, as well as the wall-mount Besta Burs DVD storage (topped with a few of my fave collectibles). On the other side of the room you'll catch a white leather tufted chair, an end table, and more of the shaggy rayon rug, all from Elte. Then there's more of that great Ikea Besta media storage, working both as a stand for the LCD TV, and mounted on the wall (we had fun tricking it out with Dioder LED lighting strips). The paint colour is Palais Royal by the no-longer-available Ralph Lauren Paint line from Home Depot. And, thanks again to Angus Fergusson for doing such an outstanding job in shooting the house for House & Home!

The last of up top

While the sun is beaming outside, I thought I'd let you know I've just worked on my first Holiday project (for inVU Drapery), and have been finding glitter in all sorts of odd places. Yep, it's Christmas in July in my world! Anyways, I'm still working through posting the rest of the House & Home feature, and thought it was time to flip you the last shots of the top floor.

First up is my home office which, as David would be happy to tell you, is often ignored in favour of the sofa. We had a piece of glass cut to fit the width of the room and set it on top of a pair of Ikea's Vika Lerberg trestle bases. The chair was picked out of a neighbour's garbage, the rug - look closely - is actually a macro view of botulism, from a series of rugs by Bev Hisey called Dirty Dishes, and the vintage lamp is from Zig Zag. And, honestly, it doesn't normally look as tidy as this. Then, in the second bedroom (ignoring the two smiling goofballs), between a pair of great Ikea bookshelves that have sadly been discontinued, you'll find a re-finished vintage sofa that originally looked like this, and a poster from Shelf. Oh, and that's another Bev Hisey rug on the floor, called Mommy Dearest, which has a pattern of wire coathangers woven into it. Then there's a snap of a dresser, which was a crazy-cheap Goodwill find for $15 that was refinished in white at Beresford's. It's topped with paintings by Zebedee Helm, a pair of Foo Dogs dragged home from Macao, and a print by Bold & Noble. And, as always, the talent behind all these great shots is Angus Fergusson.

Principally speaking

Where, oh where, has the week gone? All my best laid plans of it being a quiet week have literally been chucked out the window, and now it's practically the weekend for heaven's sake! Getting back on track, I wanted to show you lot the pics of the principal bedroom and bathroom from the House & Home feature (shot by Angus Fergusson, of course), so without further ado, here we go.

That first pic shows the bedroom under construction, when we'd knocked out the teensy old closets. Now the walls are all papered with grasscloth from Design by Color, the upholstered headboard and bedskirt are in my fave David Hicks designed Hexagon House Chenille from Lee Jofa, and the cream velvet curtains are from inVU Drapery. The ceiling fixture and lamp on the left of the bed are both vintage, while the one on the right (as well as the shades for both lamps) was snapped up at HomeSense. The closet now runs wall-to-wall, and is the Pax system with Vinstra doors from Ikea, and really, we couldn't live without all that built-in shoe storage, lol. The night tables were a sweet $10 each from Value Village, and the dresser was from Frontier, both were refinished to match in that khaki tone by Beresford's. On the dresser is a kooky vintage lamp, enamelled boxes from AT Design, and above there's a lovely West Elm mirror.

The bathroom was tiny, filthy and all pink, so we knocked out the walls and made it 18" wider to make the space that bit more generous. The vanity is KraftMaid kitchen cabinetry, the integral sinks and counter is Corian, and the walls are tiled in a Carrara marble lookalike porcelain tile called Montova, and yep, it's all from Home Depot. The sconces are from CB2, the mirrors are from Walmart (really), and the towels are Ikea. All the plumbing fixture and fittings in the space are from Kohler, and include the swish Oblo wall-mount faucets, the Purist Hatbox toilet (you can just about see it in the reflections) and the ceiling-mount WaterTile shower head. Oh, and I have to give a shout out to Home Depot Installation Services, as well as our contractors Cera Stone, for all their amazing work on the bathroom!

On the (main) level

Yep, the August issue of House & Home is finally out (with our place in it), so I thought it was high time to finally share the heinous 'before' and the lovely 'after' of the main floor of our house! So you can get your bearings, that first pic is me standing pretty much where the coffee table is now, looking back towards where the kitchen ended up, and all before the walls came down to finally open the space up. For more scary before shots click here.

Here are the deets on those glossy after shots, photographed by Angus Fergusson -

In the living room the sofa, chairs, tables and ceiling fixture are all vintage. The ottoman is from Bev Hisey, a couple of the pillows on the sofa are from The Rug Company, the Montigo fireplace is from Odyssey Fireplaces, and the rug is from Sears. Spot looks awfully cute in this next shot, against the brill Manderley wallpaper from Graham & Brown. That's a Besta cabinet from Ikea (crammed with records), topped with a turntable, a Tivoli radio and a vintage lamp. I made the dining table out of scaffolding planks and a vintage table base, and all the chairs were super-cheapy vintage finds refinished by Beresford's and, all the doors and windows in the house are Jeld Wen. The KraftMaid kitchen cabinets, Corian countertop, glass tiles and Quality Craft bamboo flooring are all Home Depot, oh, and the stools are vintage. The fantastic stainless steel slide-in gas range with downdraft (no need for a range hood!), dishwasher and French door fridge are from Jenn Air. In the powder room, the wallpaper was dragged home from BHV in Paris, and the teensy sink is from American Standard. And finally, a major shout out to our contractors, Cera Stone!

 

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?

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).

Spring has sprung

Right now I'm sitting in Vancouver, amazed at all the blossoms on the cherry trees, stunned by gorgeous tulips in full bloom and gobsmacked by a rather warm breeze that doesn't have any clue what 'wind chill' is. Yep, it'll be short lived, since I'm only here for a day on the last stop of a whirlwind tour for Graham & Brown wallpaper (I was in Calgary yesterday, and Edmonton the day before). A major shout out to all the great folks I've met along the way, including everyone at Breakfast Television and Shaw TV !

Spring is definitely springing, and not just in balmy Vancouver. These gorgeous snaps of what HomeSense is offering up this coming Spring and Summer are a lovely taste of warmer days to come and have a bright and fresh vibe to them, oh, and they were shot by my talented mate, photographer Angus Fergusson. I'm totally loving those antiqued metal chairs and the knit ottoman (they're definite hot picks), as well as the smashing shadow box framed butterflies!

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]

Space invaders

My yesterday started rather early, with making a perfect bed at 5.30am. Perfect, since I'd spent more than an hour ironing sheets, the duvet cover and shams the night before. This, of course, was all in aid of our house shoot. Believe me, there'd be no other way I'd be up at that rather ungodly hour or would ever be caught ironing our linens.

8am hit and photographer Angus Fergusson showed up with a car jam packed with equipment and his two assistants (hi Kim and Jackie), and then Meg Crossley from House & Home arrived and we got to work. Main floor first, catching the kitchen, dining room and living room while the light was with us. Top floor next, working through the master bedroom and office. Then to the basement for the media room and laundry area. Finally, back up to the top floor to catch the master bath. 10 hours later and after lots of can I just move that and love it and crazazy good (thanks Meg for that one) and the shoot was done. Phew. We popped a bottle of Veuve and then headed off to The Tulip for a well earned celebratory dinner (their chocolate cake is crazazy good, lol). 

That snap below shows Angus and his camera crammed into our shower, working on a shot of the bathroom vanity. Unfortunately that's all I can show of the shoot without giving too much away. You'll have to wait patiently to see the results show up on the glossy pages of H&H in 2010, and hopefully - fingers crossed - I'll be able to share all the shots at that point too! 

A healthy obsession

Whenever I ask a photographer to share some of their favourite shots I never know quite what's going to happen, so when I bugged a good friend of mine, photographer Angus Fergusson, to send through his faves he kindly obliged and then revealed that he's 'kitchen obsessed'. Yep, 3 out of the 6 shots he sent through are of very posh kitchen spaces. Funnily enough Angus and his darling wife Beth have a luvverly kitchen of their own; the result of surviving a reno on horrifyingly run-down fixer-upper in Toronto's west end. They bravely managed to see beyond the filth, rotten panelling and oddly placed toilets to create a bright, open and modern space - Fingers crossed we'll see it popping up in a mag sometime soon (it's quite the transformation).

The first two shots are from the sadly defunct Wish Magazine, the next three are from House & Home, and that final snap is of House & Home's Editor-in-Chief Suzanne Dimma, at home with her feet up, from the Globe & Mail. Make sure to take a boo at the rest of Angus's portfolio here and, on a personal note; Angus shot our last house for House & Home (you can see some of the snaps here on Apartment Therapy) so I'd love to give him first dibs on shooting this one, whenever it's ready, lol...

      

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In the details

 

After a frustrating week with the new house and a bumper crop of deadlines to get through (look for Style Scout in Saturday's National Post, Post Homes section) I could do with a bit of relief. Lawdy I need this long weekend like nobody's business.

Today an e-mail popped into my in-box from photographer Angus Fergusson, who'd kindly sent me through a couple of detail shots - one of the dresser in the bedroom, the other of a shelf in the bathroom - from the Canadian House & Home shoot of our old place. If you flick through the mag (Feb '08) you'll see they didn't make the cut, but still, I thought it might be nice for them to see the light of day. That mirror has travelled with me since the age of 12, when I first started collecting Art Deco, and the shelf in the bathroom is an Ikea classic (the Lack) that we customized with a piece of mirror.