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

Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: The bath equation

Jenn Hannotte: My bathroom renovation began about three months ago, and we're still working on some finishing touches before we can present the BIG REVEAL. But until then (soon, I promise!), I thought I'd recount the story thus far. Trouble is, it's not terribly interesting. Nothing scary jumped out from the walls, there was no layer of black mold ready to poison my children, no hiccups with the contractors or materials. The only reason why it's taken as long as it has is because I had to go and choose things that you can't grab from your local big- box store.

You might recall that my main source of inspiration was the bathroom featured in the film, The Royal Tenenbaums. To get there, we used a lot of classic materials that really fell architecturally into line with the aesthetic of the rest of the house. Always-right and inexpensive Daltile white subway tiles placed 3/4 of the way up the wall from Home Depot, capped with a classic chair rail profile found at Pollock's on Roncesvalles, just down the street from me. For the floors, it was again Home Depot's Daltile in the 'Octagon and Dot' pattern. I sourced a cast-iron clawfoot tub from Craigslist for a steal at $150 including the faucet, shower head and tub surround. The toilet is from Kohler and it's amazing to not be terrified every time we flush like we were with the old one! My favorite piece is the sink - the Brockway from Kohler. It was this baby that we had to wait for a long time to arrive, but it was worth it once installed. 

Without giving too much else away, I found this amazing wallpaper from Ferm Living that looks pretty   much identical to the shower curtain you see behind Margot Tenenbaum that really sets off the entire space. So the question is, class, can this equation be solved?  

  

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!

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).

IDS10: The storm before the storm

Nope, that title isn't a typo. While that single snap below doesn't give too much away (and makes it all look rather calm), things have been a little on the crazy side as the clock ticks down to the IDS10 Gala opening. Today all the Graham & Brown wallpaper made it up (after a slight meltdown on my part since we were trying to avoid mudding the seams between the plywood wall panels - and yes, of course we couldn't avoid it), all the Kohler fixtures were set in place and all the furniture and accessories were loaded in (thanks for the hand Meg!) and everything was covered in drop cloths to avoid a mammoth dust job early tomorrow. Ah yes, and talking of tomorrow there is still a ton of spit and polish before the space is done. Maybe cloning actually works? I'll have to look into it...

IDS10: The work has begun

Well, the work started months ago really, first with the out-of-the-blue phone call inviting me to design one of the Ultimate spaces for the Interior Design Show. That led to meetings galore. Next, as soon as I'd decided on the inspiration for the 700 sq. ft. space - which I'm totally excited to say is Calvin Klein Euphoria - I set to wrangling every little detail and hashing out the concept and drawings with Boychuk + Fuller, ordering swanky fixtures from Kohler and absolutely fantabulous Italian tiles from Savoia. I guess you figured out it's a possibly a bathroom (lol) and, talking of tiles, they just arrived (phew) off of the boat from Italy.

Right now Cera Stone is pre-building the space in a warehouse, it'll then be disassembled and put back together - a bit like a jigsaw puzzle - on site at the MTCC, where we'll have 4 1/2 days to completely finish it. Okay... I'm trying not to hyperventilate. Take a look below and you'll see we're at the plywood-y bare bones stage, all I can say is thank heavens there's a Home Depot right around the corner!

Bathroom-a-palooza

Here we go, in one fell swoop, oodles of bathroom inspiration from the Kohler Design Centre. I wandered around and snapped away since the place is filled with bathrooms by quite the laundry list of top-line designers that include Clodagh, Laura Kirar and Tristan Butterfield (he's in charge of all of the interiors in Kohler's ads). Anyhoo, scroll down and take a look. I love the tiled walls on the dressing area of the Laura Kirar space, and all the panelling detail in tones of cloudy pink in the the secretive and romantic interior by Tristan Butterfield.

        

Going a bit gold

Yesterday, apart from sneak peeks behind the scenes at what Kohler sees as some of the emerging trends in kitchens and bath, I was struck by how much I actually do love their new gold finishes. To go by the proper name this is Vibrant Moderne Gold, available in faucets in both brushed and polished finishes which, btw, looks absolutely smashing with their new satin-y Honed White glaze for sinks and toilets. I never thought gold would really do it for me, but the warmth of this new tone is way different from all that polished brass that we've trying to get rid of for years.

The hi-tech articulated Karbon Faucet now comes in the new gold finishes, a bronze and a stainless steel and chrome with black detailing as well as all their standard finishes. In other words there's a Karbon for everyone, lol. This interesting dude is currently available in a deck mount and wall mount for the kitchen but we heard (which is very cool) that they'll be expanding Karbon into bathroom faucets too. Take a boo at the snaps below, and let that gold sink in a bit, pardon the pun. And take a look at the Karbon in chrome in my kitchen here.

 

People, places, palette

For the next couple of days I'll be in the wilds of Wisconsin at the Kohler Editor's Conference, learning all about the history of the brand and checking out all their fabulous kitchen and bath products. I'm not alone, since Kohler has kindly invited a slew of design editors from around the world including, yay, a great bunch of Canadians - Janette Ewen (who you'll know from CityLine), Danny Sinopoli (the Globe & Mail's Design & Decor Editor) and Cameron Macneil (House & Home Design Editor). We had a meet and greet last night where I tasted a bunch of delish Wisconsin cheese and had a lovely chat with Pramiti Madhavi, Editor of Elle Decor India.

While I'm here eating cheese, lol, things are moving along on the home front. The fabrics have finally been dropped off at Mieda Design so the upholstery can begin and we've finally plunked on a wallpaper for the living room. Take a look at the palette below for a rundown of what's what - The background shows Graham & Brown's Manderley wallpaper in Golden, the next fabric is David Hicks Hexagonal House Chenille in Stone by Groundworks which'll be glamming up a headboard for the bedroom, that tweedy fuschia will totally revive this vintage gold sofa, and the teal velvet from DFO will completely sort out these vintage aluminum chairs.

Trading in plywood for Corian

Okay, the last time you saw the kitchen it looked like this, and now take a look! The Corian countertop arrived today from Home Depot in two mondo pieces, one so large it took four guys to heft it into place. The installer's attached the two pieces together (there's now an invisible seam behind the cooktop) and set the brushed nickel adjustable-height legs from Richelieu in place for the bar. The wait was definitely worth it (we've been living with chunks of plywood and a temporary sink for a while). We'd picked Silver Birch for the surface, since it had a lovely terrazo feel, and chose a clean and modern profile with an eased edge. The sink is Corian too, in Pearl Gray, and was fit seamlessly into the countertop before the whole shebang was installed.

All the appliances are happily ensconced into the kitchen now too. They're from Jenn-Air in a stainless steel finish and are absolutely boffo with the hi-gloss white Venicia cabinetry. The fridge is a sleek counter-depth unit with a bottom-drawer freezer, the dishwasher is one of the best Energy Star rated units on the market and the dual-fuel slide-in range, well, I love the fact it has a downdraft (so no need for a rangehood!) while David, my baking-obsessed other half, loves that one of the burners has a melt setting for when he makes brownies.

The cherry on the cake is Kohler's swish Karbon articulating faucet; this one is a deck-mount, but it's just been released as a wall mount too. It's currently just there for show; the plumber is popping in tomorrow to hook it up, and the backsplash tiles happen the day after that. I swear, we're almost done! 

    

The next tour starts in 5 minutes

The tours have begun. Kind words and concerned looks are the norm, and everyone has ideas, which is always helpful. The place really is a blank but dirty slate - and of course the bathrooms get the most reaction (we've heard a lot of 'eeeeeewwwwws'). But the question is this, do we need a powder room on the main floor? In it's current state it actually has a shower stall in there too (huh?), which definitely won't stay. But should it disappear entirely? The choices that are floating around (I kind of see them as thought bubbles) are - Keeping it but making it smaller. Changing it into a laundry room. Losing it entirely. I'll let you know which thought bubble wins...

In the meantime we've been shopping for loos (fun!) and this is our Top 3. The new Saile from Kohler; a sculptural little dual flush number (0.8 or 1.6 gallon consumption). The Happy D by Starck for Duravit; quite the modern classic in the loo world (1.6 gallon consumption). And finally, the Aquia from Toto; a fave brand and a very simply styled dual flush (0.9 or 1.6 gallon consumption). But lets start everything off with a pic to remind you of the powder room (everybody go 'eeeeeeewwww').