Springing Into Summer

Spring has come and gone and I didn't manage to get a single update on the blog.  Maybe because I was so pre-occupied waiting for Spring like weather to arrive I didn't realize it had come and gone, already?  So instead of jumping back in with new regular posts (I've already prepared a couple) I thought I'd do a quick recap of what I've been pre-occupied with during the past few months, wow the time has flown by - in 4 different time zones no less.  I love that with the advancement of technology and travel I can work on projects in various cities, provinces or countries.  Principles of design are universal but I really enjoy being exposed to different regional traditions and lifestyles as well as exploring the local materials that influence the design of a home. 

Upper East Side reno project, Living Room progress.

NYC - Construction on the UES reno project was completed some time ago and after taking a much needed break from more than a year and a half of reno madness, the homeowners were ready to focus on furnishings and decor.  So with the hard work done and a great canvas in place we've been working together on the furniture room by room.  The very first pieces to arrive this spring for the living room where the sofas and the area carpet.  So much more to come, tables, lamps, pillows, mirrors,,,its very exciting to see it coming together.  (no the table in the corner is not part of the new furniture plan ; )).

A whole home renovation near Sydney, Australia

AUS - Over the winter (their summer) construction started on a whole home renovation I designed for clients in Australia not far from Sydney, she's an expat from Toronto and he's a native Australian. Aside from having to learn some new jargon and conversing in metric, the process was no different than renovating in North America.  The entire renovation was completed in slightly more than 3 months and the homeowners moved back into the home in early May.  I'm looking forward to sharing more about this project on the blog and its entirely new floor plan.  The project began with a very modern vision of a white on white interior and for the most part stayed true to that initial concept.

Stony Lake Cottage main entrance sneak peek.

ONTARIO - In May I was in Toronto getting started on a couple of new renovation projects one is in Oakville and is a family home for a young couple and I'm so excited to get started on the design planning and the other is a master suite renovation for long time clients in Port Credit.   I also headed up to cottage country to get some progress photos of the Stony Lake project which wrapped up last summer.  It was finished and furnished enough for use last season, some more furniture and small accessories are still needed to fill in some gaps but its been a huge transformation so far.  Lots more before and after posts to come.  

Sneak peek of Karen's new kitchen.
Image from: The Art of Doing Stuff.

Over the spring I enjoyed keeping in touch with Karen and helping her work thru some final details on her long anticipated kitchen installation.  Its finally finished and ready for its close up, in fact its being shot for Canadian Living magazine this coming week.  If you haven't seen the sneak peeks on Karen's blog yet, click on over and have a look, as I try and contain myself from showing you the rest of it - which I've already seen, and its fantastic!! 

Field of beams.  Reclaimed antique wood, in Canning, Nova Scotia.

NOVA SCOTIA - Home of the world's slowest renovation, my own house project came to a halt in the winter when early into the kitchen phase of the reno we discovered we just couldn't salvage the existing wood floor boards.  Sheets of plywood screwed down with a million screws would make it almost impossible to remove without doing a lot of damage to the wood floor beneath.  The good news is I was able to track down some antique wood flooring of the same age and species.  The bad news is we had to wait for the snow to disappear before we could get access to where the wood was stored.  It was a looooong snowy winter......so things were at a standstill for a while but an update on my kitchen reno is coming soon, soon as I have some progress photos.  Any day now.  : / 

That's a really brief update on some of the things that have been keeping me busy without even mentioning the garden work I'm trying to do or the many E-design orders I've had the pleasure of working on.  I couldn't be more excited that Summer's here and especially to be able to enjoy most of it on the East Coast!

All Photos and drawings:  Carol Reed, except where photo is credited otherwise.

Front Door Friday: Grey & Green

I've amassed a large collection of front doors over the years, its seems whenever I travel or am simply out for a walk or drive in any neighbourhood one of my favourite past times is to admire front door designs.  I'm drawn to them for many different reasons whether they're rustic, modern, traditional, formal or utilitarian,,,,country, city or lakeside - they all make a statement that speaks to the architecture, the inhabitants, and the location.  The image the front door conveys to me is like a mini story of the life, history and style of the home and the homeowners.  Many of the front door photos I have are just too beautiful not to share, like this one above.

I drive by this cedar shake house almost every day, its located about a mile or so down the road from my own house on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.  I actually remember taking a photo of this door when we first visited this area a couple of years ago because I was so captivated by the colour combo.  Although this appears to be the main door of the building its not one that's used very often and hence the storm door is permanently in place.

This is a classic East Coast style that I see a lot of in Nova Scotia, and I love everything about its traditional coastal charm; the weathered grey cedar shakes, the coloured door, the white trim, the strap hinges, the nautical style lanterns.  If you look close you can see the hooks for the window shutters too, the shutters are painted the same colour as the storm door.



Photo by:  Carol Reed

My New East Coast Home

Without a doubt, this is the most exciting and favorite project of my designer life to date.  I've been an interior designer for almost 20 years and nothing can match the passion I have for this project. This is my new old house on the beautiful South Shores of Nova Scotia.  The search for this, our 'next' home has been a looooooooong time coming, a search that's taken us to small towns all over the vast rural countryside of Ontario to the far shores of Nova Scotia.  We've travelled back and forth frequently this past year as our search narrowed on the East Coast.  This July 1st long weekend, we flew out east once again to proceed with an offer on this century old carpenter gothic.  On August 1st, we drove all the way out there non-stop to collect our keys.  

Here I am trying out the first set of keys!

She's a charming beauty, a Gothis fisherman's cottage sitting on 5 acres adjacent to a mile long white sandy beach.   The loud roar of the ocean rings in your ears, the smell of the sea air is dense, and the cool salty breezes flow thru the open windows.

Little did we know during our visit to the area this past March, that a morning stroll on this beach would become our new routine.  We didn't know it then, but we can walk our property to this very beach, this beach and nearby town that we were so taken with as we scouted out potential properties.

When visiting in March we took this boardwalk from the parking lot to the beach.....

Our path to the beach is just thru the trees to the left of this grand old chestnut tree on the front lawn of our house.  I fell in love with this giant chestnut tree and its rope tire swing the instant I saw it.  Its huge and majestic and there are beautiful views of it from inside the house.  I'd love to hang a fresh new swing on it.  

Besides the views of the beautiful chestnut tree, the inside of the house didn't have many memorable features. But that's not why we bought it.  I wanted this house because when you walk down that hidden path beyond the chestnut tree,,,,,,you arrive here....

The ocean.  Every moment of every day the scene changes as the tide comes in and out, and the mist rolls in and then suddenly out again,,,,and the wind changes from a breeze to gushing and then all still. Always a changing palette.

We have only one neighbour near our house, he's a fisherman.  He keeps his dory boat tied up here which is used on the weekends to row out to his fishing hut on a nearby island.  He's promised to make a bluenoser out of me yet and teach me how to cook lobster.  Already he's corrected me on the pronounciation of scallops - its pronounced "scaw-lups"!?  He's shown me where he keeps the oars and explained how to roll the boat out into the water (aka the open ocean), so I can take the boat out whenever I want.  LOL,,,,,,,um, I laughed and asked if he had flares on board.

I much prefer to gaze at the open ocean from the safety of the shore!  On Canada Day I enjoyed a long walk on the hot sandy beach, in awe of this beauty.  This was our third visit to the house and I had only gone inside once.  I wasn't so interested in the inside of the house, I love the houses charming exterior character, the chestnut tree and the adjacent beach but here's the real reason I wanted this house....  

...it comes with a barn.  A century old, sturdy, stunner of a barn complete with shake shingles. I think its only called a barn because that's the most common type of out building around here. This was actually a carpenters workshop and not a barn ever used for animals.  Our first visit to the house I went straight to the barn to see it first.  And I was ecstatic at the sight of the all original interior, both floors of it.  I love its geometry.  Its got beautiful bones and I hope to make good use of them. : )

There I am opening 'her up moments after getting the keys.  These side doors of the barn will be the main in/out doors to and from the house and will become future guest space and/or eventually be new office/sudio space.

Here's a peak at the back half of the second floor, this 2nd floor barn space will eventually could be converted into a guest room.  But for now,,,my priority is to renovate the interior of the house.  Sadly its lacking any trace of original character as a result of whats probably an 80's reno.  My work is cut out for me.

After getting the keys to the house, we spent a couple of days getting things organized before I flew back to Toronto where I'll be for the next several weeks.  I had to leave BF there with not much more than a cell phone and a list of local contractors.  Its been a bit of an adventure for him but he's doing better now that we FINALLY have internet service.  Whew.

The question everyone is asking me, "will I be moving there?".  Well of course we'll be moving to our new house but we'll always have a place in Toronto too (and I'll continue to work here too).  Not our current place which we'll be vacating in the coming months but after things have settled at the Nova Scotia house, a search might begin for a smaller secondary home here in Ontario.  In the meantime, I'll be commuting back and forth on a regular basis as I continue to work on existing projects and start on some exciting new ones.

As I said, I've got my work cut out for me with this renovation, demolition started inside the house this morning and I've barely started the design plans.......

All Photos:  Carol Reed

East Coast Road Trip: Day 7

Boathouse at Peggy's Cove

And on the 7th day,,,,we travelled from Mahone Bay to somewhere unknown on the East Shore.  Along the way we visited Chester, Peggy's Cove, a couple of Beaches, a couple of fishing villages....and we drove thru Halifax and Dartmouth and into no man's land.  I call it no-man's-land because when you travel along the small secondary coastal highway east of Halifax towards Cape Breton,,,,its vastly unpopulated wildnerness, in fact the landscape looks very much like northern ontario.  You can travel for hours without seeing much of anything except the odd gas station.

The pics below are in reverse order, and begin where we ended our day of sightseeing.... at Peggy's Cove around 6:30.  You either have to visit late in the day or at the crack of dawn if you want to avoid herds of people.  I actually didn't take too many photos at the lighthouse because it was next to impossible to get any shots without all the tourists included!

On the road into Peggy's Cove we stopped at this small inlet which had some beautiful views...

I'm obsessed with these weathered grey buildings along the rocky shore and can't stop wanting to photograph them!

A little further down the road before getting to Peggy's Cove was the Swiss Air Flight Memorial Monument,,,,,,it was a breathtaking spot that brought tears to your eyes.  I can't imagine a more peaceful place for reflection, there was a spiritual vibe present that was almost tangeable.

The monument itself was made from a large round stone that had been split and angled outwards toward the sea with benches inbetween, the flat face sides of the stone were engraved with memorials.  I thought it was so beautifully designed, it looked like it belonged as part of the landscape...

You could see Peggy's Cove from the monument

I spent more time photographing the buildings around Peggy's Cove than I did of the lighthouse, this building in fact (also seen in first photo) I must have taken a hundred shots of, then later the next day I realized it was the same image on the cover of our Frommer's guide, without the colourful boat. 

I've never seen rock elevations like this anywhere before.....so smooth and clean with all these distinctive wrinkle-like lines.

The only shot I could get of the actual lighthouse without hundreds of people in the way was in this reflection...

Earlier in the day somewhere between Chester and Peggy's cove we stopped at this little fishing port, these fluorescent buoys were so bright they were blinding to look at in person.

The quintessential Nova Scotian beach bordered by tall wispy grass.....

Early in the day we stopped in Chester, a picture perfect coastal town with magnificent views and elegant homes.  The town itself doesn't have parking, or sidewalks, or public washrooms,,and the visitors information centre was located on the highway outside of the town.  All of this gave us the distinct feeling the residents weren't too fond of tourists here unless you came by boat.  We didn't stay long...

On the highway just before hitting Chester we stopped in a fantastic antiques barn, I could easily have spent half the day here.  I instantly fell in love with the grey jam cupboard and from the moment we left I regretted not buying it.  I'm going to follow-up and see if they'll ship it to me...

Inside the cupboard were all kinds of little treasures...

On the other side of Chester on the same highway was another antique barn also filled to the rafters with great stuff!!

I really really wanted to take these twin spool beds home with me...

The bridge into Halifax.  After our visit to Peggy's Cove, we continued East and drove right thru Halifax and Dartmouth.  I just wasn't in the mood to stop in a bustling urban centre but little did we know as we headed onwards we were headed into no man's land - without any further hotel reservations, not one.  We were about to discover that the road less travelled has no cell phone towers or WiFi.  This would be the beginning of the end of our gloriously wonderful road trip....

And everyday from this point on,,,I dreamed of the lovely, comfortable B&B's we left behind....

All Photos:  Carol Reed

East Coast Road Trip: Day 6

The fishing village of Blue Rocks outside of Lunenburg

A short drive away from our B&B in Mahone Bay was the rustic fishing village of Blue Rocks, known for its rocky shoreline it offers up views that rival those at Peggy's Cove, in fact, I preferred this little spot because its off the beaten path and not overrun with tourists - we had the place to ourselves!

It was an overcast stormy morning (just what I love!!) and once again provided great atmosphere for shooting - I'm just not a blue sky kinda gal.  On the drive in we encountered hard driving rain but just as we arrived the rain stopped...

The winds were so strong I had a hard time keeping my balance and holding on to my hat!  BF complained that I was always in the way of his shots : )

This is why I just love visiting these little fishing villages, everything is so colourful and weathered, so much character.  To me the overcast grey skies highlight all of this so much better than bright blue sky.

I loved all the various tones of grey....

The simple houses in the small town were as colourful as the fishing shacks......this one was for sale as many houses were.

The famous 'Three Churches', the traditional postcard shot of Mahone Bay.  Typically the bay is very calm and you normally have a mirror like reflection of the churches in the water.

Mahone Bay is a small town of colourful shops and homes that overlook the calm waters of the bay which is always full of boats..

So many quaint shops, I like the colour scheme of this one in Silvery Grey and Celadon Green.

The houses and shops in the town are painted every colour you can imagine....and we noticed more than half of the homes are for sale right now, with many of them having been on the market for 3 years or longer.  The economy in the States definitely has had an impact here in Nova Scotia where many Americans own vacation property or B&B's.

Purple & Tourquoise.

Smokey Blue, pale Green and hot Pink.

Bright Yellow,,,yes the entire house and double garage was painted this colour - with black doors and crisp white trim it was striking!  But i really loved,,,,the dark grey metal roof.

We drove around the other side of the Bay and followed the road out to Indian Point, another fishing local.  During our stay in the area we ate Indian Point mussels at lunch and dinner almost every day,,,,they were definintely the best I had every had.  This house overlooked the docks along Indian Point with the fishing boats and had a bright cherry red door (not a great photo as I took it from the car) this scheme was so dramatic.  I snapped a little too soon though, the wide white stairs started at the sidewalk and continued all the way up several tiers to the front door it was such a fantastic symmetrical perspective from that point.

These photos were taken some days ago.....in real time, this weary traveller is heading home!

All Photos:  Carol Reed