Blogspiration and Project List

It's been a few weeks since I've posted. I'm trying to finish some projects so that I can write about them but it is taking me a bit longer than anticipated.

Our house needs no major work but it isn't really in my nature to stick with the status quo too long. I've planned minor facelifts for all the rooms in the house. No real design pojects, just decoration. Some rooms, like our bedroom, need more help than others.

When we moved in the house was painted completely white. It was airy and clean but it didn't take long for unwashable fingerprints to start showing up on the walls. I've re-painted almost all the rooms, keeping colours light and neutral and trying to preserve the light feeling that white walls bring. Sometimes it feels a little too neutral, though, and so most of my plans involve refreshing our spaces through textiles and accessories.

Right now I'm working on the nursery. It is an oddly shaped space that I decorated before we knew that we were having a baby girl. Once she arrived the room felt cold and so I decide to try to warm it up by changing the curtains, pillows, etc., adding new art, and moving some pieces around.

After the nursery is done I'm going to turn our attention where it is needed the most - our bedroom. It is cold (literally) and colourless. New headboard, rug, curtains and art will be in order.

Next on the list will be our bathroom, which needs nothing, but I have been dreaming of a navy or black bathroom forever and have decided I'm finally going to do it.

Then I'm going to tackle a few small projects in our living room, dining room and kitchen. It will be a busy few months so stay tuned for the results!

In the meantime here are a few of my favourite Canadian bloggers. These women are just like me - people who have a "day job" and are also interested in design and renovation. I like to read their blogs because their projects and ideas are really accessible. Most of the time their taste is similar to mine and they offer great inspiration while keeping the budget in check. I prefer Canadian blogs because it means if I see something I like, it is usually locally available to me.

• Aubrey + Lindsay's Little House Blog
• Rambling Renovators - I also follow this blogger, Jennifer, on Pinterest and recommend you do too. Her taste is excellent and she always has great pins.
• First Time Fancy
• 8 Foot 6
• Life Begins at Thirty, Right?

I also love this blog written by a man who lives in a little apartment in New York with his partner. His taste is a little spare but his posts are hilarious. Unfortunately he doesn't update it too often but it is worth checking in regularly just in case. I am obsessed with the doors he painted black in this post and if we still lived on Lucknow St. in a house with that kind of architectural detail I would definitely have painted all of our doors black. I think you need very light walls, brassy-ish hardware, and nice warm wood floors to pull this off:

So that's it for now! I'll post the nursery results in the next couple of weeks. Until then I'd love to hear about any great design blogs that you might be reading.

Buying an Ikea kitchen

In all of the projects we have done over the last five years, if a kitchen was needed we turned to Ikea. I asked Kerry this week how many Ikea kitchens he has installed since 2006 and he told me THIRTEEN, which seems insane. I've been directly involved with three but I think Kerry has pretty much elevated himself to professional status through the design and installation of multiple kitchens in our rental properties and other random projects.

The first one, and I think the best, was of course in our first project on Brunswick St. This is a really crappy photo, but you get the idea.

Ikea kitchens are very good quality and the cupboards come with a 25 year warranty. And of course they are an amazing value. I think this kitchen including the counters, sink, faucet and range hood, which you can't see, cost about $5500 (not including appliances). Shipping for an order of this size is usually a flat rate and is somewhere around $400. And Ikea regularly holds a "Kitchen Event" where you can get 10% of what you spend on your kitchen back in gift cards. Not too shabby.

The style of the Brunswick St. kitchen is "Adel Off-White". I am somewhat ashamed to admit that we have never been brave enough to stray from this style of cabinet. It is a very clean-lined and modern, casual style and that worked for us in 2006, and is perfect for rental properties. It is also one of the less expensive cabinet options that Ikea offers, which is a big plus if you have a tight budget.

The one downside of the Adel style of cabintry is that it is difficult to create custom solutions for odd spaces. The finish can't be matched because it is melamine foil, rather than solid wood. Great for durability and cleaning, not so great if you need cabinets or shelves that are different from the sizes offered by Ikea. So far we've been able to work around this, but it usually takes some creative design work and some sort of compromise on style.

We almost always end up with a green wall. I am pretty sure that all of the kitchens that Kerry has installed in the rental properties have a green wall. Remember this latest one on Hunter Street? Best green yet, I think.

If we do another Ikea kitchen for ourselves in the future we have talked about being more adventurous and choosing a solid wood cabinet style that would allow us to have a more customized kitchen by spraying the cabinets with paint. This is something Sarah Richardson did on season 3 of "Sarah's House" when she was on a tight budget. Sarah Richardson is the queen of having things sent out to be sprayed, by the way. I am not sure where you can have this done in Halifax though so in all likelihood it would involve me rolling on multiple coats of paint. By spraying the cabinets a colour of her choice, Sarah was able to add in custom touches, such as the island in this photo:


Source

The process to order an Ikea kitchen can be relatively straightforward - do not be afraid! The easiest way to get started is to contact Ikea's kitchen planning department and go from there. If you get a really great kitchen planning consultant, stick with them. Kerry found a keeper a couple of kitchens ago and now asks for her when he's starting a new project (hint: it's Priya!). Ikea has a planning software tool where you can plug in the dimensions and details of your room and then add in your cabinets, sink, hardware etc. The process gets easier each time but even our first attempt was pretty smooth.

If you have a bit more room in your budget there are many more options for kitchen re-do's. We are usually on a shoestring though, and Ikea has always worked really well for us. It may be time for a change, though, if you have any good budget friendly kitchen reno secrets you want to pass along!