High Art in a Custom Kitchen from the Past

As I've shown earlier on this page, the kitchens I designed and contracted in the past were each unique and highly customized. This is not the case today.  I have found that in designing my soon-to-be "custom" kitchen with standard cabinets fabricated off-site, that some things can be customized and others cannot. Often, you are halfway through your most efficient plan when you discover this.

But in the past, only the demands of the site limited your options.  This Annex kitchen shows what a highly skilled carpenter could achieve to create a luxe look.

Each drawer here is trimmed with a strip of "Octolam," a brass-coloured laminate which the carpenter has routered in to form a striped trim.  The pulls I selected are plexi with a brass centre, and they fit precisely onto the brass trim strip.

Here is a wall of cabinets with the trim placed vertically, and again the pulls integrate neatly with it. This kitchen is 25 years old, yet switch in modern appliances, add a suitable back-splash and granite or quartz countertops, and it would still be unique and lovely today, especially now that the warm metals are back on trend.

The size of this galley kitchen was dictated by the square footage the owners were allowed to add on to their house and what they wanted to achieve within it.  Their house is an Edwardian, and all trim reflects the oak trim in the rest of the house.

Here is a back view of the angled corner of the other side of this galley.  The corner is angled to provide ease of passage leading to the solarium eating area.

You will pay at least 3 times more per linear foot today if you choose a custom cabinet shop rather than Ikea, Home Depot or any other large "big-box" store, even when you choose one of their luxury cabinet lines.

However, you will never find a kitchen of this unique beauty, anywhere but here.

How to Get Wired

The house is 90 years old - not at all uncommon for a Toronto home.  The inhabitant has lived here for 25 years, never having had the money nor the fortitude to undergo a complete gut.  But now, since the kitchen is being renovated, gutted in fact, it's time to replace that old knob and tube wiring, bring it all up to code.  The owner was able to get insurance for her house when she bought, but bringing wiring up to code would now be a necessity.

But how to wire the remainder of the house which will not be gutted?  The wiring is being painstakingly run through the old lath and plaster walls and along the edge where the wall meets the ceiling.

Every room will have a new outlet on each wall.  Smoke detectors and CO detectors will be wired in, as code requires.  Minimal damage is being done to the walls so that plaster repair will be minor.

So how are these wires at the top of each wall to be disguised?  Enter crown moulding made of polyurethane, whose hollow back provides a channel for the wires to run.  Once the crown is installed, no wires will be seen, just a very attractive, architectural and decorative feature.

You may be wondering.  How will the main part of this small house be insulated?  The kitchen of course is being gutted and taken care of.  But, in future when or if natural gas prices rise again, this house may be be insulated from the outside.  It's detached, with an alley on one side, so no problem there.  But on the other long side, the house appears to abut the property line.  But wait one minute and consult your survey.  Chances are you will find you own up to 6" beyond your house wall, perfect for this purpose.

You see people, this is how to do it in the real world.  Over time, as a sensible budget allows.

So now, the most important information of all - who is performing this electrical magic?

It's Flash Gordon - 647.984.2520

Separate but Equal: Duplex Lower Level Kitchen

The partner and other owner of the duplex in High Park where I installed one of Ikea's first kitchens lived in a separate apartment on the lower level of this large house.  (The Ikea kitchen was located in the large second-floor apartment.)

This half-owner of the duplex wanted a custom-made kitchen, and not Ikea.  As I have said, in those days in the early 90's, the big-box stores had not yet taken over a large chunk of the kitchen reno business. Instead, small shops or carpenters did the work, and it was much more custom than any work that big-box stores can deliver today.

Here is a custom pantry, faced with melamine that uses a narrow space along one wall that would otherwise go to waste.

This owner loved the dark grey and white linoleum tiles I used in the upstairs kitchen, but he wanted something more muted, hence the light grey-blue and white tiles he chose.  He also wanted the walls to be pale peach in colour so therefore the blue of the floor tiles is a complementary pastel because it sits on the same side of the colour wheel.  In real life in Interior Design, I often or usually need to go with certain preferences that my client may have.

This photo above also shows the necessary work triangle (the fridge is off to the left, unseen).  The black trim on the lower cabinets provides definition and ties in with the dark controls on the dishwasher and the gas stove elements.

  Here is another view of this corner.  The uppers are plain white and blend softly into the pale peach wall colour.

Here is the window corner with the small fridge showing to the left.  The window has been left open and clear, but storage is taken care of by the large pantry on the opposite wall, already shown.  All surfaces are white melamine and beautifully washable with a quick swipe.

This is the way it was, folks!

When Ikea Kitchens Were Young

I did my first kitchen with modules in the early 90's.  Ikea was one of the first to enter this field at the time.  I must admit my general contractor did not much like the idea of working with it, and the unusual - at least to him - needed filler pieces.

Before this time the kitchens I did were one-offs, constructed on site to exact measurements by skilled carpenters.  There were also, and still are of course, high-end shops which did made-to-measure kitchens, and I used those too.  Now, it is the big-box stores which have taken over the Kitchen Design world, and Interior Designers work within them, doing kitchens only.

Solid surfaces were mostly unknown in the early days; only laminate was widely available.

I specified and designed a kitchen for each floor of a large house in High Park which the partner-owners were duplexing for themselves.  This Ikea kitchen was one of the first ever used.  The counters were not even laminate, but some sort of synthetic material which actually needed seams.

Even then, these kitchens had style!  The glass-paned uppers relieve the solid lowers in this small but hard-working galley kitchen.  The floor is raised slightly to accommodate plumbing.

Here is a photo of the galley looking outwards towards the dining room.

The other side of the kitchen betrays its age only by the old, boxy microwave.  Otherwise, this kitchen could serve its owner well even today.  I chose the same rich grey linoleum tiles as I did for my office/solarium (this time paired with clean white) because they matched the available Ikea counter-top so exactly. Again, placed on an angle the tiles widen the feel of the narrow space.  They have a classic European feel too.

   

The galley kitchen leads right into the adjoining dining room.  Double French doors at the end of the room lead to a very spacious wood deck, which sits above the kitchen on the lower floor of this house.

I think this kitchen which is about 25-years-old proves the maxim that good design will stand the test of time, maybe with a few tweaks here and there.

Gilt by Association

"Gilt by association" was a phrase my mentor, the late, famous Ray Staples repeated often, swore by, and used in most if not all of her Interior Designs.  This was long before the term "mash-up" came into common usage, and, as a concept, makes a lot more sense.   It is also much more readily understood.

The idea is simply this: one or two or more, if you are very lucky, items of high quality in your room will elevate the rest of your more ordinary pieces.

In this simple dining-living plan, two Mid-Century Modern, black vinyl chairs, true gems, elevate the status of this whole dining area.  The trestle table is actual vintage Ikea, discovered in a second-hand furniture store and no longer available!  Who knew?

To supplement this table for dinner guests, mass-produced (dare we say Ikea twice?), stackable, inexpensive but colourful chairs may be used.  This surface can also function as an appetizer or buffet table for larger parties, or alternatively, as a work surface when needed.  Its glass surface takes up little visible space in the area.

Here are another two Mid-Century Modern finds, solid-maple bar stools, which, refinished, again upscale the look of the breakfast bar in the same open-plan room.   

The living room furniture itself is nothing to write home about.  The slightly out-of-date, grey corduroy sofa was sourced on Kijiji, and the vintage chair and plain coffee table (again, refinished) were actual found objects.  Some colourful Indian pillows dress the sofa and chair up.  The neutral area rug defines this space.

Finally, the very small balcony which faces a brick wall - therefore no need for privacy curtains - is dressed up significantly by some charming French-bistro-style wrought-iron chairs and a small matching table. 

As my Interior Design clearly shows here, some of the most mundane pieces of furniture may be used, and your room will be elevated to star status when you use Ray Staples' principle, appropriated with great appreciation by me, of "gilt by association."

My Moroccan Influence - Yves Saint Laurent

More-is-more sums up my  Moroccan influence - pattern against pattern, hand-done embroidery and vibrant colour.  A single photo of the late Yves Saint Laurent, seated, with his muse, actress Catherine Deneuve standing beside him became my inspiration for a new interior.  This particular photo I came across was taken at Saint Laurent's vacation home in Morocco, and in it he was completely surrounded by lush fabrics and large, intricately-patterned pillows.

I had a big problem though, I thought.  The ceiling in this home had been treated with an ugly, frothy, white stucco, and I wanted to cover it.  I did this by creating a tent of blue-and-black-striped fabric, gathered and loosely draped over sturdy bamboo poles.  With the old brass light fixture hanging through to light up the sheen of the fabric, it resembled the night sky.

I had a footstool upholstered with a family heirloom piece of needlework. Then I covered the accompanying, but not matching bergere, with a fabric in the same colours, but repeating the geometric elements in the room.

 

The take-off point for my theme had actually been an antique, Indian, ivory-inlaid chess table, bought at auction years before.  The bright blue, cream, red and pink kilim it rests on repeats the grid pattern of the chess table itself.
On the sofa is a collection of hand-embroidered, woven or crocheted pillows, each telling a story of its own.

The dining room fixture cannot strictly be called Moroccan, but its 3 gilt, wood, carved arms ending in gold-coloured glass shades with bulbs that resemble flower stamens adds an exotic feel to the bright red dining room walls.

Yves Saint Laurent found beauty and inspiration in Morocco, and here is where he was most relaxed and happy in his vacation home with his partner, Pierre Berge.

Yes, more-is-more can be beautifully done.  It is important, however, to go to the opposite end of the spectrum in pattern when using similar or same colours - too close, or not far enough won't work.  But when done right, you will retain a feeling of calm and harmony because overall, the composition will show congruency.

Marsala: Pantone's Colour of the Year 2015

Marsala is a complex colour, a brown-red, often with undertones of blue.  Pantone has named Marsala "The Colour of 2015," and it is a huge departure from the pure hues that have been and still are in fashion.  Take a look at the new work being produced by young artists today, and compositions in saturated colours are the norm.

In the 80's we were using complex colour.  I, more than almost anyone, used it on all the walls, especially in older or historical homes.  You will find it extremely difficult today to use a pure hue on more than one wall.

In this kitchen pantry I designed in the late 80's, a grey-green laminate on the pantry doors and matching floor tiles set off the Marsala of the kitchen walls.  Grey-green is not a pure hue either.

These are 3 colours I have chosen from Benjamin Moore's Historical Collection.  From top to bottom, they are named "Whipple Blue," "New London Burgundy," and "Louisburg Green." 

"New London Burgundy' is another name for Marsala. 

As you can see the other 2 colours contrast with it in a pleasing way.  "Louisburg Green" is like the green I used for my kitchen pantry.

But the main point is: all 3 of these colours are not pure hues, but complex colour mixes.





The top colour here is again Marsala or "New London Burgundy," but it will complement rather than contrast with (as the colours above) "Georgian Brick." Again, both are from Benjamin Moore's Historical Collection, and they are complex colours, not pure hues.

I have used this brick colour on the walls of this solarium, again with light, grey-green floor tiles.






It's my prediction that, because artists will continue to use pure or saturated colours for some time to come, there will be confusion and some sort of disconnect when Interior Designers attempt to begin using Marsala.  The result of this will likely be that you will see many variation of "Marsala," some "purer" or less complex than others. 

This is a small room in Le Chateau de Digoine, a manor and national heritage site in the style of the ancien regime, situated in southern Burgundy, France.  As you can clearly see, the more pure hue of the burgundy or magenta on the chair is matched in clarity by the light aqua of the panelled walls. (Architectural Digest - December 2014)

So the principal is simply this: create colour groupings that share the same strength or saturation, or clarity of colour.  Here, and as in my first picture of my kitchen pantry and wall behind, a wonderful effect can be created by using a tint opposite on the colour wheel to your more intense colour.  But if you do this, the colours must share the same complexity of colour or, on the other hand, purity of hue.

Tonight I'm going to the Opening Party of the Artist Project, a huge, indoor art exhibition at Exhibition Place, Toronto.  I plan to wear my new draped, Marsala dress from H & M.  I'll take my Nikon too, and hopefully have some good pics to show!