Ambleside Room by Room

I have a great client in West Vancouver with a beautiful sunny Ambleside home that I have been working with for the past couple of years. Recently, we completed bedrooms for her two teenage daughters.




This first room is soft and pretty - inspired by dreams of Paris, shopping at Tiffanys and everything that glitters. The wallpaper is warm white with silvery grey and pale aqua large scale damask. I custom designed the headboard and had it upholstered in a shimmery silver velvet. The buttons are clustered rhinestones - I thought these would be easy to find in Vancouver, but ended up having to get them shipped up from California! I love the ultra feminine touches - cushions, crystals and mirrored furniture pieces.


This room couldn't be more different! I had the headboard upholstered in this fabulous stretch vinyl from Casamance. Although it is difficult to tell in this photo, the fabric appears to be black gloss until it is pulled and tufted only to reveal an intense dark teal like the sequined cushions on the bed. It has so much attitude - modern and retro at the same time. The bedding is white and black, with hits of shine in the sequins, the smoked mirror over the bed and the gloss off the headboard.

Transformation on Alberni

This is really one of those times where I am just kicking myself for not having the "before" shots! This renovation was done on a two bedroom condo just off Robson Street. The client is a young couple that decided to move downtown into a smaller space to have a more urban lifestyle. They are just in the process of moving in so there is more work to be done - but here are the first pictures of the kitchen and bathroom!

The kitchen used to be a typical galley kitchen with a pass through to a dining room next to the windows. When you first walked in, directly in front of you was a wall. As you can see, this suite is quite high up and has a city view. By removing the wall and reconfiguring the kitchen, not only does the client get a beautiful large cooking space, but they now also have a bright, sunlit home where they are reminded as soon as they walk in the door that they are no longer in the suburbs!

The island is large enough to seat 6 people and easily takes the place of the dining room which was too narrow and awkward to seat a large group.

The cabinets in this kitchen have been custom built and painted in a warm light grey and a dark dramatic charcoal. The counters are the reverse. The hood fan cover was custom built over a motor to provide more of a furniture look. The backsplash is back painted glass.

These are a couple of pictures of the bathroom - keeping with the warm greys I used a dark porcelain floor, light walls and accents of glass bars and mosiacs.

Dream Bathroom

This master bathroom is in a heritage style farm house on an acreage outside of Vancouver complete with beautiful young couple, cute little boy, two great dogs and a horse! If that doesn't make you envious, perhaps the fact that the bathroom is 400 square feet will. What you don't see in these photos is the dedicated space for the home gym, the two walk in closets and the french doors opening onto the second floor veranda which wraps the house.

All the millwork is custom designed for the bathroom with a painted and glazed finish. The vanity floats in the center of the bathroom separated from the free standing tub by a floor to ceiling dividing wall.

The claw foot tub is centered on a tiled mat of natural stone. The fireplace is two sided between the bathroom and the master bedroom.

The tile selection was really important in this bathroom as the water source is a well and I could not use anything too light in colour. We chose a porcelain tile for the main floor in a noce colour and accented it with calcutta, and glass tiles, and mixed natural stone mosiacs.

These are a couple of pictures from my contractor's home. Room by room, when time allows, I have been helping him and his wife renovate a house they purchased last year. We started with his home office then moved on to the mud room and main floor bathroom. Currently, we are working on his (almost) 2 year old daughter's room and the kid's bathroom. Alexa's room is going to be very cool - stay tuned for pictures! In the meantime, here are a few shots of the completed rooms....