The great countertop debate pt. 3
Today we're continuing the conversation on countertop surfaces we're considering for the kitchen. In part 1 we drooled all over quartz, part 2 focused on the pros & cons of Corian, and this final instalment is all about polished concrete. Kes and I are BIG fans of polished concrete. I think mostly because it reminds us of those modern converted lofts that we love so much. There's just something cool, sleek & sexy about it
The great countertop debate pt. 2
If you've been following along, yesterday we kicked off our discussion of the various countertop surfaces we're considering for our kitchen. In part 1 we shared our ultimate love for quartz. Today we'll be taking a closer look at Corian. Again for the newbies, Corian itself is not a type of material. It's actually just the most popular brand of solid surface countertops made by DuPont. It's manufactured by blending acrylic polymers and stone-derived materials into a mix which is then poured into molds. This method allows for integrated sinks, which no other material offers. Some of the other pros include: A wide
The great countertop debate pt. 1
In working through the space planning & design with Lisa, we've begun talking about some of the interior finishes & materials for the various rooms. When the topic of kitchen counters came up our immediate first thought was quartz - for obvious reasons. For the countertop newbies out there let me break it down for you
Team Dreamhouse: Introducing Lisa Lev Design
Happy Monday folks! We hope you had a restful weekend - ours unfortunately was filled with laundry, chores & a few of the other things we've been putting off for the last several weeks. And sadly we didn't even get through it all. Sigh
Interior Design: where to start?
Now that the structure is up finally, we're beginning to switch our focus to planning out the interior spaces. With having such a wide-open floor plan, we figured we'd need some help defining the various spaces so that they best serve our functional needs. On the main floor for example, we knew we wanted to have one really open concept living, dining, lounging, tv watching, all-encompassing space - but what does that really mean in terms of furniture layout and how does that translate into lighting placement & overall space planning? We took to Houzz to post our design dilemma on whether
Design Week: The Dreamhouse Revealed
Well Design Week is coming to a close. In case you missed it be sure to check out the rest of this week's posts. We first took you through our search for inspiration, then outlined how we focused in on our full wish list and created our look book. Today we're finally revealing The Dreamhouse on paper as we go through Kevin's design and it's evolution from rough sketch to colour rendering. We sat down with Kevin to get an understanding of the process he goes through when he approaches a design project. As complex and technical as his job is,
Design Week: The Look Book
Once we got through the initial research, we took a more in-depth look at the photos we had compiled. What we figured out is that overall we love modern contemporary architecture and we want our house to reflect that in its design both inside and out. That said, we'd still like to maintain a bit of neighbourhood charm because let's be honest, we're not trying to create an art installation in the middle of the suburbs! We tried to categorize the photos into 'wants' and 'likes.' From there we could focus in on the elements of each photo we actually wanted
Design Week: The Inspiration
Today we're kicking off Design Week - or probably what will become the first of several recurring 'design weeks' as a project like ours just has so many different phases of the design process. This week we'll be focusing on the architectural design. When we decided to chase the dream, our goal was to create a home that embodied the feel of the open-concept, urban contemporary loft, while satisfying our need for the larger living space generally only found at affordable prices outside of the city. To get started, we took to the web to figure out our likes and dislikes in
Team Dreamhouse: Introducing KW Design
We've been mentioning Kevin and KW Design a lot on the blog lately and you must be wondering - '"who is this Kevin we keep hearing so much about??" Well we thought it was about time we made some formal introductions. Kevin is the owner and Principal Designer of KW Design. With an extensive background in both architectural design, and construction we consider him the most important person on Team Dreamhouse, as he is acting as both designer and project manager. When dealing with architectural design there is a lot that will come and go to make the home that we
A little break from reality…
Well we've had a fantastic trip! We cruised around the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas USVI, Barbados, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts; celebrated a 35th anniversary, celebrated a 65th birthday, spent some quality time with family and most importantly, got some MUCH needed R&R! Not bad for 8 days huh? We're just about set to fly home tomorrow, but while we've been enjoying the break from reality, you know we couldn't go on vacation and completely rid our minds of all things Dreamhouse right?!? Check out the gorgeous modern decor we came across today when we checked in to our hotel