Colin and Justin: Freshly squeezed style
March 6, 2010
Colin and Justin
If you stopped by our page last week, which we sincerely hope you did (where better to get all the inspiration required to create a super stylish home?), you'll remember we tackled a lounge/diner which, pre reno, had all the appeal of a morgue. Deathly dull on every level, its inhabitants, our clients, were desperately short on inspiration, yet high on decorative ambition. So we stripped out the past to unleash precisely that which they hoped for: a spirited nest with enough juicy orange to give the man from Del Monte a seizure.
This week we're all about the adjoining kitchen. Equally stale in its original incarnation, we're certain its creators (not our clients; they moved into the harrowing scene) must have enjoyed an extra bowl of silly the day they conspired its ugly aesthetic. In a nutshell? Little House on The Scary. Small wonder, then, we felt quite so compelled to ring the changes to allow our unsettled folk to once again hold their heads high in polite company safe in the knowledge that their bitchin' kitchen was a thing of the past.
But for how long had our guys, a 30-something Mr. and Mrs., lived with their kitchen nightmare? Years. And why hadn't they done anything about it? Because they didn't know where to start. Ah, God bless bad taste. Without it we'd be nothing. We'd be out of a career and back on a plane to Scotland quicker than you could say "Praise be to Rona, Canada's best DIY store!"
If your eyes aren't already challenged by the unholy trinity of designer wrongs in our "before" shot (poor lighting, bad layout and evil cabinetry), then prepare for retina liftoff as you glance at our "after" shot, a vibrant extravaganza with brightness sufficient to light up the street. If you love bold, fruity shades then you'll enjoy this particular scheme. If you're somewhat more timid, then follow other aspects of the project (such as layout and finishes) substituting your choice of colour every time you espy the word orange. If you fancy baby blue, for example, or perhaps whisper grey doors, then it's not rocket science. You know what to do. Tailor our project to match your decorative ambition and elegantly fashion the kitchen of your dreams. Whatever your favourite palette.
THE BIG STRIP
Now you see it, now you don't. Even the proprietor of a junk store turned his nose up at our offer of a free second-hand kitchen. In fact, he walked out snarling, well and truly cross that he made the journey from one end of the city to the other to consider our, ahem, "generous" gift. Wherever possible, we prefer to rehome anything we don't need. Okay, so we suppose that's kinda like passing on the bad taste but sometimes one man's trash is another man's treasure. On this occasion, clearly, that well-worn maxim was inappropriate. So we shoved every last piece into the dumpster and talked of it no more.
WALL REMOVAL
The space to the rear of the kitchen offered itself up as a useful adjunct to our main project. Aching to be reborn as a compact laundry, we (with proper consents and attention to building code) removed sections of the wall to allow the room to breathe. Selecting whisper quiet appliances ensured noise transfer between zones would never be an issue.
Tip: Always consider spec such as this before wielding your wad. You wouldn't believe the amount of times we hear horror stories of "bargain" machinery whose appeal suddenly diminished when the first wash cycle started. Similarly, always consider energy efficiency and associated matters of environmental concern before making your choices. It's not all about the colour of your appliance or those cute wee buttons.
WALL COLOUR
Crisp purest white. We specified silk finish as opposed to matte to allow for better wipeability. Attention to detail at the planning stage will save all sorts of bother further down the line. Scuffs and marks are more easily remedied with silk and it won't cost you any more than its less shiny cousin. Plus, matte finishes absorb light and in a room such as this with only a small window, we needed any extra illumination we could get to satisfy our clients' dream of a seriously brightened cook zone.
FLOORING
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Well, in this case, about 18 square metres, precisely the amount required to refloor the kitchen and its adjoining laundry. We specified oak with just enough subtle yellow notes to compliment our dramatic doors. If you're not using teak or bamboo (timber genus which are especially hard-wearing in kitchens), then examine product to ensure what you're buying is well lacquered to help fend off spills and splashes. Flooring, put simply, is an area in which you should invest carefully. It's easy to switch up paint colours and accessories but your underfoot selection should be of sufficient durability to see you through decorative rejigs further down the line.
LAYOUT
Our designs, where possible, are created to have levels of flexibility that would make a Romanian gymnast wince with envy. Indeed this particular kitchen is like the Nadia Comaneci of food prep zones. Significantly more open than before, we added an island unit on castors to allow our clients to close off – or leave open – the passage to their kitchen as and when required. To form an L-shaped configuration they simply have to roll the island away from the centre and position it on a right angle at either side. Simple, but easy to achieve. Always consider what you need from your kitchen as your planner unravels his or her ambition for your space.
KITCHEN DOORS
Pop specs at the ready? Then prepare for retinal overload. We have precisely this shade of cupboard door in our Glasgow laundry and had long since been looking for the perfect opportunity to roll out the confident scheme on a grander scale. As such, when our clients peeled back the skin on their fruity dream by discussing with us their love of orange, we nearly levitated with excitement. At long last we'd found the perfect opportunity. Careful, tonal talk ensued and while jaunty to the max, our vibrant orange fiesta is somewhat tamed by its pairing alongside purest white. Pop to the power of 10 and a couple of mid-air designers to boot!
COUNTERTOPS
Enjoying, as we do, ever more style-literate times, there's now a whole host of countertop options available. From wood finish and tile, to pricier granite and equally expensive marble (in various hues and patinas), there's something out there to suit every taste and pocket. Many of those we see, however, are bull-nosed, the rounded corners of which we find terribly dated. For an altogether crisper look, we chose purest white laminate, specifying custom manufacture for an exacting, precise fit job. Sure, templating such as this costs a little more money, but the results proffer a dreamy esthetic that won't go out of style.
BACKSPLASH
If we're installing granite or other stone counters, we often specify an upstand composed of the same material. Doing this streamlines results and avoids bringing in an extra trade person for tile installation. On this occasion, however, due to the fact we'd opted for laminate counters, we wanted product with extra resilience to cope with the associated knocks and bangs of kitchen life.
Tiling was our surest option and because these two-centimetre-wide lovelies were the perfect backsplash height, our regular contractor was able to install them to help save vital dollars. Choosing contrasting strips of orange and white glass provides a snappy piano key look.
Next week: We reveal the wonders of "bed in a bag." Or in other words, everything you need to create a stylish new boudoir look ... in one fabulous package! It's been a while in the planning but now we're ready to launch our exciting new product line at Zellers!
Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan are the hosts of HGTV's Colin & Justin's Home Heist (Saturdays at 2 and 7 p.m.) and the authors of Colin & Justin's Home Heist Style Guide, published by Penguin Group (Canada). Go to hgtv.ca/homeheist and colinandjustin.tv for more information.
Read more Colin and Justin here. Check out their top 10 shopping destinations and watch the video of their makeover of the Star editor's office. Scope out some of their previous transformations:
- Extravaganza in orange
- Blue and white make it right
- Baby blue strikes the right chord
- Taking it up a notch
- Well-planned kitchen really cooks
- Asian-inspired glamour
- Reaching new heights
- Tweaking for a new decade
- Crazy for Canadiana, eh!
- Create a holiday affair to remember
- Please pass the mustard
- Hallelujah! Designer salvation
- Mauving right along
- A beach of a makeover
- It's a jungle in there
- Kitchen less than confidential
- Sweet dreams are made of this
- A sweet transformation
- Just a little bit country
- Calamitous kitchen
- Killer bee design
- Va va va voom!
- Cave dwelling
- A little Hollywood-style glamour
- Purple reign
- The boss's Office Heist
- Now that's making an entrance
- A Colonial charmer
- From ghastly to glorious
- Not so mellow yellow
- Answering nature's call
- Picture perfect loft makeover
- Shades of grey
- Beyond the 'wreck' room
- Check, mate
- Soaking in the lap of luxury
- Basement gloom be gone
- A country kitchen goes classy
- Kitchen full of Swedish glamour
Toronto Star