Colin and Justin: A sweet transformation
October 24, 2009
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Colin and Justin
Atmosphere. An element regularly absent from many of the Canadian homes we tackle. Plain. An adjective to amply describe many of these abodes, before we sharpen our designer talons and set to work. Miles. The distance we travel, metaphorically speaking, to transform North America's most problematic abodes into palaces of high glamour.
And today's monolithic transformation? Barren to the extreme (come on – just look at our before shot), it so needed a tender, loving touch. But we were confused – we couldn't find connection between the style-free house you see here and the inhabitants who called it home. This room, you see, belongs to the Fernandez clan, one of the loveliest families we've ever met. Effervescent to the max, the brood, consisting of three beautiful daughters and Mom and Pop, had drawn a total blank insofar as personalizing their space.
So we set to work. And hey – if ever we needed to call upon our "house whispering" skills it was on this occasion. That said, anything would have been an improvement. We still struggle to reconcile the fact that such a breathtakingly gorgeous family lived there. The room, to us, was a giant style vacuum, devoid of anything that reflected fun or animation. Indeed, pretty much everything that could have been wrong with this place actually was. Let's look at the evidence.
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BEFORE: The room included dull colours and decor and an off-centre
fireplace.
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Unwelcoming ceramic floor that was treacherously slippery under wet feet, not to mention frighteningly cold in winter? Check. Pleather sofas the colour of an abattoir floor? Check.
Deathly dull decor with all the appeal of an uncooked pork chop. Check.
And a fireplace positioned off-centre, at the doors to the garden, to perfectly discharge heat to ... the garden. Check. Yeah, we were perplexed, too.
Now on to plus points. In the room's favour was scale. A veritable soccer pitch measuring 25-feet by 17-feet, it needed serious identity to nurture and comfort the fabulous Fernandez flock. Hell, we love our job! Creating gorgeous abodes for people who deserve every bit of loveliness life throws their way. Yup, we love these guys, though that admission doesn't negate the fact their home was wildly dull.
So where did we start? At the very beginning, of course. A very good place to start. We regularly preach that "to fail to plan is to plan to fail'' and, with that maxim in mind, we settled down for a chat. Spread-eagled across pleather we listened as the Fernandez Five explained their vision. Their family room needed to be cozy, inviting and warm. With chocolatey tones and shots of black. There should be bags of space to chill as well as ample storage and display. As you know we love colour but we all agreed that, on this occasion, the room should have an aesthetic composed of lower keynotes. Call it, if you will, decorating anaesthetic. Believe us; if you met these lively guys you'd appreciate how important it is they have somewhere subdued to notch down a few gears at the end of each day!
And so it came to pass that, to derive the very best from the space, we employed our trusty acronym; PCBG. Just four little letters but boy, grouped, they make a real difference. Put into practice, the P stands for "plan'' which meant "story boarding" the project (with mood boards and flooring samples etc.) to satisfy a strict client brief. C stands for "colour'' so, with this in mind, we arranged a palette of subdued milk and dark chocolate which, we hoped, would garner immediate appeal.
Penultimately, our letter B represents "big'' items such as sofa, coffee table and shelving. Our acronym constantly buzzing in our mind, we adhered to this strict order to guarantee optimum results. Finally, we moved on to G which stands for "gradually'' layering – using detailing such as curtains, rugs and ornamentation. Adhering to a simple tactic such as this is a great way to strategize and get the very best from your project.
Acronyms aside, here are the steps which took the Fernandez family to chocolatey heaven and sent them into domestic overdrive. Yea! We love it when a good plan comes together ...
CHIMNEY BREAST
Being that the room was flat and boxlike, we made a couple of primary changes before doing anything else. The first was crown moulding to up the ante, but our biggest change was building a chimney breast.
We provided our contractor with a sketch of what we needed (having taken into account the specs for our new fireplace) and, allowing for venting and air passage, he constructed a fake breast from lumber and dry wall. Note: With electrics and heat involved, this is a job that's best left to the pros.
FIREPLACE
To keep lines modern we specified a flat fronted glazed fire insert complete with realistic flame. Encased in a black surround, the slick shape of this insert adds timeless style
WALLPAPER
We love scrolled, trellis design wallpaper and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use this gorgeous silver on brown confection. The chocolate hues are immediately balanced – and lightened – by metallic trellis detailing and although it's a dramatic paper, the room is large enough to cope.
FLOORING
Rona currently has some amazing flooring deals and being that we had such a large area to cover, it made sound sense to visit this terrific value store. Also attractive was the click-together nature of this engineered flooring which made installation much easier than other options. As long as you're a reasonably adept DIYer – and assuming floors are even – you should find it relatively straightforward to install this type of product.
SHELVING
We raided Ikea for large, inexpensive, black floating shelves and installed them across connecting walls in a 90-degree configuration. Drilled at regular intervals and with two-inch black timber poles inserted to add individuality, they're perfect proof that it's not what you use, but how you use it that makes the biggest difference!
SOFA
With bags of room for snuggling up, this sectional sofa is the perfect family chill-out spot.
Tip: When buying off-the-shelf upholstery, always have a good squeeze around joins and arms to ensure framework has been sufficiently padded. Check also for good quality stitchery and ensure that legs are solid and don't have any unwanted wobble. Sofas are "big piece'' investments, so it's worth doing a spot of investigation to ensure what you're buying has been well made.
CHAIRS
To add extra visual and tactile layers we opted for faux ostrich skin chairs set on shiny metal frames. Providing a modern twist, not to mention handy extra seating, they continue our ebony detailing and help create colour continuity from the shelves.
Next week: We create the perfect bedroom using grey and silver.
Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan are the hosts of HGTV's Colin & Justin's Home Heist (Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m.) and the authors of Colin & Justin's Home Heist Style Guide, published by Penguin Group (Canada). To order a copy of their book, send a cheque or money order for $32 (price includes GST and handling) to Torstar Syndication Services, 1 Yonge St., Toronto, M5E 1E6. Or order online at starstore.ca. Go to hgtv.ca/homeheist and colinand justin.tv for more on the design team.
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. And scope out some of their previous transformations:
- 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