This month we’re all about romance and we love the romance Linda Merrill, captured in this tiny space. Confronted with a kitchen from the early 80′s with knotty pine cabinets, out of date appliances and too many disconnected elements, Linda set to work.
We want to note that no cabinet was harmed in the making of this remodel, and salute Linda for avoiding the temptation of choosing light colors to make the space appear bigger. On the contrary, Linda refinished, painted and distressed the cabinets – herself – in two shades of blue which contrasts beautifully with the copper accents on the pot rack and roman shade. New, stainless appliance offer a bit more reflective surface and updated appeal and we’ve spotted the addition of much needed recessed lights. We also love the accent of white bead-board that covers the walls in what is now a classically romantic french provincial style gem of a kitchen. New countertops and plumbing fixtures complete the design and a skirted sideboard hides kitchen gadgets with charm and style. 
Continue Reading…
Rebbecca Ward is one of Sacramento’s foremost interior designers and when one of her clients bought a home and wasn’t sure what to do with the formal living room, well, who else would they turn to?
Rebecca’s solution was to turn the room into a study complete with built in shelving and file cabinets, wood flooring a writing desk and plenty of places to lounge.
Continue Reading…
This really is very beautiful. The year long refurbishment of a farmhouse in Vaison-la-Romaine by the talented Meilin Bristiel has created a building that is distinctly French, and of its time, yet also modern, comfortable and fully functioning. It may be easier to talk about what she left alone. And, in case you are wondering, that would be the peripheral walls except for the window and door openings. Just about everything else is new.
Continue Reading…
- Grand room of 5,000 sq. ft. full-floor apartment. The loft style space has living, dining and study areas all in one large room with 13 ft ceilings. Previously featured on Modenus
French food can be a wonderful thing but it can also be a little too much. All those rich sauces, layer after layer of flavours and textures can be, well, a little heavy. Back in the seventies Michele Gerard came up with Cuisine Mincer, French food but lighter. You still got the flavours and the textures but without the stodge. And that’s what Jerry Jacobs seems to do. You get rich textures, fine furniture and wonderful textures, you get luxury, but you also get light and space. Continue Reading…
ReDesign of London, Ontario, are fast becoming one of our favourite design firms. They do great work, they are environmentally aware and conscientious in their use of existing materials, they send us wonderful ‘before and afters’ and they always buy a round of beers. OK, I don’t know that last bit for sure but I wouldn’t put it past them.
This beauty was, sad to say, a fairly typical London, Ontario suburban house. Similar to all the other houses in the street it was dark, full of little boxes masquerading as rooms and, let’s be honest, dull. But that was before ReDesign set about it. Walls were knocked down, trim purged and the white paint tin fully deployed. The resulting home is something of a modern minimalist masterpiece, and all on a budget which struck a balance between achieving and spending. The black floor in the family room to your left is recycled leather tile by Torlys. The coffee table is Siren in Stainless Steel by Nuevo. You can just see a glimpse of a kitchen area to the left of the ‘after’ picture. We promise you a bigger picture and some details a little later.
Continue Reading…
“You know how Justin Timberlake brought ‘sexy’ back to music? Well I want to bring ‘sexy and intimate’ back to interior design.” So says Jeffrey Brooks of Jeffrey Brooks Interior Design. And then he laughs. And throughout the interview we keep finding things to laugh and to smile about.
Jeffrey Brooks is a man who understands emotions and the role of art and, indeed, interior design in eliciting emotions. It is, perhaps, no surprise that Jeffrey is a practiced artist. He comes from an artsy family with a father who worked as a designer for an ornamental hardware company and an aunt who worked for Balenciaga and who would take the young Jeffrey to see, and appreciate, their fabric collections. He was happiest at school when he had the opportunity to use his hands to make something. Indeed as a child every empty box presented a challenge to transform into whatever his fertile imagination demanded. Continue Reading…
(Lori Andrews Photography)
Nyla Free is a designer who gets the details right. When you look at her work there is a sense of nothing being left to be done. Her mastery of finishing touches combines with a sense of balance and a love of light that make her designs sparkle with life.
Nyla has worked her way up through the interior design industry. She started at age 17 by attending a local college. From there she joined a local retail store as a design assistant. The store offered an interior design service to its clients some of whom remained loyal to Nyla when, while expecting her first child, she set up her own business from home.
She tells us that her hometown of Calgary, weathered the recession well. She describes it as – “very sophisticated and quite modern – full of well traveled people – a good source of clients”. Continue Reading…
Our guest post this week by Lewes based interior designer Ana Aguilar of Aguilar Interiors who shares her thoughts on decorating lofts.
Loft apartments are spacious, stylish, distinctive, sleek, and absolutely stunning; they can be intimidating to decorate. I’ve always loved lofts and that is why I decided to share a bit of loft inspiration with you.
The original lofts were warehouses or industrial buildings converted to residential use and at times the conversions looked pretty unfinished like a set from Dragons Den; wires running everywhere, floorboards that creaked and brick walls exposed – but for city denizens squeezed into high rise apartments, loft living became the trend. Areas of London, Lisbon and New York were gentrified by turning former industrial facilities into desirable and highly sought after residences.
Continue Reading…
The very wonderful Warren Bobrow has had no electricity most of the week but that hasn’t stopped him from sending Modenus his weekly splash of magic. And maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s a hot toddy. In fact it’s a spiced hot rum and butter with freshly scraped nutmeg and Chinese five spice powder. The East meets west cocktail
Here is the recipe
- 3 shots of spiced rum like Sailor Jerry or Chairman’s Reserve if you can find it. Or make your own spiced rum with nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, pinch of cayenne, vanilla sugar and five spice powder in a cheesecloth bag. Drop into a bottle of dark rum for about a month or so.
- Prepare a pot of black tea
- Place Cozy on t-pot and let steep
- Preheat mug with boiling water
- Toss out water, add rum then hot tea. Finish with a pat of sweet butter and a sprinkle of fleur du sel.
Warren says “Have an extra shot of rum on the side if your electricity and heat are off in sub freezing temperatures”.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just one of the reasons why we love Warren.
Alright folks, here are a handful of tips to show you how to best use the many features on Modenus, now’s a good time to learn them because we’re adding even more cool stuff in just a couple of months.
Our basic concept:
- Interior Designers, Decorators, Architects, Builders: All of our services, including the project management tool and listing in designer directory are free to approved trade pros.
- Artisans, Fabricators, Workrooms and other design trade services: Listing in our search-able artisan & trade services directory is free through Dec, 2011, after that there’s a small annual fee.
- Manufacturers, art/antiques dealers and vendors: That’s anyone who makes and sells products. To list in our catalog is based on an annual subscription which varies depending on number of products. Call us for more information. 321-280-6868
For more information about joining Modenus click here
Need more details about what to do? Read on!
Continue Reading…
