Beautiful weather

I worked in my gardens all day today. It was a lovely sunny and warm day and I couldn't resist being outside all day.

I'll post my weekend post tomorrow... too tired today!
Susan

Random Rooms

I usually don't post twice in one weekend and most weeks I'm lucky to get my weekend post in. However, this being a long weekend has given me an extra day off to explore my dusty photo files, something which I have been meaning to do for quite a long time.

Below are a collection of random photographs of rooms which have been completed. Most of my clients prefer a decorating style which I call modern classic. There is nothing too trendy here.

One thing I always do is document our work through the camera lens at various stages during our projects. I have 2 cameras which I rely on. One is an Olympus C7070 and the other is a Nikon D80. Obviously I am not a professional photographer but I try to take interesting shots. And I don't know if it is just me but the images never look as good once I upload them to blogger. I'm not sure why but the crispness seems to get lost once the images are resized.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

For this weeks blog I thought I would give an update on the work I've been doing this week. I have 3 major renovations going on, one here in Summerside, one in Charlottetown and one in Stratford. As well, we're working at various stages in other homes and a couple more projects involving a series of window treatments and furniture installations.

Whew... it's busy and thankfully I have both Anita and Ashley busy working along side me. Note to all you designers, having a good team is key. And having a great team is even better. Thank you girls for all your hard work and help! I honestly could not function without them.

We finished up a vacation property that has been in the works for the last few months. My client is arriving tonight to a completely furnished and finished space. On my last post I showed a couple images of this cheery space. This week we finished the shelving in the kitchette, installing the coatrack, the bathrooms, artwork and of course the accessorizing. Here's the completed shelving. My carpenter does an ace job with everything he touches. I imagine ... he builds.

One of my new projects is updating and outfitting an entire house from top to bottom. This is a lovely lovely home that my clients have recently purchased. With the deal being signed, sealed and delivered it was time for the Moving Designz team to move. And first on our agenda is painting.

Buckets and buckets of paint for all the trim, walls and ceilings. No surface is being spared a fresh coat of new colour. Ahh... I love the magic of paint.

The kitchen prior had dated oak cabinets. In lieu of a completely new budget busting kitchen we are opting to paint them out, add new granite countertops and new hardware.

And here is today's kitchen in fresh white paint.

The kitchen before from another angle.

And todays angle. It's looking pretty good. Notice we had the fussy trim in the cubbie removed. This will be a great spot for either a wine rack or cookbooks.

A sample of the granite for the countertops. Next up... electrical. All of the light fixtures and fans throughout the home will be replaced.

The family room before the purchase.

This shot is just after the home owners have moved out. I can't imagine the work that went into this move.

And here today we're looking at Brian working away on painting the trim and rads. I guess the rest of the crew abandoned him today!

The formal livingroom.

The empty livingroom.

The livingroom today. This house is going to be a very beautiful space when it's completed over the next 6-8 weeks. Stay tuned for updates. I didn't even give you a peek at the upstairs...

It's a long weekend here in Canada so I'm hoping the weather will be nice. Time to relax and enjoy a few days off for yours truly.

A special thank you to Robert Petril for his comments on my last blog. I really like this line from his profile. And I quote "I believe that if you can dream it you can do it". I firmly believe in this statement. Yet his latest entry on Twitter is disturbing... OMG! I think China has blocked Blogger!!! about 7 hours ago

Read more about Robert here http://robertpetril.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

Susan

Mothers Day Wishes

For todays post I want to wish all you wonderful moms a very Happy Mothers Day! I am a mom of 2 amazing sons. I hope all mothers feel as lucky as I do today!

Me and my boys. I love them so much!

These cute "I love you" silver stones just came into the store with a new merchandise shipment on Thursday. They make the perfect little gift for the special people in your life. Guaranteed to bring a smile.

This week had me hopping busy finishing off a couple more projects and working on new ones.

Below are a couple of pictures of one of the projects I am currently working on. We're almost finished. A few more days and we will be complete. We're working in the kitchen today, installing open shelving to hold some beautiful accessories. It is a very cheerful space, light, airy and colourful.

This was the space the first time I saw it. This space was once 2 motel rooms that were combined into one single unit and now sell as vacation condos here on PEI. The old furniture came with the place and is now gone except in the bedrooms.

Now it looks like this.

A close up of the living room. Before.

Now the after shot. See everyone I do like colour.

And lastly one of the two cozy colourful bedrooms. I'll have more pictures posted when we are totally finished with this project.

I want to say a special thank you to Kelly and Victoria from Design Ties for the wonderful emails they sent me this week after discovering my blog and highlighting it on theirs. You can read more about them and be inspired at http://design-ties.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

All wired up

I thought I would share an update on our kitchen electrical project. As you recall this image is from my last posting. Since we've done a renovation in this kitchen we needed to upgrade the lighting. This meant getting rid of the off center boob light and swapping out the eating nook fixture.

And here it is today... new drum light and stunning crystal light bar over the island. Also note the 2 empty cabinet boxes on the end wall. Custom wine cubbies are yet to come but at least they've been painted out today.

Step 1 - The electician took down the old fixture and rewired to the new location. Then my carpenter built the box framing for the new moldings and the drop ceiling. It worked out really well because the new framing and box covered the old electrical hole and no ceilings needed to be patched!

Step 2 & 3 - The carpenters trimmed out the box with crown moldings. Doesn't it look great? And here is my electrician working on hanging the new pendant fixture. All thumbs up. Obviously the carpenters are camera shy.

Step 4 - Leveling, hanging the crystals and voila beautiful sparkley island light.

Step 5 - To be continued ... the lighting over the sink counter still needs to be addressed. These are the pendants I want to use. I think they will look perfect.

Step 6 - Is hoping my clients love it.

Here is a sneak peek at the newly completed living/family room in the same house.

I hope to be able to post the full interior within the next couple of weeks. If you are wondering about the island light bar or the drum shade we sell them at Moving Designz Home & Cottage. In fact, all the furniture, window treatments and accessories are from the store.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

Susan

A Drum Roll Please...

Sorry readers, I know my posts have been a little delayed these days. Everyone seems to be in the mood to update their homes which has had me hopping busy.

I am currently finishing several very large design projects, a cottage space and hope to find some time in the next month to get out and get pictures of all the fabulous homes I've worked on in the last year. I'm dying to share many of the interiors with you and also hoping to get my website updated. See the sneak peek of this weeks project at the end of the post.

I have begun another couple of contracts for major overhauls and renovations to existing homes which I know will be amazing with a little creativity, a lot of hard work and a few dollars...

Today I was working on updating light fixtures at one of my project homes. So for todays post I'm inspired to look at some fabulous light fixtures. I personally love drum shade pendants. I find they add a nice classic modern touch.

A Moving Designz renovation job in progress... a sneak peek.

Here we are working on the electrical component at our job site today ... the electrician is busy installing the new diningroom pendant. I'm sorry but you will have to wait for the final reveal pictures on this room. The chandelier is a stunning oval shaped drum shade pendant with dripping strands of crystal. The diningroom table just arrived last week and is simply fabulous. The table extends to 119" enough to host a dinner party for 10. I love the base of the table!

Here is a peek at the kitchen... it's almost complete. We actually replaced that light over the table today with you guessed it a drum shade pendant... I'll post that picture with the final reveal in a few weeks time. My carpenter is working on a light box for the ceiling over the massive island. That way we can get rid of the boob light that is currently off center and doesn't provide near enough light.

The master bedroom today. The custom drapes just arrived late last week are ready to be hung, as is the artwork for over the headboard. All that's left is replacing the light, delivering the night tables and then some final accessorizing. Stay tuned... the entire main floor has been renovated.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan

Refreshing Spring Green

For todays post I thought we would look at gorgeous decorating ideas featuring fresh green. Green... I love it! Especially these days when the snow is slowly melting after such a long white winter it's so nice to be seeing green sprouting up in the garden.

By the way, anyone watch HGTV Top Ten series this week? I absolutely loved the interiors and can't wait for next weeks show.

This image inspires me... I love the combination of green and white and natural wicker. So pretty! And I am so ready to hit the patio, get into my gardens and enjoy the great outdoors.

And if money was flowing how about a patio like this one? The ultimate in luxury living... white leather barcelona chairs on the patio. Obviously this is not PEI.

Let's look at some kitchens and eating spaces. I think the green counter stools really add punch to this kitchen.

Pretty green accessories and pale green glass tiles.

I love banquettes and this one accented in green is so inviting.

Pretty green drapery panels.

From Moving Designz Home & Cottage a lovely green table display.

These images are of the restaurant Mr Greenjeans and feature soft tones of green. Sarah Richardson Design made over this restaurant on one of the episodes of Design Inc. Anita and I had lunch here when we were in Toronto in January.

Onto looking at some livingrooms accented with green.

White, green and a soft creamy shag. How dreamy... cool.

Black, white and green, what a fabulous combination.

White, green with accents of pink. I love the feature wall with its horizonally hung wallpaper. Now this is a pretty room.

Love the green, brown and cream striped wallpaper.

I found this Drama wallpaper online at the Home Depot site. I think this would be fabulous on a feature wall.

Now for a look at some very beautiful bedrooms.

OMG, love love love, how perfect for the cottage?

Here are a few really pretty green fabrics. I bought this fabric for a future design project that I don't have yet as I just couldn't resist the pretty colour and pattern. It will make beautiful drapery panels and perhaps a toss cushion.

A nursery for a sweet little baby boy in chocolate and green. And one for a sweet little baby girl in pink and green. How adorable are these rooms?

I first saw the above image featured as an advertisement for bathroom cleaner or something like that in Canadian House & Home. It was the chair that really caught my eye and the fact that is looks very similar to my upstairs bathroom. About a month later it was featured on Sarah's House Episode 1. The colour combo just looks so fresh, green and happy! I love her work.

And lastly some pretty white Easter Lilies.

Happy Easter to all. Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

Susan

Glamourous Living

Just for fun for todays post I thought I would post inspirational images of what my ultimate Glam house would look like... Time for a little daydreaming...

White, white, and more white with gorgeous flowers arrangements. I love this....

The diningroom.

And a white kitchen of course!

My dressing table.

My master bedroom. I'm crazy about this bed.

My lovely white bathroom.

And lastly a beautiful outdoor room.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Susan