April showers bring May flowers

It seems all of April I have been too busy to keep up to my posting. Read on to find out why.

Going back to Design Tuesdays I have faithfully been watching and following the progress on Sarah's House. The rooms she is turning out really are stunning and imaginative. I like what she is doing. One of my favorite things about the show is how they interject true thoughts and humor into the narrative. The chemistry between Sarah and Tommy is outstanding. The show is well done and worth the watch. I only wish it was on earlier in the evening.

Moving Designz is expanding. I've been working on our not so little pet project for just over a year although I have been dreaming of it for several. We are opening a storefront location "Moving Designz Home and Cottage" in the historic Journal Pioneer Building. We will be stocking our store with beautiful home furniture, home decor and all the little extras that make a home a home.

I thought I would track our progress through this blog. We only recently completed lease negociations. We're truly excited and a little nervous at the amount of work we have to do over the next 2 months to get ready to open. It's like when you build a house, first you do the homework and decide what you want and then you get hit with decision upon decision. Often some you never thought of.

Here are a few pictures of what it looks like now and I will add more as we go along.
Looking to the right... this area will be the main showroom.

and to the left.... this area will have more showroom space and our work island.

Yes, the place needs a lot of work. It's hard to tell in these images but the place has loads of character, high ceilings, brick walls and even comes with 2 bank vaults. It not only housed The Journal Pioneer (our local paper) but was Summerside's Bank. Lots of history... I'll let you know if I find any hidden gems.

The first thing that is happening is a total clean out following by chipping plaster to expose the brick walls. The landlord will be carrying out our leaseholds for us since he is also a local builder. Our first issue is whether to paint the brick walls white or to leave them au natural. All along I wanted white but have promised the owner of the building that I will revisit that decision once the brick is exposed.

This week I will be planning the floor layout which includes electrical layout, new washroom, new office space, new raised platform, planning wiring for security, audio/visual, telephone and internet. Followed closely by choosing flooring, electrical fixtures and plumbing fixtures.

We have decided to move the entry door to the side of the building on Queen St and close off the old corner door to use as a showroom window. If you know the building you can appreciate why we are choosing to relocate the door from the corner.

Design Tuesdays

I must admit I am slighty addited to HGTV. It is definitely the channel of choice for moi. My favorite show is Design Inc. Headed up by Sarah Richardson and her talented team of designers they really do show the ups and downs of redesigning spaces. True to the show, it has been my experience that on each and every job things do not always flow as smoothly as one likes. There are always little things that pop up but with persistance, a good sense of humor and a constant vision the rooms always turn out beautifully. Check out the show's website www.designinc.ca

I look forward to the show on Tuesday nights just to see what wonderful space they create next. Her rooms have that modern classic style of being both livable and elegant. Or in some cases extreme elegance The last couple of weeks have been reruns but it didn't really bother me as I still find the show entertaining even when watching it for the second time around.

I'm looking forward to her new show "Sarah's House", it starts tonight at 10pm. It should be very interesting to watch the entire renovation process. It's been my experience that everything always takes longer and costs more than you think it will. Most lived in homes have problems lurking somewhere that need attention and when these pop up that's where some of your dollars end up heading. The other thing I find is that as we go through the process most people choose to to upgrade on the finishes. Afterall what truly defines one house from another and makes it more interesting and valuable are the finishing details.

Another show that I find myself watching is Flip this House. The show where people are buying houses and then fixing them up to sell with the bottom line of trying to make a profit. They really get into showing what can go wrong and what can go right. Sometimes I like the homes and other times I wonder what it would be like to buy those homes without knowing how shoddy some of these renovations have been. Or even scarier to buy the home and then see it featured on the show.

I was watching an epidode over the weekend where the renovator completed a million dollar house in LA. My favorite line in the show was when he was finished the house and was showing the Realtor the property. At this point they are downstairs in the massive great room... "Do ya wanna? maybe we should go upstairs....
I don't why but the line continues to crack me up and I can't get it out of my head.

Which reminds me...

The other line which really gets me is from The Colin and Justin Show aka How not to Decorate. The line Colin says to Justin and which they play over and over on commercials for the show. "I'm pitching a tent in my design panties". The things those guys get away with saying always has me in stitches. And who could forget "this room, it's just wrong, prison canteen chic" I could probably rhyme off several others but perhaps they might be to offensive taken out of context. For the entertainment value alone of listening to their cheeky remarks I have to say this show is worth the watch. If you are up and up on your HGTV you probably know they are headed to this side of the pond to work their magic on Canadian viewers homes. Now this I can't wait for....

Other shows which I admit to watching, are Design Rivals. Once again their finished product is always worth the 30 minute wait. The follow up show The Designers Guys, now there are 3, do great spaces but I admit to skipping to the end and missing the body of the show. I just don't find the middle interesting, the part where they interact with each other or take in the local scenery. Somehow it just seems too contrived....yawn.

I do like the House & Home show with Lynda Reeves although it never seems to be on TV when I have have the time to watch it. And I just love the magazine. I also really enjoy watching Restaurant Makeover and the Opening Soon series, again it's hit or miss on finding it. I don't keep to a schedule except on Tuesday nights.

I watched most of the Designer Superstar Challenge series but ended up being somewhat perplexed when Bruno won. In the last challenge he did nail the outdoor room but what about the rest of the episodes? I thought either Penny or Mariana were the obvious choices with their ease in front of the camera. I am looking forward to seeing what will happen with Bruno.

Back to now... and Tuesday nights

"...ever dream of buying a house, gutting it, and re-building, so it is perfectly you? Well I'm doing just that. I bought a house, renovating it room by room, making the most of every dollar. It's tough work but stick with me. I'll show you how to get the home you want." — Sarah Richardson
http://www.hgtv.ca/sarahshouse/episodes.aspx

This should be good viewing.

cheers,
Susan

Gone Shopping

Hi,

This is the first time I have ever done any blogging. I wanted to have a place where I could post information and ideas related to interior design. On the average day I work from 9am to 7pm. I operate my business out of my home office which actually leads to longer days of working but it is worthwhile as I like to keep on top of things. I try to take weekends off but with the office so handy it is difficult not to slip into work mode.

Living on PEI, while beautiful, does have its disadvantages. Shopping for home goods and furniture can at times be an experience. There are times when I have something in mind but cannot locate exactly what I want or in many cases need to complete a project. For those of us who are passionate about design, PEI can be a bummer. If many of you PEI Islanders, like me, eat up Canadian design magazines you can't help but notice that we are often left lacking in selection. On the other hand, there are a few stores which do cater to the design conscious consumer and carry great decor and they remain on my regular visit list. For the cottage lifestyle there is certainly no shortage of small little antique shops for those who like a vintage or rustic cottage look.

I have several projects on the go, at present. One of which is a full furnishing job for a vacation home. I have been on the go non-stop shopping since Sunday. On Sunday, I slipped over to Moncton, New Brunswick for an afternoon of shopping. I like going to the Trinity Power Center where all the big box stores are located. There's something to be said for what we refer to as "off-island shopping". Seeing as Moncton is a little less than a 2 hour drive from here, it is pretty convenient. I guess the only drawback is paying the toll on the Confederation Bridge which these days runs $40.75 for a single car.

I started my afternoon browsing at Costco. I had gone in specifically looking for something but ended up purchasing other items. I'm not really a Costco person but they do have great prices on bulk food. There is a particular item, Alder Smoked Sockeye Salmon, that I look for every time and which they only seem to carry only at Christmas and Easter. For those of us who like Smoked Salmon they sell a 16oz vacuum pack for around $15.00, enough to make dinner for 4, and have leftovers(which are delicious). The first time we bought it, several years ago, we made the recipe on the package for Smoked Salmon Primavera. Now I am hooked! Parden the pun. I encourage you to try this tasty item. Smoked Salmon is an aquired taste but if you are already a lover of smoked salmon, this product is a good bet.


After getting that out of the way it was on to Homesense, Pier 1 and Bowring. I like browsing at Homesense and have at times spent up to 3 hours in the store, just to ensure I didn't miss anything. Did I mention that Summerside (the city I live in) only has a Zellers and a Walmart for home goods? With that said I guess you can appreciate how nice it is to do the Moncton circuit. I saw quite a few pieces of interesting and unique furniture yet most seemed to have damage on them, which was a real drag. The area rug section is pretty good. Where else can you buy a 100% wool rug for $199-$450? Another thing that I love to look for is the great selection of linens and throw cushions. A silk covered down filled cushion runs around $30.00. I prefer the down cushions to the synthetic polyester filled as they are way more comfortable. I have yet to find any down filled cushions anywhere on PEI(except at Winners in Charlottetown) and our local fabric stores do not even stock the down inserts. So cushions are always on my "to buy" list.

I didn't really see anything that caught my eye at Pier 1 on this visit. I think they must be waiting for new spring stock. A few months back I picked up some very real looking green apples for around $5.00 each. They are great for propping and display purposes. I absolutely love the colour, it's so fresh looking.

On to Bowrings, who have a just arrived selection of clean lined leather furniture, at pretty good prices I might add. Several hundred dollars later we closed the shop and I think I heard one of the sales people say "It turned out to be a great day afterall". She must have been referring to a sudden last minute increase in sales :)

We ran out of time as everything closes at 5pm on Sundays but all in all it was very worthwhile. I managed to cross many items off my "to buy" list and had some fun at the same time. Shopping is always fun for me except when it comes to loading and unloading. Yesterday I had to make 3 trips back and forth from the van to one store with parking several blocks away.

I think I will call it a close on this post but watch for more. I am hoping to get at this 3 times per week. My next set of posts will involve pictures of my finds.

I hope I haven't offended any local retailers because it is not my intention. I do rely heavily on local stores for many of our projects.

cheers,
Susan