When we first started ‘businessing’ we were advised to be careful about designing for friends. What if they hated it? Would they tell you? Could this jeopardize your friendship? So I was a bit nervous when we took on this project for one of my bestest of friends. Especially considering I knew some of the inspiration behind the project, and it was an emotional spot for both of us.
Last week Laura shared her connection with the colour purple and its significance to her life. I too, often find myself drawn to the colour purple and thinking of Laura’s little angel. We were bump buddies, we had all the same doctors and my baby was born only 10 short weeks after Ava Faith. Laura was there for me even then. While I was in the delivery room, she was keeping my first born company in the waiting room. I too needed to honor this baby girl.
Back to the project… Thanks to Pantone making purple a designer’s favourite this year, it's a lot more popular. However, Carissa and I weren't too sure about how we would incorporate purple into the kitchen. It’s just not a very traditional colour for that purpose! With help of CAD rendering we were able to visualize it, and we must admit that without the rendering, we were shooting in the dark a bit! Check out the video to see how the rendering convinced us:
Here’s the mood board that we presented to Laura:
Along with the mood board, we brought samples of everything over to Laura’s house to look at in person, and ‘try on’ in the space. The most interesting turn of events was the backsplash selection. Each one of us had our own fave (I was leaning towards the 1” square mosaic and Carissa was rooting for her signature subway tile), but Laura surprised us by gravitating towards the pencil stripe! Laura was so sure; she just grabbed it and said that’s it!!! So cool when that happens!
The Capiz chandys were a no brainer. We held the other option up for peace of mind, but bleah, not even a contender. Capiz it was! Everyone agreed! No questions asked.
We had a little debate about the island chalkboard. Paint would be cheap and easy, but Laura, as considerate as she is, thought that it might have been too permanent of a feature. What if she got tired of it? What if they moved and the new owners didn’t like it? (Seriously, who thinks like that?) My generous friend does… #lifelessons. No problem! These wall decals are completely removable! Score!
The new faucet was also approved by all! So nice to find good deals like that!
So all of the selections are finalized, and Laura has her source list and design plan. I have to say that this project turned out even better than I thought it would. I love the feeling of handing over a “Fabulous Design File” to a client and seeing the smile of empowerment that we helped create (#bestjobever). But I have to say that seeing that on my friend, it just made my day. Not only she was griming from ear to ear during our visit, but I also kept getting the cutest texts saying how much she loved it, how much her hubby loved, and all their plans for implementation!
This post concludes the #saskmomfabkitchen project from our end. Stay tuned for the DIY extravaganza on Saskmom.com and our shared hashtag on Instagram #saskmomfabkitchen. We will still show the final result, of course… as per Laura’s schedule, it should be concluded sometime this Spring! My hope is that by the time Lilacs are fragrantly blooming outside, we’ll come style this beautiful kitchen and have a toast in honour of an angel whose tiny footprints still find a way to touch our hearts.
>>> Posted by Marilena <<<