#e-DesignChallenge and some more #FabulousBS

#thisismarilena… and #thisiscarissa!!!

M:  This week we’re starting a fun (maybe even fun-ny!) experiment! 

C:  We’re taking on two fabulous (but very bossy and high-maintenance) clients… any guesses who?  … It’s ourselves!

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M: We have officially launched eDesign on our website and set up a little protocol to facilitate something that we have been doing right from the start for clients from all over --- the world! 

C:  Yes… we’ve had actual clients as far away as Brazil!  But the main reason we wanted to ramp up our e-design business, was to provide a budget friendly option for all of our clients, even those who live close by.  We’ve had requests from several out of town clients within driving distance… but you know how SK is… the driving takes up half the day, and the expense of that really adds up.  Which is totally uncool from the client’s perspective.

M: Electronic design sounds so un-fun… e-Design sounds better.  What it is is having our design ideas delivered to you through the magic cyberspace gods, quickly and economically. We must admit that you do miss out on the fun of shopping with us, as well as our hilarious jokes (maybe not so much that one…).

C:  … and the awesome faces we pull if we don’t agree with each other… 

M:  … and the cute texts we send with pictures of things we love for you that we find while shopping around.  But in turn, you still get our concept… essentially, it’s your own ‘Fabulous Design File’ delivered by email instead of in person!  And thanks to all of the technology at our disposal, you still get a lot of interaction with us.  Maybe we can even crack a joke on skype!

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C:  But enough on that.  Back to our challenge…  In order to give you a full behind-the-scenes tour of our e-design process, we are going to design one room for each other solely through eDesign.  We’ll share everything here from the initial survey’s we fill out, to the pinterest inspiration boards, to the ‘client interaction’ to the final product!

M:  We decided that neither of us would make very good traditional design clients, and think eDesign will fit our personalities.  We are very open to ideas, but are independent when it comes to final decisions and implementation.  Plus, both of us have a never ending wish list of home improvements, where to begin?  Here are the parameters for our game:

-eDesign only: there will not be any shopping around at actual stores (it isn’t as much fun shopping alone anyway.)  All sources are to be available online.

-Minimal consultation with each other (duh, it’s eDesign.)  Other than each other’s Pintrest boards, or Houzz ideabooks, we don’t really get to pick the “client’s” brain during the process.

-Since we still get to be friends after the challenge is over… we agree not to have our feelings hurt if the other one doesn’t take all (or any!) of the suggested ideas.

C:  Now the fun begins! I will e-design Marilena’s master bedroom.

M:  And Carissa chose her dining room for me to tackle.  The next step will be for each of us fill out the eDesign questionnaire and start a Pintrest board that we can link to.

If you are interested in working with us either in person, or through e-design, please visit our website for more details!

Vitamix DIY and Green Juice Recipe – by Marilena

After years of trying to convince my husband of the real need of having a $500 blender, and after I accidently fried our old one trying to make homemade vegan Nutella, it was time to finally get a Vitamix. If you don’t know what it is, google it, it will blow up your mind!  It’s like this super powerful blender that will basically powder rocks (I kid you not, they actually had a demo at Costco that they did it…).

After a long shopping process to get the perfect one – long story for another post – I realized that my beautiful, state of art, un-returnable new toy was, in fact white. Blaaarh… it totally clashed with my whole kitchen and all its other stainless steel countertop friends (ie Kitchen Aid mixer, George Forman grill.) 

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For a minute (well, for a day) I considered redoing my whole kitchen, as in new white shiny cabinets, quartz counters and subway tile backsplash.  Well, that’s not happening for the next little while, so I had to make do with what I had. But I still wondered what I could do to blend my new device in (pun intended).

So I thought of spray paint!  I’ve had a successful experience with metal spray paint before, and Carissa totally enabled me, as she usually does. I rolled up my sleeves and went for it.

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I was totally concerned that it would turn out ogre looking, so going slowly was key.

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And, voila, it looks like it always belonged here doesn’t it?

I admit that the faceplate shouldn’t be white, but that part is where you touch all the time to turn the knobs and I was afraid it wasn’t going to wear very well. I’m totally happy with how it turned out.

I’m not going to write a step by step guide here because it was pretty simple. I’ll just give you a few tips if you’re into refinishing your kitchen stuff (I’ve seen hardware, glassware, pottery and even big appliances like fridges turn out well):

1) cover control panels and logos with painter’s tape, or remove them if it’s easy;

2) use several thin coats, like the first one is basically a dust, and allow time for the sheen to develop. The finish will brighten as it dries and the water evaporates, leaving behind the metal flakes and

3) Be patient and allow a day for it to set before handling your newly painted object – learned that one the hard way and to a fourth coat of spray I had to resort.

 

Ok, now that you have your matching Vitamix, here’s my go to green-smoothie recipe (kid approved):

2 handfuls of baby spinach (I freeze them washed and ready to go)

1-2 leaves of Kale 2 pineapple slices (I often use canned ones, give me a break)

½ apple with core

1-2 tbsp of honey

2 tbsp of flax

½ cup of water ½ cup of ice

Let the Vitamix gods do their thing and chug down the amezeness! What is your favourite juice recipe?

Posted by Marilena

A Fabulous Before/After

We all love before and after posts, right?  I have a good one for you today!  I’m not even going to build suspense with a bunch of writing and the reveal photo at the end.  I’m so excited about this result that I’m just going to hit you with it right up front!  Here we go:

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We were working with a small, dark bathroom.  The main goal was to lighten and brighten the room, plus add some much needed storage.  Here is a look at our initial plan:

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Here are some of the highlights:

To brighten the space, a sealed light was installed above the tub.  What a difference!  If you have the option to do this… do it!  All of a sudden this dark room is full of light!  The walls are painted a soft grey, and white subway tile is installed all the way to the ceiling in the shower area, and half way up the other two walls.  A band of glass tile wraps all the way around the room to add some sparkle and colour.

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The vanity was an all-in-one unit purchased at Home Depot.  It is small enough to fit in a standard space, but provides functional storage with the three drawers. 

IMPORTANT DETAIL ALERT!!!  Check out the floor!!!  It is a 3x6 porcelain tile with a calacatta marble look, installed in our favourite herringbone pattern!   We adore this bathroom floor, and were thrilled to have a client that loved it as much as we did!

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A wall niche was built into the shower and backed with the glass tile for a little extra zing.

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Another cool storage feature to point out are the picture frame medicine cabinets.  These ones were custom made by our favourite handy man, but you can order similar ones here.  And see the cute floor vent?  It’s from Costco.

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The simple shelves above the toilet provide more storage, as well as an opportunity to display pretty things!

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I want to say a big thank you to our fabulous clients for letting us design, photograph and share their bathroom!

>> Posted by Carissa <<

If you would like to work with us to make your own space more fabulous, visit our website for details!

“Wallpaper is Messy” - The Story of a Guest Room Re-Design (by Marilena)

If someone tells you wallpapering is messy (specially if that said someone is your, ahem very-okay-with-messiness-business partner) believe them. They are not saying this because they are lazy, or they are secretly jealous that you will be enjoying a beautiful newly surfaced wall. They tell you this because IT IS MESSY, and, as someone kindly posted on FB: a true test to your marriage.

I did it by myself, so my marriage is fine.

Let’s backtrack a few months… 

My sister and brother-in-law were visiting from Brazil, and I thought that would be a perfect excuse to “finish” the yet-to-be-finished guest bedroom. I won’t go in detail about how that room came to be, but to make a long story short, out of the disaster of a basement flood, I decided to add colour to my oh-so-beige house and painted the guest room room Tiffany blue. When I say Tiffany blue, that is exactly what I mean, like Tiffany & Co blue box (as in Benjamin Moore Caribe Green 2042-50). I had this whole idea that it would be this beautiful room that would keep some precious jewels… sigh…

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Instead it was ‘meh’, unfinished, like so

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That’s when the idea of a wallpaper headboard came about. Well, the idea was actually to upholster a headboard, but I was too lazy to go look for fabric didn’t find any fabric I feel in love with, and I had this roll of wallpaper around. I went into full blown DIY mode, went to Rona - even the part with all the lumber and stuff – ha! Got myself these Styrofoam boards.  

Will wallpaper stick to it, you might ask? Don’t know, I guess we’ll see.

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After being warned yet again that it would be messy, I tackled the project.

Guess what?  IT WAS MESSY!!!  Boy, I thought about crying a few time throughout. I don’t think it actually took very long after all, but man the process was painful.  The seams are THE.WORST.EVER.  Seriously people; don’t wallpaper by yourselves, have someone around you can yell at.

Well, after all the pain and misery, this is the finished product. I must say, I don’t hate it. It is a lot better than it was before.

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And it also made me want to hang some art up on the wall…

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With everything else done, I was completely unhappy with the itty bitty lamps I had in there.  I went on kiiji and found The. Most. Amazing. Lamps…

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This room is so me now!

I may need to convince my husband to move into the basement with me… or not (hahaha!)

>>> Posted by Marilena <<<