/Cole and Son

Update 5 | Project Ugly Duckling

It’s been awhile since I’ve given an update on the progress in the bathroom! Two reasons for that: ONE, we were lost in the land of drywall dust for quite some time and TWO: Graham has been traveling like a madman and barely home the last month, so progress has been slow. That said, we are nearly at the stage where the wallpaper can finally be installed!! Yippee!! I cannot wait to see this etched gorgeousness up on the walls.

Baseboards and crown are currently being installed by my man. Once they are painted, the wallpaper can finally shine in all its glory, and then this beauty can find its home floating on the wall of clouds.

I chose a natural Pau Ferro {unstained} for this vanity. I love all the movement and character in the grain. It’s dashingly handsome and all kinds of pretty all at the same time.

I’m pleased as punch at the custom drawers on the vanity which will make the most of the space available, jogging around the p-trap elegantly and maximizing the rest of the available drawer space. The top drawer does the same, so this elegantly simple vanity will offer a ton of practical storage while looking sleek and minimalist.

Lastly, the solid form sink and counter combo are sleek and simple and modern and will make cleaning up a breeze. I can’t wait to see this vanity floating on that wall! Cantilevered pieces are one of my favourite cabinet designs, and this will float 8-10″ off the floor for a weightless effect that will compliment the clouds perfectly. It should be visual poetry!

That’s it for now! There’s a small surprise coming in the hallway that connects the bathroom to the bedroom, and then there’s the bedroom itself…aka Project Debonaire Young Sir. Drywall is done there as well, so once this bathroom is finished it will be on to the to-do list for that space. Can’t wait to see it transformed! It’s going to be awesome.

xo
s.

By |August 27th, 2013|0 Comments

An Update for Project Ugly Duckling {including some VERY good news!}

I received a very, very happy phone call last week and it has been all I could do to keep the news of it under my hat until now. As it would happen, the lovely ladies at Kravet Canada follow my blog and read last Tuesday’s post about my love affair with Fornasetti’s Nuvole wallpaper.

This may feel a bit like a genealogy for a moment, but Fornasetti wallpapers are made by Cole and Son, and Cole and Son is distributed by Kravet. It’s one big happy designer family with many different personalities and aesthetics represented in the clan.

Well, last Wednesday I received an unexpected call from Sonia at Kravet {as a side note, this woman has the most perfectly shaped eyebrows you’ve ever seen…seriously…I have confessed my eyebrow envy to her many a time}. To my utter amazement and total delight, Cole and Son has decided to sponsor the wallpaper!!! Eeeeeee!!! I’m pretty much covered in bruises from pinching myself since I got Sonia’s delightful call and cannot WAIT to get this stunning, statement-making paper installed! Oh happy day!!!

The truth is, we are just at the drywall stage, repairing the walls now that the electrical has been done, and I’m waiting for the mudder and taper to fit us into his schedule. {Mudding and taping is the ONE job Graham won’t do – he values his sanity too much. Read: mudding and taping is the messiest, most tedious, WORST job in a reno!} Once the mudding and taping are done, Graham will get the trim up and we’ll paint the trim and crown and ceiling, etc…and THEN the wallpaper can go up! So I have to take my patience pill for now and wait a couple of weeks for the gorgeousness to be revealed to you all. Things are always much slower when you do the work yourself, but gratifying too {and of course, WAY cheaper}.

Next on my to-do list is lighting, so I’ll update you with that next week as we keep plugging away on the beautification of Project Ugly Duckling. She’s still more duckling than swan right now, but I can visualize her transformation and am rather giddy at the anticipation of the reveal!

Happy Thursday!

xo
s.

By |June 27th, 2013|3 Comments

An Update on Project Ugly Duckling + Some Wallpaper Love

It’s time for an update, and I am SO EXCITED! My amazing husband has been working hard to lay this rather complicated floor for me. Let’s just say, this is an installation that even my professional tile installers would moan about, and Graham didn’t so much as winge. I am BEYOND impressed at how successfully he passed this test of patience.

He is currently working on the electrical so the best I can show you right now are these photos taken with the natural light available on a really rainy day, but I think you’ll agree, the new floor is SPECTACULAR! I am beyond in LOVE with it and still can’t believe I found these tiles for $3.50 a square foot. Steal of the century! The statement this floor makes as soon as you open the door to this hallway makes me SO happy. Stylish, sophisticated, subtle in its striation…simply STUNNING! 

With the vanity on order, I’m currently turning my attention to what to do with the walls. Given all the wallpaper that once adorned this space, it seems only fitting to consider an homage of some sort. The first option to grab my attention and make my heart skip a beat is this absolute STUNNER: Nuvole from Fornasetti made by Cole and Son.

I am almost as obsessed with clouds as I am with all things herringbone and chevron, and I simply adore the look of an antique etching accomplished with this gorgeous, hand-drawn paper. How poetic would it be to enter a bathroom and find oneself enveloped in clouds? The only catch? I might have to sell my first born just to paper the bathroom, and given that this bathroom is in fact for HIM…well…seems a titch counterproductive.
{Image via Elle Decor}

Still, Fornasetti has my head even more “stuck in the clouds” than it ever was with this amazing paper. Much to consider…

For the sake of having a less expensive option to weigh on the scales of design, I searched out and found this rather whimsical and charming paper from UK-based illustrator Abigail Edwards.

I love the simplicity and playfulness of Abigail’s hand-drawn illustration, and I am warmed by the idea of feeling adrift on a sea of dreams in this little bathroom – a sweet escape in which the imagination could journey to many a land. Our son is in fact a sailor, so there is something that feels rather apropos about this one.

The third option, of course, would be no wallpaper at all, and my imagination is playing with the options for what I could do to create interest on the walls, complimenting the stunning floors while not competing with their texture and style statement.

What do you think? Do you have a favourite wallpaper between the two? And could we all just take a moment to celebrate – nay APPLAUD with a standing ovation – my superstar husband for the DIY floor installation of the year?  Still so impressed with his mad skills. I am a very lucky girl to have married the son of a builder man – he’s a software sales superstar by day and a DIY champion by night. Colour me grateful!

xo
s.

By |June 18th, 2013|3 Comments