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HOW TO CUSTOMIZE AN IKEA KITCHEN | LESSONS FROM THE DESIGN TEAM AT STYLE AT HOME

If there’s one thing I would say the amazing design team at Style At Home taught us at this year’s Interior Design Show, it’s that Paris really does hold all the secrets to a chic and gracious way of living. Walking into their award-winning customized IKEA kitchen booth felt like being transported into a grand French kitchen, where the boulangerie and bistro were both right at home. So today, I’m sharing a few design lessons we can take from Style At Home‘s beautifully customized space.

LESSON ONE: TAKE YOUR CUES FROM PARIS

Ask anyone where they want to travel and Paris is most likely near the top of their list. We’ve only been a couple of times and can’t wait to go back. Our dream? A summer in Paris with our kids. But in the meantime, why not bring Paris home?

From the bicyclette suspended over the island to the large, metal-framed window to the hexagon concrete tile floors to {my favourite} the Fornasetti Nuvole wallpaper from Cole & Son, the touches of European wanderlust are everywhere in this kitchen. I feel both at home and compelled to travel all in one grand gesture, and that’s exactly how I want to feel in my own inspired space. I love the sense of playfulness and sophistication so easily married in this kitchen. Ça c’est parfait!

LESSON TWO: INTEGRATE AND CUSTOMIZE

Image via @designmaze_tim on Instagram – go follow him!

Integrating a custom-designed built-in banquette can make a kitchen and eating area feel larger and more functional. Rather than cutting kitchen cabinets short or living with the limitations of how many chairs will fit into a space, create more generous seating while giving the eye a simple focal point by designing a long and luxurious banquette. Not only will this maximize your space, but it’s also the perfect spot to lounge together and soak up some sun with your loved ones over a relaxed Saturday morning brunch!

LESSON THREE: USE VINTAGE BRASS ACCENTS + ARTFUL FINISHES

One of the first details that made me bite my lip was the antique brass rail installed along the front edge of the countertops on both the range side and the sink side of the kitchen. Not only does this conjure images of a busy French bistro in all its glory, it’s as practical as it is pretty, allowing you to have a towel at the ready to wipe up hands and messes at any moment. After all, real cooks make real messes, n’est çe pas?

I also adore how the design team at Style At Home chose to create an artful gallery wall of antique mirrors around the range hood. The curated sensibility adds a charm and whimsy that make a brand new kitchen feel like it might have been there for decades. Brilliant.

LESSON FOUR: USE JUXTAPOSITION TO MAKE EVERY ELEMENT SHINE

There were a lot of genius moves in this kitchen. One of them was to break up the dramatic full-height pantry wall with a built-in servery. Not only does it provide a practical nook for serving drinks to guests and cutting croissants for breakfast, but it also creates a balancing focal point on the wall opposite the range. The antiqued mirrored panels echo the statement made by the collection of mirrors installed around the range hood while also creating a sense of expansiveness and history in the kitchen. The crystal chandelier also nods at history and adds the feminine charm of a French coquette.

I don’t know about you, but I could move in at a moment’s notice – French press in hand – and I can assure you I would never want to leave. Many thanks to the team at Style At Home for the fuel to dream of bringing a bit more of Paris home again.

xo
s.

*All images via IKEA Canada except where noted.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|March 4th, 2015|1 Comment

4 Tips For Choosing The Right High Chair

When it comes to buying baby gear, I hear this question a lot: Do I really have to give up my design-loving ways to get something functional that I can afford?

The great news is, the answer is “No way!”

Let me show you why we love our Nuna Zaaz high chair by way of my 4 Top Tips For Choosing The Right High Chair.

TATE PULLED UP TO THE TABLE IN HIS NUNA ZAAZ, TRAY REMOVED

TIP ONE: FLEXIBILITY

Gone are the days when a piece of furniture could get away with doing one limited job for a short season of time. These days, we expect baby furniture to grow with our children throughout as many stages of development as possible. Here are three keys to finding a piece that will be flexible enough to meet your needs for several years:

1. Adjustable straps. Look for a 5-point harness that allows you to forego the over-the-shoulder straps as your babe gets bigger. Most kiddos don’t like being totally restricted as they get older but still need some help remembering to stay on their bum.

2. Removable parts, especially the tray and tray table support. Being able to remove these parts of the chair allows you to pull your little one up to the table as they get older, like in the happy photos of Little Man Tate at the top of this post. Tucking that chair in at their place at the table makes them feel like they are a part of the conversation rather than stuck off to the side in a clunky chair. This kind of family connectedness is what dinnertime is all about!

3. Check out this video to see how easy it is to adjust the height of this high chair. Love this feature!

TIP TWO: WIPE-ABILITY

1. Removable parts (yep, again!). This is especially important when cleaning up the shrapnel from a post-meal foodtastrophe. No, your baby may not have intended to drop a food bomb on basically everything within a 5 foot radius, but they still did it. It’s just a thing babies do to remind you of how much you love them, because if you didn’t you wouldn’t actually be willing to clean up after them every. single. day. But who’s to say love can’t be efficient? You don’t want to spend your life with a toothbrush trying to clean out all the nooks and crannies and nether regions of some complicated chair. Being able to pull the chair apart easily is essential to making this job an easy one.

2. All surfaces must be made of materials that are easily wiped down. Just say no to upholstered chairs of any kind! You don’t want anything you have to scrub at when they squish all the blackberries on their tray and shove at least 50% down into their seat. You want surfaces where a bit of water and a quick swipe will get the job done. The Nuna Zaaz is amazing this way – totally impervious to stains!

TIP THREE: MOVABILITY

Movability really comes down to two things:

1. Scale. This may seem like a small detail, but the scale or footprint of the chair will determine how easily it will tuck into a corner or under the table. When your babe isn’t pulling up to the table yet, you don’t want their high chair to take over your dining space, and when they are, you don’t want it to occupy more than an average seat space.

2. Good glides on the legs. Rubber stoppers just leave marks on the floor and make moving it around a total pain in the you-know-what.

TIP FOUR: DESIGN SAVVY

Last but certainly not least, does the style work with your décor? For me that’s in large part about choosing something with a subtle colour palette. I went with the Almond colour for my Nuna Zaaz because it’s subtle and blends in with all the wood tones in my house.

From its modern simplicity to its highly functional, flexible adjust-as-they-grow design, we are loving our Nuna Zaaz! It truly fits my philosophy of buy less, buy better. Definitely a designer-approved high chair for our little foodie and yours. For all my fellow Canadian mamas, you can pick one up right here and you can get more details on the full Nuna line here.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|February 23rd, 2015|0 Comments

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE AN IKEA KITCHEN | DESIGN LESSONS FROM THE TEAM AT CANADIAN HOUSE & HOME MAGAZINE

Photo via Global News

As a designer, I head to the Interior Design Show Trade Day every year for three main reasons:

ONE to see what new products and innovations are being introduced, TWO to get inspired, and THREE to connect with really great people in my industry.

This year, to my pleasant surprise, I found all three needs met in one place at House & Home‘s IKEA kitchen display. Setting the creative team at Canadian House & Home Magazine to the design challenge of customizing an IKEA kitchen – alongside the team at Style At Home who also designed a beautiful space – was a brilliant way for IKEA to introduce their new Sektion line of kitchen cabinetry to the Canadian market.

INNOVATION IS ON THE INSIDE

The new line is a huge move for IKEA in transitioning away from their popular Akurum line of kitchen cabinetry. From the little that I was able to see past the throngs of people in the booth, it’s the “guts” of the Sektion line that make it most exciting, with lots of highly customizable options and extremely functional inserts. {I caught a glimpse of a drawer with a tiered sliding spice rack in it that was truly fab!} The new door profiles and colour options are very current and on-trend with what’s happening in kitchen design right now.

Unfortunately for those who already have an Akurum kitchen, it appears as though the dimensions of the two lines are different, so you won’t be able to retrofit your Akurum with these enviable Sektion upgrades without a total kitchen redo. That said, they are still honouring their amazing 25 year warranty on the Akurum, so all is not lost.

The House & Home kitchen really felt like an English fitted kitchen to me, with an abundance of design details to surprise and delight. In addition to the herringbone wood floors you can see in the photo above {they had me at herringbone!}, they showcased a few of my favourite timeless design trends in this beautiful space. Take a peek at some of the design lessons we can learn from Suzanne Dimma and Sarah Harthill – the senior designers leading the team on this kitchen design on behalf of Canadian House & Home Magazine.

LESSON ONE: CREATE ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST

Image via Margot Austin on Pinterest

Let’s be honest, turning a basic convention-style booth into a quietly luxurious custom fitted kitchen is not for the faint of heart. Like a real home renovation or a new build, the task requires heaps of design vision and the courage to be unique. The first thing I loved is the way Suzanne and Sarah made the kitchen feel totally custom with the use of paneling.

Paneling, as I’m sure you know, is one of my timeless favourites. In fact, there are very few design projects I’ve done over the years that have not wound up with paneling in at least one room of the house. Why? It adds instant character and the kind of architectural interest that grounds the space and gives it a sense of history. Good bones, as we say. Always start with good bones.

The way Suzanne and Sarah integrated the simple, modern, box-style range hood into the paneling and wrapped the paneling around the room is brilliant. It truly connects both sides of the kitchen with the pantry that flanks the end wall, and it complements the raised paneling on the IKEA cabinetry Suzanne and Sarah chose without feeling too “matchy matchy.”

LESSON TWO: PLAY WITH PATTERN + COLOUR

If I could have secretly stuffed this stunning Martyn Lawrence Bullard for Ann Sacks tile into my handbag to use in my yet-to-be-reno’d laundry room without creating a scene, I would have done it in a heartbeat. Delicious. I love how this tile creates a sense of history while being extremely current. Think Paris bistro floors or an English hand-painted backsplash.

I also love the dove grey cabinets Suzanne and Sarah chose {this door style is called Bodbyn and will be available February 2nd} and how they contrasted the softness of the grey with the deep peacock colour on the paneling and range hood. The art of the mix is as much about creative contrast as it is about a mix of materials.

LESSON THREE: CREATE MOMENTS of DISCOVERY

Needless to say, my photo does not do this stunning little pantry justice. Mark my words, though. When the professional photos are released, people are going to be pinning the you-know-what out of this little space on Pinterest. Beyond the charming sense of organization {which makes me want to hire Suzanne and Sarah just to bring that kind of zen into my own real-life-with-kids…even if only in my pantry! It would become my little in-home European retreat…}, it’s the Peacock Garden wallpaper by Zoffany and the iron-framed French doors with egg-shaped brass knobs that make this pantry sing. I mean, who expects to see such a fantasy-world-come-to-life in the pantry? It’s delightfully unexpected. This kind of “discovery moment” as I like to call it makes you bite your lip and inhale quickly when you come upon it. Just the sort of thing to make a kitchen feel entirely bespoke and utterly special.

{And I was actually kind of serious about the pantry retreat thing. I can totally see myself hiding away and sipping tea in here whilst imagining myself on a European vacation. This is either a seriously sad statement about my need for a vacation or an incredible credit to my vivid imagination.}

You’ll have to wait for this kitchen to be featured in the magazine to see all of the delicious details that were so thoughtfully designed in this space. Watch for it in an upcoming issue of House & Home, where no doubt the source guide and the gorgeous photos will be worth the wait.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 28th, 2015|7 Comments