While discussing our current renovation project the other day, a friend said to me, "Renovating is your raison d'être." It took me aback because I don't believe that's so. But it did get me thinking.
Renovating other people's homes is what I do. I think it's natural there be some spillover into my home life. It's like the professional chef who you'd expect to be choosy about the food he buys and the tools used to create family meals. Or the carpenter whose home is more likely to showcase beautiful woods and mouldings than poor-quality veneers.
I don't renovate my homes simply for the sake of renovating. Who would subject themselves to all that dust, disruption and debt for no good reason? I renovate because I refuse to let other people's choices — those of former owners or builders — dictate how I live. If it weren't an issue, we'd still be living with a purple kitchen sans upper cabinets or a full-size fridge.
I renovate because, like every other designer I know, I have a built-in need to mould my spaces, to make our home support our family's lifestyle and reflect who we are. Hence the renovation project that sparked my friend's comment and has been the subject of my latest reno diary.
Engineered hardwood flooring has been installed on the second floor. (ELIZABETH RAND-WATKINSON)
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To wit, the engineered hardwood flooring installation on the second floor is finished and looks great. While I'm not a huge fan of oak, the stain on this oak is dark enough and so rich that the grain isn't prominent.
Now that the install is complete and furniture has been moved back into place, the new floor looks like it's always been there.
The walls, bead board wainscot, and ceiling in hubby John's bathroom have been painted, the shower has been installed and is working beautifully, and John is busy refinishing his teak vanity with black melamine paint.
I've chosen the colours for my bathroom and found new black ceramic pulls for my vanity. Flooring installation — slate in his bathroom, ceramic tile in mine — has been delayed until Dec. 17, so we're in a lull until then, which just gives me more time to grouse about my friend's comment.
In first-year design school, we were subjected to psychological testing to gauge the level of control each of us needed over our own environments. Most of us students scored off the chart into "control freak" territory. It's a trait known to run rampant in people who choose design as a profession, but I've met just as many non-designers who share this characteristic, and thank goodness for them.
If we were all like my friend, whose home still sports builder's white walls after almost a decade (which makes me itch to attack them with a paint roller), I'd be out of business.
No worries there, though. I can't foresee a shortage of control freaks like me. And even if there suddenly were, I'd be busy indulging my so-called "raison d'être." Come to think of it, my friend may have a point. I love the new upstairs floor so much I'm having visions of redoing the rest of the house in the same finish. Dust, disruption and debt? Bring it on.\
RENOVATION PALETTE
Master suite, study, hall
- Engineered oak flooring from Home Depot, stained "Toffee."
John's bathroom
- Slate floor tiles in "Multi-brown" (Home Depot);
- Wainscot and trim in Para Paints' "Marble white" (P694-4);
- Walls in Benjamin Moore's "Metropolis" (CC-546);
- Ceiling in Benjamin Moore's "Titanium" (OC-49L);
- New white fixtures by Maax and American Standard;
- Black vanity and storage cabinet.
My bathroom
- Ivory and black ceramic floor tile (Home Depot);
- Accent walls in Benjamin Moore's "Amethyst shadow" (CC-930);
- Secondary accent wall and ceiling in Benjamin Moore's "Excalibur gray" (2118-50);
- Remaining walls in Benjamin Moore's "Whirlpool" (CC-910);
- Trim in Para Paints' "Marble white" (P694-4);
- New white fixtures by Kohler and American Standard;
- Existing tub and shower in mauve-grey, black vanity, medicine and storage cabinets; mirrored antique chest.
