Well, we're all still at home… so, who else has been starting to go a little nutty, stuck in quarantine, and has started daydreaming of what they'd want to change?? Has anyone else imagined renovations? Just new paint, or walls being removed in your mind? Oh, perhaps removing ALL the walls? Oh, I can see that it might be time for me to go outside for a bit!

I was mostly joking about removing all the walls, but back in 1949 Philip Johnson designed his famous "Glass House" in New Canaan, Connecticut where he basically did just that. He designed this house for himself... maybe he'd been self-isolating for too long before he started the design.

Here's another fun project. It was built in 2009, designed by Swatt Miers from San Francisco, called the Tea Houses. Like Johnson's Glass House, they also replaced most of the exterior walls with glass, much of which opens completely on the back. Love it!

Well, anyway, I would keep more walls than these houses, but I've been wanting to change my house for years now, way before we started self-isolating. And being here all day, every day, isn't helping!

I designed my house 16 years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been so long! I pretended that my wife was a client; I interviewed her and designed the home specifically for her, like I do for all my clients. She admittedly didn’t take the initial design interview as seriously as I tried to make it, but fortunately I know her pretty well and was able to fill in the gaps. The result was that she absolutely loves our little home, and even though I’ve designed so many houses that have been so much fun, each one my new favorite at the time, I can’t convince her to move from her little custom home. Oh, I would have so much fun designing something new for us, but I love her much more than I’d love to move, so what can I do? Shelter in place for the long term, I guess!

Since I’m staying, if I were to renovate only one part of the house, it would surely be the kitchen. It’s not a particularly large space, but I’ve learned a few tricks over the years to really take advantage of even smaller spaces so that they not only look beautiful, but that they function really well, too. And if that’s where I’d start on my own house, it’s not surprising that a number of questions I received after my first blog were to do with kitchens.

Given today’s lifestyle, the kitchen tends to be the most important space in the home for most people. It’s not only the area for cooking and cleaning, but it tends to become a gathering place for family and friends when entertaining. Before the days of online schooling for the kids, homework was often done in the Kitchen (or the adjacent Breakfast Nook). Even for people who don’t like to cook, the kitchen is often still a major showpiece. It’s the heart of the home.

I had a few questions this week about colors for the kitchen cabinets. Refinishing the cabinets can be a pretty cost-effective way to bring a well-loved kitchen back to life, and it can have a dramatic impact on the feeling of the space. Kitchens in most of the houses I design typically cost well over $1,000 per foot for cabinets, some have been closer to double that even, but even on a tighter budget replacing cabinets with something like IKEA can still pretty quickly cost over $500 per lineal foot by the time you add the cost of countertops and installation. Cabinetry is typically among the most costly parts of any project, regardless of budget. Whereas a really good quality painter could refinish a painted cabinet for as little as $100 per lineal foot. And a good painter can be a magician!

I’m admittedly not an expert on colors for kitchen cabinets, although I certainly have my opinions. A few times over the years I have taken finished photos in black and white to hide the colors that someone chose. But fortunately that’s pretty uncommon! I work with some amazing interior designers that have helped clients use my design as a canvas to finish creating really beautiful works of art. My focus is generally on the overall look of the kitchen, its design, layout, storage, and function, it’s lighting, views in and out, and how it relates to (and flows with) the rest of the home. If those things aren’t carefully considered and planned, final colors and fixtures alone aren’t likely to save it.

I’ll always remember a project I did in university a number of years ago. I’d spent countless hours agonizing over every detail on a rendering for a building I’d designed. Classmates made a big deal about it, considering it to be the best of the class… so many so that it probably went to my head a little. So I was genuinely surprised when I didn’t receive the top marks for it that I’d become convinced I deserved. After some grumbling to myself, I finally decided to approach the professor to question him as to why my grade hadn’t been better, and to see what more he was looking for from me. His reply has consistently influenced how I think of design ever since.

"Tom," he said, "if you walked down the street and found a piece of dog [excrement]," (I'm editing here to keep my blog G-rated), "and if you did an absolutely perfect rendering of it… at the end of the day, it's still just a piece of [excrement]". He agreed that my drawing was probably the best rendering in the class. But that it really didn't matter if the actual design was bad.

On the homes I design, of course I want the finished product to be beautiful. But I foremost want to ensure that its very design assures proper function, that square footage is properly used and materials aren’t wasted. I want my designs to be more than just a “perfect rendering”.

That said, since color was on my mind this week, I’ve attached some photos of some kitchens from both my past work and from other architecture firms that I love. Hope you enjoy!

If you have any comments or questions about your home (current or future), don't hesitate to let me know!

South Calgary Gem, by Marre Design Group

Excelsior Bayside Cottage, by Tea2 Architects

Minnetonka Single Style, by Tea2 Architects

Downsview Kitchens, Design by Design Galleria

Bridgeland Jewel Box, Marre Design Group