From Blah to Wow

Charming and tiny kitchen--if this can work, anything can.

Storage and painting fix everything

Kitchens in urban Toronto apartments are uninspiring at best. Tiny, narrow and drab you wonder how you can whip up a spicy penne sausage dish in such a hideous, tiny and ugly kitchen. I fear the bathroom and kitchen will be the hardest to work with. I cannot picture a beautiful kitchen when dealing with ugly, outdated appliances, counters and floor space. But there is always hope!

The average Toronto kitchen

What I would do with this drab kitchen is put down a colorful mat with chocolates and yellows, maybe some red in there. I would paint the boring walls a deep gray and add some post-Impressionist art on the wall adjacent to the sink and paint those forlorn cabinets ivory or something. I would add red curtains to the tiny window and add a wall pantry shelf adjacent to the sink with spices, olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars and some wine. Voila!

Small but functional, well decorated kitchen

Where Do I Start?

Seeing overwhelmingly talented architects show off their homes makes it increasingly difficult to measure up, but I often wonder where these people start. When I start looking for sunglasses, I go for the most unique, ugliest pair and I truly fall head-over-heels in them despite everyone else's disgust. To me, they aren't ugly and that is the take I'm going to adopt to my designing. I am going to go with the ugliest, weirdest crap and spin it into something beautiful.

This suede leather PU sectional sofa and ottoman is only $399 from this factory place with free delivery in Toronto. The reason I like this couch is because of it's earthy tones. I feel a lot of Mother Africa here, something I can build on with tribal accents and woody\natural materials. I like nature and this sofa personifies nature. I call it the Mother Africa couch and it's my #1 choice.
This is the modern piece that my fiancee can enjoy. She won't have to worry about sitting on something old and uncomfortable. But then there's this....

Not sure what I'd do with it yet, whether its a bedroom chair or a comfy chair for an extra guest in the living-room but I like it....alot. I think it's too much gold in our living-room though. Sigh.