Real Projects

This young urban couple spent a year planning for their ultimate kitchen and main living area renovation. They transformed a worn and drab downtown Vancouver apartment into a modern and functional space that they love. At total of 800 square feet was completely remodeled including the kitchen, entranceway, living room and bathroom. See all photos of this renovation in the Project Gallery

Before

The previous kitchen counter was worn, had burn marks and was peeling. The cabinets were in poor condition and the main kitchen wall had spray marks from food and water. Most of the flooring was old terracotta tiles that were chipped and did not appeal to the current owner's style.

After

A modern, spacious decor, with a well defined kitchen and living area that showcases the latest in design materials and paint colors.

The Project Plan & Budget

What were your goals and priorities for the new space?

We wanted a large bar area for socializing and casual eating as an alternative to our dining room table. We also wanted a stylish, modern kitchen with lots of counter space, a bigger fridge, additional storage and a hot accurate oven!

What did you remodel?

We demolished the existing kitchen and closet/pantry area, including the removal of surrounding walls. We created a new pantry area configuration that had 3 doors instead of 2. We installed custom cabinets and got new counters, appliances and a glass tile backsplash. Original flooring was replaced with hardwood and tile and the entire space got re-painted.

How did you create more storage space?

We extended the kitchen bar, created a more defined pantry area, got a much larger fridge and added a 'magic' kitchen corner cabinet with a basket pullout for pots and pans.

How did you plan your project?

When we first bought our apartment we knew we wanted to renovate. We immediately started to save and look for ideas and inspirations and a year later we hired a designer. The entire renovation took about a year to complete with most of the time spent waiting for a designer, planning with the designer and waiting for contractor and suppliers. The actual construction only took approximately 6 weeks.

Did you create a budget?

We created an initial budget but ended up spending 1.5 times our estimate. The additional costs were mostly due to our selection of higher-end materials, and the custom cabinets were more expensive than we expected. The granite counters also ended up being double the initial estimates because of the required cuts and curve in the bar. Once the contractor determined a revised budget we ended up being right on that.

What was your budget breakdown?

In the end it was 65% materials, 35% labour and 5% of the total project went to designer services.

The Finishing Details

Paint Colors:

Most of walls were painted with Benjamin Moore, Classic Grey and the feature wall in the dining room was Benjamin Moore, Autumn Cover.

Flooring:

In the kitchen, bathroom and entranceway we used 12"X24" Perlato taupe porcelain tiles. In the living room and dining room we used 5" wide plank, engineered walnut hardwood. 1" unglazed porcelain mosaic tiles were used to transition between the two different kinds of flooring and all surrounding baseboards were 5".

Kitchen Materials & Appliances:

• Black polished granite counters with a built-up edge in polished pencil edge finish
• 2X2 glass tile backsplash
• Custom cabinets with flat panel, wood veneer maple in old Mexico finish
• Appliances were all Kitchen Aid stainless steel
• Under mount large and small stainless steel sinks

Bathroom:

Wall tile was cream soda mosaic tile

Lighting:

In the kitchen we used under the cabinet puck lights, four ceiling puck lights plus two pendant lamps over the bar with satin nickel finish and 4.5"X.5" amber globes. In the entrance hallway we also used puck lighting.

Ideas & Advice

What were your sources of inspiration?

HGTV design shows, local condo showhomes, magazine photos (but often was hard to find good modern kitchen samples).

How did you find your resources and suppliers?

We liked the work of a designer who did our friend's place. This designer was not available for our project, however, he was able to recommend designers who had similar design sensibilities. Our interior designers were then able to recommend our contractor and dealt with finding the rest of our suppliers. Overall, I have to say we were quite happy with the quality of supplies and the craftsmanship.

• Interior Design - Simple Interior Design. Our designers were Kelly Deck, host of HGTV's "Take it outside" and Sandra McIntyre, a kitchen guru now at her own design firm, Standard Design.
• Contractor - Reece Terris of Terris Construction

What advice would you give to others planning a similar project?

For a project of this size and expense, we totally recommend that you get a designer. We also found everything took a lot longer than we had expected because our designers and contractors were so busy. This can be a total inconvenience when you are renovating a smaller place because of the lack of alternative living space.

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See more photos of this renovation in the Project Gallery

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