cky 3 Monthy Interior Design Tips - August : The Perfect Kitchen

3 Tips for designing the perfect contemporary kitchen :

1] Cabinet Height

Build your upper kitchen cabinets up to the ceiling [or bulkhead as the case may be] :

If you don't, you will likely get a deep dark shadow,  more visual "clutter" not to mention an area for dust to collect as seen here :

2]  Layered Lighting

Make sure you have layered lighting in your kitchen for both tasks and ambiance

For proper implementation of a kitchen lightning design, there are four kinds of lights that you can use.
These are the task, accent, ambient and decorative lighting.
The task lighting focuses on making the kitchen a working one. This is the most appropriate lightning that lets you see your sharp knife as you prepare food. Task lighting is usually situated between the work surface and the person running the kitchen.
The accent lighting, as its name denotes, accentuates the whole kitchen. It adds dimension and depth to the whole space. Accent lighting is usually low voltage. An example of accent lighting are the fixtures placed underside cabinets to spotlight back splash and counter top materials.
The third kind of kitchen lighting design is the ambient lighting. This kind of kitchen lighting can immediately improve your kitchen look. Make sure your have enough recessed lighting to create a soft yet warm glow that soften shadows.
The last type of kitchen lighting design is the decorative lighting (pendants above an island for instance). Decorative lighting adds sparkle to your kitchen but make sure not to overdo it. It can make your space look overdone and cluttered.

3] Consider Your Finishes

Remember that high gloss finishes on cabinets and counter tops will show every finger print for heavy traffic kitchens. If you are a childless couple who love to clean, go for this modern and sexy look!

If you have children and spend a lot of time in your kitchen consider a honed granite or quartz counter top finish and satin finished cabinets, rather than high gloss, for less maintenance.

Blogatchlater!

Balcony and Terrace Design and Landscaping

Living in an apartment or high rise condominium doesn't mean you can't enjoy the beauty and serenity of a garden. Regardless of size, any balcony can be transformed into an outdoor paradise to receive your friends and rest.

Below is a urban house rooftop garden design with contemporary style and modern minimalist furniture. This design is a collaborative effort by UK-based BlueSky Landscapes, Clair Strong Interior Styling and Simon Morray-Jones Architects.

 

I love this modern, clean contemporary Conmoto Muro outdoor fireplace, designed by Sebastian David Buscher from glass fibre reinforced concrete, fine stainless steel and glass.  This minimalist fireplace burns liquid bio-alcohol and is perfect for any outdoor location. You can set it up on your patio or balcony, even mount to the wall. While this outdoor fireplace is purely decorative, it does generate close to 1 kW of heat.

Choosing the correct lighting for a balcony garden depends on the size of the balcony and the surroundings, such as neighbors. In order to best show off the flowers and other plants in your garden, choose floor-track lighting or small, well-placed spot lights in assorted colors. If you prefer overall balcony lighting, a palm blade ceiling fan light or mosaic lamps would be ideal. To be respectful of close neighbors, keep the lighting soft.

Vertical gardening are space saving, low maintenance and environmentally friendly. Many vertical garden system features a series of modular panels – containing a lightweight soil-less growing media in which a wide variety of plant species grow.

Creating a beautiful balcony garden is a must for any home or apartment with a balcony. A designer can help you create a pleasant atmosphere among the plants, pots, and some furniture but successful balcony gardening is also about choosing the right plants for the position so it is always a good idea to hire a landscaping / gardening company such as Yards Unlimited, who we love for their customer service and expertise. 

So whether you rent or own and live in the city or suburbs, your balcony can provide the perfect transition between the indoors and the wilderness, and add a marvelous architectural element to your space.

Hope this has been inspiring. Now go have fun!

Love your home inside and out!

Spring is here. It’s time to design your outdoor room !

We believe Interior design and landscaping are a major part of the overall package of how a house looks and feels. Your backyard and garden is a very special place. If you take the time to nurture it, it can be a real refuge where you can escape the pressure of modern day life. Many do not spend enough time in planning it and it becomes an impersonal and cold place – something that needs to be mowed or weeded to stop it getting out of hand rather than a haven of peace.

Much of it is in the planning and if you can afford it, it we highly recommended you invest in professionals who offer landscaping. On that note: cky design group is very excited to announce a new partner in home design Yards Unlimited, Ottawa’s award-winning landscaper, http://www.yardsunlimited.com/html/about_us.cfm

A few examples of their beautiful work.

Aim to bring your home’s interior style, your taste in furniture and your home's colour palette to your outdoor!

Stay tuned for more blogs on outdoor furnishings and balcony and roof top landscaping. 

10 Top Drawings to Communicate Design Concepts

aka a picture is worth 1,000 words

Did you see the Mike Myers skit he did on Saturday Night Live ? - SIMON - "you know my name is Simon, and I love to do some drawerings".....

OK, enough with the silliness. Seriously, at cky design group, we love to draw. It is our number one way to communicate our ideas with you, our clients, whether the drawings are computer generated or hand drawn. Consider these types of drawings we do for various interior design projects :

1] SKETCH - a loose, simple drawing used to communicate ideas quickly; aka napkin drawing

2] IMAGE BOARD - a design collage of the "look and feel" of the project; helps narrow down the myriad of choices to be made; can be made by us [cky] or you or both of us...we love to collaborate.

2] FLOOR PLAN - the essential drawing for all interior design projects; the main tool used to plan the space and determine the layout based on use/function of the space; the beginnings of the construction drawings

3] ELEVATION - also referred to as " Front, Top, North, South, East, or West View"; this drawing shows a wall [OR side of a product like a sofa or building] drawn to scale with all its existing features [e.g. switches, ceiling height, doors and windows, etc.]. It can be a WORKING DRAWING or a RENDERING [see below].

4] WORKING DRAWING or CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS - this is what we give our contractors, in order to obtain a quote. Once the contract is signed, these drawings along with product specifications form part of the contract

5] SHOP DRAWING - usually this is a drawing produced by a fabricator for us [cky], to confirm how the cabinet, mirror, furniture or other custom item will be made

6] RENDERINGS - realistic images of what your project will look like, from different vantage points and using different drawing techniques. These drawings are quite technical and can be difficult/time consuming to produce accurately. There are companies who specialize in producing them and charge $100's to $1,000's. Here is a synopsis of the different type of renderings :

a] 1 POINT PERSPECTIVE - HAND DRAWING

b] 2 POINT PERSPECTIVE - WIRE-FRAME

c] 2 POINT PERSPECTIVE - COMPUTER DRAWN

d] BIRD'S EYE PERSPECTIVE - COMPUTER DRAWN

e] AXONOMETRIC PROJECTION - one of the sexiest drawings and a great way to illustrate space planning and form. Click to see the Wikipedia entry

f] ELEVATION & 2 POINT PERSPECTIVE COMBINATION

Thank you for your interest and we hope this helps clarify some of our designer mumbo jumbo.

Blogatchalater!
cky

10 Top Sofa [companies] and Why We Love Them

Looking for a great sofa that will last you through the next 20+  years ? Here's a list of our top 10 & why [in no particular order] :

1] Bensen

Here's a great sleeper sofa by a great Canadian furniture designer Niels Bendtsen. Simple, functional, elegant & red! What's not to love?

2] Ligne Roset

French company Ligne Roset is the BMW of furnture - hard to go wrong here - I love this Cityloft sofa especially, as it could work in a modern or a transitional style of living room [notice the beautiful sculpted arm rest].

3] Moooi

Ah - the return of Moooi to our blog- not only do they make our favorite horsey floor lamp they make incredible sofas ! Below shows you how one sofa can look so different depending on the upholstery :

4] Edra

This is a very special furniture company based in....you guessed it....Italy ! Our favorite country in the whole world for furniture, food and fashion. Edra's designs are always very experimental and very cutting edge. This sofa called Flap is practically an apartment in itself! Just imagine the parties you could have....

5] Cassina

Another of our favorite Italian furniture companies, this sofa was designed by the king of design himself - Philippe Starck [more blogging about him later]. What is so cool about this sofa is that Starck designed it to be very versatile - it comes in different lengths and configurations. For example, the one below has two different sizes of armrests; the one below that is extra long - great for an Academy Award movie night [or Superbowl]!

6] B & B Italia

ok, yet another Italian furniture company - B & B is the absolute king of sectionals. If Ligne Roset is the BMW of sofa companies, B & B is the Lamborghini :

7] Gus Modern

These sofas will appeal to loft dwellers, due to their compact sizes. This nice little Canadian company has come up with a collection of very affordable, practical and well made sofas with a lovely range of fabrics.

8] Minotti

Minotti also has some fantastic sectionals similar to B & B, but these more rounded styles [smaller versions are available] differentiate this Italian company from the crowd.

9] Montauk

This Canadian company based in Montreal offers very very nice plush, luxurious styles that blend in with many living rooms and lifestyles. For example this sofa is placed in a Rococo style space - it's clean rounded lines compliment the architecture nicely without competing for your attention.

10] Baker
Although we at cky love modern, we still appreciate and work with those of you wanting a more transitional style living space. Baker is a fantastic American producer of lovely sofas by leading designers such as Barbara Barry.

11] HBF - I had to include this one....it is SO Park Avenue :

12] Modernica, Ital Divani, Bernhardt, Living Divani, Moroso, we could go on-and-on......

How to Choose the Right Fabric for Your Chair and Sofa

There is a cornucopia of textiles and fibers to choose from - all the way from leather to cotton to wool to polyester.

The first thing I ask a client is how the sofa or chair is used and by who. Basically I'm trying to understand how durable and robust the fabric needs to be. All upholstery fabrics sold through a reputable supplier come with a "double rub" abrasion test rating.  If the fabric is rated at 30,000 double rubs it is rated for 'heavy duty' commercial use; 15,000 double rubs is for average residential use.

Next consideration is clean-ability. If pets are allowed on the sofa, choose a fabric that will hide the fur color. Alternatively, choose a contrasting color if you [are a clean freak] wish to roller the fur off on a daily basis. If young children are using the sofa, consider leather or vinyl as it is extremely wipe-able. There are many other fabrics that can be cleaned with warm soapy water, or are cleanable by an expert.  Cryptons are the ultimate for cleaning and durability and are used in high use environments such as nursing homes and schools as well as residential.

Style of fabric is also a consideration :
Solid or pattern?
Soft and cozy or crisp and supportive?
Supple or rigid?
Modern or Traditional?

Style of chair or sofa :
Square or rounded ?
Structural or fully upholstered ?
Modern or Traditional?

Other considerations :
Will there be tufting or top-stitching on the piece?
Will there be 2 fabrics used on the piece?
How pliable or stretchy is the fabric?

Last is color. As with paint, it should be chosen in the environment it is to be used in. Lighting conditions vary and thus the fabric color will be perceived differently depending on where it is.
Blogatcha later !
- Yvonne