TRANSFORMER APARTMENT IN BARCELONA

Even smaller than the Transformer house in Hong Kong, this tiny 258 square feet (24 square meter) apartment in Barcelona is full of clever storage solutions. According to the owner, it was inspired by the interior design solutions aboard boats and small Japanese apartments. It’s perfect for a bachelor, as you can see in the video below.



Source: Faircompanies

Transformer apartment in Barcelona

Even smaller than the Transformer house in Hong Kong, this tiny 258 square feet (24 square meter) apartment in Barcelona is full of clever storage solutions. According to the owner, it was inspired by the interior design solutions aboard boats and small Japanese apartments. It's perfect for a bachelor, as you can see in the video below.



Source: Faircompanies

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : BEHIND THE SCENES

I recently started to work with a large toronto-based building developer called Urban Capital, specializing in modern multi-residential buildings. The project I'm working on is called Central and is located in the heart of the city of Ottawa.

The first phase of the project is currently under construction. It's a U-Shaped building with 240 loft-style units surrounding a central courtyard. An old church used to be located on the site, and the facade of the old building was preserved and integrated into the design of the new building.

There's a set number of finishes and items that were selected by the lead designer for owners to choose from. My role with this project is to help the owners select the finishes for their condo (i.e. floors, cabinets, tiles, etc). It's a fun process.

You can see below some pictures of the model suites for Phase 1. Each type of floor plan is named after a city. The model suite is called the London.

Central 1 has a lot of interesting features. It has been registered to receive a LEED Silver certification. I have the opportunity to visit the site on a regular basis to check out the progress and learn more about these features. So, I'll be starting a series of blog posts talking about the construction progress and my favorite selection of finishes throughout the process.

Construction started a couple months ago and it's progressing fast. Here's the latest shot of the building's facade.

Photos : Central Condominiums | M2JL STUDIO

Q&A : UPDATING A KITCHEN

Q: I would like to update and warm up my kitchen without completely renovating it. I have white cabinets and appliances that I would like to keep and recently added new wood floors. What would you suggest I do?

A: The first thing I would do would be to paint the walls in a warm neutral color like, like Benjamin Moore's Brandon Beige to help bring some of the warm tones from the floor on the wall. Then I would change the counters and add a backsplash to add texture and interest. You could use a warm gray quartz like the Alpina White from Silestone and match it with a tile like the Moonbeam Freeway tiles from Terra Verre. Another option would be to use black counters to add more contrast and white glass tiles on the wall for a bit of sparkle and texture. A third option would be to install a dark brown counter and a backsplash mixing various tones of browns and beiges and white.

Additionally, changing the faucet and replacing the ceiling light with halogen track lights will also warm up the space and update the look and feel of the kitchen.